The Great White North

I have been blessed beyond measure with two supportive, loving, and hard-working people. They’ve watched me grow up, follow my dreams, wander around lost, make mistakes, fail, and get back up again. I know many people who either do not have good relationships with their parents (whether it be due to their lack of support, abuse, toxic traits, distance, e.t.c.) or people who no longer have their parents living. I want to be sure I cherish this time, these memories, and these two people, while I still can.

So, I convinced them to take a trip with me! (Can you believe it?) My mom likes to travel, but my dad is more of a homebody. Still, I thought he would enjoy the beautiful Canadian landscapes. Banff National Park had been on my bucket list for some time (and I thought it’d be easier to convince them to travel somewhere on the same continent, haha).

We flew into Calgary shortly after the Canadian Independence day, and just before ours. I wasn’t certain how busy a 4th of July weekend trip would be, but we weren’t overwhelmed with tourists at all. We spent a week traveling from Calgary to Canmore to Banff to Yoho to Kootenay to Jasper National Park in a rental car. Patience was tested, buttons were pushed, but we all made it out the other side!

Here are some highlights:

Four National Parks

We stayed the first night in Canmore, where we hiked the beautiful Grassy Lakes Trail (shown below). I have never seen water this color- it was unbelievable! Though it was a bit of a hike for all of us, the views were more than worth it. My parents are both in their mid-60’s, and I’m so, so proud of them for pushing through and following along with my crazy adventures! It wouldn’t have been the same without them. I think more than anything, this trip opened up our eyes to how fortunate we are to have healthy and capable bodies.

From Canmore, we continued on into Banff.

The famous beautiful lakes/sights-

Banff:

Peyto Lake
Lake Louise
Moraine Lake
Lake Minnewanka
Bow Lake
Johnston Canyon
Fairmont Banff Springs

Lake Moraine was one of the most stunning lakes, in my opinion. It almost seemed like it shone a different hue at every angle. I couldn’t stop staring at it. I decided to hurry and hike to the top of a cliff to get a better view, and told my parents I’d be back shortly. I knew they’d need rest after all the exercise we were getting. Once I reached the top, to my surprise, I saw my dad had followed me up! It was a special moment to have him there and able to see firsthand the incredible beauty before us. Again, the lake seemed to radiate a different blue shade from above. Because we were up for more adventure, we continued on to explore even more National Parks:

Yoho:

Natural Bridge
Emerald Lake
Takakkaw Falls
Kicking Horse Pass
Mount Victoria

Kootenay:

Paint Pots
Healy Pass Trail
Mount Assiniboine Park

Jasper:

Athabasca Glacier
Athabasca Falls
Maligne Lake
Maligne Canyon

My mom’s bucket list item was to see a glacier, so we made sure to make Jasper National Park our last destination, so we could walk out on Athabasca Glacier and even touch the water running down. We did this through the Columbia Icefield Adventure. The tires on those vehicles were as tall as me! Fun fact: there’s only about 30 of them that exist. Oh, and check out the traffic we ran into in the top left photo-

We only had rain one day, at Emerald Lake, and though we didn’t see a bear, we did narrowly miss one hiking- so thank goodness for that! I think my mom would have pooped her pants 😉 Some of the highlights of the trip included my dad making calls out the window to the elk and watching them lift their heads up & look around, getting mom to shuffle across the glass floor Skywalk, and seeing the blue beauties of the lakes for the first time.

I am so glad I had the chance to take this trip while we all were in good health and able to hike. No matter if you believe in heaven or not, this wide open slice of it is truly beautiful, and I was blessed to share it with my mom and dad.

Until next time, the Great White North–

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