CANADA TRAVELS

Places You Can’t Miss in Canada

If you are looking for breathtaking, Instagram worthy photos and an adventure of a lifetime- Canada is for you.

We travled in a group of 6 for Canada, and it was too much fun. I love traveling with Mike alone, but it’s a whole different vibe when traveling with friends. So many memories made and never forgotten.

We started by flying into Calgary (thats where we stayed too). We made the drive into Banff and Jasper National Park everyday. It was a long drive, but in hindsight we should have stayed closer, nevertheless, it was awesome! We chose to stay in Calgary because we wanted to be able to go out and explore the city once the night rolled in, but I think we only made it out a few times because we were just exhausted from all the hiking.

Places to see and do near Calgary:

Banff National Park

We drove into BNP, and boy oh boy was that drive a long one. Once we made it to BNP we started with Lake Louise. You may not be familiar with the name, but if you saw a picture, you would know exactly what I am talking about. We came a tad bit too early in the season. The ice was barely melting and the bears were starting to come out of hibernation.

-Once we took all the pictures we hiked up to Mirror Lake, which if the ice on the lake was melted, it would’ve reflected the huge mountain that was behind it. That hike was a long one, it was slushy and muddy- we may have slipped a few times. What felt like forever, we finally made it to the lake. We, of course took more pictures, but really just took in the view. When you sit in places like these, it’s just a reminder of how small we are in such a big world, God is good y’all.

Now, we saw signs that said don’t continue because the avalanches were very active and it would be at our own risk to continue, but I REALLY wanted to go to the teahouse at the top. So, we hiked up to Lake Agnes, which is where the Teahouse was supposed to be, but when we got up there, the little building was closed, however the view…WOW. It was worth it, a million times. I couldn’t believe that we live in such a beautiful world. It amazes me every time I think about it.

Once we hiked down and fell down a lot, we went to eat inside of the famous Lake Louise Hotel. It was so so beautiful. The food was great and the hostess was telling us about the bear that they had just saw a day ago at Lake Agnes and how there was a momma bear and a baby bear walking right in front of the hotel the day before. I was honestly so thankful that we didn’t see a bear while hiking, however, the guys didn’t feel that way! lol

We had a long way home, so we headed back to Calgary, but we made a pit stop at Moraine Lake, which was completely frozen and with the lakes starting to melt, we did the daring task of take a walk on it. I remember looking over to my left and seeing a guy jumping up and down- I had a small panic attack inside! His girlfriend was having hers outside. lol

We also hiked up a bunch of rocks to get these pics and the view, like always, was unforgettable! OH, and we saw a bear!!!

Second day of driving back into BNP: we went to Lake Minnewanka. We thought about renting Kayaks, but TBH it was freezing and raining. So we decided to buy a package where we could take the Lake Minnewanka tour, ride the Banff Gondola to the observation deck where you can then take the 1-km walk around the edge of Sulphur Mountain and get to the top, known as Sanson’s Peak where there is a historic Cosmic Ray Station and an old Weather station. We ate at the Sky Bistro, which had all glass windows looking out to the Rocky Mountains and the fog kept rolling in and out, so we were truly with our heads in the clouds. A view I will never forget with some of the best people! As well as the Lake tour and the Gondola ride, we also got the pass to the Columbian Ice Field and the Glass Sky Walk. I 100% recommend this, it saves you money and you get to experience a lot of things in once single purchase.

Jasper National Park
–We had to drive into Jasper National Park to get to the other adventures we paid for in the package. This is where I had my first Tim Hortons Experience, and I wasn’t mad about it! The package was purchased through Columbia Icefield Discovery. We experienced standing on the Athabasca Glacier and that was amazing. They tell you where it was a year in advance and how much it has melted, it’s crazy how much it has decreased over the years. (Save the Plant, y’all) We drank water from the glacier, and they mentioned to not drink too much because it’s a natural laxative, and I heard that loud and clear. We had a long drive back to our air bnb. After the glacier, we waited for our next adventure, which was the glass sky walk. This was such a pretty drive, and really cool. I thought that I was going to be fine walking on the glass sky walk, but my legs begged to differ with me. As I walked hand and hand with Mike, as soon as the glass began, my legs said NOPE. lol  After pumping myself up, I then walked, but I didn’t look down. lol As I grow older, the fears are starting to set in. We headed back to the base camp and headed home, plus we saw another bear!

We explored downtown Calgary the next day before JP and Vanessa left back to the states and the four of us headed to Vancouver. We had to get some ice cream and walk the Peace Bridge. I love traveling with friends, it gives us such great memories to look back on.

We caught our flight to Vancouver and got to our Air bnb which took forever for us to get in to, but the view was WHOA amazing, but the AC didn’t work and it was a HOT day! We went out to explore, so we started walking and ended up getting Boba Tea and dessert. Then we headed back to the Air bnb to rest, at the point I had the flu and didn’t know it. We woke up the next day and took a drive up to Squamish to the Sea to Sky Gondola hike. We decided to hike that and at first we were like okay, its stairs all the way up, but we took the shorter, but harder route and I WAS DYING. lol Really great views though! I would do it all over again! We got to the top and there was a suspension bridge that we crossed and took in the beauty that Squamish had to offer. As we headed back to Vancouver, we stopped at the cutest little port and had dinner.

The next day came and boy, I was sick! However, the adventure must go on! We drove up to Whistler to do whatever we could find to do! So we found an adventure group that had a bunch of different options to choose from. We all did the Rzrs which is like a go-kart but for the woods, not sure how to describe it. That was so much fun! (Still having flu symptoms) We drove all through the woods and through the mud, the only thing was the mosquitos were out to play! Mike and I chose to do the Zip Line Adventure next, while Jake and Vivi chose to do a Tree Top Adventure. Mike and I had so much fun on the Zip Line, he is more of an adrenaline junkie, but he keeps me alive! lol Once we met back up with Jake and Vivi, we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which is really popular there. Its a tree top adventure park as well.

       

 

We had dinner at the cutest spot, that I can’t remember for the life of me, you can only see the restaurant when you cross the bridge in Vancouver and its near Stanley park by that bridge, regardless its a must stop! We explored Stanley Park as our last day and it was time to catch the bus to Washington. If you didn’t know Vancouver is about 2 hours away from Seattle, so we decided to take a bus ride down to Washington!

Once we were in Washington, we made it to our Air bnb and went out for a walk to dinner. We found a really cute Italian place near the water. Jake’s mom was actually in Leavenworth, which is north of Seattle, so we decided to head up there and stay there with them. The following morning, the Flu had me so sick, I could barely swallow, so I went to the only doctor in that town, while everyone else went white water rafting. Such a bummer, but I slept in the car and watched Netflix till they were done and I needed that rest. We headed back into Seattle that day, also stopping by Snoqualmie Falls, which is one of my favorites in Washington! We made it back to our Air bnb and had dinner that night with Jake’s mom, little sister and his mom’s boyfriend. That next day we explored Seattle and just enjoyed the last day of our vacation.

I have to say that Canada was such an amazing trip! We love being outdoors, so that was the perfect vacation to take. We love using Hopper to find cheap flights and Air bnb to find affordable stays. Its always fun to travel with friends or family because you can always look back on these memories and you get that quality time with each other! I hope you take into consideration traveling to Canada soon, she was a beauty!

 

XO|Essence