Oh, Canada! A Bucket List Trip
My best friend Anna and I have a tradition to take “bucket list trips” for our milestone birthdays — just the two of us! For her 40th, we went to Maui and had a blast. My 40th is October 13 this year, and I wanted a true fall, cold-weather experience (since we don’t experience much of that in South Alabama!). To Canada we went!
We started our trip in Vancouver, and only had one full, rainy day there. I look forward to going back and exploring more. We visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, had lunch and explored at Granville Island Public Market, rested a little bit then went out for a lovely dinner at L’Abottoir.
The next day we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer for the First Passage to the West route for an incredible two day journey across British Columbia into Alberta. We selected the Gold Leaf service so we had a double decker train car. We spent most of the day on the second level with a fully glass domed top so the views were unobstructed. Downstairs we had delicious meals made from scratch by a culinary team dedicated just for our train car. We also had a large vestibule where we could go outside to take in the sites and breath the glorious fresh air. It was a dream, and highly recommend this luxurious way to travel!
We disembarked in Lake Louise and spent the next day exploring the lake that is fed by the Victoria Glacier on Mount Victoria. The day started with rain, but we didn’t mind! This mean we were treated to an amazing double rainbow on Lake Louise. The day cleared up, and we returned to the lake for more beautiful views before taking afternoon tea at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. It was so fun. During our tea time, we had a gorgeous window view of the lake, and it started to snow!
We then traveled the hour to Banff to spend the rest of our trip. We booked the Columbia Icefields Parkway tour with Discover Banff, and spent one full day stopping at all the beautiful lakes in Banff National Park. We made our way to the Columbia Icefield and boarded and Ice Explorer to visit the Columbia Glacier. It was so cold but so neat! This might have been one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Our last day in Banff was a bit rainy/snowy, but we still went up the Banff Gondola to see what we could see. Visibility was low because of the weather, and I hope to go back and do this again. We had a fantastic brunch at Brazen then walked around the cute town to do our souvenir shopping. We ended the day with a delicious Canadian meal (I had Alberta Beef Tenderloin; Anna had Maple Salmon and Prawns) at Maple Leaf Seafood and Steaks. Dessert was a delicious maple creme brûlée.
We flew home from Calgary, and I am looking forward to going back!
All in all, this was an amazing trip that met all our our expectations. Our friend Melanie was our travel agent and booked everything for us. Our itinerary had to change a little at the last minute due to damage from recent wildfires in Jasper National Park, but she worked everything out wonderfully. Let me know if you’d like her info!
And enjoy this photo recap!
