Holy moly we live in a beautiful country.  From coast to coast, Canada is brimming with undeniable landscapes and breathtaking views and I’ll be the first to admit that I often times take that for granted.  When thinking of ‘where to vacation’, my thoughts tend to first wander into locations far outside the true north strong and free – France, Switzerland, Australia, Thailand, Poland – it’s a never-ending list of exotic locales that calls to me and which I hope to one day cross off my list.  Last year our family managed to accomplish the big Disney adventure; the culmination of years of patience, savings and planning that provided so many memories at just the right age, and, while I cherish everything that vacation was and the though I do not regret even one ounce of fatigue that it may have caused, earlier this year when Alison and I started thinking of getting away again it wasn’t the type of vacation we necessarily were looking for, nor wanted to repeat so soon.   We wanted something easy.  Something that wouldn’t take quite the same hit to the pocket book.  Something that avoided the states.  Most notably: something just the two of us.

The natural thing (I think, anyway) when considering a parents-only getaway trip for a short window of time, is to go the all-inclusive route, and that’s precisely where we began our planning.  Cuba, Dominican, Jamaica, Mexico, we searched and searched a variety of hotels, packages and destinations, set of the idea of sitting on a beach, sipping cocktails, swimming in the ocean, and playing games by the pool side.  We just about settled on our choice when it suddenly dawned on us: we don’t enjoy sitting on the beach getting sand where sand shouldn’t be, sipping cocktails and dehydrating ourselves in the sweltering heat, swimming in the ocean all day long or playing games we don’t enjoy in a pee-infested pool.  Not to say that all-inclusive can’t be a good time; we’ve done them before and likely will again.  With the right mix of people that style of vacation can be just what the doctor ordered.  But when it comes to Alison and I, we don’t want our precious little time away to be isolated or confined to a single view with so little to explore.  So when Alison turned to me and suggested in stead that we travel to Banff, that’s when the real excitement began.

It’s a place I’d never been to but have always desired.  Again – shame on me for not considering the destinations that don’t require a passport.  As my incredible partner further pitched the idea of travelling to a place like Banff, all of the boxes were quickly being checked.  Mornings with our coffee overlooking the mountains, an adventure out to Lake Louise for the fresher of air and a hike that no all-inclusive beach could ever match, a freedom of choice for local restaurants, beer and delicacies whenever we felt the need.  We could take our time or push our boundaries, we could operate on our own time – the adventure could be ours for the making.  When stacking these two options next to each other there was really no decision to be made.  The only really choice we had to make, was when.

Having never been there before, and therefor with no point of comparison, I can say for certain that we travelled in the ‘perfect’ time, but given the lower levels of tourist traffic we encountered, the speed at which we were able to get where we needed to be, the idyllic temperatures and breathtaking colours, I’m going to go ahead and say that mid-October was the right choice for us.  Granted there were a few amenities no longer operating, that bears were apparently in peak season and that we were too early for what I can only imagine is the most epic of downhill skiing opportunities. still, there was absolutely no shortage of excursion or opportunity, particularly for two hungry parents travelling sans kids with a short window of time.  As with anything – we make the most of it.

Driving into Canmore (where we ultimately decided to make our base camp) was, in itself, worth making the trip.  Experiencing the landscape shift from the fields to mountains is like nothing I had experienced before and no words nor image could recreate it.  Staring in awe at the emerging Rocky Mountains put me quickly in my place on this Earth and all I could really do was stare in appreciation at how in one landscape you can have snow, rock, grass, trees and farmers fields seamlessly working together.  It made me realize how small I am and how much more I have yet to experience.  Wow.  Just wow.

Canmore itself was a perfect place to setup our home base – an easy drive from the airport, a twenty minute jaunt to Banff and outfitted with all the amenities required to call a place home for a handful of days.  It also had a less touristy feeling than Banff, while maintaining the jaw-dropping background and views from our window.  Highly recommend.  We were a stones throw from the local brewery, which served up fantastic pizza and offered a perfect patio for taking in game one of the World Series – again, just a perfect experience to sit on a patio with the mountains in my periphery as I sipped away on a flight of local brews, enjoying wood-fired pizza with bison, and living an experience with fellow Canadians and we all collectively watch ‘our’ team make history.   It was near perfect…until what I can only describe as a series of mini tornadoes came through and blew the TVs, chairs and fire pit away.  Then it was time to go home.  Go jays go!

The days filled themselves quickly, with the timezone change working perfectly on our side – up every morning by 4:00 to enjoy a slow-paced welcoming of the day, then off to watch the sunrise at any of the picturesque locations nearby.  The There Sisters were a delight, as was our morning jaunt out to the bakery, greeted by Montreal-born artisans showcasing their pastry talents alongside accoutrements from the hallways of Joe Beef and Au Pied du Cochon; chef’s kiss.  The biggest The adventure, of course, leaving everything else seemingly pale in comparison, was our day at Lake Louise.

Standing in awe in the brisk of a clear fall morning at edge of a lake at the base of a mountain, the sun cresting slowly over the trees, paint shadows and pink, orange and purple cascades of light along the apex of each mountain allowed time to both stop and speed up all at once.  I cannot describe for you how the water looked.  I cannot take a picture to capture how it felt, you’ll just have to trust that it was special.  And after taking in the sunrise at its own pace, we began our hike upwards – 2,000 feet up to the Plain of Six Glaciers, pausing when appropriate to allow the scenery to wash over us.  A difficult but rewarding trek through sun, snow and rain – not at all busy with people, but just enough that you felt safe should anything happen (we kept the bear spray close in reach).  Once again I cannot being to explain the beauty in that place, but in my thoughts I will hold onto it forever.

By no means the first to take this trip, and certainly not the last, Banff National Park and the areas surrounding it should be experienced by any Canadian at some point in their life.  It may not come with a swim up bar, and the gondola ride certainly won’t be on my ‘must do again’ list, but the experience as a whole was one that reminded me of how a relaxing vacation doesn’t need to mean beach chairs and mojitos, I felt more relaxed after a 5 hour hike than any amount of sand in the worst parts of my bathing suit could ever provide.