I am finally getting around to writing about my trip to Canada and I cant believe it has already been 3 weeks since I went!! I have just been resting in the memories and watching videos over and over again. My brother in law loves making recap vids from all of our trips and so the rest of us were super diligent about capturing all we can-its been so fun to relive it all:)
There were so many things about this trip that made it so special but the biggest part was just the family time. I am from a family of 4 kids and most of us are married by now so this trip had 9 adults! My sister and sister in law both had babies last year so they brought their little nugs along as well:) Growing up, we were all swimmers so we didn’t have much free time and most weekends were spent at meets- so not a lot of time for family vacations. But when I was in college, we went to Hawaii all together and have since decided to do a big family vacay every other year. Obviously this year we chose Canada and it was the absolute BEST! So here is was we did!
Paragliding and Whitewater Rafting
We are all pretty big thrill seekers. My brother in law and sister had gone paragliding in Switzerland last year and loved it so they wanted all of us to try it out BC. Y’all, mountains as far as the eye can see! We went tandum with a licensed pilot and literally just ran off the side of a mountain. It was no joke probably the coolest thing I have ever done!The “flight” took about 20-25 min from the mountain to the ground and was just so thrilling the whole time. Y’all, the motion sickness was real though so if you get car sick at all and want to do this, definitely pop a Dramamine because it is very different from flying inside a plane!🙊
Then, we rafted down a river that merges with the Columbia River! It was a stunning silver color from the glacier run-off…oh yeah, it was also FREEZING. It was my first time to raft with my husband also so that made it even more fun! And it was my sweet dads first time-we had to seriously talk him into it, haha! We went down some Class 4 rapids which were insane but we felt so secure the entire time because our guide was so amazing and knowledgeable.
My wonderful mom stayed back from many of these activities to watch the babies so that we could be uninhibited and totally have the time we needed to bond together as siblings now that we are all leading our own lives. This was such a gamechanger!
VRBO at Kicking Horse Resort
Since there were so many of us, we needed a large place and didn’t care to be necessarily in the heart of Banff because we knew we would be at the house a lot with the babies. We found this resort that had homes on VRBO and it was absolutely amazing! There was room for all of us so we didnt feel like mice packed on top of each other. It had a gorgeous, large kitchen-it was perfect for a large family! When we weren’t doing activities or hiking, we spent time at the house playing games and just enjoying the time together. It was just so relaxing to be in a home that let us do that and feel so comfortable the whole time.
Emerald Lake
This lake looks exactly as it sounds, it has GORGEOUS mountain views and stunning emerald/turquoise waters. My husband really wanted to canoe the lake, which I was a little hesitant to do because I was wanting to canoe Lake Louis, but this lake was so pristine and there were only a few canoes on the lake so we thought it would be a lot more peaceful here.
Boy was it! We were able to make it around the whole lake in an hour and it was such an amazing moment to break away with my husband and do something we both love to do on our own. Moments like these were crucial to keep our sanity and stay in touch with each other-something that is super important on large family vacations!
Hiking
I can’t even believe myself…some days we went on not one, but TWO hikes! Y’all, I love the outdoors but I am more of a laying-out in a pool/playing sand volleyball kind of outdoor girl than a hiker but these hikes were amazing! We found this massive waterfall on one of the hikes we went on and it was the best adventure. Hiking was a great way to avoid some of the masses as well. There are so many views just from the roads that many people will stick to some of the stunning drives and not hit a trail. If you decide to go to BC and spend some time outdoors-BRING BUG SPRAY. I was getting absolutely destroyed by the mosquitoes out there. I even broke out in hives one day because the bites were so extreme!
Me with my siblings hiking Wapta Falls
Lake Louis/Banff
These spots were made on our last day in Canada, and just might have been the most amazing. In the town where we stayed, people were saying that we should avoid these spots as they were so touristy. While there are tourists there, I wouldn’t say its any worse than Colorado in the summer. We definitely weren’t the only ones but it wasn’t overwhelming.
We went to Lake Louis after my hives episode so we were all a bit frazzled and weather was coming in which left us thinking that it may not be worth it. YOU GUYS. Start booking your plane tickets now. My stomach has butterflies in it just thinking about how amazing it was. Yes, we had already seen a turquoise lake once on this trip but this one is so amazing. The mountains and glacier that frame it are just so dramatic that you have to see it to believe it. The weather that came in was actually perfect because it scared a lot of people off and we were able to be on our own enjoying the view. So majestic.
We went on to Banff for dinner that night, it was about an hour drive away but the town was just so quaint! It is tucked into the mountains and has a lot of fun touristy shops that you actually want to go in. We ate at an amazing restaurant, Park Distillery Restaurant and Bar, that was right in the middle of it all and made plans to come back again.❤
There was so much more but this is getting pretty long so feel free to reach out if you are interested in making a trip and have questions! We don’t get to get everyone all together often but it was just such a breath of fresh air. What was he best was that we all agreed that we wanted to go back, and next time we would stay in Banff! It was cool to decide that because I want to experience new things and not necessarily repeat a vacation but we know now that there are still so many new things we could explore up there!
Xo, Jen
