Day One:

Fly Into Calgary and Explore the City

Did you know that Alberta is directly North of Montana? It is within driving distance from Utah. We considered driving but ultimately decided that the flight was less than 3 hours and that would buy us more time to explore together. On Sunday, July 7th, 2024 we woke up early, headed to the airport with luggage in tow, and began the process of getting to our flight.

Side note - if you are flying out of SLC airport and you plan to leave the country, I would recommend choosing Delta. As of now, if you fly with any other airline you you have to walk a very long distance from TSA to your terminal. On our way to Iceland, we were minutes away from missing our flight because it took longer for the check-in process with our passports. Take it from our experience, either arrive 3 and a half hours at the SLC airport for international flights, or choose Delta and arrive 2 and a half hours early. Hopefully, this will not be such an issue in the future.

Once we landed in Calgary and we got our luggage, it was time to rent a car. Because we were arriving at the same time that the Calgary Stampede was going on, it took quite a while for them to get our car ready. We waited in a packed rental lobby, sat on our luggage, people-watching, playing on our phones, and researching a good place for lunch. Once the car was ready we loaded in it, Roy hopped in the driver's seat (that is typically his job, is to drive us around lol) and he took us to a restaurant that he found. Upon arriving I was so skeptical! It was a dive bar. I had very little hope for this food, but to my surprise it was amazing! I ordered a beef dip, which I thought was a funny name because in America this would be called a "French dip". My brother and his friend ordered poutine. I had always heard of this, but never tried it. Dayton explained to me that it is a classic Canadian meal made of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds. Very unhealthy, but so delicious!

After lunch, we headed over to the house that we rented to unpack and take a breather. This is where we ran into the infamous travel mistake. I say this because I am starting to believe that no matter how well I think I research an area, there are always things that pop up that I was not expecting or didn't even think to research. For this trip, it was air conditioning. You see, I grew up with air conditioning everywhere I went. It gets very hot in the majority of Wyoming and in all of Utah and air conditioning is something that I have come to expect. However, Alberta temperatures do not get that high, and actually, through most of the travel blogs I read, we were advised to bring jackets, but during the week that we went they were having an excessive heat wave! Temperatures were reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit our rental house had no AC and only a few of the windows actually opened up. So here's a travel note for you - if you are going somewhere hot and the listing says "cooling system" and not "central air conditioning" know that you will sweat your booty off!

That evening Dayton did a little research on his phone and found a highly-rated restaurant that he wanted to try. We parked in a parking lot, crossed the Bow River, and found ourselves on walking paths going through Prince Island Park. It was beautiful! We wound up at River Cafe, the restaurant that Dayton chose and it was delicious! You know we are a family of foodies, especially after Dayton went to culinary school so I will have to tell you what we ordered because even the description from the menu makes me want to go back again! Amongst the table, we ordered and shared:

Fish & Game Board

Selection of Cured Meats, Seasonal Potted Seafood, Smoked Salmon, River Café Pickles, Preserves & Crackers

Rangeland Bison Striploin

Edgar Farms Asparagus, Alberta Emmer Wheat Fraser Valley Hazelnut & Bone Marrow Jus

Top Grass Beef Tenderloin

Trafford Farms Lions Mane Mushroom, Poplar Bluff Potato Aligot, Southern Skies Kale Chip Sunrise Saskatoon Berries, Madeira Jus Gras

Haida Gwaii Halibut

Leek & Potato Vichyssoise, Southern Skies Radish, Foothills Brown Butter, Butter Leaf Lettuce, Tarragon

Calgary Stampede Night Show

We were told by friends and family who had been to the night show that we had to purchase a ticket for that as well, but we were not sure what to expect. The website did not have a lot of information and people said, "Oh they have a couple of different things including chuck wagon races, I can't remember, but you gotta go!" So my mom bought the tickets thinking they were a little expensive for chuck wagon races and another event or two... but wow! Those tickets were worth it and we were not prepared for what we witnessed at the night show!!

It started out with the wagon races, which was amazing! The announcer explained how it worked and what the rules were to everyone so we would know what was going on and then they had groups of 3 come out to race. After each race they would put the time up on the board and other wagon teams were racing against each other, but mostly against the top speed of the night. We had fun watching the teams ride out to the arena and taking guesses amongst ourselves about who would win. See the video below to check out what it all looked like!

After the chuck wagon races, there were other competitions, including a relay race, which was my personal favorite part of the whole night. A rider would come out with three horses, and he would ride the horse all the way around the arena bareback as fast as the horse could go, jump off the horse, and onto another horse in one solid movement. It was amazing!!! After the wagons, relay races, and other cowboy-related events, we thought the night show was over. We were all saying, "Wow that was so much fun!" and, "Wow! What an amazing day!" but then, the announcer said, "We are going to take a break, but make sure you stay seated for the next performance!" They had mentioned some kind of Canadian country band and they had also mentioned a group called the Young Canadian Dancers. We were not familiar with either of these, so as a group, we decided, "Okay, let's just see the first part and decide if we want to stay for the whole performance," but immediately we were hooked! A crew rolled out a stage with multiple parts to it. Tons of dancers came out, two different bands came out, they had someone dancing with fire, people riding motorcycles around what they called 'the globe of death', and a trapeze act! But that wasn't even the half of it! They had a drone light performance, which I had never seen before, but it was amazing! They had the creepiest robot dogs dancing - we all hated that part, and then they had the largest fireworks show that we have ever seen in our lives. It was actually so insane! There was so much going on and it lasted over an hour and a half. Everywhere you looked there was something incredible happening and wow! Yeah, the night show was well worth it!

Day Three:

Drive to Canmore and Explore the Town

The next morning we were very happy to get out of the heat. Our rental house was very nice, but we all struggled to sleep in the heat and even though it was in the 80s at night, we were going outside to cool down! We packed up the car again, ate one last time in Calgary, and hit the road. This is where we noticed that Canadians drive much slower than Americans. The speed limit was approximately 65mph on the highways which was odd, but we could see the mountains of the national parks in the distance. Calgary is very flat so it was an interesting experience to watch the mountains come into view and then suddenly be completely surrounded by huge mountains on every side. Canmore is a 1 hour and 10 minute drive from Calgary. We decided to stay in Calgary instead of 20 minutes away in Banff because of two reasons. The first is that you have to book your Banff stay 6 months or more in advance to make sure that you can secure a stay that you like and we were not exactly sure of our travel dates with Dayton, Roy, and I's schedule until we got closer to the trip. The second reason is that we found the most perfect Airbnb for us in downtown Canmore. Once we got to Canmore, we checked into our Airbnb, dropped off our stuff, unpacked a little, and then drove to Safeway for some necessities.

Our Airbnb was a highlight of the trip! It had 3 rooms, a primary room with a nice ensuite bathroom for my parents, a large room for Roy and me to unpack our photography equipment, and then a third room with queen size bunk beds for Dayton and his friend, Sage, who got to come on our trip with us. It also had a balcony with the most beautiful mountain views, a nice living room where we spent playing Jackbox, a big dining room table, and kitchen where Dayton cooked us two amazing meals, and a private hot tub that we relaxed in every night! We have found that having a nice place to come hang out at night that allows us to be together as a family is a must on these trips. We all have opposite schedules so family vacations are not only fun and exciting, but they are also one of the few times that we all get to spend quality time together as a family. It was nice to just lounge around and play games and catch up together so that is exactly what we did for the majority of day three.

Day Four:

Ride the Banff Gondola and Take an Open Top Car Tour

By day four we were finally getting to experience Banff National Park! It is so beautiful and green there! In all the blogs that we read, I was not sure about two things. The first was how to get into the national parks of Canada and the second was the parking in Banff and the surrounding areas. Everywhere told me to buy a bus ticket from Canmore to Banff, but after assessing the situation, I felt better about trying to go find a parking spot than riding the bus. We are Americans after all and we can handle busy national parks, but we aren't so sure how to handle public transportation lol! So we risked it and we thought positive thoughts (at least I did) and we lucked out! It seemed like throughout the whole trip we got not only the last spot but front row parking! Like I try to tell my dad and Roy all the time, positivity will always work out for us, and if it doesn't and you still have a positive mindset, we'll end up finding the good in the situation. And for the passes into the national parks, it is just like in America. They have checkpoints where you pull your car through and purchase the ticket upon entering the park.

Our first event of the day was to ride the Banff gondola up the mountain. When purchasing the gondola tickets, you have to specify when you want to go up and when you are going to come down. It really is that busy, but because of the schedule, it didn't feel too packed at the top of the mountain. We had originally planned on eating at the Sky Bistro on top of the mountain and we had even attempted to make reservations the night before, but it was completely booked out days in advance. Although we had already purchased our tickets with plans to stay up there for almost three hours, we were a bit worried that we allocated too much time now that we wouldn't be able to have lunch, however, the views were so stunning and we did not mind spending that much time up there. The building that the gondola drops you off at has a gift shop, a walk-through informational center, multiple viewing decks, and hiking paths around the area. We took photos, lounged on the decks, and explored the hiking paths. The ride up and down the gondola, as well as spending time at the top was well worth it, we would all recommend adding that to your own itinerary if you go to Banff!

Once we came down the gondola we were all starving and ready for lunch! This is where we got to eat at another one of our top favorite restaurants on the trip! The Three Bears Brewery not only had some of the best pizza and drinks we have ever had but it was also such a neat atmosphere. The restaurant was architecturally beautiful. We sat in an area where practically the whole wall opened up like one big window, letting in the fresh mountain air and breeze.

The last event of day four was an open-top car tour. We climbed aboard a vintage-inspired bus-like vehicle that had the look and feel of the 1930s. As promised the top was open, giving us great views as we drove around the town of Banff and the surrounding areas, hearing information from our guide. It was fun, interesting, relaxing, and allowed us to hear some facts that we might otherwise not have known without taking the tour!

Day Five:

Take a Drive Around Smith Doreen's Loop

As a family growing up in Wyoming, we spent a lot of time in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and the Big Horn mountains, so we are lovers of sightseeing and animal spotting on drives. We were hopeful to find wildlife on this drive. Although we did spot a few groups of big horn sheep, we never saw any bears or other wildlife. The drive was totally worth it though! The views were amazing and we had so many great photo opportunities! We saw several hiking paths and locals out fishing. It was a beautiful drive and we would definitely recommend this to anyone with a car!

We also had a plan to go on a walk on Policeman’s Creek Boardwalk. It’s a 2.4-mile scenic, easy walk in Canmore, but ultimately we decided to just take it easy that day and stop along the Smith Doreen's Loop to get out and walk. We did see the Policeman's Creek Boardwalk and we would definitely recommend that people walk there if you have the time. It looked so peaceful and beautiful!

After our drive and grabbing some food, we got dressed up and took family photos! This location was absolutely gorgeous and I am so happy we took our photos here. The Three Sisters Mountains are iconic to Canmore and I felt like we had the most beautiful view of them at Quarry Lake. Originally, I had searched far and wide for a family photographer. I was very disappointed to find out that all the photographers I inquired with were either unavailable or just did not want to take photos of an adult family. Because I absolutely couldn't find anyone, I decided that I would have to take our photos on my own. I taught Sage the basics of my camera and he took some of our group photos, I took some of the photos, and we set up a tripod for others. I think they turned out to be so beautiful! See our full family gallery with the link here!

Day Six:

Helicopter Tour and Wild Life Distillery Tour

Day six was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! We got to take a private helicopter tour over Canmore! Now the story of how we did this was kind of funny. Roy and I love purchasing experiences for my parents as gifts. This year, for my dad's birthday we bought him a helicopter tour through Alpine Tours. He loved it so much that he insisted that we all go on it later in the afternoon. He called them and they actually did still have another tour so he booked it for us. Wow! It was such an amazing experience. None of us had ever been in a helicopter before this ride, so it was a completely new thing. Flying over and right up close to the mountains was amazing. Everyone loved our pilot Pete, and he told us some great stories and information about the area! I thought that we might be going up with other people, but it was just us, which was really neat!

After we got off the helicopter we raced over to the Wildlife Distillery. I was super worried because we were a little late after the helicopter tour, but again, it was just us. Our guide was so kind and she waited patiently for us to get there. She gave us an awesome tour! We got to taste their vodka, gin, and whiskey. All of us agreed that we like vodka in cocktails, but would never drink it neat. This vodka was creamy and had a vanilla taste. It was so good, even in just a tasting glass. No one in my family had ever tried much gin, but after this trip, my mom and I have been converted to gin drinkers! And of course, we all love whiskey! I especially loved their rye whiskey and it became one of my top favorites. Unfortunately, we live in Utah, so of course it is not available here, but we were able to get a few bottles back home in our luggage!

Day Eight:

Lake Minnewanka Boat Tour

For our last day, we had planned to drive 45 minutes up to Johnston Canyon and hike in that area. I had seen the photos and heard that it would be absolutely gorgeous. Per usual, we were all getting pretty worn out and we had done and seen so many amazing things. We all decided to just sleep in, hang out, and explore the town of Canmore.

When booking the boat tour through Banffjaspercollection.com we had a few options we could have chosen from. There was a normal cruise and a 'beer voyage'. Most people in my family enjoy beer so we totally had to do that and it was amazing! Our guide was fantastic as telling us about the lake while also introducing us to a flight of local beers! Each beer had some unique taste to it and it was actually pretty neat to learn more about beer and the different ways they can be flavored. One of the beers was made with a local plant called 'fireweed'. It gave the beer a little bit of a sweet and smoky flavor that we all enjoyed! Our guide told us about the indigenous people who lived in the area and how they viewed the lake as a gateway to the rockies. It's a gap in the mountains that you can walk from the flat prairies of Alberta right into the Canadian Rockies. It was so neat to see such a piece of history like that.

Lake Minnewanka is also the largest and deepest lake in the area at over 600 ft deep! Our guide had us all enjoy a moment of silence to hear nature and the waves of the lake on the water. It was quite pleasant and something we won't soon forget. We then had the rest of our beers on the way back. It was actually a lot of beer. It was 32oz or 2 pints per person and needless to say, by the end of the tour we all were a little tipsy and really really needing to pee lol.

This tour really was a great last activity to enjoy on our Canadian vacation and was a big hit and highlight for everyone.

Fly Home

The following morning we had to pack up and head a little over an hour back toward the airport. Being the stampede, the airport was extremely busy and we were glad we got there early. Not only was security a long excursion for us, but we went through US customs right after. That was not something we expected. Usually you don't go through customs until you arrive to country you are traveling too. But once we got to our gate and boarded the plane, it was a quick 2.5 hour flight and we were home just in time to pick up our doggies and enjoy our evening relaxing from all the travel.

Overall, This was vacation was one for the books. Alberta had the perfect combination of adventure and luxury. We always had great food, amenities and luxuries accessible but adventure was literally all around. It's a place we will surely return too and do even more new and exciting things!