Canada

Jasper National Park

When traveling from Banff to Jasper you get the opportunity to drive on the Ice Fields Parkway.  This drive is one of the most scenic drives in the world with tons of glaciers, icefields, wildlife, lakes, waterfalls, and rivers.  We drove slowly and enjoyed the views stopping every couple minutes to take pictures. This is what we saw.

dust storm

Baby Grizzly bear.

Skywalk over the glaciers.

The Columbian Icefield is the largest ice field in the Rockies and it is breathtaking.

We parked the Chinook in front of icefields, made some coffee and enjoyed the view.

We camped at two different campgrounds. Snaring campground was nestled in the trees besides the river and was more intimate. Whistler camprgound was giant with over 780 campsites, we usually try and shy away from campgrounds this large but we heard that a herd of elk and their newborn calves live in the campground so we stayed there a night and got the chance to see the elk wandering around the campground.

Ever tried a banana s'more? YUMM

Can you find the 3 big horn sheep?

Athabasca Glacier

Athabasca Falls

Medicine Lake

find the sheep

black bear

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On the way back to Banff we stopped again at Peyto Lake, but this time it was snowing. We love this lake.

Banff National Park

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Moraine Lake

Our first stop in Banff National Park was Moraine Lake. It was beautiful.

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We weren't the only ones enjoying the view.

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We camped at Johnston Canyon campground off the Bow Valley Parkway, if you want to see wildlife, this is the spot.

Once in a lifetime moment seeing a wolf this close.

We went on the Plain of 6 Glaciers hike which starts at Lake Louise. This was a fairly easy hike with incredible views.  At the top of the hike is a rustic tea house serving up various teas and other goodies. All of the food that is served is either hiked in or dropped off by helicopter every few weeks.

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This is Peyto Lake, perfectly aqua and perfectly shaped like a wolf.

Yoho National Park

Emerald Lake Lodge

Yoho National Park in British Columbia isn't talked about as much as neighboring Banff and Jasper but it is just as stunning.  Emerald Lake Lodge is a beautiful spot and a great jump off point for many hikes.

From Emerald Lake Lodge we hiked to Hamilton Lake.  It was one of the most challenging hikes of our trip so far with steep switchbacks taking up a bulk of the hike. The lake was frozen over and surrounded with snow.  We brought some snacks and made a charcuterie plate and enjoyed the summer sun while sitting in the snow. 

We stayed at Kicking Horse campground which was surrounded by mountains and glaciers. We rode our bikes around the area and took in the views.

Revelstoke and Golden

We continued driving across Canada and stopped at some cute ski towns along the way. These towns were cool in summer but we can't wait to come back in winter and ski.

Revelstoke, BC

We stopped at a Wolf Sanctuary outside of Golden, British Columbia and were able to get a closer look at these magnificent animals.  This sanctuary doesn't breed wolves but takes care of wolves already accustomed to captivity.  We normally shy away from places where we think animals are being used for tourism and being treated poorly but this was not the case here.  At this facility the wolves are taken on off-leash walks almost every day.  They get to socialize with one another and still maintain a pack mentality.

Stopover in Salmon Arm

From Joffre Lakes we made the drive east towards our next destination of Revelstoke and the Banff/Jasper area. On our drive we stopped at random interest and had some incredibly fun moments.

We saw a sign for fresh cheese at a place near by, and if you know Ang that means that we are stopping the car. We pull into a Mennonite ran farm that specialized in making fresh gouda cheese. We bought some goodies and saw the sign on the door that said "We have 9 baby pigs for sale to good homes." We went on an adventure to find these little pigs running around the farm, these little pigs were so mischievous. We found them sneaking into the barn and eating all of the chickens feed. The farm dog ran in and the game of pigs-chase-dog or dog-chase-pigs ensued around the giant saw dust pile. We can only tell you that we spent over an hour watching this and laughing uncontrollably.

On our way to Salmon Arm.

Hike to Joffre Lakes

We stumbled across these lakes while driving from Whistler to Revelstoke. We were hungry and decided to pull over for a picnic, grabbed some food and headed to the first lake.  While eating some snacks we heard a man say to his friends, "Don't spend too long taking pictures here, the other lakes are better." So we went back to the Chinook, put on our hiking boots and took off up the trail to the first lake.

These animal carvings led the way on the trail.

When we got to the first lake we were blown away at the color of the water. With a glacier at one end this little lake was beautiful.

At the third and highest lake we stopped to have some lunch.

We saw at the top of the ridge was a large glacier that flowed down into the lake. We hiked up and filled up our bottles, straight from the source, and the best water of all time. 

Exploring Vancouver by bike

Vancouver eh? Only two stops in and we already mastered our accents. Get us a few flannel shirts and a moose to ride around on and we will pass for locals. Just kidding but Vancouver was a lot of fun, we got lucky and the weather was perfect. We toured the city on our bikes and ate at some of the most incredible restaurants of our lives. We did a little research and hit some hole-in-the-wall spots for good food. First up was our favorite place, Phenom Penh. This little Cambodian/Vietnamese spot was as good as it gets.

Next up, the best Ramen of all time recommended a friend. While working our way around town we found the Japadog street stand.

Famous Japadog

Going out in Gastown

15 minutes out of town is the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.  A treehouse/jungle gym in the forest for kids of all ages.

We will be back soon Vancouver!

Urban camping in Victoria

We made it to Canada! First stop Victoria on Vancouver Island.  About 10 minutes off the ferry we pulled into the Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse. This farm makes a wide range of different ciders from their apple orchard. With a beautiful setting this was the perfect first stop in Canada.

We spent the day in Victoria wandering around the wharf looking for buck-a-shuck oysters and good local beer.  We loved watching the sea planes land and take off in the harbor. We parked the Chinook in front of the Parliament Building, crawled in, and slept for the night.

Parliament Building

The Empress Hotel

Where we slept

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