canadian rockies Archives

Hello! How are you all doing? An incredible summer season has come to an end over here. I know I’ve been a bit MIA on the blog here, but I do want to make sure I share a bit about my summer! Apart from all kinds of spread out summer activites, we had 3 big things on the calendar: two visits from back home, and one trip to the east coast of the US.

visitors and sunshine coast

Tom’s parents came to visit us in July. It was so lovely showing them around and giving them a glimpse of what it’s like here!

They explored Vancouver while we worked during the week, but we did really want to take a day off so we could spend a full long weekend with them. And what better way to do that than to get away from the city like people do here?

On Thursday evening, we took a ferry to the Sunshine Coast. We had heard such great things about it, and we loved the idea of seeing a new island in the area.

It was fantastic weather, and we hadn’t been there ourselves yet, so it was nice to explore something new all together. Part of that trip was also the Skookumchuck Narrows – a nice read there if you want to know more about it. And here’s a little reel of our time on the Sunshine Coast!

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canadian rockies

Not long after waving Tom’s parents goodbye, we had another special couple over at the end of August! We met Tom’s brother Erik and his girlfriend Aga in Calgary and spent a week road tripping through the Canadian Rockies. It was amazing slowly making our way back to Vancouver with them. We saw Banff National Park, Yoho National Park, and Jasper National Park for the first time. There’s so much to share and tell – so I put together a separate (rather lengthy and photo-filled) post about that. Go read that if you’re interested! But yeah, my oh my, what an unforgettable experience. The rockies are overwhelmingly beautiful.

happy accidents

OK, silly story. I’m an early ’90s girl that grew up listening to the Jonas Brothers. So when they announced their tour, I did my fangirl dance and looked for Vancouver on the list. Sadly, they were going to skip my city, and so I scanned the list for alternatives. Toronto? Ugh, flights are so expensive and it’s so far away! Why don’t I just find something in the US, instead? The US border is just a 1,5 hour drive away, so lots of people from Canada go to cities in the US to see shows. Washington it is. A 2 to 3 hour drive will get us there.

One morning, I was preparing for a full day of training when I was reminded about ticket sales starting at 9 AM. I sent the Verified Fan link and information over to Tom, asking him to get us 2 tickets. Any tickets. Doesn’t matter where we sit, I just want to be there.

A little while later during my break, I check in to see how it went and if we got some tickets. Yep. We did. Then Tom goes: “You do realize it’s for Washington, DC, right?”

!@#$%^&*()(*&^%$#@!

Sigh. This is such a first world problem, but yeah, we decided to see it as a nice opportunity. So 6 months later, we hopped on our flight to New York City. We spent 4 days exploring New York City for the first time, then took a train to Washington DC to continue our trip. We ticked off countless must-sees and recommendations from friends. And then, on Saturday 23 September, my brain effortlessly downloaded all the lyrics to songs by the Jonas Brothers from 2007 to today.

hello, autumn

Returning home from the US was like a baptism into the fall – rain, storm warnings, urges to buy knitwear, all of that. Or at least that’s what it felt like at first – soon after, repeated whiplash followed, as we went from cold to warm and back again several times. But yeah, by now, fall has definitely kicked in.

I’ll try to be good and keep up with posting a bit more in the fall. It will be our first fall and winter here, so it will be interesting to transition to new activities and experiencing what the colder seasons are like in Vancouver.

Thanks again for reading along, and see you next time!

It was my first summer living in British Columbia. What are we going to fill up this wonderful season with? Without a doubt, the Canadian Rockies just had to be part of our summer. When Tom’s brother Erik and his girlfriend Aga planned for a visit, it wasn’t long until we decided to make it a trip with the four of us.

The Canadian Rockies span across the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. It’s a majestic mountain range, renowned for its pristine lakes, towering mountain peaks and glaciers, and overall rugged beauty. The area counts multiple national parks – for this trip, we travelled through Banff, Jasper, and Yoho. There’s such an abundance of hiking trails – it took some effort to make a selection of what to do and where to go! In any case, end of August we headed up to Calgary to pick E & A up at the airport. Here’s how we ended up filling our 9-day trip.

wine touring with sip happens

The drive up to Calgary is about 11 hours from Vancouver. I wasn’t too keen on doing that long distance all in one go, so it was the perfect excuse to stop halfway, which is in the Okanagan Valley! Known for its sunny and relatively dry climate, the area is filled with vineyards and gorgeous lakes with lots of activity on the water. I had been on a wine tour before with a visiting friend – now I was eager to repeat and share the experience with Tom.

This time would be a little bit different though, because for quite some time Kelowna was dealing with devastating wild fires. We were hesitant to go; people had lost their homes and/or were on evacuation orders, so they needed Airbnbs and hotels way more than anyone else. We asked our host up in Vernon how things were, and she reassured us that in that area things were okay and we were welcome.

The wine tour would cover another area though, so we weren’t too sure what to do. We figured we’d let it depend on the locals: if the wineries appreciate the business, we’re all for it, but if not, it’s all good. The organizer, Sip Happens, gave us a call to talk about it, checked in with some wineries, and decided to proceed with the tour. It was the first tour in a little while, and not all wineries were reopened yet, so they changed the Lake Country tour into an East Kelowna tour for us and two more people. There were still smoky skies, but at least we could see across the lake, which according to our guide was a huge improvement to just the day before.

reunited

The next morning, we continued our drive up to the province of Alberta. The drive was incredible; we already drove a bit through the rockies, so it was a little taster of what was to come! Once we reached Calgary, we checked into our Airbnb, freshened up, and went out to dinner. Our friends had recommended a Japanese restaurant ran by Darren MacLean, a top-rated Canadian chef that appeared in The Final Table on Netflix. It certainly was an incredible meal at Shokunin!

Meanwhile, E & A were getting closer to Calgary as well, so we made our way to the airport and picked them up. It was so nice seeing them again after 7 months! We were all pretty beat, so not too long after reaching our Airbnb again, we called it a night and rested up for the big trip.

The next morning we explored sunny Calgary and had brunch. Knowing what was in store, we were eager to get out of the city rather quickly, so off we went to our next stop: Cochrane. It was not a long drive yet, just about 30 minutes in the direction of the mountains. This first day was all about catching up, relaxing, and planning out further details for the trip. Our Airbnb had a big grill that we could use, so we collected some groceries and handed Tom the barbecue pincers. He’s the chef, so it was only fair!

into the rockies

The next day, it was time to head to Banff National Park. I had heard about Banff many, many years ago, way before I ever even imagined living in Canada. I’m not sure I even realized it was in Canada or that it was part of the Canadian Rockies when I first saw pictures of it and thought: I must go there once. Actually being headed there now was a weird realization. It was time for our very first hike in the rockies! We located the parking lot for Lake Louise, went up to the shuttle bus, and before we knew it, we laid eyes on that gorgeous lake.

It’s quite a touristy place, which we had been warned about, but the trick was to go on a longer hike. Sure enough, at some point after a couple of kilometers we took a left to follow our 12K trail up Mount Piran, and noticed everyone else was just going straight ahead on a shorter, more popular trail.

It was a warm day, so it was tough starting off with a hike with almost 1000 meters elevation gain. But man it was worth it! Gorgeous views over Lake Louise, and just so wild to think this was just the beginning.

On the way back, we still had some time to take the shuttle bus to Moraine Lake as well. I thought this lake was even more beautiful – it just has an incredible backdrop. Initially, we thought we’d have to choose between Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, so we were all so glad we got to do both on the same day thanks to the shuttle bus (and good timing finishing our hike).

emerald lake at yoho national park

Next up was a drive to Yoho National Park for a big bucket list item: Emerald Lake. Yoho is situated on the western slopes of the rockies. From all these incredible places we’ve see, I do think Emerald Lake was my favourite lake. It was a cloudy day, but that actually just made the views even more interesting. The hike we did was a loop around the lake but also had a out-and-back section to the glacier. Enjoyed this one so much!

traumatized by a wild animal

Apart from amazing photographs and memories, I got another special souvenir from that day. After our hike to the glacier, we decided to go on second hike to a waterfall that was on the way to our Airbnb. I was just minding my own business when I was suddenly attacked by a vile, evil, very dangerous animal.

A mosquito.

No no, don’t laugh now. It was a monstrous mosquito with serious super venom. It bit into me in two delicate places – my left hamstring and my right butt cheek. I distinctly remember feeling getting stung, slapping the back of my leg, and having blood on my finger. It kept feeling sensitive for a bit, and then I didn’t think about it again.

Until the next morning, when it itched so badly and I noticed the two spots had gotten terribly swollen. Especially the one on the butt cheek. Seriously, it was like my butt grew a butt. It was like it would only be a matter of time before it would start speaking and ask for food. So I called it my tamagotchi for the rest of the trip. (A good excuse to get extra snacks.)

I carried these huge marks not just for the rest of the trip. The swelling went away terribly slowly, and after that it was still dark for weeks.

Anyways, enough about my butt.

so many sights

The next day was more of a Banff drive day with several stops on the way to see some highlights of the area. It’s too much to mention it all, but a favourite was definitely the Peyto Lake Lookout. The weather again not super clear – a combination of cloudy and smoky from wild fires in the area, but still the colour of the water was gorgeous!

We did another hike that day and it ended with a sighting of a mother bear and two cubs. We first saw them from a distance as we were descending from the mountain and were on our way back to the car. Exhausted when we reached the car, I didn’t think the odds were great of still seeing those bears. The others went looking though, and yep, they saw them up close!

jasper national park

After seeing Banff and Yoho, it was time to go further north toward Jasper National Park. On the way, we stopped for a hike in the Valley of the Five Lakes, where the boys jumped into the emerald blue water and were dried up soon enough by the sun. Our two days in the Jasper area were filled with yet more such hikes, paddle boarding, and driving around in that mind blowing landscape.

sulphur skyline

For our last day in Jasper and the Canadian Rockies, of course we had to do one last epic hike! Recommended by our Dutch friends here in Vancouver, we went for the Sulphur Skyline Trail. It was a rough ascent to the top – once we got closer to the top it was so, so windy! There were a few people with small dogs and I just couldn’t help but visualize all those dogs flying up like kites.

The views up here, man… Mind blowing. Just peak after peak, endless mountain views. Similar to our experience in the Okanagan Valley, it was rather smoky, which gave the view such an interesting quality. I was just glad we could still see something – incredible to think that on a clearer day, you can see even farther in the distance.

Leaving the Rockies via Pemberton

After Jasper, we had two options: drive down back via the Okanagan and spend our last overnight stay there, or take the coastal route back to Vancouver with an Airbnb somewhere along that route. The wild fire smoke wasn’t looking too good in the Okanagan area, so we decided to head the other direction.

From Jasper, we went down to Valemount, Kamloops, and stopped in Pemberton. We knew an amazing farm in Pemberton that we wanted to show E & A. After a pit stop there with some ice cream, we continued down to Whistler (Creekside) for our last stay. We booked something last minute and it was just the perfect place! It had a pool, hot tubs, pool table, and – yes – a barbecue. So we collected some groceries again and Tom cooked us an incredible meal once again.

running into friends

The next morning marked our last day of our trip. We spent that day in Whistler: E & A went on a list hike while Tom and I took it easy and strolled through the village and picked a lake to go and see. Since we couldn’t see Lost Lake the last time we were here due to all the snow, we tried again now and succeeded. Oh, and fun bonus, when we were having a coffee in town, we ran into my work friend! Such a funny moment that also made me feel at home. You know, we were getting closer to Vancouver, and we ran into someone we know. It gave a sense of belonging to this place which I just really appreciated.

We waited for E & A to finish their hike. From there, it was time to get ready for the last stretch of our drive. It would just be another 2 hours south.

Back to Vancouver

The way back from Whistler was much more familiar territory for us, so it was nice showing our special guests what our own area looked like. We stopped at Porteau Cove just to look out over the ocean for a bit. Seeing Vancouver appear in the distance soon after was such a nice moment – as much as I loved the trip, going back home is always such a pleasure. Though it’s different from the rockies, we’re still surrounded by so many gorgeous mountains here, too. And this is where we live. WE LIVE HERE! WHOO!

The next part of their visit would start here – exploring Vancouver and getting a sense of what our life is like here – and why we love it so much. But I guess the first part, having all that majestic nature relatively close by… Probably already explained everything to them.

canadian rockies

The summer trilogy

visitors and sunshine coast

canadian rockies

happy accidents

hello, autumn

Exploring the Canadian Rockies

wine touring with sip happens

reunited

into the rockies

emerald lake at yoho national park

traumatized by a wild animal

so many sights

jasper national park

sulphur skyline

Leaving the Rockies via Pemberton

running into friends

Back to Vancouver