So the only free weekend we had to travel on was the Fourth of July. It’s my favorite holiday, and I didn’t want to miss out our neighborhood Fourth of July breakfast, so as soon as it was over we loaded up our car and drove to Canada. Which seems ironic to leave the country when instead you should be celebrating it.
We stayed overnight in Canada and the next day we woke up early and drove to Banff National Park. We made the rookie mistake of heading first to Lake Louise, along with everybody else visiting Banff. The wait time was over 2 1/2 hours to get in. So we decided to go another time and headed to our AirBnb.
What we didn’t realize about Canada is that in the summertime it doesn’t get dark until 11 PM. So we decided to do a lot of our sightseeing after the girls took naps in the afternoon and headed out at 6 PM every night. It was great because we got several hours of daylight still and there were no crowds anywhere.
We loved Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and Johnston Canyon was a good hike to see the secret cave and waterfalls. I would recommend them all! We also did the hike to Lake Agnes where they have a tea house located above Lake Louise. We hiked with both girls on our backs and it was harrrrrd. It was about 4.5 miles round trip and a steep uphill climb. And when we got to the tea house it was packed! So go early if it’s on your must-do list. We snagged one of the last tables, and the biscuits and jam, and tuna sandwiches made the whole hike worth it. Or maybe we were just starving by the time we got to the top, but everything tasted SO good.
We also loved taking the Banff gondola to the top of the mountain. It was worth being able to see Banff National Park from a different perspective and they have free roaming mountain goats everywhere. Our girls thought that was pretty neat! Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were going crazy! We checked our watches and it was 10pm and still completely light. Our poor girls were such troopers being dragged all over at the craziest of times.
Getting to see Moraine Lake and Lake Louise were every bit as beautiful as I imagined. I was pretty skeptical at first that they just had to be photoshopped, so I was pretty surprised when they were every bit as brilliant blue as you see on social media. But beware because there are people everywhere! Apparently we weren’t the only ones excited to see Canada’s most famous landmark!
On our last night we decided to go to Lake Louise one last time and it was pouring rain. We had our umbrellas though and when we got out to the lake it had stopped. There wasn’t a soul in sight! I am always happy when I travel with my boycott because he really is “always prepared.” Apparently no one else thought to bring umbrellas! It was almost strange though to see it without anyone else! But it was a great way to end our last night.
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