Spontaneous trip to Banff | Beautiful Scenery & Funny Candid Moments Pt. 1
Driving to Banff, Alberta has always been on my bucket list of places to see in Canada. It’s crazy to think that it became a reality last week when Tj (aka Taylor, aka my adventure sidekick) and I began chatting about places we’ve always wanted to go to and have never been — so without hesitation we decided, why not Banff?
We started off by making a list of places that we had to see, then looked into hotels & Airbnbs that would be central to all of the destinations we chose. We ended up finding an amazing hotel located in the smack of town called Elk & Avenue Hotel. Me being a normal hooman, decided to put in a special request to management.
You might be asking yourself why a pterodactyl JKP? I have a weird sense of humor. After I had sent Tj the confirmation and he noticed the request, all he said was,
“Weirdo.”
He has a point 🙃
Packed and all ready to go, we woke up at 5 am in prep for our long 9 hour drive, which was full of tons of coffee, good tunes, me showing off my non-impressive dance moves to Tj while he was driving (I didn’t get thrown out of the car so I’m good lol), laughs, and the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen — snow covered peaks, glacier turquoise lakes, several small waterfalls along the mountains, and brisk air. I suddenly felt like I was in a winter wonderland. I had several moments where I would daydream and felt so relaxed as if all of my stresses had disappeared — I love getting lost in thoughts.
Arriving at Elk & Avenue Hotel — The unexpected surprise
Can you guess what the surprise was? You guessed it.
Management had taken the time to draw the most colorful and perfect pterodactyl for me. I was over the moon and so happy. Tj’s response and facial expression was hilarious.
“No way…”
I was not disappointed.
After we unpacked, ate, and prepared our equipment we of course passed out — K.O. (Knock out)
Day 1 — The adventure begins
*Beep…beep…beep*. It’s 6 am and still dark out. After 2 snoozed alarms and struggles to get out of bed, we finally got up. After packing our gear we decided to try the restaurant located inside the hotel, Ricky’s All Day Grill. First thing we ordered — coffee. After having a delicious breakfast, we chose to start off at Lake Louise, which was a 45 min drive from the hotel. It’s world famous for its turquoise lakes, massive mountain backdrop, hiking and skiing. It’s one of my favorite spots that I’d love to come back to during the summer/spring. Even though I was freezing cold, the experience, taking pictures of the most breathtaking views, and inhaling the freshest cold air were worth it. It’s moments like these that make me smile and feed my soul.
During the drive I made sure to record as much as I could for the vlog. There were times where Tj wouldn’t notice and would say/do funny things he normally wouldn’t when the camera is on, which are the best candid moments — sneaky JKP. Here are a few things he said when he caught me,
“Don’t use that footage, you don’t have permission. Sthap. I can’t act normal. Hi mom. Use footage that won’t make me seem weird.”
And then there’s me,
“I own all rights. You signed my non-existent waiver ya booty head. What would you like to say to the viewers?— no pressure. Don’t worry, I’ll make you look weirder.”
After taking several photos and videos, we headed over to Emerald Lake.
Along the drive we spotted a location that had turquoise streams that we wanted to stop by to check out, which was about 5–10 minutes away from Emerald Lake. When we arrived, I was a bit disappointed since it was very overcast and felt like there wasn’t much to see. We didn’t spend too much time as it had started raining a bit and more clouds had rolled in. I wasn’t able to capture the photos/moments that I wanted, but Tj was able to take this rad shot of me by the lodges we walked through along the way.
Still a great site. The reflections of the mountains on the still water was mesmerizing.
We continued on and drove to the spot we wanted to check out called Yoho’s Natural Bridge, which is over the Kicking Horse River. The Natural Bridge was sculpted by the erosive forces of rushing water over what had once been a waterfall. It’s crazy to see how much influence water has in shaping a landscape. This was one of my other favorite spots. The lighting was perfect outside and I had the opportunity to capture nice hyperlapses and sit above what’s left of the waterfall. I definitely preferred this spot over Emerald Lake.
We ended up spending a good 2–3 hours at this location since there were just too many great spots to take photos and videos of, then left around 5 pm. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was pretty tired. We were too exhausted to go out to explore the town for places to eat so we ordered in from Ricky’s All Day & Grill. I got Wine Braised Short Ribs, which tasted so yummy. The meat was so tender that it would fall off the bone. Mmmmm. After eating and enjoying some nice pinot grigio to compliment the meal, I spent a few hours editing photos and ended up going to bed around 12 pm-ish — not a great idea when we had to wake up at 6 am again the next morning.
Before heading to bed Tj had mentioned how one of his best friends, Chris, who lives in Calgary would be driving down to join us for the next day. He loves photography and adventures as well, which is sweet! The more the merrier! Day 2 here we come!
*Read: Spontaneous trip to Banff | Day 2–Third Musketeer joins the gang Pt. 2*
