BANFF!

Banff was awesome!  We were going to go in 2020 but that didn't happen.... Finally it did in 2023. Lee flew out and met us in Calgary. 

First stop, Calgary Temple!

Stopping at a Canadian Walmart to stock up.  Banff was just about 1.5 to 2 hours away. 

First stop, we went to Lake Louise.  Wow, the colors blew us away.  I was worried about parking, since there is a separate parking spot with a shuttle.  But we found parking just fine.  It was paid, but that's okay. 

We did a little hike to an overlook for Lake Louise. 

We stayed at a condo in Canmore, about a half hour away. That evening we hung out there. We were going to go to the hot tub, but by the time we finally decided to go down there it was full of people. 

The next morning we headed back to the exact same parking lot. We wanted to go up to Moraine Lake, but you did need a special shuttle for that, which I didn't reserve.  I looked the day before but of course it was all full for the next day.  Thankfully we had our bikes so we decided to bike there.  It was about an 18 mile round trip.  Going up was more strenuous. 

A picture at the condo. 

Pizza too! 

A cool vehicle we spotted in the parking lot. 

Wow, just breathtaking in both senses of the word on the way up! We'd love to go back to Banff again. 

A fun pit stop on the way up. 

We made it!  It was so beautiful. More of a turquoise color. We didn't have much time because of the bike ride, but it was fun looking around. 

We did another little hike to an overlook. 

Found an eager chipmunk too. 

Next stop, we went to British Columbia to the Golden Skybridge park.  I thought it would be fun to walk on the swinging bridges, which is was. 

We then did a splurge impulse purchase...we did the canyon swing which was super fun!!!  

See the wooden structure on the right sticking out?  We were released from there and swung in the canyon.  They did a surprise release so we didn't know when we would fall. It was very exhilarating! 

Cal and Elden went together, Shanna and Haley went together.  And then me and Lee. 

We then went back to Banff and did the gondola ride up to Sulphur Mountain. 

The pictures are out of order, but after the gondola ride we checked out the town. 

More incredible views all around.  Wow. 

We did another little hike at the top of the mountain out to the tower.  We left our names with others....

So beautiful!

We spent one more night in the condo then headed out the next morning to Idaho on our way to Ely.  We had a great time in Banff.  I wanted to go to the hot springs in Banff as well, but we didn't make it to them. We drove all day and stopped at Big Juds for dinner in Ashton, Idaho. 

Cal ordered the Big Jud, and was all about eating the whole thing. 

He had a lot of talk, but didn't make it very far.  I wasn't very sympathetic....it was all quite funny. 

A little squishy hand I think Elden bought in Canada I think. 

We met up with Katie in Rexburg.  We took her out to ice cream at Millhollow and she took us on a tour of campus. We tried to hook up with Lizzy as well but she was working in another town that night. 

We decided to just drive through the night to Ely since it's about 6-7 hours away.  I had a rough go of the first part.  We switched and I think Lee drove the rest of the way.