#111. Bucket List Banff

Day 1 (Banff National Park):  Intro to Banff 

It's become our annual goal to take the kids out of the country once per year.  We succeeded twice in 2024 (to Mexico and Ireland) and took aim on Canada in the summer of 2025.  Banff National Park has always been on my bucket list for trips and it was special to enjoy visiting with the entire family. It ended up being an amazing 8-day Canadian adventure!

Evanston city slickers ready to take their game to the mountains!!

Banff is actually fairly easy to get to...a 3-hour flight and a 1.5 hour drive outside of Calgary led to the beginning of so many amazing views!!

And this is where our Banff journey began...walking right by this moose.  Would we end up seeing a live moose during our adventure?!?

The main event of our first day in Banff was to ride the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain...

...each and every one of the 7,486 feet!!

So, we boarded one of these small pods and went up...

...and up and up!!

Some enjoyed the ride...

...while others smiled through the harrowing experience!!

It was an overcast and misty day, so the initial visibility wasn't so great...

...though as we hiked around...

...the beautiful surroundings began to reveal themselves.

We managed to scope out our first wildlife...

...and followed this big horned sheep around for awhile.

The fresh mountain air and scenic setting made for a good backdrop for lunch...

...and a high altitude beer...

...even if it was a little drizzly.

Before we headed back down, we took one last round of pictures...

...fully knowing there would be many more beautiful mountain scenes to come.

After returning down 7,468 feet of the mountain, we made our way to the Banff Hot Springs...

...and enjoyed soaking in the warm pool...a nice contrast to the damp, misty air.

We spent the evening strolling around downtown Banff...

...checking out the town's landmarks...

...and quickly realized Banff is indeed a very special place.

Day 2 (Banff National Park):  Johnston Canyon, Open Top Tour, & Lake Minnewanka

On our 2nd day in Banff, we drove to the Johnston Canyon trailhead...

...to hike to our first waterfalls of the trip.

The hike wasn't too challenging...

...and offered some great views...

...through the canyon.  

It didn't take long to make it to the lower falls...

...and the hike to the upper falls came with an amazing view.  

There was quite a long line, so we didn't have too much time with the waterfall to ourselves.

Thankfully folks were helpful taking this great shot!!

Next up on a busy Day 2 was Open Top Touring in a long open top bus modeled after the original tour buses driven by the Brewster brothers (who originally did tours on horse!).

Leyton was our entertaining guide, and he took us to some of his favorite spots.  

As we learned about the history and exploration of the area the clouds began to part and our trip finally had some sun!!

Sunshine was all our group needed to... 

enjoy the great views even more!

We saw Banff from many angles...

...as well as Banff town below (sadly, the sun temporarily disappeared for this part!).

Open Top Touring was a success!

Our final excursion of the day was to Lake Minnewanka, one of the longest lakes in the Canadian Rockies.

Before boarding the boat cruise on Lake Minnewanka, we had a little time to pose for some photos...

...and spot some wildlife!!

On board, our tour guide MacKenzie filled us in on the history of the lake.  Apparently, there is an entire town buried under the lake when a dam was built that raised the level of the water.  

Where there may be great scenery below the water, we focused on what was above...

...and were treated to some great looks...

... of the mountains surrounding the lake.   

In addition to the great scenery, we learned about the biodiversity of the area.  

We definitely enjoyed getting out on the water for the first (of what would be many) times!!

Day 2 came to a close...and ended with an amazing rainbow back in Banff town!

Day 3 (Banff National Park Day):  The GREAT Lakes 

Day 3 would prove to be a great day.  It all started with a drive from Banff town...

...which led us under these interesting 'wildlife crossing systems' designed to protect wildlife.  It was pretty cool to see how forest and foliage continued over the highway and animals wouldn't even know what was underneath them!

Soon we arrived at the Post Hotel to park and ride on one of these buses for the day to tour the 'great' lakes of Banff National Park.  

The weather was perfect and these two were stoked for a great day!

Our first of two lakes on the day was Moraine Lake...

...which on first glance was a showstopper!!

We got right to it and hiked along the perimeter of the lake...

...which served as a great backdrop for kids and adults!!

We quickly saw the gorgeous blue water come into focus.  

The combo of mountains, pine trees and gorgeous lake color felt like a real life Bob Ross painting!

As we hiked back along the lake, 'the Rockpile', our next destination, came into view.

Soon, we were climbing the rocks.

It's amazing how a little elevation can make things even more unbelievable!!

Whether it be portrait...

...or landscape view, the scenery was spectacular.  

Sadly, only two of us made it up the Rock Pile (due to an injury...and when we realized how short the hike was we also realized we had no cell phone reception to summon the others to make their way up)...

...but we thoroughly enjoyed our dad/son photo shoot!

We even had some help taking pictures!

Truth be told, the view of the mountains reflecting off Moraine Lake was my biggest 'wow' moment of the entire trip...

...and I'm pretty sure this guy would agree!

Since she missed the climb on the Rock Pile, Clare was itching to get to our next lake of the day...

...so we hopped back on the Wow Banff bus and headed to Lake Louise.

The bus was open air...so we enjoyed looking up at the mountains and breathing in the fresh Albertan air.  

Lake Louise had a tough act to follow,...

...but it did not disappoint.

As with Moraine Lake, we hiked the lakeshore path...

...and took in more amazing views.  

Lake Louise is the bigger of the two lakes,...

...so we took our time checking out the surroundings.  

On the trail back, we could see the famous Fairmont Chateau in the distance...

and we found a nice background for a family photo!

Before departing Lake Louise, we hiked the Fairview Lookout trail, that led to this fantastic viewpoint overlooking Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau.  

The views were stunning...and, thankfully, free!  (One night at this place is about $1500 in the summer!)

Truth be told, this hike came was challenging and came at the end of a long day.  I'm pretty sure these smiles were a little forced!!

And maybe these too...but what a view!!

After taking the bus back to the car, we headed across the border to British Columbia where we would spend the next two nights in the tiny town of Field (pop. 169!!).

With mountains all around us, this water tower was Field's main landmark and would prove to be a great base camp for the next part of our trip visiting Yoho National Park!!  Check out the next post!!