Our family of 5 road trip through the Canadian rockies in a vintage Airstream.
When we arrived at Banff we were excited for our camping site in the middle of the National Park.
The sites aren’t full hookup and are hard to get (have to book 6 months out to snag them usually) but the beauty and convenience is worth it. The sites are kind of weird though because the power hookups were backwards meaning every camper has to run their cords under their rig and plug in right outside the door. So pretty much make sure you don’t park on your power or trip over it when you exit your camper each time (usually the plugin is by the bumper on the backside). There is also noooo service unless the wind blows just right but the bath houses are nice, clean and spacious and you’re just a few minutes from the Lake Louise Village with service and treats and central to Banff town and all the park sights. It was a great choice of stay for us. After doing the oh so familiar set up routine we hopped back in the car to make the short drive up the hill to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. These two lakes (especially Moraine) have become so popular that they have to keep someone on site to monitor the opening and closing of the roads/parking lots. We hit Louise first to see its gorgeous view. The hotel there is classy and stunning and right on the water. I instantly wanted to book a room (that I’m sure I can’t afford) and stay for a while. We came back to Moraine and Evan had mentioned before that it is his second favorite view in the World behind that of tunnel view in Yosemite. I believed him and had seen his pictures but the accounts of others just doesn’t do it justice. We had no problem getting in to park (the parking area is just so small for such a popular spot...we went after 8pm) and it truly does take your breath away. There is a fence and then a large area of floating driftwood and a huge rock pile. People were falling off the logs and getting wet left and right. We would have been fine getting wet but it was kind of cold and I had a kid on my back so it wouldn’t have exactly been ideal. I’m proud to report that all Laniers crossed the driftwood without incident and then made it to the top of the rock wall (which is tricky with an excited toddler swaying back and forth in a backpack type deal). ...And then we found out there was an actual trail around the backside that was super easy that Evan had apparently missed his two previous visits. Insert facepalm. But it made for a fun hike that the kids loved. Gray wanted to scale the rocks over and over again so we stayed until the sun went down and hit the hay.
Monday was exciting as soon as we woke up because there was lots to see and friends were coming to town.
It’s so so fun to travel and have people meet us on the road. We headed towards Yoho to check it out before they arrived. One of the coolest things we saw was the spiral train tunnels. Trains use to come down the mountains in one particular spot and derail like crazy. I could see where rocks still so easily slide in the area and I can’t imagine being a train conductor trying to make the steep downhill track. After so many deaths and wrecks a series of switchback tunnels for the trains were built into the mountain to help them travel more safely. It seems simple but it’s so cool to see. At one point you can see a long train coming in and out of 3 tunnels at the same time. Seeing that alone is like every little boys dream apparently so Gray and Phoenix were mesmerized.
Beyond the train we headed to Takakkaw Falls (fun name right?). It’s the second tallest waterfall in Canada. As we walked up to it Phoenix started to yell “waterfall! waterfall!” in his little toddler voice as he kicked his legs with delight. The more waterfalls we see, the more he cheers #JustLikeHisDaddy. Evan and Gray headed closer to the top of the falls while the other three of us stuck at the bottom (the spray from the water was freezing) and attempted to take a decent picture of them. It’s painfully obvious that I’m not the photographer in the family.
We collected the Yoho XPLORERS tag for the kids and their hard work on their books and headed back to the camper to greet our friends. Cheree and Bryan Givens are in the video industry and also live in Alabama but we became friends with them in Mexico at the Wedding Film Retreat last January. They are crazy enough to jump on a plane on a whim and meet us in Canada. Get you some crazy friends like that! They arrived in time for a fancy meal of grilled cheese and gatorade. We decided to try our luck at taking them to see Moraine but had a backup plan because we knew it wasn’t likely. But guess what? We drove right in. The roads had been blocked and huge flashing signs were still telling people to take the shuttles but since it was later in the day (like the day before) we were able to to be waved on in and score two spots. The views hadn’t gotten any worse from the day before and it was fun to share it with other people and watch them see the insanely blue water under the huge glacier covered mountains for the first time. We went on to Louise as well and enjoyed coffee with the view this time. It was another cup that was decently good but the taste was enhanced by the atmosphere. We stayed late again and the awe still hadn’t worn off.
The next morning we all met back up for a hike to Wapta Falls (all the Canadian names are so fun). So many of the falls we had been to were gorgeous but not a space where I could let Phoenix down because, you know, kind of like to keep the kids safe. Wapta was different though. It was sooooo much water but instead of being crazy tall it was crazy wide. It was treacherous up close (which didn’t stop Evan in the least at climbing it and getting himself blissfully soaked) but after it hit the canyon floor it spread out and gave a wide birth for a rock and beach area. There were so few people at the falls besides us and plenty of room to run and throw rocks. It was so nice to allow Phoenix to play with Gray and Kyrie and us all be able to take in the area in our own ways. Cheree, Bryan and Evan obviously took the photo route and captured all the goodness while we were there. After our hike out all we could think about was food so we headed into the town of Banff (I love how the Canadian Park towns are right in the middle of things). We passed restaurant after restaurant and nice dining after nice dining and ended up in a food court. The food was good but not exactly picturesque. However, it was followed by tasty coffee (noticing a trend here?) and there was another Beaver Tails for dessert. If you missed the Beaver Tails report on the last blog you should really go back and read about it because it’s basically pure goodness wrapped in sugar.
We checked out the local “castle” which delighted Kyrie for a quick stop (known as Banff Springs to the rest of the World) and Vermillion Lakes before heading to meet more friends at Johnston Canyon. Jake and Ellyn are a couple we’ve know for quite some time and Evan did their wedding three years ago. They planned to meet Evan in the Banff area last year but unforeseen circumstances put the trip off a year so it was super cool to drive in to the parking area and see them there in their sweet rental van. Like seriously, you take one look and it’s like they were born for the nomad life. It was an an international greeting a year in the making. We grabbed our waters and headed into the Canyon. And what a Canyon it was. We were prepared for a strenuous hike and though there were some straight up areas, the entire hike was boardwalk along the canyon and made it an easy hike where we were able to enjoy conversation along the way. Evan and Jake were disappointed that an area they were looking forward to was closed, and incase you have ever wondered, Evan prefers the more rugged hikes and thinks concrete trails are subpar. True hikers unite! But, we saw two waterfalls and a cave and had a great time introducing friends to friends. Not a bad days work.
We went to our respective sleeping places because we had an EARLY morning coming at us. Like, we all met at 5am on Wednesday at Moraine ready for photo shoots which means all us ladies in the group got up at an unmentionable hour. Because Moraine is such a hot spot and the word has gotten out about it, if you want to be there at sunrise and especially if you want to be there all together in a big group you better be prepared for an early wake up. We drove in at 5am and by 5:30 the parking was full and closed. We stayed in the car until 6:30 when the sun came up and headed to the trails to have a little photo shoot time. Jake and Ellyn were celebrating their 3rd anniversary and Cheree and Bryan were celebrating their 7th (and they do a cool photo shoot each year at a different spot while wearing their wedding attire). Evan took photos of them and they took a few photos of our family as well. If you have to travel, taking folks who are good with a camera with you isn’t a bad way to go. The kids and I headed back to the car once the effects of the early morning started to get to them and Evan and the couples finished up with some epic stuff. The third time truly was the charm for us at Moraine. Everyone came back to the camper for a bit to regroup and it was so satisfying to see everyone in the #airstreamstarship with room to eat and relax. Shoutout to Evan and Kacey again for making those renovation dreams come true.
Evan, Cheree, Bryan, Jake and Ellyn all went off to adventure at Peyto Lake and Mistaya Canyon down the Icefields Parkway while the kids and I took on a nap and an ice cream treat…we can’t hang in there with the rockstar hours like the rest of them. While they were exploring Evan got some sweet shots of Jake and Ellyn in their element with their camper van and I’m shouting for the World to hear that they need to end up on a billboard or brochure somewhere. Look at their pictures and I dare you to tell me I’m wrong.
Once everyone met back up it was taco time at the camper and Evan and Bryan hung out waiting for the sun to go down so they could get some sweet star shots they like so much. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in and the stars hid from them so we hugged and said our goodbyes instead.
Thursday we hooked up the camper and headed back down the Icefields parkway towards Jasper.
Midway we stopped and viewed a few glaciers. We wanted to hike to them but we were short on time and the only way to get on the glaciers is to take a buss tour so we continued north instead. We stopped in the town of Jasper for lunch at A&W (which are almost as popular as Tim Horton’s around there) and as we were leaving Jake and Ellyn came in. We thought we wouldn’t see them again when we said goodbye the day before in a totally different town. I wound dare to say that most Alabamians don’t meet people they know on the streets of Canada all that often. We laughed and talked about their insane photos and said goodbye again so we could head towards our campsite. We booked our nights at the KOA past Jasper and closer to Hinton. It was a great campground with full hookups and great amenities but if we had it to do again we would have boondocked in Jasper because it ended up being a pretty long drive from everything we wanted to do. Evan dropped us off and then turned right around and headed back towards Jasper for a photography boat tour on Maligne Lake to Spirit Island. He expected a boat full of people and was excited to find only 4 people on the boat so it made for an incredible opportunity for photos that can’t easily be gotten .
Friday we we took our time getting started after having had so many early mornings in a row and then got back to it.
It was a little rainy but nothing we couldn’t handle. We made the drive to check out Sunwapta and Athabasca Falls. Both falls were over an hour and 1/2 or so from the campground but pretty close together once we were there. Both are easy walking trails that would not be considered hikes. Evan showed some major skill getting one shot as he basically did the splits over a mud puddle with his camera and then a few minutes later scared a lady to death as he set up a shot of him standing on one of the cliffs. She didn’t realize that’s just daily life with Evan. It’s really fun to watch people watching him!
Our last adventure in the woods for the day was at Maligne Canyon.
Evan had taken a little time there the night before and was eager to go back in the daylight. The Canyon is so thin and deep that it’s hard to take in. I kept trying to take pictures of it with my phone and it didn’t begin to touch the depth of the place. We learned they there are 6 total bridges that cross over Malign Canyon. The kids and I enjoyed the first two and then headed back to the car. The thought was that Evan would finish the bridges and we would drive down and pick him up at the 6th bridge after he took some time to capture a little video for a project on the walk down. Well, it turns out that the bridges past the first 2 are a lot father apart. We sat at the 6th bridge waiting for a while until Gray and Kyrie started a discussion about if their dad had been eaten by a bear. Luckily cell service caught a little wind moving in the right direction and Evan got a call through telling us to come pick him up at the 5th bridge. He would have had another mile or so to go if he would have kept going and he could have obviously handled it but the road was a little shorter as it took a total of about 60 seconds in the car.
Once we had collected all of our humans we went in to town for a minute so the big kids could earn numbers 5 and 6 of their Canadian Xplorer tags and number 2 for Phoenix. Jasper Parks Service has a great kids area outside of their welcome center. There were tons of animals and microscopes and other hands-on learning options for them. We call that a homeschool win right there. On the way back to the car I tripped over Gray and landed face first on the sidewalk. All that hiking we do and I bite it in the middle of town. Im glad I could provide a little entertainment for the locals though. Then, as I drove us out of town we all spotted a big elk on the side of the road and Evan was able to hop out and snap its photo (no head injuries were involved this time). The crockpot held supper for us when we returned “home” and boy were we happy for that invention when we walked in and smelled it after a long rainy day.
On Saturday I started the day by doing something I haven’t done in 6.5 weeks. I started some laundry and I drove away. I went right out of the campground and into the little nearby town and I didn’t take a single person with me. It was grand. I enjoyed breakfast and coffee and grabbed some groceries. 2.5 hours later I returned as new woman (there’s a long Facebook post about it if you want to know more). I was quickly greeted by “hooray moms home!” and hugs and 20 minutes later I pulled one of my kids kicking and screaming from the playground. We call that real life. Evan headed back to some of the spots we hit the day before with his camera in hand since the sun was out and making for much more alluring scenery. Rainbows even greeted him as he drove around. The kids and I enjoyed the afternoon close to the camper and we all enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs together before making s’mores. The KOA didn’t allow individual campsite fires (bummer) but did provide a large community fire pit. The fire was super hot and melted the marshmallows in about 10 seconds so that was nice even if we shared it with so many other people. While at the fire we spotted a camper that had just arrived with an Alabama tag. It was like seeing a dinosaur! Cars cars everywhere but not a matching southern tag to be seen and suddenly they are your neighbor. We never got to set eyes on the elusive Alabama creatures (we should have knocked on their door I guess) but it was nice to know that someone else shares our insanity of making that drive.
We got up Sunday and started the first of our two longest back to back drive days of the trip. 1,000 miles and back to America on Monday. A few hours into the trip we stopped at the largest mall in North America to eat lunch and walk for a bit. While malls are dying in the south, the West Edmonton mall is booming. There are amusement parks and several food courts and it’s all very clean and pleasant to the eye with every type of store you can imagine. We hit up the first food court and we all enjoyed our lunch but Evan reported that his meal was actually the best he’s had of the trip. Paramount Lebanese restaurant gave him and Gray the hookup apparently and their fresh falafel, gyro (fast forward to a few hours later when Gray would have yet another gyro for supper from Arby’s...funny kid) and beef shawarma with tabula salad (sp?) and fries was to die for. Evan checked out the camera store (obviously) and we let Kyrie explore her first Disney store (talk about cloud 9) where she and Phoenix both got a plush toy (big deal for this family that rarely buys souvenirs) and Gray picked a hat from an outdoors store to add a patch he chose at one of the National Parks. We caught a bit of the sea lion show on our way out (doesn’t every mall have one of those and a moat with a pirate ship in it?) and grabbed a coffee at Second Cup Coffee Co. (reminded me a lot of coffee from Duncan Doughnuts) and continued the long drive day. The kids have been nothing but champs (poor kids are getting so accustomed to riding in the car) so we let them watch a movie part of the afternoon. We entered Saskatchewan and decided to push past our originally planned stopping spot to make the drive less daunting the next day. After Arby’s in Saskatoon(where Phoenix pooped his pants and then I promptly dropped the fresh pair into the toilet...(momming like a boss… and )we continued a few hours to finally rest, once again, in a Walmart parking lot. In the town of Regina. And unfortunately it’s NOT pronounced like the woman’s name. 8,600 trip miles and counting.
