We planned to spend our last full day in Golden visiting Glacier National Park, but our plans took a bit of a turn once we stopped at an information exit and were told that almost all of Glacier was still impassible due to avalanche risks. I love a good adventure as much as the next girl but freezing to death in a snow drift is not how I want to go. We decided that we’d see what we could from the road and instead make our way to Revelstoke.
Revelstoke was a darling little ski town surrounded by beautiful mountains.
We enjoyed wandering in and out of shops and picking up a few souvenirs.
We left Revelstoke and headed back to Golden to grab an early dinner and check out some of the sights we hadn’t yet gotten to at our home base.
Our trip to Canada started off with a bang. Or perhaps a better word is ‘bust’. I woke up at 3:30 AM to an email alert from United that my 6:30 flight had been canceled and I needed to call to reschedule. My original flight was supposed to take me from Savannah to Chicago where I would meet Michelle, then Chicago to Calgary where we would arrive in time for lunch. The problem was the weather in Chicago, so the only option they could offer me was an even earlier flight (6:00 AM) to Newark, Newark to Houston (wrong direction!!) and finally Houston to Calgary where I would now be arriving around 5 PM. Poor Michelle got an even crazier re-route through San Francisco and didn’t get in til nearly 8! So much for exploring Banff on our way to Golden that first day. Disappointing but luckily we had built a free day into our itinerary just in case, and after all, we did both make it to Canada, with our bags! No small feat after all that rescheduled nonsense.
We stopped for a late dinner at the Cactus Club Cafe. Our waitress raved about the Prawn Ravioli which she said was the winning dish in a Canadian version of Iron Chef. We ordered the appetizer version and it was definitely delicious as was the rest of the meal.
Cactus Club Cafe: Dark lighting<delicious food
Post dinner we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries and then hit the road for Golden, arriving just after 2 AM and immediately going to bed after 24 hours of travel.
We woke up the next morning to discover that our Air BnB was really adorable and incredibly well appointed. The owners had left us toiletries, coffee, candy, a bowl full of fruit and even a dozen eggs! So yes, the stereotypes are clearly true, Canadians are really nice.
After breakfast we packed our lunch and headed for Yoho, our first park of the trip. As we drove we got our first daylight glimpses of Golden, a cute and fairly quiet little ski town surrounded by huge snow capped mountains.
Here, I feel it’s appropriate to take a minute and get this out of the way, as I’m sure to be repeating it 8 million times throughout these posts: CANADA IS BEAUTIFUL! Like breathtakingly, mind blowingly beautiful in a way that only mountains and wilderness can be. If you want to see a piece of the world that still looks exactly as I believe God must have intended it, go to the Canadian Rockies. You won’t be disappointed.
Ok, so back to Yoho. Our first stop was a short walk to the Natural Bridge.
The Natural Bridge is a natural span of rock over the Kicking Horse River that houses a small waterfall.
Kicking Horse River
The water, like most of the water we saw throughout the parks, was the most beautiful shade of green/blue due to mineral deposits that run off from the glaciers.
Pool at the foot of the Natural Bridge
Our next stop was Emerald Lake, which just so happened to still be frozen solid. Continue reading →
Good day eh! My google search informs me that this is a common Canadian greeting, so I’m practicing. I realized that I got so wrapped up in beef tacos and Mexican food menus last week that I forgot to share that Michelle and I were no longer hypothetically going to Canada, we ARE going to Canada. Tomorrow!
I used that exclamation point after tomorrow to denote both excitement and panic. Excitement because of course, Canada! and poutine! and beautiful wilderness! Panic because if you’ve been reading for any length of time you know that I am quite the planner, and this trip has been particularly difficult to plan in great detail. And also bears. Always bears.
This trip came together quickly and I feel like I am as prepared as I can be, but not quite as prepared as I would like to be. The weather looks like it will be in the high 40’s low 50’s which is great, I certainly prefer cold to freezing. I did purchase these babies just in case..
I am going through a soup season in life right now. I have always been partial to soup but lately I have really been craving warmth. Fuzzy slippers, flannel pants, seat heaters, you name it. I’ve never been big on hot tubs (aesthetically or hygienically) but I’ve recently found myself day dreaming about them on more than one occasion. This can maybe be attributed to the fact that after replacing our hot water heater upon moving in, our shower, much to my dismay, just doesn’t get very hot 😦 Is there anything worse than a ‘warm’ shower? The answer to this is of course yes, there are about a million worse things and this is a total first world problem…I know…. but when I’m standing under that less-than-hot spray, the burn your feet off jacuzzi day dreams come on STRONG.
So, if I can’t have a hot shower, at least I can have hot soup, right? Or perhaps I can use the hot soup to bribe my husband into calling the plumber again. You reading this babe? I think I’m on to something.
This soup is loosely based on a recipe my mom clipped out of the newspaper and became obsessed with a few years back. Hers was delicious, but I think mine is heartier. If you aren’t into orzo you could use rice (or pearl cous cous) and it would still be equally as yummy. The feta is also optional but adds a little something something I would hate to see go.
Atastytrip 