Late Anniversary Trip | Banff National Park, Canada

In December Tyler and I celebrated our SEVEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY - holy moly that flew by. We originally were going to go on a trip to Rome this previous October, but Tyler started a new job at PepsiCo two weeks before our trip was scheduled, and didn't feel comfortable leaving his brand new job for ten days when he was still that brand new. SO, long story short, we had a deal pop up (thanks Scott's Cheap Flights!) to Banff, and it was within the budget that we had after paying our flight change fees. We had never done any type of a wintery vacation before, and we have heard amazing things about Banff - oh, and I had never been to Canada before, so I feel like that's definitely one to knock off my travel list since it's our neighbor to the North. So, long story short - we went to Banff! 

When we arrived to Canada, I was on the lookout to see if everyone was actually as nice as the rumors say - and they were. :) My southern heart loved it! We spent the first night in Calgary getting dinner and relaxing. The next day we drove the two hour drive up to Banff National Park. We stayed in a CASTLE. I kid you not, it was huge and amazing. I should have taken more pictures, but I was trying hard to be in the moment this trip and just forgot to get better shots around the hotel. But here are the few that I did get! 

Outside of the castle - this picture unfortunately does NOT give it justice. 

Here's a google photo of the place that shows it a little better. 

When we got up to our room, they had a little Anniversary surprise for us that included some freaking cute chocolate covered strawberries. So cute that we put them in the fridge to save them and forgot to eat them - let that be a lesson to you all about living in the moment. haha - Fail. 

 After checking in to our hotel, we went snow tubing. Which holy cow, I forgot how fast that is! We had a great time!

After snow tubing, we went back the hotel, cleaned up and got ready for our one fancy dinner. It was at the top of a mountain. We rode a gondola together to the top, took in the views, and had a delicious meal overlooking the city and mountains. It was a fun way to start off our stay in Banff.

Beautiful winter - we don't exactly get winter views like this in Arkansas ;) 

Waiting for our yummy food.

SO FREAKING GOOD.

We weren't lucky enough to get a window seat - but it was ok. We still had cool views. 

Afterwards we went up to the lookout floors. It was freezing, so we didn't last long, but it was cool. 

Canada Shoutout! 

After dinner, we got in the hotel's outdoor heated pool (oooooooooohhhhhh mmyyyyyy gooossshh).  The next day we woke up early, rode a shuttle for two hours, and went SNOWMOBILING. I can't even describe how fun it was. It was my first time and I loved it. It was all that Tyler hyped it up to be.

Tyler and I decided to ride together on one of the snowmobiles. We followed our guide up to the top of one of the mountains. When we got there, they had refurbished an old mining cabin as a place to have snacks and hot-chocolate, as well as a place to come back to for lunch. It was a perfect rest spot.

 Not to mention that it had some AMAZING views...

 We had to take a picture of this snowman for Annie. We had told her we were going somewhere with a lot of snow, so one of her first questions was if we were going to see or make snowmen. My mom said she wanted to see the picture and video over and over again when we texted it to her.

Ignore that Tyler finger at the bottom  :) 

After hot chocolate and before lunch, they took us to a large area where we could ride in fresh powder that wasn't hardened into a path. It was fun! Tyler realized our snowmobile had been in Eco mode the whole time, so once he flipped that off and turned on sport mode, he was a maniac. Homeboy was fast and crazy. I was putting on my cool face, but he was scaring me. But I survived-haha. 

This picture did get as large as a wanted, but to the right, you can kind of see behind the trees the bowl
where we went to free ride. 

 After our lunch of grilled out hamburgers, we rode back down the mountain. They showed us an area on the path with a frozen waterfall that was pretty. They also showed us a little cave dug in the snow and told us there was a hibernating bear in it. Once we looked closer, we found out it was a teddy bear. Sneaky sneaky.

 Overall it was an EXTREMELY fun day. My toes were frozen by the end, but it was 100% worth it. And it wasn't anything that the heated pool at the hotel couldn't fix. ;)

 The next day was more relaxed. We went to Lake Louise and went Ice Skating! Tyler's mom and cousin had both mentioned that area to us, and their recommendations were spot on. It was gorgeous! We aren't pro-skaters, but we are good enough that we had a lot of fun!

He's the best. Love this boy. 

 I took a million pictures, but can you blame me?

 Love my goofball boy. :)

 They also had some cool ice sculptures and castles at the hotel by Lake Louise. I told Annie Elsa made them. ;)

After ice skating, we treated ourselves even more and got a couples massage. AH-MAZING. It was the best. Then we just had dinner and finished the night off in the heated pool. Are you starting to catch how much we loved that hotel amenity? 

 The next day was our final day at Banff. We checked out of our hotel and left to go dog-sledding. The night before we watched the movie 'Togo' on Disney+ . I am SO glad that we did because it got us pumped to go dog sledding, and half of the dogs casted in that movie came from the team that we went sledding with, including the dog that played Balto. So, that was cool.

 They taught us how to command the dogs, since we were the ones driving our sled. Fun fact, the word "mush!" is not what they yell to go. We are the mushers, you yell "Hike!" to go. And the dogs can get distracted by things (like squirrels...) and you have to yell "On by!" to tell the dogs to ignore it, and then hope for the best. :) It was AWESOME! Tyler and I were LOVING EVERY SECOND!

 Also, the dogs LOVED it. Whenever we would stop, the dogs would just bark, howl, jump and tug to go. All they want to do is run. They are definitely happy working dogs that love their job!

 Tyler drove first and I took pictures. He just kept laughing the whole time. It was fun to see how much fun he was having.

 Below was the halfway point (out on this beautiful frozen lake) - there, Tyler and I swapped places and I was the musher and he rode along.

 These were our dogs that were the speed setters of our sleigh. Sydney and Griffin.

This was Mayday. Just a big sweetheart.

This was Tommy and Tiger. They are the muscle. They also were the MOST EXCITED dogs. They were leaping and barking and jumping every single time we stopped. 

 We could tell that these dogs were well cared for, because they were not thirsty for our affection. They definitely get there fair share of loving and rubs and hugs. But they were tolerant of our need to love on them anyways.

This is the dog that played "Balto" on the movie Togo. 

After dog sledding, we drove back to Calgary. We stopped by the Calgary Temple on the way back just to check it out. It was closed for cleaning, but it was fun to explore the town and see it anyways. Then we headed to a very authentic Chinese restaurant for dinner. We were completely guessing when we ordered, but we got lucky and had a delicious meal!

 The next day we flew home to our babies! We had fun playing Solitaire at the airport (thanks to Michele for teaching us!). We also tried out the Pink Drink at Starbucks since our babysitter was highly recommending it to us the week prior. - she was right, it was freaking delish.

 When we got home the girls were asleep, but they were happy to see us the next morning! Annie was happy and sad. The first thing she said when she woke up was "where's grandma?? Can you go on another trip so I can go back to Grandma's house?" She said all of this crying by the way. I know she loves me, but I think she loves my mom more. haha! But I'm glad that they enjoy staying at Grandma's house so much!

We had an amazing time. It was nice to be gone and reconnect as a couple and have some serious fun with each other, but we were gone long enough that we were really excited to get home to our babies. Overall, I would rate Banff a 5/5 for a winter vacation to add to your bucket list. Thanks for the amazing time, Banff!