July

It has been a most happenin' month!  As you know, we left the country real quick for part of July.  Roadtripping with some of our favorite friends was of course a highlight of the whole summer!  Here are some other fun things that went on.

I got my very first fake tattoo!  Haha!  Kylie and I have been intrigued by all of the "Inkbox" ads so we thought we'd try it out for ourselves.  We love the idea but they didn't last long enough to be worth the price, in our opinions.  It was fun while it lasted, though, and it was an interesting social experiment to see how strangers treated me differently!  Note: if you ever get a real tattoo, you better have a good story behind it because everyone will ask.

Yay Obon practice!  We look forward to Obon practice all year.  It is never a letdown - I love dancing with these awesome ladies and eating the most delicious somen!

Thanksgiving Point had an employee party at the Hogle Zoo and it was the best employee party ever.  I freaking love animals!  Bailey and I made a date out of it and got the most delicious authentic Chinese food before hanging out with these cute elephant friends.  And other animal friends of course!

One of the best things about this summer is all the time I've been able to spend with Kylie and Warden!  Kylie and I spend so much time together, our outfit choices have started to be in sync.

And Warden is just the cutest little friend!  He's growing super fast!

It has been a great month and a great summer!  I'm a little bit (super) bummed about school starting soon, but am glad that I chose to be a teacher so that I can do whatever I want every summer for the rest of my life!

Glacier National Park

We were so excited to get back to Glacier today! We hit the Visitor’s Center before heading to lake St. Mary Lake for a boat ride. On our way we saw some mountain goats and also stopped by a little weeping rock trail which was short but really beautiful. It was also a nice time to admire the view of the Going to the Sun Road, which can be quite treacherous from the road.

In case you didn’t know, Bailey LOVES boats. We told him we’d go on a boat ride this week, and today was the day! Glacier actually has 4 different boat tour options, all of which are pretty affordable. Ours was an hour and a half, but it was actually a bit of a surprise because we spent a little more than half hour on the water, 20 minutes walking to a beautiful waterfall, and the rest of the time back on the boat. So fun and so beautiful!

We left out the east side of the park to eat lunch and head up to Many Glacier. Maybe we missed something but Many Glaciers was not that cool so we pretty quickly went back to the main part of the park. After seeing the cutest little fox friend which was lucky! We also saw two more bears on our way to Logan Pass. Once we got there, there were a bunch of Bighorn Sheep hanging out in the parking lot which were so fun to see.

Logan Pass was a MUST for me because all of the Bear Grass! I didn’t know that Bear Grass existed but I was completely mystified by it when seeing it for the first time last night. It is so alien looking to me! So surreal! This big patch of it was one of the most magical sights of my life. Also it smelled amazing.

We didn’t want to drive back completely in the dark so we decided we better head back to our Airbnb. It was a long drive back but we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful evening light and gorgeous sunset. The colors were amazing with the light shining onto the foliage and rocks!

We did not have nearly as much time as we wanted in Glacier. I wish we were able to fit in an actual hike! I plan on coming back someday, hopefully soon. Tomorrow we head back to Idaho Falls then to home the next day for Bailey and me. It has been such an amazing trip, probably one of the grandest adventures of my life! We were able to see and enjoy 5 national parks between two countries. They were all so different from each other and so diverse within themselves. I could seriously make this exact trip again, as each national park deserves at least a week of its own!

We’ve also had so much fun hanging out with our friends who we don’t get to see very often. Baby Eleanor is the sweetest little thing and we will miss her so much! We are grateful for traveling friends who are always up for an adventure. We didn’t know Bailey had this week off of work until about three weeks ago, so when I asked our friends if they’d want to go with us I didn’t actually think they would be able to! But they are the spontaneous type thankfully. We had such a blast together!

Waterton Lakes National Park

We left this morning for our final Canadian adventure - Waterton National Park! I had no idea Waterton existed but Bailey’s coworker is from Canada and Waterton is his very favorite. So it was a must-hit for Bailey!

On our way to Waterton we stopped by the Cardston temple. It was so interesting! I thought it looked similar to the Laie temple and it turns out it was the same architect who designed the two. Also, this temple was the very first international temple. It was dedicated in 1923! So old, so beautiful. Bailey said it is his new favorite! 

We eventually made it to Waterton and made a stop at the Prince of Wales Hotel. Such a beautiful building! We had fun exploring the inside of it, but the view from behind it of the lake was spectacular. And so windy!

We then went down to the town and walked to this pretty waterfall before eating some hot dogs from Waterton Weiners. The town in Waterton is so adorable, we spent time walking up and down the main street looking at shops and getting treats. Bailey and I tried Turkish Delight for the first time and I actually really liked it!

We walked along the coast for a minute before heading out. We have borders to cross and places to be!

Tonight we are staying in Kalispell and the quickest way to get there is through Glacier National Park on the Going to the Sun Road. We entered the park and 5 minutes in we saw a bear off the side of the road! It was pretty close to us and just chomping on the plants around him. We stayed safely inside our car (unlike some other people, surprisingly) and enjoyed watching him. So cute!

We didn’t expect much from the Going to the Sun Road, mostly because we didn’t really know anything about Glacier, and how cool could it be considering the things we’ve already been able to see on our trip? Oh man were we in for a surprise! We were completely in awe at the sights we saw from the road, and the beauty of it literally brought me to tears. Bailey said, “it’s like the Garden of Eden and the Shire had a baby!” and I think that’s about the best way to sum it up. Really though, it was something else. We cannot wait to get back to explore the park tomorrow!

We eventually made it to our goal destination - Chick-Fil-A. A wonderful day ending with wonderful food.  Could this trip get any better??

Banff Town & Gondola

Out of all the countries I could have gotten food poisoning in in my life, it is kind of hilarious that it is Canada! I’m not alone - Rachel and Spencer got it too. They got over it quickly but mine lasted all day!

Luckily we were planning on an easier day anyway because of the rain and colder temperatures. Bailey and I rode the gondola up to the top of Sulphur Mountain which was gorgeous! It’s not a cheap thing to do but we love cable cars and this one did not disappoint. It gave us a beautiful view of the park and the rain and a bit of fog made it seem even more magical!

At the top it was 10 degrees (Celsius!) colder than it was at the bottom. And the wind and rain were crazy! We wanted to do the little hike/stair walk to the tip of Sulphur Mountain but we went outside and were almost blown away by the wind so that was a no go. We enjoyed the views from the top (mostly from inside) and definitely considered the experience worth the stop and money.

After riding back down, Spencer and Rachel picked us up and we went to the Banff Farmer’s Market for lunch. The Farmer’s Market only happens on Wednesday’s so it was so lucky we got to visit! We all got different food and enjoyed the live music and handmade goods.

It started raining pretty hard but we decided to walk Banff Avenue anyway. After just a few shops the sky cleared and it was sunny again. The rain is crazy here! We loved the shops and bought tons of fun stuff. There were some good deals and unique souvenirs. We love this sort of thing! The Avenue is so cute and I think anyone would enjoy it. Bailey and I especially enjoyed our cheesecake/Skor bar beaver tail treat. 

We left Banff to go to a steakhouse because the boys had been talking about a good steak since day one haha. And us girls wanted to see a bit of Calgary, so it worked out well to do a drive through after dinner! We ended up at the Calgary temple which is just gorgeous. Going to temples in other places always makes me feel at home. So does Walmart, which we also hit tonight haha. 

Tomorrow we check out of our hotel to head south. We are excited for the rest of our trip but a little sad to be done with Banff. We barely scratched the surface! It is a huge park and so diverse. You can easily spend a week there! Not to mention the surrounding national parks. I’d love to come back to see more of Banff but also hit Jasper and Yoho. I’m so grateful that we had the opportunity to see what we could of Banff though! It totally lived up (and exceeded) the hype! Yes it was very busy and kind of expensive, but honestly it deserves to be because of its beauty. And Utah friends, it really isn’t much farther from home than Disneyland is, you should really plan a visit out here!

Banff National Park

Yesterday was very long because of so much driving. We slept in and stopped by Walmart and Costco before our 6.5 hour drive to Calgary. Crossing the border was easier than I thought it would be!

We stopped in Lethbridge for some poutine. Bailey has been so excited about poutine! It is so his kind of thing, fries and sauce. I ordered some too and ate most of it but I must say it’s really not my favorite. I’m glad I tried it though!

We were very relieved to make it to our hotel after a quick stop at the Real Canadian Superstore where we picked up many Canadian snacks. We had enough time to enjoy the hotel pool where the boys made themselves dizzy from going down the slide a million times!

We were happy to get a full night of rest and we needed it to prep for today. Today was one of the best days ever!

We thought we were getting an early start, but by the time we rolled into Banff at 8:45 all of the parking lots for Lake Louise and Lake Moraine were completely full! So we had to park at the park and ride and wait an hour and a half for the shuttle. We were feeling pretty frustrated, but then we finally arrived at Lake Louise and it was all worth it. 

Lake Louise was crazy busy, but big enough that it’s easy enough to find your own space to enjoy it. I had another plan for a way to enjoy it though, and soon enough we found ourselves on canoes!

I’ve never had a bucket list because it always seemed more time efficient to make a list of places I *wouldn't* want to go. But if I ever did make a list, canoeing Lake Louise would have been on it! It was about $100 per canoe for an hour so it was pretty expensive, but we felt like it was a once in a lifetime experience. So worth it!  Bailey and I canoed way out near the mountains and felt like we had the place to ourselves which was a nice contrast to the crowds on the shore. The hour went too quickly, but it was so relaxing, beautiful, and peaceful. I totally recommend it!

Enjoying some peace and quiet while resting from the exertion of canoeing.

We stopped for lunch in the hotel by the lake before hopping on the shuttle to Lake Moraine. It was so lucky that we got tickets to see it, they were some of the very last tickets! I wondered if Lake Moraine would be super similar to Lake Louise, and while they are both indeed lakes I think that they are both must-hits. We took a short hike up to the most beautiful lookout spot!

The water was so blue! I can’t decide if I like the turquoise waters of Louise or the bright blue waters of Moraine better. We went back down to the shore and waded around but man that glacier water is cold!

We made it back to the park and ride by 5:45 but were still feeling like we had energy. So we took a 4 mile hike to see two different waterfalls in Johnston Canyon. The hike was gorgeous, I loved the moss covered rocks and the jewel blue river running next to us. There were chipmunks everywhere and we even saw a little Yuki-looking mouse creature! So cute!

The waterfalls were more majestic than a camera can capture! At the first one we were able to walk through a little rock tunnel to be right next to the waterfall. We got pretty wet but it was so beautiful and powerful!  The second waterfall was also beautiful!

We were feeling pretty hungry by the time we were done with the hike, so we went back down to Banff to hit Chili’s. I don’t normally like Chili’s but it hit the spot after such a long day! We were exhausted but felt so happy. The start of today was rough but it ended up being one of the best days ever!