Banff National Park Part I

This year's family hiking trip took us to our neighbor to the north and into beautiful Banff National Park. We've been wanting to go here for a while and figured it was the perfect time to go with the kids since M is still able to ride in the hiking backpack. We may be limited on our next few big hiking trips when she can't fit into the backpack, but is still too young to do anything major.

We had a very early flight to Calgary so we slept at a Marriott hotel at Newark the night before (thank you Marriott points!). The flight was about five hours long and luckily pretty uneventful, which is always a good thing! We rented a car, stopped for some lunch, and drove the hour and 10 minutes to Banff.

Since we couldn't check into our VRBO for a few hours we decided to walk around the town of Banff for a little bit to stretch our legs and get some energy out. The quaint, but lively town is surrounded in all directions by snowcapped rugged mountains, and the streets are full of boutique shops, delicious restaurants, and of course touristy stores selling name plates and t-shirts. We grabbed some ice cream, shopped a little, stopped at the local Safeway for groceries, and then drove to our townhouse in the nearby town of Canmore.

Because of the early wakeup and the two hour time change, the kids were asleep by 6pm and we followed soon after. Good thing the townhouse had blackout curtains as the sun didn't set until 10pm!

Everyone was up by 4:30 the next morning, which actually was a good thing because we had wanted to get to our first destination, Moraine Lake, early since it can get crowded and they close the parking lot by 8am. We left the house around 5:15 (the sun was already rising) and the next hour and ten minutes provided us with amazing views of mountains. The entire time (and I mean the ENTIRE time) M kept saying, "Looka da mountens"!

We got there around 6:25 and there were quite a few people there already. There's a trail to the left of the parking lot called the Rockpile Trail, which is about half a mile long and has you climbing up stairs and rocks to get to the top in order to get a nice view of Moraine Lake. The lake has an outstanding blue color to it, which is caused by the silt-like rock flour from the continuously melting glaciers surrounding it. I've never seen anything like it and it was stunning to see. J absolutely loved climbing the rocks to get to the top and was astounded to see the color of the water. "My favorite color" she exclaimed. She is one who really appreciates the scenery around her and this was no exception.

We walked back down to lake level and decided to stroll along the path and the water. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks into the cold water and touching it just to see how cold it really was. J thought it was hilarious that there was still snow on the sides of the lake... in JUNE!

We left Moraine Lake and drove to Lake Louise. It was about 8:15 and you could feel the parking lot getting packed. By 9am there were no spots left so good thing we all woke up early! We got some grub at the hotel cafe and then walked around the glistening lake. The colors were spectacular and the mountains surrounding the lake reflected off the water. It was just beautiful!

Holding dandelions that J picked... greeaaaatttt 

M refused to look at the camera

Afterward, we went to the Lake Louise gondola to take a ride that the girls would enjoy. The gondola took us up to almost 7,000 feet elevation and provided us with beautiful views of Lake Louise, Victoria Glacier, and the expansive mountains.

We left around 11 and headed back to Canmore. We had some nap/rest time and then spent about two hours in the pool, which the girls loved. Dinner at a restaurant called Blake left us feeling happy and full. What a great first couple of days!

Road Trippin: Bath & Portland, Boston, Providence

We left the scenic mountains of Maine and drove to Bath, Maine which was about 2.5 hours away. We had wanted to stay in Portland, but wowsers was it expensive! Bath was a slightly shorter drive anyway and let us get in early enough where we could spend some time at the indoor pool. That evening we found a cute restaurant/pub and ordered... more lobster!

The next morning we left the hotel and made an unscheduled pit stop at the L.L. Bean factory store in Freeport. All that money we saved by staying in Bath just got redirected towards more clothes and gear...

We drove to Portland and walked around for a bit. We had lunch at a really cute restaurant situated on the water. Lobster please!

Actual pieces of the Berlin Wall

The restaurant we ate in

We continued on our trip to Boston. On the way we stopped at a playground in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to let the girls play and get some energy out.

We drove another hour and arrived in Boston at our hotel, which was right on the water and in the middle of the Freedom Trail which worked out really nicely for us the next day. We took the girls right to the indoor pool and ordered food to be delivered since everyone was tired.

Fireworks every Thursday night!

The next morning we crossed the bridge and had J lead us on the Freedom Trail. We put her in charge of telling us where we needed to go so that kept her pretty entertained on our walk! We had an end goal of getting to the aquarium right when it opened. The girls loved looking at all of the sea creatures and it gave us enough of a break from being in the summer heat.

Afterward, we found our way to Quincy Market to look for some grub to bring back for lunch. At this point J was tired of walking so we switched M to the carrier and put J in the stroller. We went back to the hotel for some much needed rest/nap time and lunch.

Crossing the bridge looking at Bunker Hill Monument. Our hotel is on the left.

After a nice rest we continued on the Freedom Trail right outside our hotel to the USS Constitution. It is the oldest commissioned ship in the US Navy and is very well maintained. We were able to look at the cannons, go down into the sailors' quarters (through very tight and narrow stairways), and get an idea of what life must have been like on the ship.

Lastly, we followed the trail to the Bunker Hill Monument. The monument was erected to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill which was one of the first major battles between the British and Patriots in the Revolutionary War. In order to get to the top one must climb 294 stairs, which we weren't going to do (Jon and I had both done it in the past), but then J said she really really wanted to climb to the top. Jon went up with her just in case she had to be carried, but she ended up sprinting up without stopping, totally putting to shame everyone that was taking rests.

We stopped for a well deserved ice cream on our way back to the hotel and then we played in the pool for a little bit. What an amazing day we had!

The next day we broke up our drive home into two separate parts. My cousin Mara and her husband live just outside of Providence so we visited them and went to their local farmers market to get some food and hang out.

We left around M's nap time and completed a big chunk of our driving at once. We stopped in Greenwich, CT at an amazing playground I had found out about online. Seriously, this playground was awesome.. I wish we had something like that close to us! From there it was only an hour to get home.

This week-long road trip was great and we all had such a good time. Where to next?!