Before reaching Banff to meet Jacquie for lunch, I had to stop at Vermillion Lakes. This view never gets old!! If you’re paying close attention, you may recall this mountain from my 2023 calendar, even though it was taken during a different season. The reflections and mountains are pristine. There’s an amazing bike path right beside the lake (but I drove) (even though I had my bike).

I won’t describe every day, but lunch in Banff was fun, we walked around the town and I made a startling discovery. I feel like I should whisper this so everyone in BC doesn’t hear me… “I like Banff more than Whistler.” <BC collectively gasps>

I have a few reasons for this, if you’re reading this and want to know, reach out 📲

Kananaskis

The next day, Jacquie and I went on a long hike. Did I mention there was a heat wave? The heat wave was still on, and we had to pick a hike with good forest cover so we didn’t die from sun exposure. We chose the Memorial Lakes hike. Jacquie works at Kananaskis Lodge and has NEVER hiked this to completion, despite the hotel being a five minute drive from the trailhead. Crazy.

There are three lakes along the Memorial Lakes hike, and the second one has some of the most dazzling blue-green water I’ve ever seen.

It was a long one. I’ve been working up my distance and elevation over the summer exactly so I can go on hikes like this one! At the end of the day, it ended up being 20km and 826m. My strava says 19.05km but Jackie’s Alltrails says 20km. Why aren’t they the same???? I will never know.

Calgary

After that, it was time to hit up Calgary. Remember the forest fires and poor air quality in Revelstoke?? Well for some reason, Kananaskis had been sheltered from that. Also, this was the day that Jasper had to evacuate everyone and the park shut down. Despite the tragedy in Jasper, Kananaskis was mostly clear.

Calgary, however, was another story.

Here’s what it looked like.

I had fun trying to capture the sun directly behind the tower, backlit and mysterious looking.

Over the few days I was there, I managed to cycle around a bit and catch up with a couple of friends. I’m so happy I got a bike rack installed just before leaving for the trip so I could bring my bike!

I had been fantasizing about floating down the Bow River, and as luck would have it, a friend of mine from Vancouver, who is from Calgary, happened to be there and we made it happen. Being there really made me miss the city. I like Calgary a lot. It almost felt like a different city than the place I spent so much time. I had a profound sense of time being the fourth dimension, because you can be in the same place, but it is never really the same. Much has changed, with the city and with me.

I would have enjoyed spending longer there, but I had friends to see in Edmonton.

A lot of them!

Edmonton

I got to Edmonton late afternoon on a Saturday, one week after the Golden fiasco. At least this week I wasn’t looking for a place to stay! I had the evening to myself, and spend the next few days catching up with dear old friends. Some people I had seen within the last couple of years, others it had been far longer.

I was born in Edmonton, and spent formative years in both Edmonton and Calgary. Both were hugely impactful to me! I spent time cycling around the city and reaquainting myself with it. Many areas I had never been to before because we lived in an area and really never ventured too far outside of it.

I didn’t take many photos in Edmonton with the Sony, except for a shoot I did for my friend and her family! I took headshots for her along with family photos for her parents, sister, nieces and husband. A friend I stayed with for four nights lives on a farm, so I took some beautiful photos of her land during a walk, but only with my phone 🤷🏼‍♀️

From Edmonton, I left my car with a friend, and headed to the airport to head East to New Brunswick and the Maritimes. This is where I started writing this blog post.

Part three covers my adventures in the Maritimes! Including way more photos.