Banff

Trip details

• Duration: 7/13/19-7/19/19 (originally planned for the 20th, but we returned a day early to make it in time for Toan's wedding)
• Flight: United (~3 hours, each way), $394 for the both of us
• Accommodation: Room 224 @ the Red Carpet Inn, in a King-sized (?) bed

 I will do this write-up in 2 formats: a brief overview of daily activities, then a more thorough look at trip highlights.

Day 1 (Saturday):

• Dad drives us to SFO at 5:30AM. We take off at ~745 and get to Calgary around noon. 
• Head out to Banff and get there around 6 or 7?
• Park it, check in, and grab dinner at The Bison

Day 2 (Sunday):

• Our first day of activity - Aylmer lookout (14+ miles) at Lake Minnewanka, starting at ~7AM. 
• We do 10 miles, but don't complete
• Lunch
• Hot tub
• Dinner at Chaya

Day 3 (Monday):

• Canoeing at Emerald Lake
• Lake Louise
• Hiked to Lake Agnes up to the tea house. Continued on to Little Beehive, then returned to our car.
• Dinner at Earl's happy hour

Day 4 (Tuesday):

• Aylmer lookout (Take 2) 
• Started the hike at ~11, didn't finish 'til ~6. 
• So freakin' pooped, we just got dinner then passed out.
• Dinner at The Balkan + pasta from Ticino and pizza from Bear Street Tavern (terrible, btw)

Day 5 (Wednesday):

• Via Ferrata 
• Lunch at Eddie Burger
• Midsommar
• Booked a photog
• Dinner at Sushi House

Day 6 (Thursday):

• Moraine Lake - Larch Valley to Sentinel Pass
• Consolation Lakes 
• Lunch at Park Distillery
• Photo shoot
• Dinner at Earl's (again)

Day 7 (Friday):

• Time to go home :(

Day 1 (Saturday):

• Dad drives us to SFO at 5:30AM. We grab breakfast at the SF Giants Clubhouse using our Priority Passes - we both order the same big breakfast burrito. We take off at ~745 and get to Calgary around noon. Have lunch at Alumni - we share the hot chicken sandwich, taco salad, charred broccoli, and the parmesan fries. It was a lot, but what can I say? We're on vacation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Walk about the city some (the downtown area is so picturesque), hit up the mall (with a freakin' awesome garden at the top floor), then head out to Banff.
• Park it, check in, and dinner at the Bison (I get the steak with chimichurri, Daisy gets some kind of fish with pasta, and we share the elk poutine [which was actually gnocchi, oddly enough]). The "poutine" may have been my fav dish of the trip - it was mad delicious and I ate it before I was getting sick of American/bar food.

Day 2 (Sunday):

• Our first trail was to Aylmer lookout at Lake Minnewanka, starting at ~7AM. We wanted to get our biggest hike out of the way and spend the rest of the week cruising on smaller ones.
• After 5 miles (and an additional 45 min of waiting for another group to show), we turn around after the scariest warning sign of bears - it's an area where people have been attacked before, so they require hiking with bear spray (which we had) and in a group of 4 (we were only 2). The walk back is disappointing, but when we get back to the trailhead, we see a goat standing (quite majestically) atop a rock at one end of the bridge.
• The goat ends up crossing the bridge to reach her kid - all of us make way so the goat can cross, and she passes close enough where we could reach out and give her a pet (but we don't).
•  Also spent 15-20 minutes hanging out on the lakeshore, skipping rocks and just enjoying the setting.
• Lunch was at Indian Curry House (the lamb madras was alright, but the garlic naan was particularly choice) & dinner was at Chaya - I got the Tan Tan ramen and Daisy got the katsu curry with an extra serving of katsu. Surprisingly, one of the best ramens I've had. The katsu curry was delicious as well. 
• Afterwards, we strolled along the main strip and came across a BeaverTails. They sell dessert that's basically a fried slab of dough slathered with your choice of toppings. It smelled like sweet heaven, so we made a stop and bought one that had Nutella and banana. It tasted as delicious as it smelled - a killer dessert, for sure. 

Day 3 (Monday):

• Some context: we started our previous hike at 7AM and when we were waiting for some company for us to continue the hike with, we did not see another group until we were well on our way back to the car.
• We assumed that people in the area just got a late start, so we left to Lake Louise at about 9AM, which was about 45 minutes away from our hotel. Unfortunately, it was stupid packed. We wasted 15-20 min driving up to (then immediately out of) the parking lot
• So, we drove another 15-20 min to Emerald Lake and spent ~2 hours canoeing. Before we left, we grabbed some parm fries that would've been killer if they were hotter :( . But they were well-seasoned with a ton of cheese so that was nice.
• By the time we got back to Lake Louise, people were starting to leave and parking spots were slowly opening up. We were fortunate to get one and not just be sent back out of the lot.
• At Lake Louise, we took a few photos before starting our hike. At the end of our initial trail, there was a tea house where we ended up sharing a pot of tea and a serving of an apple crumble. It was cool because chipmunks were getting all up in the mix scrounging around for scraps. They were super adorable and not shy at all.
• We continued on to Little Beehive trail, took in some more amazing views, then returned to our car.
• We grab dinner at Earl's happy hour - from what I can work out, it's a Canadian Yard House with a better happy hour. We get the dynamite roll, buffalo cauliflower, Santa Fe chicken salad, and their crispy ribs. The crispy ribs were like salt and pepper style, but lemon pepper flavor. Definitely my favorite item of the meal.
• After dinner, we talk about our plans: to sleep in and do one or 2 short hikes tomorrow, and to give Aylmer Lookout another try on Thursday morning. We would go later and hope to run into another group that we could tag along with.

Day 4 (Tuesday):

• After sleeping in 'til 9 or so, Daisy says we probably have to give the hike a try today because there was snow in the forecast on Tuesday. We hop out of bed, get dressed, pack up, and head out. 
• At the trailhead, we see.... a bunch of older folks (8-10), some of whom were reading the warning sign and clearly not moving on. There was only one other couple that looked like they might have been heading out the same way - we approached them, and after some chit chat, they decided to join us (they weren't planning on hiking much that day, apparently). Jess & Blake from Ohio - I couldn't be more grateful for anyone else on our entire trip. They made it possible for us to hit the trail comfortably and to completion, even though the whole trip took us about 7 hours. The longest hike I've ever been on, with the most gratifying view of the trip. Through the sprinkles and more serious rain, the mosquitoes, the bear taking a deuce in the woods ~25-30 feet away, I enjoyed it all.
• We got back and shared a lamb skewer at the Balkan. Then, we grabbed a pasta dish from Ticino on our way back to the hotel. Lastly, we grabbed the Hawaiian pizza from Bear Street Tavern - I'm not sure there was any meal more disappointing. This spot had 4 stars on Yelp and came recommended to us by a number of people on the trip. The crust was legit frozen-pizza quality, toppings were scarce, and it was just a disappointment overall. We crushed the whole thing 'cause that's what you do when you skipped the rest of the day's meals and went hiking for 7 hours. But sheesh that awful meal capped an otherwise terrific day.

Day 5 (Wednesday):

• We had signed up to do a Via Ferrata route at 8:30 on Mt. Norquay (which, surprisingly, is pronounced phonetically lol). We hopped on a free shuttle, got there, and spent the next 4 hours in a group of 8 climbing up to a particular viewpoint then back down. They offered 2 longer routes of 5 and 6 hours - I'm glad we didn't pick those because I felt like we had to travel slowly to accommodate the entire group, which would have been annoying if we had to do that for longer than we did. Awesome experience climbing up and around a mountain.
• We grabbed lunch at Eddie Burger - another highly recommended spot. I thought it was alright, but the burger was def overcooked :/. 
• We went to the theater to see Midsommar - it was about as weird/creepy as the trailer made it out to be. Daisy went shopping for a lil bit since we set up a photo shoot for the next day. I browsed the bookstore for awhile. I don't think either of us was particularly hungry, but neither of us wanted to head back to the hotel only to go back out later, so we headed to dinner. 
• Dinner at Sushi House was great. I am definitely surprised that we enjoyed the 2 Asian spots the most - I think we both thought that such a touristy town would have terrible Asian food (and indeed, the Vietnamese and Chinese spots were both rated at 1-2 stars). It was a small restaurant and there were just 3 people running the show, just like at Chaya. It was a sushi-train style restaurant, and the chef was just working to perfection, pumping out really good sushi and managing everyone's requests.

Day 6 (Thursday):

• We are going to see Moraine Lake. Unfortunately, it shares the same area as Lake Louise - i.e. it's gonna be similarly packed out. We leave at 5AM to get to the lake at 6. By the time we get there, the parking lot's still got spots (fortunately). We get started on the Larch Valley Trail to make it to Sentinel Pass.
• It sprinkles on our way up, then it starts to rain. We hike for an hour or so when... it starts snowing. Hard (to us, at least). We turn around and make our way back down, and hit up another trail.
• The 2nd trail we go on is to see, appropriately enough, Consolation Lakes. It's a nice hike, not very crowded, and just absolutely beautiful at the end. We clambered over a good deal of rocks to get closer to the water.
• We hang out for a good while at the lakes, then head back.
• We head back for lunch, which ended up being a cod chowder at Park Distillery, along with a brisket sandwich and the rotisserie chicken. 
• We chill out for a few hours, killing some time before heading back to Moraine Lake for our photoshoot. 
• It was supposed to be for an hour, but ended up taking 2. The weather was freezing, and we spent a lot of time putting on and taking off extra layers. Our photographer was very chatty, which helped to loosen us up. For something that we booked last minute and for our first photo shoot, I had a load of fun, freezing weather notwithstanding.

Day 7 (Friday):

• Time to go home :(
• I hate it when a vacation ends. We grab another Beavertail in Banff (potentially my favorite item to eat all trip) and do some last minute gift-shopping, then head back to Calgary (bout an hour and a half from Banff).
• We grab lunch at Charcut which was just alright. Grab some final snacks at the local Shoppers (which is like... Walgreens or Rite-Aid) before heading to the airport.