o canada

lisa, megan, jae and i decided to go visit jen after she got deported back to her home country of canada.
holy smokes. it was great. an epic international road trip. i have really really awesome friends.

we stayed overnight in rexburg and then drove up through montana.
the drive was seriously gorgeous the entire way!

jen made us an awesome road trip manual that included fun facts, an american-canadian dictionary, a cd with theme songs for things along the way, and directions to stop at a little town (maybe population of 10 or so?) called humphrey.

we made it to glacier national park by the afternoon and it was stunning.

look at that view! can you put a price tag on that? yes, it cost $25 to enter the park (lisa’s punch line).
but so worth it! look how happy we are.

it poured on our way up, but that helped this huge waterfall gush out of the side of the mountain, and it cleared in time for a some exploring and lots of admiring the beauty.


jae brought his recorder and favored us with some music to set the mood.

 
as the designated trip enthusiast, i was really excited about crossing the border with our passports.

 
we met jen at the cardston temple and did baptisms together. there is something really awesome about being in the temple with friends. and about cute little old missionaries that take your picture.

 

the next day we went to banff national park, which is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places i have ever seen. we started at lake louise in tons of rain gear and it rained (and snowed!) when we got there. we checked out the incredible chateau until it cleared up enough for us to sport our matching t-shirts for a photo and then to take some canoes out on the water.

 
the canoe ride was probably my favourite part of the whole trip. it was just ridiculously pretty.
and we all sang “o canada” in our red boats in the middle of the teal. an age-worthy moment.

there were more aqua lakes and majestic mountains, and very uninhibited chipmunks.

and a grizzly bear! we were so excited running down the street following him.

we hiked up the cliff boardwalk to waterfalls in johnston canyon.
i loved the ruddy, sagey colors against the teal river.

 
we drove through the charming town of banff and explored the grand banff springs hotel, which was, in jae’s words, pretty magical.

 
the next day after a breakfast of maple leaf pancakes, we headed into the city of calgary.


jen’s dad’s office is on top of a building with sweet views. calgary has a little prickly charm about it.


in the mall we tried out a canadian culinary tradition – poutine: fries with gravy and cheese curds.
i was a fan. maybe lisa was not?


this pedestrian street downtown reminded me so much of england.
since calgary’s winters are pretty intense, they sure make the most of the sunshine.
the flowers around the city were brilliant.

  
obviously we had to stop at this wall for a quick photo shoot.

the whole city was getting ready for the calgary stampede, the world’s largest rodeo. we missed it by one week! walking around calgary on a sunny june day was so golden and glad.

 
we went to prince’s island park and ate lunch and basked.

jen took us to this rad lookout point over the city.
it was neat to see the stampede grounds and the hockey arena. and – it was very windy.


after dinner we hiked up a hill by jen’s house and quietly took in the sweeping views at sunset.
it stays light until after 11! it was a great ending to such a fabulous trip.

then… we ran out of gas in the middle of montana.
megs and i are winky-frowning because although it was a little catastrophe, we kind of liked the adventure. jae and lisa hitchhiked to a gas station. it broke up the long but great drive home.

the trip was practically perfect. i have a crush on canada!

o canada – with glowing hearts we see thee rise – the true north strong and free
from far and wide – o canada – we stand on guard for thee!

{photos by jen and megan - thanks!}