Banff, Alberta

As we ventured into Canada, exploring the crown jewel of the Canadian National Parks was high on our list. The drive into Banff is breathtaking. When you picture the Canadian Rockies, you are probably close to the scale and beauty of the mountains. We started off our visit to the area with a day at Lake Louise. This is a postcard picture in every shot type of location. We hiked up to one of the tea houses, which were built to lure the rich and famous to the area, and then continue our hike up a glacier canyon for some amazing views of the glaciers and lake. We spent a day exploring the town of Banff which is a lot like Park City or Sun Valley, but on steroids. We took a long drive up 93 to see the mountains, lakes and glaciers along the historic road connecting Jasper to Lake Louise. We wrapped up our stay in the area with a nice and challenging hike up to the top of Sulfur Mountain for the 360' views of the entire area. We were very impressed with the area and are already in discussion with our ski racer to come back in the winter to check out the 3 ski resorts in the area.