Road Trip to the Canadian Rockies

13 friends, 3 cars, and a 7-day road trip to the Canadian Rockies starting from Kelowna to Revelstoke, Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, Jasper, and Lake Louise, and back to Kelowna. What better way to kick off this summer’s daring adventures? Ready, set, off we go!

First stop – Mara Lake.

We stopped here for a restroom break, so completely by accident and what do you know? Beautiful B.C. at its finest.

It didn’t take long before we reached Revelstoke. We checked in at Three Valley Lake Chateau followed by a visit to the Heritage Ghost Town as well as the Railway Roundhouse.

Since we only had breakfast prior to our departure, we were all starved. It wasn’t quite dinner time yet either so we enjoyed afternoon snacks at La Baguette. Very cute and cozy little café with amazing coffee. Great atmosphere, +1 recommend!

The weather was a bit bipolar. It would be pouring rain and hailing one second then sunny and gorgeous the next. Plus there really wasn’t much to see or do in Revelstoke, considering the time we arrived at, hence we returned to the hotel and my boyfriend and I simply did a little walking around.

I didn’t have dinner on our first night so the next morning, I enjoyed an Eggs Benedict feast back at La Baguette (I know, surprising eh?).

Our road trip continued…

… And we arrived at Natural Bridge at Yoho National Park!

We carried on with a bit more driving and reached Banff.

My dad had taken me here when I was still a little girl, but I have absolutely zero recollection of it whatsoever. Needless to say, this pretty much felt like a first visit.

The boys tried to teach me how to bike, but that just didn’t go too well so I ended up sipping cappuccino at the café beside the bike rental shop and took the leisure to people watch (talk about creepy!).

I ventured out on my own and explored Banff’s recreational grounds.

Dinner was Korean BBQ at Seoul Country Korean Restaurant. I tried beef tongue for the first time and despite feeling a bit grossed out, it was surprisingly delicious!

And you can’t say you’ve visited Banff until you’ve tried the famous BeaverTails. Mmm, so good!

This scenery never ceases to amaze me.

More driving took place the next morning as we headed for Calgary.

First stop: Calgary Tower.

Having recently been to the CN Tower, this was a piece of cake. I stepped on the glass floor with ease and what I liked about the Calgary Tower more was that the glass floor was positioned right in front of giant panels of glass windows. It offered a more panoramic view and definitely gave off a limitless vibe.

Lunch was Chinese. Creamy corn soup and good old greasy stir-fried rice noodles with beef and black beans. Yup, my idea of comfort food.

And on with our next destination…

Uhm… food again?

We actually had a late lunch and took our time to get to Edmonton so when we finally arrived, it was dinner time. Dinner was at Oliver Garden and I was honestly not that hungry so I shared the chicken gnocchi soup and sausage stuffed giant rigatoni with the bae. Delish~

The night ended with a trip to the Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton in West Edmonton Mall where we watched Avengers: Age of Ultron. And it was good because it was a Marvel movie (my love) but at the same time it was meh, it was alright. Something ’bout these Marvel second sequel movies just aren’t as good as the first ones or the third. Scarlet Witch though, boy do I have a major girl crush on her. Elizabeth Olsen, you’ve just earned yourself a new fan.

We also passed by the man-made beach and I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that there was a beach in the mall. What!? Craaaayyyyyy-zyyyyy!

The following day, we returned back to West Edmonton Mall for some shopping shopping.

Can you believe this was all in the mall!??!!!

I actually wanted to give it a try as well, but it was kinda pricey so I passed. And plus, if I went in as well, who was gonna take photos for these boys!

After a fruitful day, we all enjoyed dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House!

My boyfriend ordered the lobster bisque, which I also wanted to order, but it was either this or a glass of red wine for me and you know how I like my alcohol.

I did get to have a few sips, however, and it was phenomenal. Rich and creamy and the lobster taste was definitely very pungent. I felt like I was drowning a sea of lobsters hahaa. A bit way too salty though, but I eat quite light so others might enjoy it.

For the main course, I had the USDA ribeye steak cooked medium rare. And what can I say? I really liked it! The meat was tender and incredibly delicious. The portion was huge too. Not to mention, as a curious foodie and passionate photographer, I couldn’t help but order two additional sides to complete the scene. And yes, sides had to be ordered separately so the whole meal came to a rather pricey bill for me.

And yeuhh, definitely had to have dessert too. I was torn between either the cheesecake or the bread pudding with whiskey sauce. I love whiskey so bread pudding it was.

My dinner came to a total of $124.23. Most expensive meal I’ve ever had and I just gotta admit, I was way too greedy. My eyes always have a bigger appetite than my stomach so I couldn’t even finish the food and had to pack it to go. Should probably remind myself to be more conservative next time.

Bae coloring at Edmonton police station.

We’d planned to stay in Edmonton for two days so we could have enough time to fully enjoy the mall. Unfortunately, the next day after checking out of our hotel and getting back to our cars, we realized that my boyfriend’s car had been hit so we spent hours sorting things out. We had to go to the police station followed by the body shop and all of this took hours… Phew, what a long day!

We passed through Jasper National Park and I was so upset that the weather was terrible and that we couldn’t have extra time to explore the park and everything was just ugh!

We stayed the night at Tonquin Inn and this was the only attraction (notice the sarcasm) was saw in Jasper.

Next morning, we set out for Athabasca Falls.

Still experimenting with how to photograph waterfalls.

Next on the itinerary was Columbia Icefield Glacier Adventure followed by my most anticipated Glacier Skywalk tour.

To see the glaciers, we had to ride one of these giant monster busses.

All kindsa fashion editorial model pose.

We’d purchased our tickets for both tours at the Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre and shuttle busses, running at 15-minute intervals, transported us to and from both locations.

To finish up the day, we headed for Lake Louise.

I had hoped for warmer weathers so we could rent kayaks and explore the lake, but given that we’d visited in early May, the lake was still mostly frozen. Regardless, this winter wonderland view had something special in itself as well.

The following morning, we enjoyed a two-hour hike at Johnston Canyon and visited both the upper and lower falls.

Please do not litter!

Also don’t forget to check out my travel vlog, see you soon!!