Oh, Canada

 Canada, the very little I've seen of it anyway, is spectacular and awe-inspiring.  Driving along the Canadian Rockies, brisk air jetting through the windows, would make any heat miser fall in love with winter, including myself.  I always have been, and most likely always will be, a true hater of cold and snow, which I thought would make the drive up to Canada a struggle.  But alas, after one glimpse at the beautiful landscape in Alberta and I loved the idea of bundling up in a tent in almost freezing weather.

After we left Glacier, we started the 6 hour trek up to Banff National Park.  This is the stop we were both most excited for.  Courtney and I both knew we wanted to get some cold weather in before we headed down to Southern California for a while.  Crossing the boarder is pretty simple, but here are a few tips to make it as easy as possible.  Tip 1: have your passports ready to hand to the officer, tip 2: they will ask you a ton of questions, don't freak out, and tip 3: this is not the time to crack jokes, they take their position very seriously, and could take a joke the wrong way.

 After arriving in the final frontier, we had a few more hours of driving to reach Banff.  When we finally reached the park border, we still had another hour of driving inside the park, because apparently there are many different national parks inside including Jasper, Kootenay, and others.  If you have time I definitely suggest taking a day or two to check out some of these other parks, because judging by the brochure, it is seriously not something you want to miss.

It gets incredibly dark and the sky lights up with stars so if you're into photography/astrophotography this is time to break out the camera.  I'm still learning a lot about it, and besides being a bit over saturated and having too much chromatic aberration, the photo below is not a terrible start.

The town of Banff is something out of a fairytale.  It has small town charm and whimsy, along with a kick-ass backdrop of snow-capped mountains, that together gives it that feeling of Christmas. There is something magical in the air here.

We had planned on seeing Lake Moraine the next morning on our way out, but we weren't really prepared for how majestic it would be.  Standing at the bottom next to the lake, it looks pretty grey and dull, but when you climb up a large pile of rocks and look at it from a different angle you get a beautiful turquoise color revealed.  Crowded by mountains on the perimeter, the scene is a piece of landscape porn, if you will.  It's a sight unlike many others I have seen in my few short years, but one I hope to see again.

Lake Moraine, Banff National Park

 Canada, Alberta specifically, is a wondrous place that I truly want to revisit in the future, and one that I think everyone should see before they kick the bucket.

Has anyone been to Banff, and if so did you love it as much as I did?