Our Honeymoon- Banff and Lake Louise!

After Revelstoke we travelled eastwards to Banff, AB!

On the way to Banff we drove through Yoho National Park and hit up Emerald Lake and Natural Bridge, and Takakkaw Falls. It was a gorgeous park to drive through and the weather really started to clear up!

Emerald Lake

Natural Bridge

Takakkaw Falls

In Banff we were actually camping at a park called Two Jack Main. They had what are called "equipped campsites" so each site comes with a tent, sleeping mats, a lantern, and a propane stove. We had vacuum-packed some sleeping bags and pillows and bought a few basic cooking necessities and a cooler while on our trip, so we were go to go! We spent 3 nights camping and actually took it pretty easy in Banff.  A lot of our time was spent in Two Jack Lake and hanging out at the campsite. Camping in Banff was interesting. We got a whole spiel about bear safety as there was an aggressive bear in the area (yay?). And it got SO COLD at night. I had to sleep in all my clothes. And the campground had no shower. 'Twas a really romantic honeymoon spot ;). But all jokes aside, we had a really nice time!!!

home sweet home

it was very cold

bacon making

drive by elking

We did venture out to Lake Louise, but unfortunately the timing of our trip meant we were in Banff on a long weekend- so it was....not pleasant. We ended up hiking about 3km from the town to the lake, which we hadn't been planning on doing. It was a nice hike! But still glad to have seen it, especially as the smoke finally cleared and it was a beautiful day! We ended up skipping Moraine Lake because of the crowds.

hike to the lake

Cam dipping his toes in Lake Louise

After 3 nights in Banff we drove up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper, AB! The Icefields Parkway is 232 km of beautiful mountain views and glaciers. We stopped off and hiked to Columbia Icefields (really neat hike through the rocks, though it looks closer than it is, so be prepared!). And we stopped at a multitude of waterfalls along the way, including Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls. We actually drove through Jasper and stayed in a cabin at a KOA in Hinton, AB.

We had 3 nights in Jasper, but actually didn't do too much (a theme of our trip- relaxation was #1 priority. We both really enjoyed Lake Jasper, which is a very shallow lake. We walked super far out into it and it never hit our knees! We also did laundry in Jasper #funtimes. But yay to showers and clean clothing! Our favourite Jasper Activity was the Jasper Planetarium and Telescope experience. It is an inflatable planetarium where they teach you about constellations, outer space, and history of the Jasper area. Jasper is a Dark Sky Reserve and aims to keep light pollution to a minimum! After the planetarium you get to look at the night sky through two different telescopes- one with your eye, where we looked at Saturn, a nebula, and the moon's surface. The other telescope was hooked up to a giant monitor and we good look at things more closely. There was also a meteor shower that night so we saw a few of those fly by too! It was a very fun experience and I definitely recommend you check it out if you go to Jasper!

Home in Jasper

view from our porch

Lake Jasper

Elk friend I made in the middle of the night

I also convinced Cam to finally go to a Hot Springs while were there and we went to Miette Hot Springs one evening. It was a little busy, but relaxing in the hot waters (and we dunked ourselves in the cold water too). Really cheap, so I recommend others check it out. You can also rent old-timey swimming costumes for a $1, but Cam was not game.

And then after Jasper it was time to head south!