Honeymoon Recap Day 1

You knew it was coming....the honeymoon recap.  I just can't tell you what an amazing time we had in Canada.  We could not have picked a better honeymoon location for us.  It was laid back, absolutely beautiful, there was plenty to do, but we were not overwhelmed and rushing around.  I cannot recommend a trip to Alberta highly enough.

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Additionally, for anyone planning a trip to Alberta, here is some info about where we stayed, ate, etc.

Hotels

*  Four Points by Sheraton. We just needed a hotel by the airport and I have a friend who could get us a deal at Sheraton.  Nothing special about this one.
*  Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. It was expensive, we didn't love the restaurants, but man, there are just no words to describe this view.  Spring for the lake view room.  Worth every penny.
* Banff International Hotel. This hotel was affordable and on the main street.  The wireless was sub-par and the rooms were kind of dated.  But we didn't spend much time in the room, so it was fine.  I'd probably try to find somewhere nicer if we went back.
* Mader Ranches. This one isn't open to the public...it's the Crazy Canadian's parents!  They hosted us for a night and it was a great time.

Restaurants

* Mountain Restaurant. We were starving by the time we got to Lake Louise.  This as a normal diner type restaurant--the chicken stir fry was decent.  Not great, not terrible.
*  Glacier Saloon.  This was the only half way affordable restaurant at Chateau Lake Louise.  It wasn't great either....average food, a lot of strange options, very expensive.  But that view?  Can't beat it.
*  Truffle Pigs.  This is a little joint in the village of Field, British Columbia.  The food was excellent--we both had a bbq sandwich and it was the first meal we really enjoyed in Canada!
* Melissa's Missteak.  Brunch.  Do it.  We did it twice.  Seriously, amazing food.  The Boy from Texas had steak and eggs one day and huevos rancheros the next.  I had french toast one day and nutella and banana crepes the next.  I'd go back right now if I could.
*  The Grizzly House.  This is a must-do fondue restaurant.  Was it the best food we had while we were there?  No.  But the atmosphere was awesome!  Definitely put this one on your list.
*  Saltlik Steakhouse.  Here it was.  Best food we had in Canada.  Absolutely amazing steaks are found here.  We didn't try it until our last night in Banff, but had we found it earlier, we would have been repeat customers.

Activities/destinations (You'll read more and see pictures in the coming posts)

* Hiking around Lake Louise.  Must do!
*  The Natural Bridge.  Definitely worth the drive to BC.
*  Emerald Lake.  It was neat, but you could leave this out.
*  Bow Valley Parkway.  We drove this two days--it's where we saw the wildlife you'll see later--it was amazing!
* Massages at Mountain Spa.  I'm not a huge massage person, but The Boy from Texas says it was really good.
* Browsing the shops on Main Street Banff.  Pretty cool to see the different shops.
* Tour the grounds at the Fairmont Banff Springs. Beautiful and free to walk around!
* Banff Gondola It's expensive, but the view from the top is just spectacular.  Leave it on your list.
* Drive to Longview.  We wanted to head to this area because Lonesome Dove was filmed here.  Leave this off your list--there are much prettier areas and more fun things to do.
* Tour of Mader Ranches.  Either meet the Crazy Canadian and invite yourself to visit her family's ranch, or find some other rancher to show you around.  It was really fun!

One sidenote....we were there during their "off season" between the summer folks and the skiing folks.  Because of that, a lot of things we wanted to do were actually closed.  The up side, however, was that there were no lines, no crowds, and we got upgraded rooms.  Here are the things we wanted to do, but were unable to.

* Ice Walk
* Glacier sky walk
* Lake Moraine
* Skiing at Lake Louise
* Banff Radium hot springs.


Each day, I posted a daily summary on Facebook to keep our friends and family abreast of our adventures.  I figure I'll start off each post with those and then go into more detail and share lots of photos! With that....here was Day 1.

Report Day 1: Made it to Calgary. Bags overweight. Probably all my boots. Saw Brooke Shields in the airport. Very tall. She wore a hat. She said hi. Got quizzed on Ebola at customs. "You know why I am asking these questions, you are from Texas." We passed. Had a nice cabbie but he smelled like curry. No one has said "eh" yet. Kinda disappointed about that. Off to Lake Louise now.