Honeymoon Update Day 7

Honeymoon Update Day 7: Kicked things off with homemade eggs Benedict. Then a tour of Mader Ranches. Next was Bass Pro. That was a lot of camo and dead animals. The Boy from Texas took me for birthday ice cream. Then it started snowing. Been going for 10 hours. We may never get home.  Spent the afternoon in our hotel room in my favorite sweat pants, watching football, hanging out with the husband, pizza for dinner. It was the perfect end to a perfect honeymoon. The only thing better will be getting to keep doing life with him every day.


Day 7 of the adventure also happened to be my birthday!  After lots of fancy hotels and food and running around, getting to sleep in and enjoy a phenominal home made breakfast was just what we needed!

We had an absolute blast on a tour of Mader Ranches that morning.  We got to see beautiful views, great cattle, experience ranching in a different environment, and hang out with some of the nicest people on the planet.  I can't thank them enough for allowing us to visit!

After a quick stop at Bass Pro (didn't buy anything), some lunch, and some birthday ice cream, the snow started to fall.  It did not stop even by the time we left the next morning.

 We decided our best bet was to just hunker down in the hotel.  We ordered pizza for dinner, laid around in our sweats, and watched football.  There was nothing better I could think of to wrap up such a great honeymoon!

Honeymoon Update Day 6

Honeymoon Update Day 6: Left the mountains. Took care of the ticket situation. Drove a lot. Listened to Fox News radio a lot. The Boy from Texas declared he was pretty sure he would be good at curling. Greeted trick-or-treaters at the Mader household. Mrs. Mader made me a cake for my birthday, complete with singing and candles. Went to a little saloon for a good band and even better people watching.

You'll note a serious lack of photos once we left the mountains. I think we might have just been a bit pictured out!

We stopped for lunch at the historic Black Diamond Bar.

Then, we arrived at our next destination outside of Carstairs, Alberta:  Mader Ranches.  When we decided on Canada for our honeymoon location, my friend, The Crazy Canadian, immediately offered we could stay at her parents house at least one night.  Knowing how much fun her family is and excited to get to see a cattle ranch in Canada, we of course accepted!

Their place is just beyond beautiful.  Plus, we were there on Halloween so we got to see all the nearby children come and trick-or-treat, and after that, it proved for some excellent people watching at the local saloon.  I am kicking myself for not having my camera out there!

Honeymoon Recap Day 5

Remember when I started my excellent recap of our honeymoon and then for some reason totally forgot to finish?  Yea, I barely do either.  Here is a link if you missed posts 1-4.

Honeymoon Update Day 5:  Slept in, had an amazing brunch, then off for massages. I don't really like strange people touching me but I survived.  Next up was the Banff gondola. Amazing views. Then Banff Springs Hotel, some shopping, and the Hoodids.  Another wildlife sighting: two deer on the lawn at the hotel.  Finished the day with a steak dinner, phenomenal. In honor of Aunt Midge, The Boy from Texas even smelled the sprig of rosemary on his plate.  Oh yea...The Boy from Texas' fashion analysis continues. "If a girl is built like a linebacker for Nebraska, she shouldn't wear skinny jeans."

Because you all know how much I like to talk food, I feel like I need to report on breakfast.  Someone recommended a steak house called Melissa's Missteak for breakfast, so we decided to give it a try.  Y'all.  Phenomenal.  Seriously, so good.  In fact, as you will see in tomorrow's recap, we went back for seconds.  

The Boy from Texas had steak, eggs and French Toast and I had the banana Nutella crepe.  If you find yourself in Banff, eat here.  Twice!

Then we were off to massages at the Mountain Spa in downtown Banff.  The Boy from Texas was really excited about doing this, I was lukewarm.  He got an hour massage and I did half an hour.  We took no pictures and I don't really have much else to say about that.

Next up was the Banff Gondola, which I had really been looking forward to the whole trip.  It did not disappoint!  It's pricey, but the views are worth it.

While at the summit, The Boy from Texas considered a new hat...

The other main Banff attraction, the Banff Hot Springs, were closed the week we were there for some sort of maintenance.  I have to admit I was not too heartbroken, I'm not much of a fan of public baths like that.  I hesitate to even do hot tubs full of chlorine, so I was not totally sure about this thousand year old pools.

We made a quick stop at the Banff Springs Hotel, the fanciest and oldest in Banff.  It was huge and beautiful, but honestly, after staying at Chateau Lake Louise, we weren't as impressed.  That view of the lake ruined us for life.

One more stop at a little water fall before dinner got us this view.

We wanted to do one dinner on the trip sort of fancy and dressed up, and we selected Saltlik Steakhouse.  And boy, was that a good call.  Best food of the trip.  Here's a little photo of us from the event.

Honeymoon Recap Day 4

Honeymoon Update Day 4:   We saw lakes, waterfalls, and the Natural Bridge. Thought those were cool until we stumbled upon 5 elk in the middle of the mountains. We watched them for over 30 minutes. Amazing. The Boy from Texas has become a fashion diva. He did not approve of our waitresses skirt, which he said resembled our bath mat.  Met our friend Miss Canada for dinner at The Grizzly House, where The Boy from Texas learned he does like fondue and it is not the same thing as hummus. Got a ticket. Hope the Mounties are not after us!

As you saw, Day #3 was pretty lazy, well we made up for it with Day #4.

We decided to give our journey to British Columbia another shot after failing to make it the day before.  All went well this time.

We kicked things off at Emerald Lake--a really beautiful, tree-lined lake.  The water was so clear!

 Next up, we headed for The Natural Bridge.  This was a great recommendation from the Concierge at the hotel---it's a bridge of sorts created by the gushing water flow through the rocks.

 Then, we finally reached our destination for lunch....Truffle Pigs.  This is a tiny little restaurant in a tiny map dot. It was well worth the drive!  We both had an excellent brisket sandwich.  The Boy from Texas had homemade fries and I had a butternut squash and apple soup.  

 As we were leaving, we drove by a house with a huge cake--one of those someone can jump out of--in the yard.  The Boy from Texas insisted we turn around to go back and get a photo.  You're welcome, he says.

Then we headed back to the Bow Valley Parkway, planning to hike to a water fall and hoping to see some more wildlife.

Hiking was up first.  Frankly....it was a long walk.  We had too many clothes on trying to stay warm, so we got hot.  It was cool, but not anyone's favorite part of the trip.  Plus, when we got back to the Jeep, we had a ticket from the Mounties.  Failure to have a park pass while being in the National Park.  Crap.

 As we headed for Banff to check into our next hotel, we came upon 5 elk, grazing right along the road.  I've never seen anything so awesome.  We pulled off and watched them for at least 45 minutes.  The elk, cool air, beautiful mountains....it was something that pictures just don't do justice.

 When we peeled ourselves away from the elk, we were off to Banff for dinner with our dear friend, Miss Canada.  Getting to see her was totally a highlight of the trip! She took us to Grizzly House, an amazing fondue restaurant.  When I suggested fondue to The Boy from Texas, he said he didn't like it.  I was confused by this--its cheese and meat---what's not to like?  Finally, three days later, he made some comment about not wanting to go there because he didn't like chick peas.  Ah....he had fondue confused with hummus (which I made him try once and he hated).  Once we got that cleared up, we were good.  

The food was phenomenal.  We started off with bread and cheese fondue.  Then we had veggies boiled in  a mixture of buttery goodness.  Then we got hot stones on which to cook our meat (we were boring and passed on things like elk, moose, bison and went for chicken and beef).  We polished dinner off with chocolate fondue and a mixture of fruits, marshmallows, and bread.  

 

What a day....this was totally even better than we imagined Canada would be!