Hi friends,
First things first: WHAT A LONG DRIVE!
WOW. So LOOOOONNNNGGGG.
But it was worth it to go to Banff instead of just going into Calgary for the whole time.
I just loved banff!
We stayed at the Juniper Hotel & Bistro got upgraded & man was it AMAZING 😍😍😍
We booked the cheapest room available and got upgraded to a romantic private cabin in the woods. WOW. Just WOW.
One thing I didn't know is that you have to buy your parks passes for (basically) EVERYTHIN in/around Banff (including to just park or go visit the lakes) AND that you need to buy AND PRINT these passes out before going.
Or you can buy the pass at two locations but they close before 6pm and so don't be like Cam and I and go in the evening and think you can just park and walk around casually and just buy a pass online -- it needs to be printed.
Luckily we were able to buy one online and the lovely attendant at the Juniper Hotel printed it off for us so we could explore Banff that evening.
Another misconception I had was how to visit banff's best lakes and where to park. I did a lot of research and it told me where to park and to get there early but ignore all of those blog posts and only listen to mine. Don't even bother trying to park at the lakes -- pay the $8 to park and ride at the "park and ride."
Check out my Banff Vlog here:
Next we went to Calgary which was an entirely different vibe. We traded in our romantic cabin in the woods for a "frat house" Airbnb filled with 14 of our friends.
Also the scenery in Calgary is nothing like Banff.
We went downtown Calgary at 4:30 on a Saturday and EVERYTHING except food places were closed, so there was nothing to do...
We almost didn't make it the two hours we had to wait for the rest of our friends to join up with us from the rehearsal dinner because there was nothing to do at all.
Check out my Calgary Vlog:
However, as you see in the video, we did make it the two hours and we went to The National and it was a fun time. We did have a good laugh though because everyone who ubered back first were all the married people and the singles came buck much later.
The next day was the wedding and it was such a beautiful time!