Banff Trip | Day 2

Our major tour day begins…

With cookies! Don’t mind if I do.

We would be hiking, freezing and seeing sights. As any experienced hiker knows, when packing your bag, Fireball goes in first.

Private Banff Tour

We booked a private tour with Discover Banff Tours. We are fancy like that, at least Jeni and I are. We don’t want to have to be on someone’s schedule or deal with people we don’t know (more like make them have to deal with us). We did the same thing in the Bahamas and loved it.

Our tour guide picked us up at the hotel and after a quick stop to get a camera battery charger thing for the car. Then a longer stop for Erin to get a specific kind of coffee, we were off.

First stop, this.

What to wear in Banff

Our Texas minds were already blown and we hadn’t seen anything yet.

Clouds kept creeping in and creeping out. We were able to finally see Castle Mountain. As I eloquently stated on instagram stories, It was castley.

For some reason that I am kind of unsure of, we walked down to a river for a minute and a half. We still hadn’t seen much at this point, so it was pretty cool. The color of the water is wow!

Back to the van and a word from our favorite hottie tour guide.

Lake Louise

We had all seen pictures and knew what Lake Louise looked like, but in person you just can’t believe how beautiful. Being outside somewhere so insane really does something for my cold little soul. Another level.

Canoeing around the lake is a must! $115 for 30 minutes, what a deal! The water is unreal and every bit as greenish blue as you would think. It was also snowing/raining on us and it got way worse once we were done canoeing.

Here is the view looking back at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (not the same Fairmont we stayed at) and a picture of how crazy the water looked from the canoe.

Lake Moraine

We left Lake Louise thinking it was the prettiest lake ever. Don’t claim the trophy quite yet Louise, Moraine’s blue game is strong. Lake Moraine is like the super hot girl that no one has heard of. Makin’ it Mo-raiiinnnnne and snow.

Pro tip: When hiking around Lake Moraine don’t forget to be in a group of 4 or more to avoid bear gobbleage.

Pro tip again: pass around a bottle of liquor while tourists from all over the world stare and side eye.

I couldn’t agree more, if you don’t have a girl crew, find one. If they are drama and don’t lift you up, look for another one. Then take trips! Cheap trips, expensive trips, LSD trips. JK that’s hardcore.

Canada travel experts from the gram kept telling us to get Beaver Tails. I thought it was some kind of meat concoction and was thinking nah. I was very wrong, they were these dessert things and beavers were properly destroyed. As they should be.

The Grizzly House. The Grizzzzly house. Um. What to say about this place?

Let’s start with the decor. Best described as 70s wood paneling meets Wooly Mammoth. Our waiter, no doubt, was in his prime when the decor was. He looked like Tom Selleck, Magnum P.I. style, and was trying to hide that he was laughing at some of our commentary. The commentary about him though, we kept on the low. Not getting a picture of or with him is currently one of life’s biggest regrets.

Shopping in Banff was a mix of weird souvenir shops and higher end stuff.

We got some chocolate at this place. When we got back to the car, Dayme asked for her white crispy. When I looked in the bag and told her it didn’t make it and she was going to have to have a chocolate apricot, her face was THE most disappointed and crushed. She got roasted for that for a good 48 hours. Take the gross apricot and be happy about it.

Back at the Fairmont, we went swimming with the prettiest mountains all around.

Swimsuits, uggs, hotel robes and superhero vibes. Oh and fireball, wine and Prosecco.

That night we took it easy. Way too easy. We ordered the entire room service menu and chilled like never before.

It was the perfect night to wear our shirts and take very genuine pictures of us laughing. I kind of ruined it. Typical.

Jeni M: High Maintenance, no explanation needed. She’s still cool as can be though, promise. Mediocre ain’t gonna cut it, bring your best or nothing. She isn’t rude about it, she’s funny about it and we all love her for it. Keep your standards high, you know mine will be.

Erin: Spicy Disaster, a version of hot mess. Accurate, but in the best possible way. She shares my daily crazy of many kids and a small business. A spicy disaster can escalate quickly on any given day. Also, token brunette. Blondes have more fun though, guaranteed.

Dayme: Country Strong. The girl is from Rotan, she grew up on a farm. She partied in pick up trucks and cruised the main drag. She has assimilated into Dallas life quite nicely, but we never let her forget her zebra fringe capri pants and other similar fashion choices.

Jenny V: Dime Piece. She’s too sweet to give a sassy or snarky nickname to. She actually was the girl at the bars and clubs back in our early 20s who would yell at the guys to leave us alone and get the bleep out of here! Gah love her, everyone needs the gatekeeper to keep the hornballs away. She has always been fine as heck so dime piece it is.

Me: Zero Given. The original nickname they gave me included the bad word, but we dropped it out. I am not emotional. I don’t do sappy or cheesy or dramatic. I will be the voice of reason if you want zero emotion in my assessment of your situation. They often tell me my opinions don’t count because they come from a strictly rational, zero given, place. My soul has been known to be called black and cold. This makes me sound like a gothic satanist witch craft practicer. Let it also be noted that they would tell you I am the one that keeps everyone laughing, keeps the conversation shocking and interesting and will be there for any one of them in a heartbeat and give them all my money lol. Just had to throw that in so I’m not misunderstood.

Day 3 was pretty bomb too, so stay tuned lovelies!