Mother and Daughter Annual Trip 2019
– We began doing these annual trips over seven years ago. Wow, how lucky are we to have seven years of exploring and traveling together as mother and daughter?!
It is rare for a city to have an immediate positive effect on me, especially on the first day. Calgary was undeniably attractive with its healthy land, lush green, maintained parks and outdoor spaces, huge river winding through the city, and active outdoor nature loving locals. Every building, coffee shop, restaurant, lounge, and park we wandered into was full of life and felt like the place to be. The locals were interactive, the first to say hello, cared to engage, and genuinely nice. Life as I’ve known it in Las Vegas, this has never been the case, unless I’m working behind the bar begging for conversation.
We biked the whole city and its surrounding areas, rafted miles down the Bow River, searched and found an overabundance of unique street art and sculptures, visited two museums (The Bell and Spark Science Museum), rode an Olympic bobsleigh course, indulged in exceptional food and drinks, explored the brand new four story wooden Calgary Public Library, and celebrated Mama’s birthday with a revolving dinner up in the Calgary Tower – giving us the best views of the city.
Banff was pure magic. We visited four different lakes: Lake Louise, Mirror Lake, Lake Agnes, and Moraine Lake. The bodies of water were each a different shade of turquoise silk, and all ranging around near freezing temperatures. The only people in the water were on canoes and standup paddleboards, but upon reaching Moraine Lake, I could not resist diving in. The chill of the thirty-eight-degree water only lasted seconds after climbing upon the one lone dock. We hiked up into the mountains to a secluded hidden teahouse, Agnes Teahouse, and had some of the best tea I’ve ever had in my life – Madagascar Almond Spice, with homemade chocolate cake so moist it was falling apart. The Fairmont Hotel was stunning inside and out and overlooked Lake Louise.
Countless lovely memories made and an agreement that this was our best trip yet. I have made future plans to return to Calgary for the Stampede Festival and to spend more time exploring the hidden beauties of Banff.
Dear Canada,
Turquoise silk waters
never to grow accustomed to
Wealthy land
lush green
attentively maintained
loved by the people
Friendly locals
beckoning conversation
Genuine engagement
Crafted uniqueness
Humbly hosting
Among the millions satisfied
Sincerely,
Another Altered Traveler
whatiwanttodoeveryday 
We are so blessed to have each other and share these incredible experiences. I thank God for memories that will never die. I love you, Sissy.
LikeLike