Glorious Banff

It has been coming on slowly for awhile now. The boys at 7 and almost 6 increasingly like and are capable of doing things that Jonathan and I like to do. For example, only in the past week the boys started bicycling without training wheels opening up new possibilities for longer bike rides and trail riding.

And this is also true for long hikes. In Banff we got to put this into practice.

Banff is not too far from California. The flight to Calgary is only two hours, and the drive to Banff is only 90 minutes. We left on a 2 pm flight, and were in Banff in time for dinner ... pretty cool. What's more when we were thinking of summer Holidays, only two locations met our airfare price point - Calgary and Beliz. Everything else was terribly expensive.

Banff had been on our list for awhile, and after making the trip I don't know what kept us away. It is one of the most beautiful places that I have been to in the world. The vast snow capped Canadian Rockies and amazingly pristine park with blue skies (we were blessed with great weather) are spectacular.

On our first morning there, after a pancake breakfast at Melissa's Missteak Restaurant, we headed to Lake Louise for a hike. We hiked from Lake Louise to Lake Agnes and the Lake Agnes Tea House. Now this is a 4.5 mile loop (half up a mountain). Even a year ago, we wouldn't have considered this hike with the boys. But now well hydrated and well fed we ventured up the mountain.

At the Lake Agnes Tea House we ate sandwiches, the boys drank hot chocolate and we had tea. It was amazing. By the way I recommend hot tea after a long climb ... so very civilized.

We only had one snag. We chose to go down a different way, and ended up climbing down a very steep incline lined with loose shale. I've always been pretty good at navigating inclines, so I ended up catching Xander and Caleb, and even helping some fellow hikers get through it.

The boys did great. Although they didn't want to go hiking the following day (so we called the next day's hikes "nature walks" and they didn't complain at all). Afterward we rode the Banff Gondola. It was expensive, but worth it.

The boys loved the ride up (and ride down). We walked the boardwalk to the weather station and back. We even got to see some mountain goats. On the ride down we saw some Elk in the woods too.

That night we ate at Coyotes Southwestern Grill in Banff ... another kid friendly restaurant that reaffirmed Banff as a family spot.

The next morning we ate at Melissa's again (the breakfast was that good), and traveled Icefields Parkway. Since we were heading to Calgary that afternoon for the Stampede, we could only make it as far as Peyto Lake before turning back, and now Jasper is on our list of things to do.

Even though we were only taking nature walks that day, we managed to hike about 3 miles ... near Peyto Lake and Crawfoot Glacier. On day two the boys were leading the hikes with enthusiasm.

We had an exceptional time in Banff and then it was off to Calgary.  But the Canadian Rockies are now on our short list of places in which we plan to return.

Ode to WestJet

There are moments in my life that I would like to take back. To relive with full hindsight. Just moments ... moments when I make stupid little decisions or don't pay attention to details... happen to turn down the wrong street, or forget something really important. The fourth of July we had one such moment.

Before I travel anywhere I always have a reoccurring nightmare. I dream that my airplane is leaving in an hour, and I'm still in my pajamas, and I haven't packed yet. Shear panic. In this nightmare, everything goes in super slow motion, except time.

Our trip to Calgary went down like a real life nightmare. It was the vacation that almost wasn't, due to one stupid error.

Jonathan and I recently renewed our passports. As part of the renewal we got the fancy new passport cards which can be used when traveling in Canada, the Bahamas, Mexico and the like. How convenient? We failed to read the fine print ... by land or sea -- not air!

When traveling by air into Canada you need a good old fashioned passport... ugh! And when did we figure this out? At the check in counter two hours before our flight. In fact I flashed back to a moment earlier that day when I looked at Jonathan and my passports sitting on the desk, and thought... maybe, just maybe I should pack these.

But no such luck. The accommodating WestJet staff took pity on us and extended the check in cutoff time by fifteen minutes, from 1 pm to 1:15 pm. ... if Jonathan could make it back  from San Jose with the passports by 1:15 pm (our flight was at 2 pm), they would get us and our bags on the flight.

That was a big if.  Now to put it into context, even on a Holiday, it usually takes 45 to 50 minutes to get to San Jose. Realistically we were looking at Jonathan arriving back at the airport at 1:30 pm. To complicate matters, our house keys were with the valet in long term parking. Jonathan not only had to get our passports in no time flat, but he also had to figure out how to break into our house.

To add more drama to an already tense situation, WestJet has only has one flight a day to Calgary, our vacation was very short, and one day lost would have put a damper on the entire Holiday. 

Jonathan sprinted for a cab.

I sat with the boys within eye and earshot of the WestJet counter.  I would get periodic updates from Jonathan, and relay it to the West Jet staff, while the minutes counted down on the clock.

First off, the cabby pulled off a miracle, traveling at 80 miles an hour the whole way. And Jonathan figured out how to get in the house, without breaking a window -- and the house was far more secure because of it.

At the 1:15 pm deadline Jonathan alerted me that he was pulling into the airport, and just needed to pay the cabby. I told the WestJet staff, who started checking in the boys (we had their passports), and our luggage so the porter could run it to the airplane. 

Once we were checked in, the attendant escorted us through security at a run, and ensured that we made it safely on the airplane.

We just got back from an amazing four day trip to Calgary and Banff --thanks to the amazing efforts of of a cabby, and the understanding staff at WestJet. In contrast to some of our recent bad, family-unfriendly air travel experiences, this level of customer service was truly exceptional. It was our first time on WestJet, and definitely not our last.