Fall comes quickly in the Canadian Rockies so when I had a spare weekend to explore the fall colours, I immediately booked a trip to Lake Louise with my friend Jordanna! Being spontaneous is one of the best ways I travel! But when it comes to booking popular areas, it can get pricey last minute. Luckily there are tricks and ways around that. For this blog post, I want to show you why I travel and how you can easily book your next getaway.
This article written by Katie Goldie. Sponsored advertising content: I've received compensation from TD. All opinions in this post are my own.
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Jordanna has been my friend for over five years, so I was so happy she could make it on this trip. It is one of the reasons why I travel - to connect with my old friends. We hardly get to see each other so a road trip with some added hiking was the perfect way to catch up.
When it gets colder in the fall, usually I camp in the mountains, but the weekend of our trip was supposed to be particularly cold so we wanted to find some places to stay. On the ExpediaForTD.com website, there were a couple nice lodges that were in our budget, and Expedia has a Best-Price Guarantee, so that was great. (Visit ExpediaForTD.com to learn more.)
We also booked a car rental as my old car can’t make the long road trips anymore. It’s really easy for you to search and book a car rental through ExpediaForTD.com
Our first stop was Canmore, where we enjoyed an afternoon of window shopping. As much as I love hiking we also enjoy the occasional afternoon taking it easy. Canmore has some amazing cafes and outdoor shops and we love seeing what’s new out there. The streets are always bustling with people and it is a bit quieter than the streets in Banff with all the cute mountain village vibes. It is a bit of a drive out there, but we are still fairly close to home. I like planning trips close to home because it is a very relaxed getaway without catching flights or researching a ton. Sometimes it’s nice to come back to a familiar place in a different season, it can feel like an entirely different world.
We did a late afternoon hike after Canmore, the golden light can be exceptional with all the yellow fall colors. We were in search of larch trees, which is a type of pine tree that turns yellow in the fall and drops its needles. They are only found at higher elevations and only for the last two weeks of September, if you’re lucky and the wind hasn't blown the needles off! We got lucky! The “Larch Valley” as they call it was booming with colorful trees all around. Light hit the yellow making the landscape even more beautiful. It was only a 3-4 hour hike and you get so much beauty.
We checked into our lodge for the night, enjoyed a good meal at the restaurant and then headed to bed. We woke up early for sunrise on Bow Lake (a half hour drive from our accommodation). Some friends were staying out there so we met up with them. Another reason why I travel is to meet up with friends that live far away. It’s important to maintain relationships in a busy life and it always seems like someone I know is out exploring the Rockies.
It was so cold at Bow Lake! Frost had hit hard that night and it was the coldest morning I could remember in a while. Jordanna and I were shivering even with our down coats on, but it was worth it! Our two friends had a canoe so we had some fun taking photos and catching up until the cold forced us to hit the road again. Our car rental was a savior -heat on high as soon as we got back to the car!
After breakfast, we decided to have a relaxing day and go up to the little lake above Lake Louise. Jordy and I played around Lake Agnes and then climbed to the ‘Big Beehive” to get an aerial view of Lake Louise. It was a bit overcast but perfect. Lake Louise is a urea color of blue, sometimes fake-looking. After coming down from our climb, we had some tea and scones in the warm fire-lit cabin at the bottom. It was the perfect day. We decided to call it a day and headed back to the lodge.
“Sometimes it’s nice to come back to a familiar place in a different season, it can feel like an entirely different world.”
Another friend invited us to go canoeing on our final day at Moraine Lake. I have been to Moraine for many sunrises so a canoe sounded like a nice change. When we got there, I have never seen so many people. It was actually a bit appalling. At least 250 people were on the rocks at the lake at 7am... not my kind of morning in the mountains, fortunately we had the canoes and sailed off and the noise faded to just the sound of our paddles in the water. We stayed out there for an hour catching up. It turned out to be a great way to end the trip.
If you are ever feeling the need for a getaway, remember, it doesn't need to be far. Sometimes just a B & B out of the city can be refreshing. I love flying to places but a trip close to home can be a lot less stressful and the same amount of fun.
Let me tell you, travel can be the best way to reconnect and get away!
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