When one of our favorite people Gennie Kyle got engaged, the plans for a road trip to Canada for her wedding began. I had never been so I was especially excited to scratch such a big country off my scratch map of the world hanging in my room. Kara Atkins, Kristi McMurtrey, Lindsey Palmer, and I made the drive together.
We started off driving to Kalispell Montana to spend the night there. There weren't a lot of gas stations or eating places along the way, so we were pretty excited when we saw a building that looked like an old saloon and had "Trixies" on the sign. Trixies did not disappoint. They had an old fashioned juke box, a pool table, and dead animal heads everywhere. It was fantastic! I played a couple songs on the juke box and then the 4 of us played a game pool. We were not very good but we had fun.
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| Left to right: Kristi, myself, Kara, Lindsey |
There definitely aren't enough large bull statues at gas stations. This picture was taken right before the sun went down and we made the scary drive on a road called "Deer Highway." Deer Highway held true to it's name. I drove very cautiously and still came within a foot of hitting a dear. It ran out in front of me, I slammed on my breaks, it stopped and did a stutter step right in front of the passenger front window while looking Kristi (riding shotgun) right in the eye before it continued running past the car. Kristi was a little traumatized. I was so happy when we arrived at our hotel and made it safely through Deer Highway.
The next morning we started our journey at Glacier National Park. Pictures do not do justice to how beautiful this park is! It is my new favorite National Park.
While driving on the "Going-To-The-Sun Road," every turn had a breathtaking view, whether it was an overlook to the valley and mountains shown below, or one of many waterfalls directly next to your car. Breathtaking.
The first hike we wanted to do in Glacier was Hidden Lake overlook. Because it was a holiday weekend with Canada Day coming up, the park was crowded and parking was tight. I squoze into a spot on the side of the road, but didn't realize how close it was to the railing. Let's just say Kristi had quite the time getting out of the car. She may or may not be stuck in this picture while Kara and I laughed and Lindsay offered to push her butt from the inside of the car. Thankfully Kristi eventually unhedged herself and provided us all a good laugh.
We were very surprised at how much snow was on the Hidden Lake overlook hike. It definitely slowed us down. We decided that we would rather do the Red Rock Falls hike so we wouldn't continue Hidden Lake. We saw a mountain goat and a baby goat nearby, so I asked a nearby Park Ranger when the last bear sighting had been? She said that there was a sighting of a Grizzly with a baby cub 30 minutes ago at the lake. The others were glad we weren't finishing that hike, but this only fueled my desire to see a bear on this trip.
Despite not making it to the lake, the view of the sporadic snow among the mountainous landscape was beautiful!
Red Rock Falls did not disappoint. At the upper falls there was a pool of water that you could swim in. We didn't bring our suits or have time to swim but we still got in the water.
Aren't my friends as beautiful as models?? I think this picture belongs in a calendar!
The lower falls had a more significant waterfall. So beautiful!
Kristi and I had to show off our Ohio pride. We got a lot of comments from strangers on how much they liked our shirts~
It was fun to play around in the park at different spots.
We, of course, had to get in some solo photos at some of the amazing overlooks. Again, I have stunningly beautiful friends!
Day 3 started off with doing a session in the Cardston Temple before Gennie and John got sealed. Cardston temple is beautiful and the oldest temple outside of the United States. Such a beautiful temple. All of us Utah friends took a picture while waiting for the bride and groom to come out.
They are such a cute and happy couple!
The bride and her girlfriends! She was absolutely beautiful!
This is a candid photo of us all admiring her ring one more time.
In between the sealing and the reception, we drove to Waterton Lakes National Park. We decided to do a .75 mile hike that we thought would be fairly leisurely....it was NOT! We hiked up Bear's Hump Trail. The name is deceiving. We did not see any bears. My anticipation and hopes were only rising. We got to the top and saw the amazing overlook of the lake.
At this point, I was a fairly squeaky wheel about how much I wanted to see a bear. We had gone to 2 of the 3 National Parks we had planned and still no bears. We had been told that Waterton Lakes was the most likely place to see bears. I said that we all need to pray that we see a bear. Lindsey said that she was actually praying that we would NOT see a bear, to which I replied, "well I guess we will just see whose prayers are answered and who God loves more." Half joking-half serious. LOL
We only had a little time before needing to drive back to the reception so we decided to do a quick drive around town. As we were driving into town, we saw a bunch of cars pulled over and people were taking pictures of something off into the distance. "Did they find a bear?" I yell as I jump out of the car and dart across traffic to where the people were. Sure enough, there was a Black Bear in the distance. I was SO HAPPY!
It's hard to see in the picture but it was definitely there. A safe enough distance that we all felt safe.
I think we now all know who God loves more. Just Kidding. I was on cloud 9, but now that I had the adrenaline of seeing a bear, I wanted to see more. I told the girls that I now wanted to see a Grizzly Bear, to which they pointed out that I couldn't just be satisfied with the bear I had just seen. Within minutes we were driving out of the park when we got stopped in traffic by cars backed up. I looked out my window and saw another bear. This time is was brown. All the cars were driving by slowly to get pictures, which caused a back up. As we got closer, we saw that it was a Grizzly Bear just off the side of the road. We were in our car, so thankfully we felt safe again. I was so happy!!
Gennie and John's reception was fun. They had a program with cute games, the groom rapped for his bride, they had their first dance, and then it opened up to dancing for everyone.
Our last stop was Banff National Park. Lake Louise is the most popular lake to visit, but we had heard from many sources that Moraine Lake was more beautiful and less crowded, so that was our obvious choice.
We were amazed at the turquoise water and beautiful landscape. Get ready for picture overload because we just couldn't get enough of Lake Moraine's beauty.
Don't ask me why, but we thought it would be fun to do yoga poses on a wood stump. Isn't it obvious how flexible and agile we all are?
To quote our trip leader Kara Atkins, "a selfie isn't vain if nature is in the background."
They had canoes we could rent so we decided to be adventurous and give it a try. Lindsay and I partnered while Kara and Kristi took another one. They didn't have any canoes that could fit all 4 of us, which is unfortunate because it didn't take Lindsay and I long to realize that canoeing is not one of our strengths.
The view on the lake was amazing, but it didn't take us long to fall significantly behind Kristi and Kara. We thought we had a pretty good system. I had done river rafting several times and we both understood the basics of rowing. If you want to turn left, you row on the right side. If you want to turn right, you row on the left side. Well the laws of physics did not work for us on this canoeing trip. We would row on the right side, and our canoe would still veer right, so we would row on the left side, and it would also veer right. We would zig zag back and forth, go in unintentional circles, and even row backwards sometimes trying to go where we needed to go. I swear we rowed twice as much as the other two. At one point, we were trying to return back to where we rented the canoe, and we kept going in circles. We were trying to turn right but kept going straight at the shore. There was this couple sitting there just looking at us coming right at them as Lindsay and I were laughing and loudly talking about how we were going to get the canoe to go where we wanted to go. "Holly, do that thing you do to turn us around," as I paddled backwards on one side while Lindsey paddled forward on the other. We were quite the sight. Kristi and Kara said they would just sit there and watch us zig zag back and forth as they wondered what the heck we were doing.
The below picture shows just how far behind we had gotten from Kristi and Kara. They are the tiny specs on the water.
Well, Lindsey and I finally made it back. One of those memorable experiences that were the worst yet the best at the same time. We laughed so much. When I came back home and told that story to a friend, she said that she once heard that you should always go canoeing with someone before marrying them because then you can see their true colors. Although that specific scenario doesn't apply to us, I can safely say that I think we both handled any frustration we felt with grace and humor.
At the entrance of the lake there was a large mountainous rock pile that I really wanted to climb. Others were doing it so we knew it could be done. First, you have to walk across logs in the water. I got in line behind several people waiting to cross the logs at what appeared to be the safest route. Kara had decided that she would cross in another spot that looked deceivingly safe. Let's just say Kara ended up with very wet jeans after the log she stepped on sank into the water, taking Kara down with it.
I knew there was nothing I could do to help her without sinking myself, so I did what any good friend would do: I took pictures.
This view shows all the logs at the bottom and what the side of the rock mountain looked like.
As soon as we made it to the top, we saw that there was a trail leading go the top from the other side to the mountain, but that wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining and "wet."
The view of Lake Moraine from the top of the rock mountain was stunning.
We couldn't bypass such a beautiful background without taking some model pose pictures...
You can't tell in the picture but there was actually a pretty significant drop off on the other side of this rock. Sometimes glamour shots require you to live on the edge.
Last stop in Banff was Johnston Falls. These were beautiful and stayed true to the turquoise water we had seen in Moraine Lake.
You could go under a tunnel in the mountain and end up right next to the falls. We were so close that the mist from the falls was getting us wet. Our selfie attempts didn't quite catch the beauty and magnificence of being that close.
Sadly, the time had come to say goodbye to Canada and head back home. We had such a fun time. No conflict. No drama. Just good conversation and plenty of laughing. Thank you beautiful ladies for such a fun trip!
Happy List:
-Kristi and the deer looking into each other's eyes right before the deer almost smacked into our car
-A picture of a naked lady hanging up at Trixies when Lindsey says, "Do you think that's Trixie?"
-Playing songs on an old fashioned juke box while playing a game of pool
-Holly telling Kristi that she is funny sometimes
-Holly saying, "oh look, someone hung up their nightgown." Lindsay standing right by her says, "that's my dress."
-The fast and scary waterslide at our hotel pool
-Playing pool games: hand stand contests and dunking game
-The front desk hotel worker walking out the pool door to watch firework when we thought he was gong to kick us out since it was past pool closing time
-Watching fireworks with the hotel worker while we sang, "God Bless the USA" and him asking us if we all wanted to join a band together. Kristi plays the cello and Lindsey and Kara play the piano. I could sing, kind of
-Kara mentioning that she could only run 5.5 miles per hour when the hotel worker laughs and said he could run faster backwards than she can forwards
-Kristi getting stuck in the car door while trying to get out at Glacier National Park. One cheek on each side
-Betting who would be the first to fall while walking down the snowy trail at Glacier. Kara was first then Holly was second
-Kara making Gennie belly laugh outside the temple. "I can see right down there."
-Apples, Oranges, or Banana. Peeled or Unpeeled
-Our leisurely .75 mile hike straight up a mountain on the Bear's Hump Trail. The only hike that forced us all to pull our hear up
-Changing our clothes in the church parking lot
-Seeing 2 BEARS!
-Modeling on the rocks. Nature's glamour shots
Kara falling into the water while trying to cross the logs
Kara falling into the water while trying to cross the logs
-Lindsay and Holly zig zagging back and forth in the canoe and occasionally going in the unintentional circle
