Canadian Rockies, Banff/Jasper National Parks
June 3-8, 2010
We had been waiting to take the kids on one of our "wildlife" vacations. We end up driving so much on these vacations, not to mention getting up at the crack of dawn. As any hunter will tell you, dusk and dawn are the best times to see animals. When traveling like this, our weapon is the camera, our reward is the photo on the wall when we get home. So, armed with video games, audio books and binoculars, we headed to Canada. The kids wanted to see a bear (and moose, and elk and wolf... you get the idea.)
We flew into Calgary (remember your passports!) and rented a Chrysler 300. Loved it! We drove an hour to Banff, where we stayed for the first few nights.
The Douglas Fir Resort is absolutely perfect if you are traveling with kids. There are so many room options to choose from. We went with a 1 bedroom suite. It had a bedroom with double bed and TV, full bath, full kitchen, dining table with 4 chairs, living room with TV and a patio looking out to the forest and mountains. There was a Murphy bed for the kids in the living room. We booked their breakfast special, so the refrigerator came stocked with milk, orange juice, eggs, bacon, bread, butter, creamer and cereal. It was great! In the main building, there are 2 pools. One is just a regular pool, the other is a waterpark. There are 2 huge waterslides, a large hottub and a small kiddie pool. There are locker rooms, showers and towels available at both pools. There is also a large indoor climbing gym for kids 12 and under. Tubes, tunnels, mats, ropes... lots of things for kids to do to burn off energy. This was our second time staying at the Douglas Fir. We would definitely go back again.
We spent a few days in Banff. We have a list of drives that we do to look for animals. We were not disappointed! Day one and we already saw a grizzly and a black bear! The kids were so excited! The elk and deer are everywhere. We had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and the Elk and Oarsman. Both were very good. But very expensive compared to Minnesota standards! I think dinner was about $80-$100 every night. Ouch!
We made our way up to Jasper, driving what has got to be the most beautiful stretch of road in the world! It is absolutely breathtaking.
While in Jasper, we stayed at the Marmot Lodge in a 1 bedroom suite with kitchen. Let me just say that there is nothing fancy in Jasper. You pay top dollar for dated, standard hotel rooms. Don't get me wrong, the Marmot served us well, just don't expect fresh, new and contemporary in Jasper. It's part of the town's charm. We usually visit Jasper Pizza but ended up trying a new place called North Face Pizza that the locals rave about. Pizza was good, service was so-so, atmosphere was lacking. We definitely prefer Jasper Pizza.
We FINALLY did the scenic boat cruise to Spirit Island! We've tried to do this cruise everytime we're in Jasper but the weather has never cooperated. This time, we had the most perfect day! Plan on about $50 per adult for the 90 minute cruise. The crew was entertaining, and of course the scenery was incredible. You ride inside a boat on Maligne Lake out to Spirit Island. It is one of the most photographed locations in the world. And now I know why. Beautiful.
Here's our final animal count!
6 grizzlies
4 black bears
1 porcoupine
2 coyotes
55 big horn sheep
78 elk
85 deer
plus our favorite, the Columbian ground squirrel. So cute! We pretended they had fangs are were ferocious predators who attack in packs. Quite fun!
Now that we know the kids can handle trips like this, we're excited to bring them to places like Yellowstone and Alaska. I can't wait to share more experiences like this with them!