I’m not going to bury the lede on this… The five day, 2,200km road trip I took with my dad from Saskatoon to Calgary, then onto Banff, Lake Lousie and Jasper, and finally back to Saskatoon via Edmonton was one of the most fun things I’ve done in a long, long time. Every time I speak with my dad on the phone since he returned to New Brunswick, we end up talking about this trip and how much fun it was. Here’s the recap of an epic road trip, at least what I’m willing to share publicly. As with any good trip, there’s always a few things that need to respect the mantra “what happens on the road, stays on the road”

Calgary

When dad booked his flight from Bathurst, NB to visit me in Saskatoon in May, I immediately booked hotels for a mountain road trip so he could see the Rockies up close for the first time in his life. He arrived in Saskatoon, got acclimatized to my hometown for a couple of days, then we packed up the car and pointed it west. About seven hours later, we rolled into a rainy Calgary. First stop was at National on 17th, a great beer bar close to our hotel. Dad seems to be a fan of the pint I picked for him.

A little later that evening, we connected with some of my dad’s family’s friends, originally from northern New Brunwick and now living on the outskirts of Calgary.

Dad headed off to catch up with them, and I made my way around the corner to Last Best Brewing to sample a few of their delicious beers. While the evening downpour meant we had to forgo some of our original outdoor plans, Dad got a quick taste of what is quickly becoming a favourite Canadian city of mine and he enjoyed our brief time here.

Banff

When we woke up the next morning, the Saturday of the May long weekend, it was snowing outside our Calgary window. The drive out to Banff was through on and off again snow flurries that slightly obscured the view of the mountains until we got nearer to the national park. Standing at one end of the main road in Banff, my dad was mesmerized by the mountains.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to and visited many wonderful locations around the world, and each time I get to return to Banff, I’m reminded that this area is among the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Getting to watch my dad’s reaction to being in the mountains for the first time is something I’ll cherish from this particular visit.

With the dreary, damp and cold (for May) day outside, we ducked inside at Banff Avenue Brewing for a pint and lunch. You can see by this picture that my dad is having a blast.

After lunch, we walked around the town and then on our way out of Banff, headed up to Surprise Corner for the spectacular view over the Bow River to the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. A pretty good last moment in Banff, and great to experience on a relatively quiet day.

Lake Louise

I had my fingers crossed that for day three of our road trip we’d get clear skies. The travel gods must have been listening, because when we woke up in Lake Louise, we had a picture postcard perfect day.

The plan to start the day was simple. Alarms set for 6:00am. Jump in the car and head up to the lake behind the Fairmont Lake Louise so we could experience it as the sun came up. I’d say the plan worked out perfectly….

This is the place in Canada where I feel most Canadian. It is beautiful in a way the crawls inside me and makes me glow from the inside out. On this Sunday morning, it was perfectly still. Perfectly quiet. Me, dad and less than ten other souls.

We did a partial hike around the lake, and as much as my eyes were drifting to the snow-capped mountains, I kept watching my dad with a huge grin on his face, staring up at the mountains and out over the lake. When we pulled out of Lake Louise, he called my mom back in New Brunswick and told her with the glee of a five year old how amazing being in the mountains was. From the driver’s seat, I quietly beamed in the way a parent must feel when they watch their child experience something for the first time.

Icefields Parkway

After a hearty breakfast at our Lake Lousie hotel, we headed further into the mountains along the Icefields Parkway. I could not have designed a more perfect day for a drive.

Our plan for most of the day was to simply drive and stop wherever something caught our eye. This wasn’t a day about making good time. It was a day for having a good time and lots of pulling off the side of the highway where the mountains looked especially beautiful, like here at Bow Lake.

The Icefields Parkway is essentially, a continuous, scrolling postcard. Even though it was the May long weekend, for most of the drive, we felt like we had the mountains and lakes to ourselves. I had always wanted to do this drive, and it was living up to all of my expectations.

We pulled off the road for a longer stop at Waterfowl Lake, because…, well, this…

When I initially moved to Saskatoon, I was excited to take advantage of my new hometown to make trips like this to the mountains. Aside from the friendships I’ve made in Saskatoon and the professional reasons for moving here, I’m most grateful for getting to experience my country in a deeper way and exploring parts of it I had only learned of in secondhand ways.

Canada is full of some amazing scenery, and as a former coastal dweller, I’d hate to have to choose between the ocean or the mountains. But getting out of the car on top of a mountain pass on the northern end of the parkway, I’d have a hard time picking against this view.

Jasper

I found a parking space, and as I was fumbling around for something in the car, I realized I had lost my dad. I heard his car door shut, but he was nowhere to be seen. He’s a spry man of 80 years, and as my eyes caught sight a steam engine just down the street, I knew immediately where I’d end up finding him. A train and railroad enthusiast, he had escaped my car as soon as I had put it in park and made a beeline for this.

A long day in the car called for some wandering around Jasper to stretch our legs. We popped in and out of a few stores after fuelling up with a couple of cups of coffee and cinnamon buns to tide us over until we’d be stopping for lunch a bit further down the road.

Hinton

I had picked Hinton as the resting place for the end of day three to avoid some of the elevated hotel costs of Jasper on a long weekend. In a stroke of dumb luck, Hinton is home to Folding Mountain, a lovely craft brewery with a gorgeous taproom. I was being self-serving in making this our stop for lunch, but when I told my dad their kitchen speciality was macaroni and cheese, well, he was fully on board too.

I loved the beers here, and I think you can tell from the picture below that my dad found one that was his new favourite too.

We’re more than three months past this road trip now, and he still talks about the macaroni and cheese, the brewery in Hinton, but most of all, how much fun he had seeing the mountains with his son.

This wasn’t the end of our epic road trip. When dad and I travel together, something weird seems to happens every time and something kind of crazy happened in Edmonton that deserves its own space to tell that story. More on that soon…