Standardby Julie5 Comments

My new favourite getaway is an escape to a not-so-back country lodge in the Rocky mountains – one you don’t have to access by ski or snowshoe with your stuff strapped to your back, but can in fact drive right up to, park your car, and be sitting in front of a crackling wood fire in five minutes. Although it’s spring break and my feeds are full of friends dipping toes into pools and sitting on beaches, to me this is the stuff dreams are made of. And it’s pure Canadiana. These not-so-back country lodges are a little off the beaten path (literally), and so tend to not be as front-of-mind as the usual Banff/Canmore/Lake Louise hotel destinations. I’ve been to a few, but once I started seeking them out I realized how much I love them, how they embody coziness and encourage unplugging, how (unless you ski – I haven’t for years) they offer a true hideout from modern day life. And while allContinue reading

15
Share

Standardby Julie4 Comments

In keeping with our new hobby of exploring close to home, we ventured beyond the Alberta border toward Saskatoon, a city I love but haven’t properly visited in years. We didn’t realize it was only 6 hours away, and with a route that goes right through Drumheller, we hopped in the car for a long weekend in June. With a population of around a quarter million, it’s neither a small town nor big city – the perfect size for exploring, really. And like most Canadian city-towns it’s currently exploding with good food, new breweries and plenty of good coffee to be discovered. W’s first discovery: phone books! Thick paper ones that listed everyone in the city. It was such a novelty, he lay on the hotel book reading it half the night. The next morning, we hit the Night Oven. Love the name, the place, the bread, the pastries, the coffee. Some of the best bread in Canada is baked right here, baked with heritageContinue reading

4
Share

Standardby Julie5 Comments

This post was sponsored by Travel Alberta-thanks for helping me share the things I love about my home province. There are so many good things to eat in Edmonton these days, I can’t keep up with it all. We went for the weekend, and it’s never enough time. One of these days I’m going to schedule an eating week and call it work. Who’s with me? Edmonton food crawl? We could wear stretchy pants and explore by bike? First, I have to tell you (if you don’t know already) about a new multi-tenant eating spot similar to the Simmons Building in Calgary – Ritchie Market houses Transcend Coffee, Acme Meat Market, Blind Enthusiasm Brewing and Biera, a great new restaurant that focuses on pairing food with beer. (And yet I wouldn’t quite call it a brew pub.) Chef Christine Sandford is at the helm in the kitchen-we met her last year when she made us sourdough pizza and baby corn in the cobb oven onContinue reading

9
Share

Standardby Julie11 Comments

* This post was created with the support of Travel Alberta – thanks for helping me seek out and spread the word about all the delicious things in our province! We drove southeast to Medicine Hat just before the end of school, when we were all tired and in need of some time gazing out the window. This small town road trip thing, it’s a counterirritant. (I heard the word counterirritant recently, and have been wanting to use it.) The long (but not too long) drive, the slower pace, the new places to explore without the rush of the city. The parking meters, if any, that still take nickels and dimes, right downtown. The rivers and bridges and green spaces. We did what is starting to become our routine – checked into a hotel with a pool, and went to poke around town. And because there always seems to be a heat wave when we’re in Medicine Hat, we stopped at Swirls for ice creamContinue reading

17
Share

Standardby Julie15 Comments

– This post was created in partnership with Travel Alberta – as always, all words, photos and explorations are my/our own. – Crowsnest Pass has always been my sister’s camping destination of choice; I haven’t had much opportunity to head that deep into southwestern Alberta over the years, but when we decided to take the long way to the coast last summer, taking the windy highway 3 all the way along the US border to the Pacific ocean, we were reminded of how gorgeous the area is, how much we love driving through all the wind turbines, and how the small towns in that direction have a completely different flavour than anywhere else. This was the most amazing scene, with the ranch and horse jumping ring and that mountain in the background that’s far more spectacular than I managed to capture – I couldn’t get the best shot with my phone in a moving car… There are two routes to Crowsnest Pass from Calgary, bothContinue reading

7
Share

Standardby Julie6 Comments

– This post was created in partnership with Travel Alberta and the support of Tourism Red Deer, which helps me spend more time here (where I most want to be!) and spread the word about all the amazing things there are to do/eat/find in our province! It’s always a good time to support our local farmers and small businesses. As always, it’s a documentation of our trip, in my own (often awkward, sorry) words. If you’re around here on a regular basis (thank you!), you may have learned that our new thing is short road trips, often to small towns that aren’t typical tourist destinations. I love the speed of small towns – the free parking at their core, the relaxed pace, the old bowling alleys and old-school diners. And I love finding new things right in our neighbourhood, globally speaking. A few weeks ago we spent the weekend in Red Deer and Lacombe – not high on most vacationers’ lists, but I was teachingContinue reading

14
Share

Standardby Julie10 Comments

I’d like to sheepishly admit that although I grew up here, I’ve never really been to Waterton, save for a trip to a bison ranch ten years ago that no longer exists. I feel like a bad Albertan, but I know many Calgarians have never ventured this way, opting instead for the almost instant gratification of a drive to Banff or Canmore. The town of Waterton, in Waterton National Park, is tiny – with a population of 105, it virtually closes down in the winter, opening up again in May for the summer season. The place is somewhat of an enigma, without any chains (hotels and otherwise, with the exception of a small Subway), no cable TV and currently absolutely zero real estate for sale (we checked within 24 hours there) – it has a completely different flavour than Banff/Canmore/Jasper, focused on the lake but still surrounded by mountains. Touristy but not annoyingly so, nor overrun with people. One of the best things about aContinue reading

6
Share

Standardby Julie11 Comments

I’m officially hooked on these one or two day Alberta road trips – especially in fall, when it’s warm but not too hot, the shadows start to lengthen early and everything is turning shades of yellow, orange and gold. W and I hit the road a few weekends ago – we left on a Friday at noon, and I had forgotten how awesome the drive south to Lethbridge is. First stop: the Hitchin’ Post Drive-in in High River. A stand alone burger and ice cream joint in the middle of a parking lot at a roundabout in the middle of town that offers about a bazillion milkshake flavours – in every combination you can dream up. And then – the Nanton Candy Store. This is, to me, the quintessential small town candy-curios store, worth the drive its own self, jammed with enough interesting things to keep me busy poking around while W spends far too much time choosing his candies. The 100 square foot roomContinue reading

12
Share

Standardby Julie5 Comments

This is the Overlander Mountain Lodge, on the edge of Jasper National Park, between Jasper and Hinton. I had no idea it existed. Generally when we head to Jasper, it’s up highway 93 from Calgary. This time we decided to take the long way home from Tofino, heading back up the 5 from Kamloops and then turning off into Alberta, and Jasper. I’ve been to Jasper a lot in the winter, and a few times in the spring and early summer (this year we went in May, and the weather was perfect) and they are, obviously, completely different experiences. While I love climbing through the mountains in ten feet of snow, I also love being able to hop in a canoe and paddle around Lac Beauvert. Whether or not you’re staying there, it’s worth a stop at the JPL to sit on the patio and have a few cocktails, and have dinner at the new Orso Trattoria – stunning food, and an equally stunning view.Continue reading

4
Share