Some trips start with months of careful planning, detailed itineraries, and spreadsheets.
Others start with a much simpler thought:
“I should go to Canada.”
And apparently that was enough justification for me.
In May 2024, I headed north for another adventure, this time setting my sights on Calgary and Banff, Alberta. Canada had been on my travel radar for a while, but Banff in particular was one of those places I had seen countless times in photographs. Towering mountains, turquoise lakes, winding roads, wildlife, and landscapes that look suspiciously like somebody turned the saturation slider all the way up.
As a photographer, there was really no way I wasn’t eventually going to end up there.
So I booked the trip.
Hello, Calgary
Calgary would serve as my gateway to the Canadian Rockies and my first introduction to Alberta.
Like most of my trips, I wanted to explore rather than simply rush through on the way to the next destination. Part of the fun of traveling is wandering around somewhere unfamiliar, seeing what catches my attention, finding something good to eat, and generally figuring things out as I go.
But let’s be honest.
The mountains were calling.
And they were being pretty loud about it.
Leaving Calgary behind and heading toward Banff, the landscape gradually began changing until the Canadian Rockies appeared on the horizon.
And then they just kept getting bigger.
There are places where photographs do a pretty good job of preparing you for what you’re about to see.
Banff is not one of those places.
Welcome to the Canadian Rockies
Driving into the mountains was one of those experiences where I kept looking around thinking:
“Okay…this is ridiculous.”
Every turn seemed to reveal another mountain, another valley, another patch of snow, or another scene begging me to stop and take a photograph.
Fortunately, taking unnecessary amounts of photographs is basically my thing.
Banff immediately delivered everything I had hoped for: enormous mountains, beautiful scenery, cool mountain air, and that wonderful feeling of being very far removed from everyday life.
This is exactly why I travel.
There is something incredibly refreshing about standing somewhere completely different from home and realizing that, for the next few days, your only real responsibility is figuring out what you want to explore next.
Lake Louise…Slightly More Frozen Than Advertised
Of course, one of the places I absolutely had to visit was Lake Louise.
I had seen the photographs.
You know the ones.
That spectacular turquoise water surrounded by mountains beneath a beautiful blue sky.
Perfect.
There was just one small detail I apparently hadn’t fully considered.
It was May 5th.
Lake Louise was still frozen.
Very frozen.
Instead of brilliant turquoise water, I arrived to find a giant sheet of ice and snow surrounded by snow-covered mountains.
Well played, Canada.
Well played.
At first, I might have been slightly disappointed that I wasn’t getting the classic Lake Louise experience I had pictured in my head. But that feeling disappeared pretty quickly.
Because frozen Lake Louise was absolutely beautiful in its own way.
The mountains surrounding the lake were dramatic, the snow transformed the landscape, and everything had this quiet winter atmosphere that made the place feel completely different from the photographs that had originally inspired me to visit.
So I did what I always do.
I started taking pictures.
A lot of pictures.
And somewhere during that visit I realized something important:
I was going to have to come back.
Not someday.
Soon.
I wanted to see that water.
Sometimes the Weather Picks the Adventure
Travel has repeatedly taught me that you can plan all you want, but eventually Mother Nature gets a vote.
And Mother Nature does not care about your itinerary.
You can research the perfect viewpoint, plan the perfect photograph, check the weather forecast twelve times, and arrive expecting one experience only to discover something completely different.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Sometimes the unexpected version becomes part of the story.
I went to Lake Louise expecting turquoise water and instead found a frozen Canadian landscape surrounded by mountains.
I’d say that’s a pretty good consolation prize.
And it gave me something even better:
an excuse for another trip.
Yeah…I’m Coming Back
By the time I left Alberta, I already knew this wasn’t going to be my only visit.
Banff had gotten me.
The mountains, the scenery, the photography opportunities, and simply being surrounded by that much natural beauty made it exactly the kind of place that reminds me why I keep chasing the next adventure.
And Lake Louise had unfinished business with me.
I had seen the frozen version.
Now I needed the turquoise version.
So, in true Maybe A Weekend fashion, the obvious solution wasn’t to say:
“Maybe I’ll come back in a few years.”
No.
I came back later that same summer.
Because apparently traveling to another country once in a year wasn’t enough.
Oh Canada wasn’t finished yet.
And neither was I.
Coming next: Oh Canada, Part Two — Back to Banff, where I return in late June to see what happens when Lake Louise finally decides to thaw.
