Healing Beauty: Canadian Rockies

When Pinterest was a baby, one of the first images I remember seeing is a photo of Banff, in the Canadian Rockies. And I just knew: wherever that is, I need to go there.

We've been twice now. We went just the two of us for our anniversary one year, and loved it so much that we brought our whole family back with us a couple of years later. 

This is a trip I would happily take every summer for the rest of my life. We fly into Calgary and rent a car for the drive to Banff and Jasper.  Within an hour, I'm weeping from the beauty and I don't really stop until we're back in Dallas.

The Canadian Rockies.

They heal my soul just to behold.

Moraine Lake, near Banff

A lot of folks get to Banff and go no further. And that's fine. Banff is amazing. If you sit here on the terrace of the Banff Springs Hotel for a week, it's probably a year's worth of therapy.

view from the back terrace of the Banff Springs Hotel

Around Banff, you can go out and paddle around Lake Louise, which is the lake everybody wants to see. (I think Moraine Lake, above, is prettier.)  Bear in mind that both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are enormously popular. Late in the day, Moraine Lake parking may close so you can't even get there.  If you're out early, though, crowds are not a problem, and there's not even a line for the canoes.

If you keep driving north of Bannff, that's where the fun really begins in my book: Icefields Parkway. Known as Canada's most scenic drive, it's 175 miles of "pull over, I've got to get a photo," plus side-hikes of all kinds: canyons, waterfalls, glaciers. Give yourself at least four hours for this, more if you want to hike along the way.

The very first hike we ever took in Canada was in Johnson Canyon, just north of Banff along the Icefields Parkway. There was a signpost at the beginning of the trail with this quote by Wallace Stegner:

"I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder into foam, smooth to green glass over sunken rocks, shatter to foam again. I was fascinated by how it sped by and yet was always there; its roar shook both the earth and me." Wallace Stegner

This is probably the moment when it was happening for me:

"I gave my heart to these mountains the minute I stood by this river."

Johnson Canyon

So you drive into all this beauty, and there are wild flowers and wild animals and there is wild water, and every terrible thing just falls away, lost on the pavement behind you. 

And then you come to the cutest little town on God's green earth: Jasper, where you can find delicious Canadian food like Poutine (it looks funny, but trust me) and Tim Horton's donuts.

It can be a bit expensive to stay in Jasper, but we've had wonderful luck with Air BnB in the area. When we went with our family, we had a house with a huge meadow and heart-breakingly beautiful river walks, all in total solitude.

Random spot along the road, near our Air BnB in Tete Jaune Cache

All around Jasper, there are more canyons and waterfalls to hike, along with our favorite thing in Jasper: Miette Hot Springs. 

Hike the Sulphur Skyline Trail, which begins in the parking lot of Miette Hot Springs, and reward yourself with hours of perfectly soothing relaxation in the springs afterward.

When you have to leave Jasper, there is a bit of good news: you get to drive the Icefields Parkway all over again, headed south this time, and it's always as beautiful as the first time you saw it.

Beautiful, Funky Budapest

We went to Budapest because of the Viking River Cruise ads on PBS. You know how it is with me: show me a picture of a beautiful place, and I'll want to go there. Those Viking ads were always showing a lovely river with a gorgeous building right on the water, and I wanted to know where it was. Turns out: Budapest.

So we got in to Budapest late in the day, around dusk. We checked into our hotel, opened the drapes, and directly across the river from us, there it was, with the lights just coming on: the Hungarian Parliament Building, the very reason we came to Budapest.

At this point, I'm extolling the pure genius of my husband, who booked this hotel, this room. (And to add to the magic, it was free, you know, because points.)

Little did I know how much more I would love Budapest, beyond the Parliament Building.

First thing the next morning, we were out along the river near the Parliament Building, where we found this poignant memorial to Budapest's Holocaust victims.

Later, we visited the House of Terror museum where hundreds of people were imprisoned and died during the years of Facism and Communism.  

In fact, many of the monuments and statues around Budapest speak to the valiant resistance fighters who pressed on for freedom at great personal cost.

With a deep appreciation for the history of Budapest, we enthusiastically enjoyed the present, figuring out the underground and trolley systems pretty quickly.

We fell in love with Matthias Church, where we climbed the tower for a spectacular view over the city--and the intricate roof-tiles of the church. (Hungary is winning the roof game, y'all.)

We wandered the streets and markets, buying paprika in little tins with tiny wooden scoops to bring home. We discovered langos, the best food you never heard of: fried bread, like elephant ears from the State Fair, topped with anything you want. (We picked Nutella and fruit. No regrets.)

We took the trolley up to Gellert Hill at night for the iconic city view.

We ate at the Ruin Pubs.

Austin, Texas claims to be weird, but this is a level of weirdness that Austin can only dream of. We absolutely loved it!

Apr 6

Beautiful, Funky Budapest

Destinations

We went to Budapest because of the Viking River Cruise ads on PBS. You know how it is with me: show me a picture of a beautiful place, and I'll want to go there. Those Viking ads were always showing a lovely river with a gorgeous building right on the water, and I wanted to know where it was. Turns out: Budapest.

So we got in to Budapest late in the day, around dusk. We checked into our hotel, opened the drapes, and directly across the river from us, there it was, with the lights just coming on: the Hungarian Parliament Building, the very reason we came to Budapest.

At this point, I'm extolling the pure genius of my husband, who booked this hotel, this room. (And to add to the magic, it was free, you know, because points.)

Little did I know how much more I would love Budapest, beyond the Parliament Building.

First thing the next morning, we were out along the river near the Parliament Building, where we found this poignant memorial to Budapest's Holocaust victims.

Later, we visited the House of Terror museum where hundreds of people were imprisoned and died during the years of Facism and Communism.  

In fact, many of the monuments and statues around Budapest speak to the valiant resistance fighters who pressed on for freedom at great personal cost.

With a deep appreciation for the history of Budapest, we enthusiastically enjoyed the present, figuring out the underground and trolley systems pretty quickly.

We fell in love with Matthias Church, where we climbed the tower for a spectacular view over the city--and the intricate roof-tiles of the church. (Hungary is winning the roof game, y'all.)

We wandered the streets and markets, buying paprika in little tins with tiny wooden scoops to bring home. We discovered langos, the best food you never heard of: fried bread, like elephant ears from the State Fair, topped with anything you want. (We picked Nutella and fruit. No regrets.)

We took the trolley up to Gellert Hill at night for the iconic city view.

We ate at the Ruin Pubs.

Austin, Texas claims to be weird, but this is a level of weirdness that Austin can only dream of. We absolutely loved it!

And finally, my friends, we discovered the Széchenyi thermal baths. If you need a reason to stay in Budapest forever, beyond what I've already told you, this is it.

While thermal baths are, in general, a wonderful thing, the Széchenyi baths are also a great cultural experience. This is the largest "medicinal bath" in Europe. Built in 1913 in a neo-classical style, the baths have gorgeous murals inside, and a triumphal presentation all around. You really do feel like you're having the most majestic bathing experience of your life.

In delightful juxtaposition, the process for entering the baths is pure bureaucratic leftovers from the communist era.

You pay in one place, and they give you a piece of paper which you take to another place where they give you a bracelet which allows you through the turnstile. Once inside, you stand in one line for regulation flip-flops, and then wait in line outside a small room, where you enter and show your paper and your bracelet in order to be issued a towel. Then you wind your way into the bowels of the building to find the dressing rooms, and finally you're free to exit to the baths. There you will find chess-boards built into the sides of the baths, where very large men in very small Speedos, tanned to the color of dark chestnut, have clearly been playing ongoing chess matches since Stalin was a baby.

We loved it so much we went back the next day, too.

Budapest is so much more than one beautiful building, but I'll always be grateful to Viking River Cruises for showing me that one building that inspired us to travel to this delightful city.