While we were in Banff National Park—having experiences and checking what we can off my 50 Things List we added on White Water Rafting on the Kananaskis River with Canadian Rockies Rafting on our way home.

But before that we did another little hike around the town of Banff down from Main Street to Bow Falls. The town had an awesome market set up that morning so we did a little shopping (I added a wooden spoon to my collection —its official I know collect wooden spoons from my travels along with Starbucks mugs) and some new jewelry! So far I have wooden spoons from Norway, Windsor Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Munich and now Banff!

Support local—you are literally making someone’s hopes and dreams happen when you buy from a local artisan!

Banff National Park is truly amazing and I know why people travel the world to visit. Sarah had the fun idea to book us into a Hostel! Which I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED—seriously, you think I didn’t have any fun in my 20’s! Well here we are the 50 year old crowd, staying at a hostel!

Don’t ask why there is wrapping paper in my hands…ok ask. It was a good deal. Enough said, hahahahaha!

But we did enjoy the hostel, we booked the room to ourselves so it was just us and I showered across the hall. It was another experience I can now say I have done!

Seriously, look at how gorgeous! Notice the Canada Goose in the corner, they were all over this path!

I will have so many great photos to scrapbook! We had the most amazing weather for this trip. It is like the universe wanted me to have this experience.

On our way along the path to Bow Falls we stopped so many times for photo opportunities and to just look at the beautiful world.

I don’t know why, but isn’t the sound of rushing water to a waterfall so amazing? It reminds us of how powerful this force of nature is and every drop that falls is different and creates its own ripple effect. Maybe that is like people?

After our hike back to our car it was destination WHITE WATER RAFTING. I think it was along this drive that Sarah casually mentioned we needed to wear wetsuits. WTF. Let me tell you….

Getting that wetsuit on was an EXPERIENCE (this deserved capital letters). We basically needed to help each other wiggle, pull, push body parts around to get into these things. And the booties…I was momentarily concerned they were going to be a permanent part of my body. And these are the only photo evidence you have that we did this! The rapids were class 3 so despite my desire to document things, we didn’t. We lived in the moment and locked the experience into our hearts.

Peeling off the wetsuit was also not for the faint of heart. But I am happy we had them on because the water was still pretty cold and we were able to get out of our raft at one point and swim around!

Overall, these 3 days with these 2 girl friends, doing all the things was amazing. Coming home with windswept hair and a sunburn and a heart full of memories was just what I needed.

You what I love about this list? I am not doing anything in order—when I wrote this list in January, I wrote a list of the all the ideas I had for myself to try and accomplish this year. Things that had been on my mind, things that I had put off for 1000 reasons, things I wanted to experience again and for the first time.

Usually I am a pretty methodical person, but this list is an experience and I will take the opportunities as they arise!

So when Sarah, Kelsy & planned to ride our bikes on the Legacy Trail (from Banff to Canmore) we added in as much as we could including the Nordic Spa (take me baaaack!) and whitewater rafting to finish our trip off! The bike ride deserves its own post!

We rented E-Bikes from Banff Cycle which was incredible! We had our bikes from 9 am to 7 pm and we used almost every minute of our rental.

The start of the trail is right outside of Banff. These were E-assist bikes which meant we did have to pedal the whole time. I will admit, the first 10 minutes I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into as one way of the trail is 26.8 kilometres and its been a hot minute since I have been on a bike! Hahaha!

The trail was so picturesque with the trees and mountains and just really feeling like a part of nature. The trail was steady but not in a crowded way. I actually felt connected to all the other people riding by on their bikes too.

We had a good pace but none of us took any notice of the time to arrive in Canmore or return to Banff! We just enjoyed the scenery and making some photo pit stops along the way!

Banff is absolutely gorgeous and I don’t know what it is about mountain air and seeing the mountains, but it is so good for the soul.

Across Canada in our parks you can find over 400 red Adirondack chairs that are placed in peaceful and gorgeous locations. It is always fun to come across a set as they demand a photo! So we were excited to find this pair on our way to Canmore!

We were so excited when we say the ‘Welcome to Canmore’ sign! Haha! Half way was done. We decided to bike into town for lunch and got a recommendation from a local. Their Main Street was shut down to traffic so we also enjoyed doing a little shopping! The bikes had some storage on the back which was great for our purchases!

After lunch we headed back to the trail for some more amazing views! We even saw a bald eagle on top of a tree right along the trail!

On the way back, we took a little detour (with no idea where it went) and emerged at the most amazing place known as Cascade Pond! I cannot believe that I have been to Banff so many times and did not know this place existed! The view was so fantastic, there was a little waterfall and tons of picnic benches and another set of red chairs!

Like, come on! Look at this! The water was like glass!

We road around the pond and found this bridge, I don’t know what it is about a bridge but one must cross it!

I think this picture captures how I felt about this whole awesome day! My heart is so full to finally! FINALLY! After years of driving by people on this bike trail and looking out my window and thinking “I want to be like them” to actually doing it with my friends!

Finding another set of red chairs was awesome too and we spent some time sitting, relaxing and visiting.

We when headed back into town we stopped by the ‘Welcome to Banff’ sign (you can see it across the road) and then decided to ride around town and find the big BANFF letters that have been relocated by the train station (they are a huge tourist attraction and the original location was causing traffic jams and parking issues). It’s definitely a must do photo opportunity when you visit!

After we dropped off our bikes a drink on a rooftop patio was required! It was a great way to end an awesome day!

I am so proud of myself for making this happen. It was one of my most desired experiences to check off my 50 Things List and my heart is so full knowing I have had the experience and the 600 photos to prove it. I will not be running out of scrapbooking content any time soon!

Thanks for being a part of my journey as I will be sharing another hike and white water rafting next (#41 ) soon!