50 Things to Do List--#41 White Water Rafting!

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.

50 Things to Do List--Biked the Legacy Trail #13

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!

50 Things to Do List --#24, #25 & #28

Hey friends! Just me over here having the best summer EVER as I continue to check off some experiences from my 50 Things to Do list! The absolute BEST part of this whole ‘list’ experience has been how many friends have reached out with either ideas of things for me to do or to say “Hey, let me help you with #….”! This has been the most gratifying part of this whole idea! I am just over half way through my 50th year and it could not be going better!

One of the bucket list items that I added to my list was one that I have wanted to do for so long—visit the Nordic Spa in Kananaskis. This is #28 on my list! It did not disappoint! We decided to do the Twilight Soak and it was such a perfect evening after our hike at Lake Louise. As no phones are allowed you will have to search for images online of what things are like on the inside. It was such a calm evening, just a smidge of a breeze and it was so peaceful being in the water surrounded by trees. We did 2 full rounds which included a COLD PLUNGE —yay! #24 is officially checked off!

What to say about the cold plunge? Surprisingly, it wasn’t my nipples or lady bits that I thought would freeze off, it was the inside of my upper arms. I started counting to get to 120 seconds (2 minutes is recommended) and honestly, my brain could not do it! hahaha! I got to about 60 seconds and then my brain could simply not count anymore! hahaha! But I can now say I did a cold plunge—2x!

A couple years ago in May I took the kids to Lake Louise and we started to hike the Tea House Trail—we were unable to make it more than half way because there was still too much snow (we saw an avalanche across the lake) and it is something I have wanted to do again. However, this time the trail was closed because of the amount of water/flooding we have been getting in Alberta. So we settled for hiking around the lake but I am going to count this as an attempt as we still did a beautiful hike around the lake.

If you have never been to Lake Louise—add it to your bucket list. I think it really is one of the most beautiful places in the world and I am so privileged to only live a few hours away.

Isn’t this a gorgeous view?

The water is an amazing color and the way the mountains come together is spectacular! In the winter you can skate on the water which is something I have also been lucky enough to do a couple of times.

It’s a pretty easy hike to go around the side of the lake and I was surprised to find there was a huge sand bar at the end. There was still water trickling down from the mountains to fill the lake, it was so pretty.

There was a bit of an incline to get up to this point but nothing to challenging—seriously, I have not done nearly as much activity as I would like this year, so coming from me—you could do it to! hahaha!

We decided we needed to climb up the mountain side for a view and a drink!

I mean how often can you say you enjoyed a beverage on the side of a mountain with some of the world’s best views with your friends?

We found someone also walking by that offered to take a picture of us which was so kind. I love this picture of Sarah, myself and Kelsy!

Cheers!

Day 1 was the start of our adventure and while I was preparing to write these post I was reflecting a lot on being able to have the experience. The mobility to do it, the time and money and the blessing of friendship.

For the first time in several years, I am starting to feel like myself again. The person who enjoys trying new things, is happy and alive, has confidence and is proud of herself.

Thank you to every person who has contributed to helping me get here along the way.

Stay tuned for Day 2’s experiences as I checked something else off my list!

50 Things to Do when I am 50--#46 Try a new Craft!

As you know, I have been pretty committed to my craft of card making and scrapbooking for the last 20 years, literally saying the phrase “I cannot take on a new hobby”…has we know, hobbies & crafts are expensive, hahaha! However, when some of my lemons asked if I wanted to go try painting pottery with them as part of my 50 Things list, I could not say no! As saying ‘Yes’ to things is also on my list! My friend Karrie suggested this to my list and I so happy I added it on. I have a few other new crafts to try before the year is out!

So off we went to a really cute local place in Edmonton called Clay & Cupcakes. You can pick a variety of pottery items to paint, have access to all of their paint and supplies and then they fire and finish it for you.

I decided on a rainbow item—a container of sorts and I thought it would be fun to store my Stampin’ Water Painters in my craft room.

I decided on colors that felt like Stampin’ Up! to me—Pretty in Pink, Daffodil Delight and Pool Party. It was not a complicated item to paint, but it was relaxing and fun to socialize while we applied our multiple coats of paint. I even painted the whole inside!

Got to have a starbies on hand!

Aren’t our projects the cutest? The worst part was waiting to get our projects back as it took about a month. But well worth the wait when the girls delivered it to me at work! We typically are ‘ladies of the night’ as we really got to know each other working after closing shifts together. Hahaha!

Now my rainbow container is at home in my crafting studio, holding all of my water painters and adding a little pop of color to my craft room table!

Can’t wait to have the girls over for a crafting night and to share a technique using water painters!

Thanks friends for helping me check this one off of my list!

Make sure to check back as I recently went to Banff and checked a whole shwack load of things off of my list!

50 Things to Do--#9 BESTIES TATTOO --check!

Well it worked out pretty awesome that Encrypted Ink was able to take myself and my Sask bestie Carmen in for a cute little freckle tattoo! Tee is amazing and we had so much fun getting our little matching tattoos!

This was sort of a spur of the moment—the opportunity is here—the future is now situation and I am so happy that Tee was the one to do it for us!

As you know—this is the summer of checking stuff off of my list and this won’t be the first bestie tattoo that I get as I have some really amazing gals in my circle. Carmen and I go way back to our Boston Pizza days in Saskatoon. Nothing cements a friendship like serving together until the wee hours, having kids the same age, traveling together and being able to cry and share your deepest fears and regrets with someone. This little tattoo does not take up much space on my wrist but our friendship real estate is big in my heart.

I can officially check #9—Bestie’s tattoo (round 1) off my list of 50 Things! My blog is going to be lighting up as I have so many awesome things to share and I realize I still have a lot of things to do (behind on recipes, yoga and letter writing—but will get caught up!)

Isn’t this the cutest thing ever?

Thanks for being a piece of my story!