The Munce Family: (Lucky Number) 13th Anniversary Celebration in Banff

We had an awesome anniversary trip this week, celebrating lucky number 13, the days consisted of slow starts, but active afternoons, 11/5 stars.

We arrived on Saturday evening and checked into our lovely hotel at the edge of Lake Louise. We did the Lake Louis Trail that evening, a 2.8 mile out and back, an easy paved trail. It was a great post travel day walk to appreciate the beautiful lake and scenery.

The following day we did the St. Agnes Trail, a moderate trail with switchbacks, 4.8 miles out and back. It provided us with incredible views of Lake Louise from above and took us to the St. Agnes Tea House where we had hot soup, tuna and hummus sandwiches, chips and salsa and green strawberry tea. St Agnes Tea House is the oldest tea house in Canada and was built in 1901 by the Canadian Pacific Railway surveyors and has been serving tea since 1905. It is as charming as you can imagine as it overlooks Lake Agnes, an incredible mountain lake. After the hike, we had some downtime and then dinner at Louisa, a Mediterranean restaurant where we shared the most delicious seafood paella, much deserved!

On Monday, we took the shuttle to Moraine Lake to complete the Larch Valley Trail. It was another moderate hike with switch backs, 6.5 miles with 2k elevation gain. After an initial steep climb, we were greeted with sweeping views of the mountain range and glaciers. The trail is named for the endless Larch Trees which change to a fire orange in late September. We were about a week early as they were just starting to change, they were really beautiful, I can’t imagine how they will look next week! Near the end of the out and back trail, there was a large group of onlookers who had spotted three grizzly bears in the valley. They were hard for us to spot, but still a cool experience nonetheless. We packed a picnic lunch for the end of the trail where we sat upon a large rock with amazing views. It was picture perfect, literally. We made our way back, found a gift shop with beer, hiked the Rock Pile Trail (.5 miles uphill) to the a rocky view of Lake Moraine (which is famous for being the image on Canada’s 20 dollar note) and cheersed. We sat there for 2 hours staring at the blue lake and the mountains. The clouds rolled through, constantly changing the scenery. Today was a highlight. We caught the 3:30 shuttle home and found a quiet corner of the hotel for a short happy hour before going for a burger at Moose Lodge, the hotel next door.

The following morning, we took a road trip with the top down (seat heaters and heat on high ;)) to Jasper National Park along the Icefields Parkway to the Stanley Falls Trail, a 2.8 mile hike, this was a moderate trail not maintained which lead you along falls with steep drops offs and waterfall sprays. We packed a small lunch and ate near the top before driving back to Lake Louise, pulling off for views and photos along the way. We made it back in time to catch the VMAs (I wanted to see if Taylor had any unexpected announcements ;)) and then went for our fanciest dinner of the week at Fairview Lounge. It was another great day.

Our final full day at Lake Louise, we wanted to find an easier hike, with not as much elevation gain, but I think we had had a few glasses of wine during our planning session the night before because the next thing I knew, we had decided on the Plain of the 6 Glaciers Trail, a moderate hike, but our longest at 8.2 miles, yikes. It was so lovely, we walked through shaded areas and along rocky ledges and on sandy cliffs landing us at the end with a lovely glacier view. By the time we got to the end, the wind was blowing, rain was falling and the sun was shining. It was a pretty surreal experience. There is also a Tea House on this trail where we walked to after we reached the end and on the way we heard a massive crack. I had overheard a tour guide on the Larch Trail earlier in the week explain what it sounds and looks like when the glacier gives way and an avalanche falls, so I knew immediately what was happening. I stopped in my footsteps and turned around in time to see a mass of snow fall, it was the first of three cracks that afternoon, but the only avalanche we witnessed. It was a cool experience. We had lunch, hummus sandwiches, soup, tea and tea biscuits at the the Six Plains Tea House and then went back to the hotel where I literally fell into an Adirondack chair overlooking the Lake. We celebrated with canned wine and water, we did it! Dave stayed put and I went for a massage. She worked my sore legs so good and instructed me to go directly to the hot tub after for my muscles to begin to heal. She didn’t have to ask twice, I understood the assignment.

We moved to Banff on Thursday for our final two nights of the vacation. We wandered though the shops and had a long lunch of pizza and orange wine at Eno before checking into Banff Springs Inn, a Canadian Castle built in 1888 which lives up to all of its hype. It is majestic and historic and is nestled right into the mountains. Our first stop, which Dave had scoped out and planned weeks ago was to the Rundle Bar which overlooks Rundle Mountain. The patio has sweeping views of the mountain range, we lucked into the best table available. Karma.

Our final day was exactly as I had hoped. We slept in and had a late breakfast followed by a walk along the Bow River Trail into town for some shopping for the kids and an amazing lunch at Nourish Bistro. We walked back and made our way to the yard to lie in the sun (70 degrees has never felt so warm) and spent hours reading and relaxing and FaceTiming with the kids. We had dinner at Grapes, a charcuterie and wine restaurant before a relatively early bedtime,

It was the best week. It is never easy to get away, but we both value our September getaway so much. It’s a great opportunity for us to slow down and reflect on our relationship and life and to reconnect without the weekly chaos. Special thanks to our priceless Nicole who so easily slips into our routine and manages the kids so well. Where to next year!?