I’m very much a type A personality planner, but every now and then I love going on a spontaneously planned trip. Carolyn and I seem to have gotten in the habit of taking an impulsive Fall getaway every other year (which has included a half marathon in Vegas and an impromptu trip to see a cancelled Harry Styles concert in LA). This year we set our sights a little closer to home and decided to make a quick trip out to the Rocky Mountains. 

We booked a flight to Calgary two weeks before the trip, which was honestly a little more expensive than we would have liked, but we got a really good deal on the car rental and hotels. Canada needs more competition in the airline industry and a few new companies have been popping up over the years. We flew Flair, so our base fare was pretty reasonable, but they really gouge you on baggage fees. To save money, we paid for one full size carry-on between us and each took a personal item. It was a bit of a struggle, but my 34L Gossamer Gear backpack is able to fit in the personal item sizer, so I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that in the future to save money!

We made it to Calgary and after an argument at the rental agency, picked up our rental car. The company tried to force us to rent an AWD SUV when they learned we were driving to Canmore. It’s a good practice to have winter tires or minimum mud and snow tires for winter driving, but they’re not strictly required on Highway 1 to Banff (but if you’re going beyond Lake Louise, you do need them). They were adamant we had to have AWD and we continually declined. It’s a tactic I’m sure they use (successfully) on a lot of tourists to make extra money. In this case, they were sold out of the economy car we had booked and were trying to force us to pay for the AWD SUV they were going to give us anyway (with mud and snow tires). So we ended up with it at no extra charge through sheer force of will. But I thought the whole charging strategy was really scummy and the agent was pretty rude when we weren’t co-operative, so I’m definitely calling out Enterprise!

After a quick sleep at the Super 8 airport hotel, we were up early to drive to Canmore. I have a few friends that live in Calgary and we planned to meet them at Lake Minnewanka for a hike. The weather forecast looked great and was primarily sun and clouds with no precipitation, but it was really overcast and it started raining just before we got to the parking lot. The rain quickly turned to a wet snow, which wasn’t super appealing. Our friends blamed us for bringing the poor weather from “raincouver”, but I think they were just exaggerating how it’s “always sunny in Calgary” – sounds like Alberta propaganda to me!

It wasn’t the best conditions by a long shot and the clouds were really low, obscuring the view, but we went on the hike anyway. It became less about the views and more about catching up with friends. Plus, I finally got to meet my internet friend, Kristine, for the first time and the trip somehow ended with her convincing me to go on another trip with her later this year!

The snow was definitely nicer than the rain, but it made for a cold hike! We were aiming to stop for lunch at a campground, but eventually we’d had enough of the wet, cold weather, and pulled into the woods for a lunch break. After that we turned around to return to the parking lot, tracking ~8km in total. 

But we wouldn’t be deterred by a bit of wet weather! We drove to Canmore and stopped in a café for hot drinks and snacks, before heading to our hotel to take advantage of the hot tub! We had a nice soak before saying goodbye to our friends, who returned to Calgary. Me and Carolyn decided to go for a nice meal at Fergus & Bix, which was easily the highlight of the trip food-wise! We had to make the most of having access to Alberta’s famous beef, so I had the most delicious blue cheese burger and Carolyn had a steak salad. 

While we mostly had hiking in mind when we booked this trip, both of us were in need of a good break, so we decided to take it easy on our second day. We slept in and then walked into town for brunch, before going for a walk along the Bow River. It was a gorgeous blue sky, sunny day, though quite crisp. We had a nice long walk and spent the afternoon shopping around town. I managed to show some self restraint in Café Books, which is a great little indie bookshop, but my resolve completely crumpled in Canmore Tea Co. I’m a pretty big tea enthusiast and try to get most of my teas from local shops. Canmore and Banff Tea Co are both great and have several teas that I absolutely love! So I stocked up on my favourites and then picked out a few new ones to try. Carolyn assisted me by holding all my purchases while loudly proclaiming how crazy I was for spending so much money on tea. 

Before it got dark, we decided to go for a little drive around town to some shorter viewpoints. We walked out to the Three Sisters Viewpoint, which has a great view of the iconic trio that Canmore is known for (the little, middle, and big sister mountains). We continued our drive up Spray Lakes Road to take some photos of Rundle and Ha Ling Peak, before returning to town for dinner. We ended up eating supper at Tavern 1883, which was really tasty, but definitely more pub vibes. But nothing that couldn’t be remedied with another trip to the hotel hot tub!

On our final day, we pretty much just returned to Calgary to get a noon flight back to Vancouver. So overall, it was a very short trip and it seemed like we didn’t do a whole lot, but I really enjoyed just kicking back and spending some time with Carolyn. It was nice not having a big itinerary planned and we pretty much did whatever we felt like. I’ve been to Canmore many times, but it was Carolyn’s first time, so we did a lot of the classic touristy things. Our friends recommended a lot of other great hikes to us, but given that we’d never even seen a lot of the viewpoints before, we were happy to take it easy. I love spending time in the Rocky Mountains and this was the only trip I made there in 2024, so I’m glad we were able to fit in a little getaway!