This May I had a wonderful opportunity to help my friend Sarah drive across Canada with her 2 daughters (both under 4). Sarah needed a hand moving from PEI to Red Deer Alberta and offered to pick me up on her way through New Brunswick. How could I pass up the special opportunity to help a friend and see our big and beautiful Canadian provinces. So since this was my first time seeing west of Ontario, I thought why not continue the journey past Alberta and make plans to travel solo to Vancouver.
We left the Maritimes at the end of April, during a very unseasonably chilly spring. We will soon find out that Canada in general had an unusually late start to spring, even Alberta still had hints of snow! This is my epic 20 day roadtrip across Canada, from east coast to west!
Alberta (Part 2), May 7-13, 2014
Before continuing on to British Columbia I spent a weekend exploring the area with friends. I contacted 2 old friends from high school who now live in the area and we made plans to explore Banff. My friend Emily was sweet enough to pick me up to the hotel and pick up our friend Melissa in Cochrane (not far from Calgary). Postcard views could be seen at every turn…. the mountains were breathtaking. Even though the weather did not cooperate, we had a fun time checking out the scenery around Canmore and Banff.
Later that evening I was off to Calgary to tour the city with Ryan, a friend from PEI. The next day’s adventures started with some addictive “Crave Cupcakes” and a drive to the mountains to explore Lake Louise with his girlfriend Leah and her son.
The following day I packed my things, said goodbye and caught the “eBus” from Calgary to Edmonton. I visited my friend Phil who was an excellent host for the evening. Although my time was very short in the city, it was still great to catch up with another old friend. He even offered to drop me off at the VIA rail station at 6 am on his way to work.
It was time to continue my cross Canada adventure through the Rockies and then into Vancouver!
