Canadian Rockies July 29, 2023 report

[Eastridge]

Introduction

This is my report of the July 29, 2023 Canadian Rockies ABD trip. It will be detailed and includes spoilers so if you don't want to be spoiled then skip this report. However, I am also deliberately not mentioning several surprises/treats to preserve those.

Why Canadian Rockies? We wanted to take a vacation toward the end of summer. Doing a long international flight, dealing with changing many time zones and suffering from the heat didn't sound appealing. Many popular international tourist sites seemed overcrowded. Instead, we took this trip which had shorter flights, not much time difference, and had comfortable temperatures (highs in the 70s or low 80s) and amazing scenery.

Motivation

My main reasons for writing this report:

First, there is a need. I don't see a detailed Canadian Rockies trip report on this board, although versions of this trip have existed for years. The ones I found outside this board mostly cover earlier versions of the trip. It underwent a major change in 2019 and even the itinerary for Day 2 changed this year.

Second, I'm trying to give some visibility to this trip because it doesn't get covered as much compared to the other N. America trips.

Third, I hope to give some recognition to our guides, who did a superb job in making this a special trip for us.

Here are the pins:

 

[Eastridge]

Overall thoughts and observations

• This is a good trip if you like spectacular scenery and don't want a strenuous trip. The pacing is good, without much mandatory physical activity. Banff and Lake Louise are places I've wanted to visit for a long time.
• You stay in three luxury hotels, all Fairmonts. It wouldn't surprise me if half the cost of the trip was for the hotel rooms.
• We had 37 guests, 13 of those were kids. There was a wide spread of ages. We had kids under 10 and many seniors in their 60s/70s/80s
• The size of the group was not a problem. We had no issues with crowds or getting around.
• The air is dry. Bring and use lotion and chap stick.
• The bus has WiFi, but when you drive towards Lake Louise and beyond there is no cell coverage so WiFi doesn't work in that part
• Flight logistics are simplified because you just get a round trip to Calgary. The trip starts and ends in Calgary.
• Note that nonstop flights to/from Calgary are mostly to western US airports. There weren't as many flights to East Coast airports as I would have expected.
• While I had some Canadian cash, I could have used credit cards for all expenses (other than the guide gratuities) so getting cash isn't mandatory. With the exchange rate, a running line during this entire trip was "but it's in Canadian dollars" after seeing the price of something.
• Food was plentiful. Snacks were overwhelming.
• Our family had two rooms. If you get rooms with two separate beds, those rooms are much larger.
• There are a few long stretches without a bathroom break. I'll point those out.
• Could you do this trip on your own? The core activities are not exclusive to ABD and you likely could do much of this trip on your own. However, it would not have been as good a trip for us. I did not want to drive or make all the logistical arrangements. You cannot park at Moraine Lake so you must arrange some transportation there. ABD pampers you with concierge service and Tinkerbell luggage handling. I would not have booked hotel rooms with the views we got, would have balked at paying for canoeing, wouldn't have booked the guided bike excursion, etc. And you'd miss all the little surprises and treats that help make this trip special. I thought it was worth the cost.
• Of the ABDs we have been on, only the Italy trip had more surprises and treats.
• What about smoke from wildfires? That will get its own post, but the quick answer is we were impacted but not enough to spoil the trip.

 

[Eastridge]

Guides

Our guides were Josh and Lauren:



Both are Canadian. I'm used to ABD trips having one American and one local guide. But the Canada trips are different. Canada requires Canadian guides, so we get two local guides. They only do the Canada ABD trips, so Canada has its own set of ABD guides.

They both did an excellent job, and I hope this report gives you a taste of how they made this a fun trip.

They also mentioned that ABD is starting a second Canada trip in 2024 (Nova Scotia). I assume Josh and Lauren will cover some of those tours.

 

[Eastridge]

A word about smoke

The elephant in the room is the smoke from wildfires. We knew Canada had many wildfires when we booked this trip, so we took a chance and hoped that any smoke wouldn't be too bad.

I watched the air quality maps for two months before our trip. Most of the time, the air quality was good. There was one bad week (during the Calgary Stampede!) but I don't think ABD ran a trip during that week.

During our trip, air quality was good in Calgary and Canmore. We did get some smoke in Banff and Lake Louise. There was one evening in particular where the smell was a bit irritating. Some of the landscape photos you will see are hazy in the background due to the smoke. However, it did not prevent any of our activities, including the optional hike that climbed 1300 feet. So there was some impact, but not enough to be a big problem and I'm glad we went.

Obviously, your experience may vary. If you are reading this and considering this trip, you're probably looking at 2024 or later and we don't know what the weather conditions will be in future years.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 1: Calgary Tower

Our flight to Calgary was uneventful. We arrived around lunchtime and our hotel rooms weren't ready. So we got lunch on our own. One block north of the hotel is a street with many shops and restaurants.

Then we visited Calgary Tower, which is virtually adjacent to the Fairmont Palliser:


Foreground: Fairmont Palliser. To the left: Calgary Tower

The tower is no longer the tallest structure in Calgary, but it is still a landmark. It has been modified to include glass panels that you can stand on.






Looking straight down

 

[Eastridge]

Fairmont Palliser

Our first hotel is a luxury hotel in downtown Calgary. While the hotel was very nice, our room with a single bed was pretty small. In particular the bathroom had almost no shelf space. So we moved things around more than I would have liked. It's not unusual for downtown city hotel rooms to be small.

We stayed there during a weekend and there were several weddings or receptions. The lobby was filled with many people dressed nicely and enjoying private events.

 

[hmsTigger]

Following Great report.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 1: Howdy Pardner!

Besides checking in with the guides, the only ABD activity on Day 1 is the welcome dinner. It was held in a room in the Palliser.

We were greeted by Mickey and Minnie and provided appetizers, including wine.





The food was basically hotel banquet food and was fine.







During dinner, we were greeted by a person from the Calgary tourism bureau. She told us a bit about Calgary and the Stampede, which is the biggest event. Calgary and Alberta remind me somewhat of Texas. The biggest industries are oil/gas, agriculture and tourism.

 

[georgiagirl2]

I'm glad you're writing a trip report for this adventure. It's a beautiful part of the world that we've only visited in winter, and I'm curious about the ABD activities on this itinerary.

Love Mickey and Minnie's Canadian costumes!

 

[ronandannette]

Thanks for your TR - I'm delighted you came out to see us and had a good time.

You made a GREAT choice waiting until nearer the end of summer to visit. It's been an intense fire season both to the north and west. Here's what we lived with during most of July:

 

[jimmymc]

I can't wait for the rest of the report! This is an area I've wanted to visit for a while. I highly doubt it will be with DVC, but I'm curious to see how they handle nature-heavy land trips.

 

[Jess_S]

I am looking forward to the rest of your report too. I think we are priced out of ABD with the most recent price increases, but I love to travel vicariously.

 

[sayhello]

Oh! Looking forward to your report. I had this trip booked for 2009 before the economy crashed in 2008, and my trip was one of the many trips that year that got cancelled. I ended up going to Alaska instead, because I could book it for the same time period I'd already had approved at work. And somehow, I just never re-booked it.

It's funny what you said about the Adventure Guides having to be Canadian (I knew this). But I'm scheduled to do the new Nova Scotia trip in August of next year, and it somehow never occurred to me - D'oh! It's going to be under these same rules! So I will likely have the same Adventure Guides then!

And that would be a big "No!" for me to doing the Calgary Tower! I cannot stand being able to see a drop under my feet! Nope! I couldn't make myself do the Sky Tower in Auckland because it's got the same glass floors. Yikes!

Looking forward to more of your report!

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

Here's what we lived with during most of July:
View attachment 790781

Fortunately the smoke was nowhere near that bad during our trip!

 

[Eastridge]

But I'm scheduled to do the new Nova Scotia trip in August of next year

Hope you'll share your experience on the Nova Scotia trip!

And that would be a big "No!" for me to doing the Calgary Tower! I cannot stand being able to see a drop under my feet! Nope!

Wait for Day 5 of this report.

 

[sayhello]

Hope you'll share your experience on the Nova Scotia trip!

I definitely will!

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

I did a non-ABD trip to this area 6 (?) years ago. I'm looking forward to reading your trip report to bring back good memories. I really enjoyed Calgary, and yes, it is a lot like Texas. Wasn't expecting that!

I have no issues with heights, and my brain would not let me step on that glass floor. LOL. It took some deep breathing and will power to do it.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 2: Breakfast at Fairmont Palliser

Breakfasts are, of course, included in the ABD. Each Fairmont had a buffet breakfast. Here are some photos of the Palliser's buffet:







The dining area is the main restaurant, which has an "open air" feel next to the lobby

 

[Eastridge]

Day 2: On the Range, blessing from indigenous elder

The first activity today was to take the bus to Ft. Calgary and meet an indigenous elder, Miss Ruby, and her family, for a greeting and blessing.



They prepared something called "smudge," which meant burning 4 plants. I remember sage and tobacco were two of them. Then you could wave your hands through the smoke or waft the smoke onto your face. Each person who wanted to do this had the opportunity.



Miss Ruby also talked a bit about her history. She's been in movies. And as a girl she was treated poorly by Canadian schools, which I infer were trying to stamp out indigenous culture. Things seem very different today. Virtually every business in Canada had a statement to the effect of "We acknowledge that our business is on land that was originally of the following tribes..." I don't know if that is a legal requirement or a cultural thing.

Our driver for the entire trip was Bob. ABD selects its bus drivers carefully, and sometimes they even act as a third guide. He did a great job conveying us safely during the entire trip.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 2: Food tour and Bar U ranch (part 1)

This day was led by Nora from Alberta Food Tours. She talked about the signature foods of Alberta, which include beef, bison and canola, while we drove to the Bar U Ranch. This ranch is a national historic site. At its largest it had over 150,000 acres. It documents the importance of cattle ranching to Alberta.

Nora from Alberta Food Tours​

The itinerary said we would meet the cowboy's pet. Instead, we met his horse! This is a Percheron, used for pulling things. It was huge and reminded me of a Clydesdale. I think I've seen too many beer TV ads.





We walked to a campground and met Miss Miriam, who gave us a background of the ranch and the difficult lifestyle of being a cowboy who herded cattle.

Little mouse on the prairie​