Last year we made a giant loop of some of Canada’s best National Parks and got a brief taste of each. We loved it so much that we did it again this year, for the same week, with a slightly different itinerary. This time we went further north, spending the majority of our time in Jasper National Park, with plenty of stops on the way there and back.
I am not a Pacific Northwest or Washington native, but I moved here for the mountains and have done a fair bit of exploring with well over 100 hikes ranging form easy to a couple of Washington’s volcanoes. These are my picks for the best!
First off, this is absolutely not the way to see these parks! That said, this was an amazing trip and an incredible way to spend a week. We live within driving distance (although quite a long drive) so we decided to make a big loop to get a taste of each. People come from all over the world to visit Banff and a good number visit Jasper, but very few give them all a shot. Now we can’t wait to go back! This was our one week tasting journey.
This one day itinerary has a great mix of activities and sights. The Icefield Parkway has infinite options and enough variety to suit most nature lovers. From hardcore climbing and mountaineering to stunning roadside lookouts and gentle turquoise lake paddling, it has it all! Everything on this itinerary is also dog friendly too!
With our Grand Canyon trip I did a decent amount of reading but also had the impression that I have been to enough of this part of the country and enough National Parks that I knew what I was doing. I was wrong! Here is my list of lessons learned and things you should know if you are planning a trip, with a bit of our adventure mixed in.
Of the couple hundred miles we hiked in 2020 only 10 of those miles were without our pup. Washington is home to three incredible National Parks and several other recreation areas that prohibit dogs, but there is so much more! These are some of my top picks for dog friendly hikes without sacrificing the views.
This area is dotted with craggy lakes, deep gorges, cascading waterfalls, and lush greenery, peppered with small towns and wineries. I lived in this area for over a decade and did lots of exploring. The Finger Lakes in Central/Western New York has so many places to check out that it is hard to pick just a few, but these are my picks for where I would take friends from out of town for a memorable trip:
This trek combined agrarian culture and rugged wild beauty with the comfort of a bed and a hot meal at every stop. It is one of those places where you never know when you might find a chicken under the dining room table, have a child eat off your plate, or see a man carrying a grown woman in a basket supported by his forehead.
I keep getting asked What is the best? and What if you have to pick just one? While there are hard questions to answer, here is my best shot at it. If I was going to do this trip again and only go to the very best places these would be my picks.
Snaefellsnes Peninsula is often called mini Iceland for its mix of sights from all around the country. While it does condense a lot of Iceland into on spot, it also has many sights of its own that we you won’t find anywhere else.