Banff, Canada

2009 was supposed to be the year we traveled to Europe, but instead our travels took us around North America attending weddings. We were initially disappointed in having to put Europe off for another year, but these trips ended up being AMAZING!! Our wedding tour took us to Banff, Canada, Boston and Maine, and Washington State.

When our friends first told us they planned to get married in Banff, my initial reaction was "where?" Then I looked up the hotel the wedding would be at and was instantly in love. Holly and Brad had their wedding at the Fairmont Banff Springs and the entire trip was just incredible. We flew from SFO to Calgary with three other couples, rented our cars and headed up to Banff. We booked a room at Brewsters Lodge. We had a great loft room, with a living area downstairs and a bedroom upstairs. I highly recommend this hotel.

Our first night in Banff kicked off with a fondue dinner. The food was amazing and the more adventurous friends in our group decided to try snake and allegator meat. Ick.

The following day we headed White Water Rafting and had a great day on the rapids. The hubby and I first tried White Water Rafting when we went to Montana and just love it. We were eager to go again in Canada. After our rafting trip, we headed out with friends to cruise the main drag of town.

We quickly discovered that Banff has quite the night life. We hit a local bar where we found an 80's cover band playing. We danced the night away and ended up sleeping in very late the next morning (we weren't hung over or anything).

The following day, the hubs and I headed to Lake Louise and went on a gondola ride where we were able to spot some bears! We lunched at the Fairmont Lake Louise (great view, expensive hamburger) and headed back to Banff in the later afternoon for a BBQ with the soon-to-be betrothed couple and more time at the town's local bars.

The morning of the wedding, the hubby and I headed up to the Banff Gondola for some impressive views before heading back to our hotel to get ready for the wedding.

What can I say about the wedding. This was the location. Look at that view! The reception was even better! We partied the night away celebrating our friends and had a memorable evening.

Sadly, our trip had to come to an end. On our way back to Calgary, we stopped at the Olympic Park and got to see up close the bobsledding course and other awesome winter olympic sites.