Supporting Local Economies: Amerii Handbags & Balinese Artisans

Recently I was contacted by a marketer from the up-and-coming handbag company Amerii, based out of Bali. She wanted to do a collaboration video on my YouTube channel in which I'd review one of their handbag products, and in exchange, of course, I'd get to select any of their products which would be shipped to me for free.

Before responding, I checked out Amerii's website to make sure it was a company that I'd want to attach my name to, and I was very happy with what I saw.

The Bowden Sun Maze: Happiness at Eagle Creek Farms

If you've ever dreamed of strolling through a sea of smiling sunflowers, awash in the golden glow of their sunny blooms, then it is my honour to inform you that making this dream come true is possible. Journey to the Bowden Sun Maze, located on the grounds of Eagle Creek Farms outside the town of Bowden in central Alberta.

The sunflower maze is only a small part of what Eagle Creek Farms has to offer its visitors, but indeed it is the most famous part of the attraction.

Read on to find out what you can discover while exploring the Bowden Sun Maze!

The Ellis Bird Farm in Lacombe, Alberta

Imagine it is a warm summer day. The sky is blue, the breeze is light. You want something relaxing but fun to do outdoors, without the hassle of having to pack for the beach, or launder wet swimsuits from the pool or splash park. You just want to hop in the car and go, be entertained, and come home satisfied without a bunch of packing or cleaning to do as a result of your day out.

Enter the Ellis Bird Farm, located just southeast of Lacombe, Alberta. Free to visit (but they sure do appreciate donations, so I encourage you to bring a bit of cash) the Ellis Bird Farm offers a lot for individuals and families to do. Activities include bird watching, TWO interpretive centers, pond dipping, strolling through the amazing gardens, a tea house with fresh ice cream, and a petting zoo of sorts.

My kids loved visiting the Ellis Bird Farm, so allow me to share our day there with you to help you plan your adventure!

Exploring Rat's Nest Cave with Canmore Cave Tours

What do you get the father / husband who has everything? That's the question I have every Father's Day when trying to decide what to gift my husband.

This year, I went with my usual go-to: the gift of a new experience. This is something I love to give to my husband, because he usually buys what he needs for himself and I also really am horrible at thinking of physical presents. But I can always give him a new experience! In the past, I've gifted Joey with dog-sled rides, helicopter rides over the mountains, hiking through frozen ice canyons, and soaking in grotto-style hot tubs. (Plus, I always get to tag along, so we both benefit from this! See what I did there?)

So for Father's Day 2018, the kids and I gave my husband a fantastic Father's Day gift of exploring Canmore, Alberta's 'Rat's Nest Cave' (with me) and then a day of fun and sun at Calaway Park (with the kids). You can watch the Calaway Park video here, but to hear about our amazing time spelunking in Rat's Nest Cave, read on!

Explore the Reynolds-Alberta Museum: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

For every car, truck, motorbike, airplane, and locomotive fanatic out there, this post is the one for you! (What else has an engine inside of it? If I've missed anything on my list, just add it, because I'm sure it will be covered here at some point!)

We just returned home from a day trip to the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in the city of Wetaskinwin, Alberta. It is a sprawling, three-building museum complex loaded to the brim with historical vehicles, including but definitely not limited to antique farm equipment, fancy cars, and old-school biplanes. My kids and I literally spent three hours combing through the galleries, admiring the displays, engaging in the various children's activities, and pretending to drive everything from race cars to helicopters. 

This museum was a super fun way to spend an afternoon, and I learned more about cars than I really ever need to know. You don't even have to be a vehicle or airplane enthusiast to enjoy what the Reynolds-Alberta Museum has to offer. If you aren't sure about visiting, read through this online museum tour - I'm sure you'll be convinced by the end!

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology: Virtual Museum Tour 2018

One of the most famous places to visit in Alberta, Canada (other than the mountains) is the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology located in Drumheller, Alberta. The newly-renovated museum, dedicated to all things palaeontology, has a massive collected of over 130,000 fossils, a working palaeontology lab, a botanical garden, and so much more.

Even better, the museum is located about 30 minutes from my parents' house, so I have been able to visit multiple times. The last time I explored the museum, I put together a virtual tour for those of you wanting to see what the museum has to offer but are unable to make the journey yourself.

Read on to discover what makes the Royal Tyrrell Museum such a fascinating attraction, and be sure to watch the video at the end to see what it is like to wander the halls!

Fondue (Or Fondon't) at Banff's Grizzly House Restaurant

I don't usually write about restaurants. This isn't a foodie blog. It is a travel blog. But sometimes, while on your travels, you encounter a unique restaurant that actually deserves its own spot on a travel blog because it isn't just a restaurant, it is a destination.

That's how I feel about the Grizzly House restaurant in Banff, Alberta. This place isn't just a tasty, unique, and fun experience, it also has a super juicy history that has to be shared!

Read on to learn about Banff's premiere restaurant to fondue, and er... frolic?

Banff Winter 'Fests: Banff SnowDays & Lake Louise Ice Magic Festival

Sometimes (not often) winter is worth celebrating. Christmas. Snow days. Curling up by the fire while big, fluffy flakes drift slowly to the ground outside. These are all things I actually do enjoy about winter.

In Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, parks personnel take celebrating winter to a whole new level. 

When I gifted my husband a trip to the mountains for his Christmas present this year, we were lucky enough to arrive on the same weekend that both the Banff SnowDays festival AND the Lake Louise Ice Magic Festival were happening. It made the weekend that much more full of interesting and beautiful sights, beyond the usual majesty of a winter mountain vacation.

Skate and Sleigh on Alberta's Frozen Lake Louise

Skating on a frozen lake can be an enjoyable experience.

But skating on frozen Lake Louise in Alberta's majestic Rocky Mountains is even better. With the incredible backdrop of Mount Fairview, Mount Whyte, and the Victoria Glacier surrounding you, gliding across the exceptionally blue ice is an unforgettable adventure.

Combine your skating activity with a sleigh ride around the snow-covered banks of Lake Louise, and you have created a perfect scenic winter day in the mountains. This is exactly what we did in January of 2018 when I took my husband and kids to Banff National Park as a Christmas-gift-experience. If an outdoors adventure of this nature appeals to you, then read on for more details on how you can organize your own winter getaway!

Incredible Ice Castles of Edmonton, Alberta

"When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels." (Anonymous)

OR.... Or you could make awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, majestic ice castles complete with towers, slides, and caves.

Well, if you are Edmonton, Alberta, that's what you would do. (More accurately, that's what they DID!) And last weekend, we went to explore this Narnia-esque wonder as a family.

I had been seeing advertisements about the Edmonton Ice Castle over and over again on Facebook. (Facebook must know how travel-obsessed I am.) I had been hinting repeatedly to my husband that we just had to go see it, and for about three weekends in a row we had made plans, and then everything would fall through. Last weekend, I announced that I was going no matter what.

Rogers Hometown Hockey hits Lacombe, Alberta

Sometimes you don't have to hop on a plane to be part of something new and unique. Sometimes, new and unique comes to you.

That was the case in Lacombe, Alberta this weekend, when our little main street was turned into a hockey-loving winter festival, all thanks to Rogers Hometown Hockey and Sportsnet. Free for everyone to enjoy, the Hometown Hockey event offered locals a chance to see the Stanley Cup, meet some hockey celebrities ranging from players to announcers, dance to some live music (and also to stay warm), and even get their faces on national television as TV legend Ron MacLean broadcasted live during an NHL game.

Despite the nearly -30 weather this weekend, hordes of dedicated, hockey-loving rural Albertans showed up to the Hometown Hockey event to see the sights, my family and I included. What was there to see and do? Here's my list of our favourite things about Rogers Hometown Hockey in Lacombe.

Banff's Fox Hotel and Suites: Hotel Review

Since Banff, Alberta is such a popular tourist destination in both the summer and the winter, there are plenty of places to select from when looking for hotels, hostels, and bed and breakfasts. The most famous of all is the Banff Springs Hotel, which looks like a castle, is rumoured to be haunted, and is totally on my bucket list. I have yet to check that one off. (At what point do travel bloggers start to get free stays in fancy hotels? Because I'm still waiting...)

However, two weekends ago my family and I reserved rooms at the Fox Hotel and Suites on Banff Avenue right downtown, and it was an amazing mini-vacation. I'd like to give you the details on our stay so you can decide for yourself if this hotel is right for you when coming to visit Alberta's mountain wonderland.

Winter Tips for the Johnston Canyon Ice Walk

About thirty minutes west of Banff, Alberta is the amazing Johnston Canyon. Nestled in a valley in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, this canyon is impressive in both summer and winter. The seemingly innocuous Johnston Creek is responsible for the canyon's design, cutting through the limestone walls over millennia to form sheer cliff walls, smooth water-rounded corners, deep pools, and even a waterfall or two..

I have written about Johnston Canyon in the past, as we have hiked it several times during the summer months. I even have photos of myself as a child, feeding chipmunks and hanging from branches as my family and I hiked up to the falls. Now it is my turn to take photos of my own children doing the same!

However, despite being very familiar with the canyon, I had never hiked it during the winter. So for Christmas this year, I gifted my husband a weekend family trip away to Banff, where we'd visit Johnston Canyon and do the 'Ice Walk'.

How to Build a Quinzee: Winter Fun in the Snow

Who here likes winter?

Typically not me. I am a warm, summer breeze kind of girl who likes to lay on the beach or dig in her garden or go for a hikes through green forests. I am not a girl who likes frozen toes and runny noses and cars that don't start because it is minus 40 degrees outside. 

But since I am Canadian, and we Canadians get winter for 3/4 of the year (at least, it seems that way) every year I try to make the most of winter and look for fun winter adventures to pass the long, chilly months away.

About six years ago I wrote a post about some of the activities available to those intrepid people who choose to celebrate the winter weather, and in that post I mentioned building a quinzee.

J.J. Collett Natural Area: Central Alberta's Wilderness Park

The area where I live, near Lacombe, Alberta is part of beautiful central Alberta. Our region is dominated in the summer by lush rolling hills, golden fields of canola or wheat, and patches of thick deciduous and coniferous trees dotting the landscape. It is serenely beautiful for a farming area. In the winter, our fields fill with blankets of white snow, while the green needles of the pine trees give colour to the land.

The area is not what I would call wild, although it is pretty. The many farms and fields ensure that wherever you go, you know civilization is close at hand.

Drive the Dinosaur Trail in Drumheller, Alberta (Part Two)

Sometimes when you are obsessed with world travel and thoughts of adventure abroad, it is easy to forget about the cool and unique places your own local area can offer. I am definitely guilty of this behaviour, but have been attempting to be more 'locally aware' through my Backyard Bucket List travel series.

The Torrington Gopher Hole Museum in Alberta, Canada

What does a small village with little tourism prospects do to generate revenue from passers-by? Some places might erect statues of unusual items, like a giant sausage (Mundare, Alberta), or a massive replica Easter egg (Vegreville, Alberta). Others may hold strange and random festivals, like Spock Days, where everyone dresses up in a Star Trek costume and greets one another with "V" shaped hand signals (Vulcan, Alberta).

Climb into the Mouth of the World's Largest Dinosaur

Spring is in the air here in central Alberta, so that means the fam-jam and I are slowly exiting hibernation mode and venturing out into the world. I've been clearing out my gardens, raking up old leaves, and have a mini-greenhouse in my basement filled with little green seedlings that will soon turn my brown flowerbeds into a vibrant sea of color. The kids have been learning to bike, bouncing in their inflatable bouncy castle, and jumping in 'muddy puddles' a la Peppa Pig. It has been a good few weeks.

Explore Calgary's Spark Science Center and Calgary Tower

Last weekend, my husband and I had a fun weekend exploring Jasper National Park, away from home AND the kids. It was a bit of a break from the whirlwind of potty training, shape sorting, macaroni making, and everything that comes with two busy toddlers. However, even though I know they had fun with their beloved grandparents, I felt bad leaving them while we went out and had all of the adventures. (I know, you can't wait to take a break from your children, and then when you leave them, you miss them. There's just no pleasing mothers sometimes!)

Hiking Maligne Canyon in Alberta

I always have a hard time shopping for presents for my husband. He is the kind of guy that when he needs something, he simply goes and gets it and puts whatever item he has bought to practical use. He doesn't even like receiving presents. So gift-giving is tricky with that man. Especially gift-giving for his birthday, which comes so close after Christmas.