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.

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).

British Columbia's Three Valley Gap Ghost Town

Nestled along the TransCanada Highway just 27 kilometres southwest of the bustling town of Revelstoke, B.C. stands an odd and seemingly dilapidated assortment of buildings, sprawling out from the shores of the majestic Three Valley Lake. The red tin roofs, so out of place among the green mountainsides and glacial blue waters, make the establishment hard to miss.

When visiting The Enchanted Forest with my family a couple of months ago, we had to drive past this cluster of buildings known as Three Valley Gap, and decided that it was worth a stop.

Ride the Pipe Mountain Coaster in Revelstoke, B.C.

I wouldn't typically claim to be a so-called 'thrill seeker'. I have no aspirations of bungee jumping or leaping from an airplane. Heights freak me out, to be quite honest, although I can usually stomach them if I know I am perfectly safe. Even waterslides give me butterflies in my stomach, and I tend to stick to the ones where I am lined up with five-year-olds in the cue. So there isn't a lot of 'daredevil' travel stuff on my blog.

But this past weekend I rode a roller coaster down the side of a mountain. And that was pretty cool.

Discover Magic in British Columbia's Enchanted Forest

This May long weekend, my family took its first ever ‘family-only’ holiday - no extended family or friends, just us. It was wonderful and we had a total blast, spending some quality family time together. We headed out to Revelstoke National Park in British Columbia for a few days, choosing to stay at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel, which was really nice. (I will do a hotel tour post on that soon.)

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.

Go Snowshoeing in Jasper National Park in Canada

Item number 57 on my bucket list has been "Go snowshoeing" for years. Despite living in rural Alberta my whole life, where it is winter three-quarters of the year and always full of snow, I have never even stood in snowshoes before. It was actually a little sad that I had never checked item 57 off my list yet.

Strolling the Banks of Lovely Lake Louise in Alberta

While I have lived in Alberta, Canada all of my life, I freely admit that I have not yet explored every nook and cranny of my province's various natural regions. It is a big province with much to offer, so there's no shame in admitting that I have a lot left to discover. I AM a little embarrased to reveal, however, that I have never laid my eyes first-hand on one of our most famous gems: Lake Louise.

Jurassic Forest: Go Back in Time in Edmonton, Alberta

Imagine you are walking through a thick mass of poplar and pine trees, ferns and grasses brushing your legs, sunlight dappling the path before you. Bees and dragonflies buzz through the muggy air, humid after a fresh spring rain. Suddenly, you see movement through the trees ahead, and hear a low, moaning call being answered by a similar cry. As you push apart a curtain of Saskatoon bushes, you are stunned to see a life-sized Parasaurolophus hovering above you, protecting its young. It hollers at you to back off, shaking its head menacingly from side to side.