BHPian mobike008 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.PrologueI’m sure every one of us has a “Bucket List” in our lives for places that we would like to travel. Thanks to the almighty, I have travelled the world quite a bit and it’s mostly thanks to my job but, the bucket list is something that I have always considered as “special” travel and not work-related travel.Some of my bucket lists that are now “Completed”:Riding a Motorcycle (Suzuki Vstrom 650cc) covering the entire ThailandScuba Diving in Andaman Nicobar IslandsDriving on the “Most Crooked Street” in the world- San Francisco, US.Visiting the city famed for the most notorious drug king pin in the world- Medellin, ColombiaDriving the BMW for 2000+ miles along the Pacific Ocean Coast (Seattle-San Diego-Tijuana, Mexico)Chasing the Northern Lights in AlaskaGetting stranded in peak winters in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada (This was by fluke, lol)Visited Poland (Krakow & Warsaw) to historical sites of Hitler’s presence during WW2 including visiting the site deep in the forest where the assassination attempt on Hitler happened (made into a movie, Valkyrie)Driving the BMW for 4000 kms across 3 National Parks in Canada (Banff, Jasper and Yoho)Future Bucket List Travels (Targeting to complete them in the next 5-6 years)Travel to more countries in South America (Brazil & Peru are on top)Safari in Kenya, AfricaDrive a luxury sports car across Europe (Spain to Turkey or Vice-Versa)Drive from New York to Los Angeles or Vice-VersaDrive from London to Edinburgh, Scotland and Back.Whew! If only wishes were horses this list would keep getting longer… lol! I have been thinking of sharing a travelogue of #5 for a while as it was completed in December 2021 but, looks like a travelogue of the immediate bucket list is taking precedence. It should rightly so, as this road trip vacation has been the most epic in my entire life and even after a few weeks, I am still in a hangover. Ever since we moved to Seattle again, we have been contemplating a trip to Banff National Park and Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. I was regularly coaxed by my college pal (Ananth) who lives in Calgary, AB by sharing pictures (On WhatsApp) of this beautiful region as it’s a stone’s throw away from his home and they do weekend hikes in Banff on a regular basis.This Summer vacation, I had a choice:Go with my college friends (one of them comes to the US once a year for a vacation) to Peru, South America. Last year, we did Colombia together.Take this opportunity and do a road trip to Banff & Jasper in CanadaThird Option, thrown in by my wife was Puerto Rico or the Bahamas which I convinced her was not the right time to go as it would be 100 degrees scorching heat and we would be fried in that hot weather.Peru was finalized in April and the initial plan was to do 4 days in Peru, come back and do 4-days to Banff. Thank God, I didn’t do something stupid like that as 8-days in Banff itself is quite short as there are just too many magical places to enjoy. Peru and Puerto Rico, we can go anytime as it’s just a flight away. So, I was tilting towards the Banff trip. Driving the BMW X3M40i to Banff and Jasper had a lure like nothing else and after a lot of convincing my spouse who was more keen on Puerto Rico, it was finalized that’s what we’ll do this for summer. All the thought process happened around early June when it was finally decided that I would not go to Peru. I will cover the Peru losses with my friend another day as they had put in a lot of planning and bookings. With the plan set, I collaborated with my pal (Ananth) in Calgary who was super awesome to help in chalking a plan and also suggested that I should buy a “Pursuit Pass” which was an awesome idea as it would save us > 40%. Pursuit Pass cost us $700 for 2 people that covers 7- major attractions and buying them individually is a lot more expensive:Banff GondolaLake Minnewaska CruiseJasper Tramway to Whistler MountainsOpen Top Bus tour in Banff DowntownColumbia Icefield Explorer- Drive on top of 2nd Largest Glacier in CanadaMalign Lake CruiseGlass Walk on Columbia GorgeOne thing to note is that tourist attraction tickets are ridiculously expensive in Canada, not to mention the hotels in these areas. Hotels in Banff or Jasper start at $400/night onwards and go all the way up to $1500/night. We decided to stay in towns that were far from these popular tourist attractions to get decent hotels on $200-$250/night budget. It meant we would be driving 60 kms one-way every single day to reach the actual tourist locations. $400/night for mediocre hotels downtown was not our cup of tea as we would be spending 12-15 hours outdoors and would need a nice place to crash for the night. Thanks to Ananth, all the planning with respect to route/attractions to stop on the way and actual attractions in Banff & Jasper, we booked our attractions accordingly spreading it over the entire week. Trust me, if we had done things on our own, we would have either wasted a lot of money or would be driving too many more kilometers as the planning has to be meticulous as covering attractions between these national parks is covering roughly 500kms spread. So it’s essential to plan a route so you cover the attractions along the route instead of driving back and forth. We spent 4 days in Banff National Park and 3 days in Jasper National Park. I will dedicate one post per attraction and try to share a small write-up and hopefully, this travelogue can become the “go-to” information for folks planning a trip to Banff and Jasper National Park. Would be happy to share more info, if anyone is planning a trip in that region. PS: There are 4 continuous national parks which are Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay. They cover a distance of 500+ kms so you can imagine their width and length and every inch of these parks is surrounded by the great Canadian Rocky Mountains. This trip was put into execution from June 28-July 8th, 2024. Also, we covered 3/4 of national parks in this road trip. NOTE 1: All pics taken with iPhone 15 Promax and are unedited. Please click to see the full resolution to capture the real beauty of Banff. NOTE 2: Videos will give you a better perspective and all are taken from iPhone 15 Promax and are unedited. Trip Route Our Transporter Us World Famous ” Lake Louise” Most Photographed Lake in the world “Moraine Lake” Unreal INK BLUE color of “Peyto Lake”Day 1 As most of you may know Canada follows the worldwide followed Metric system and so for the purpose of keeping a single value/system, I will use kilometers for this travelogue. It’s tough for us as the Imperial system is now ingrained into our systems and we keep recalculating kms to miles, kgs to pounds, liters to ounces. Our first day and last day would be the longest drives on this trip. Today, we had 1100kms drive to Calgary. Instead of the planned 4:00am Departure, we left home at 5:00am and the plan was to drive north and clear the border at Abbotsford, Canada. As soon as we enter Canada, we get on to the world-famous “Trans-Canada Highway 1″ which is the longest and continuous inter-country highway in Canada and cuts all the way from East (Victoria in British Columbia to New Foundlands at the edge of the tip of East Coast of Canada) and is the second longest national highway in the world at ~ 8,000 kms. We got on to Trans Can 1 at Abbotsford and headed east towards Calgary. We drove through some pretty scenic views of British Columbia (The scenery is similar to Washington as after all this is Pacific North-West). We are not breakfast people and enjoy breakfast only on a Sunday and on vacations. Wifey wanted us to have breakfast every single day and sit-down wherever it was possible. Stopped at Kamloops, Canada around 8:00am at a lovely, quaint breakfast joint for Omelette, Spuds and Fresh Coffee. We were so impressed with the breakfast that we decided to stop at this place on our way back (And we did stop here again on our return) to enjoy this meal again. Tanked up and headed east, Canmore, which is a distance of 525 kms, we encountered some of the best views scenes in my entire life. This entire distance is surrounded by the great ‘Canadian Rockies”. Turn your head right, left, back and you are surrounded 360 degrees by the Rockies. Just take a breath and imagine this- This 500kms is just the breadth of the Rockies and their length is even longer as it starts in Montana in the USA and goes all the way up to the northern part of Alaska (Basically, it is northeast and southwest) and have multiple 12,000 feet mountain ranges. The highway was one of the best I ever drove and felt it was better than even the US highway system from a road surface point of view. The entire driving experience on this highway is that you get a sense of “wilderness” and amidst raw nature. We stopped at multiple locations en route as it was so pretty at so many places. We stopped at one unique location where tunnels are made by humans for trains to travel from one mountain to another mountain. What an incredible civil engineering achievement. We witnessed a train pass through these tunnels and was a breathtaking sight. While on the topic of trains, I think the longest trains have to be in Canada and if you are stuck at a railway passing, it’s better you go to a restaurant and have lunch and come back as the train would still be passing. It’s common that goods train in Canada is 5kms long and at least 500 + bogies. Finally, reached my friend’s home at 6:00pm and after an hour of catching up on old memories as we were meeting after 10 years. We freshened up and we hopped on to his car (I was bushed from all that driving) and 4 of us headed to Calgary downtown. We visited the famous Calgary Tower from the top and just drove around and enjoyed this beautiful city. Ananth’s brother lives next door in the same community and I know him from back in the day as well. He joined along with his wife for dinner at Boston’s Pizza. We partied like crazy since were meeting after more than a decade. Enjoyed some divine fluids with lovely food and reached home at 2:00am. This is how our first day ended. 22-hours awake and on our feet. Whew!!! Crossing the US border into Canada at Abbotsford, British Columbia. Pretty, Pretty British Columbia. One of the best breakfasts we enjoyed in a Long time. Our return trip, we stopped here again for a meal, it was that impressive. Quintessential PNW Weather- Cloudy, Green like hell and absolutely gorgeous scenery all the way. Spiral Tunnels- A marvelous piece of engineering cutting through mountains to make tracks for trains. Saved 100’s of kilometers because of this passage. Beginning of the beautiful Banff Area. Pit-stop Pitstop for Coffee. Views like this forced us to stop. 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