Canadian Rockies Vacation

{This week I am excited to be co-hosting Toddle Along Tuesday with Melissa from Growing Up Geeky. Make sure and check out other great posts about vacations below!}

We just got back from one of the best vacations ever - and I really mean that :) One might think that a nine day vacation with a toddler would not be listed among top vacations, but it really, truly was amazing! The scenery was incomparable, the people amazingly friendly and we had poutine four, yep, four times.

I've had great opportunities to visit some amazing places in my lifetime and the Canadian Rockies is definitely a stunning place to explore. We went from wearing shorts to hiking in snow in less than an hour. We walked on a glacier, hiked up to a tea house at Lake Louise, hiked beside a deer, and saw breathtaking vistas around almost every curve.

I also think this vacation lists as one of the all time best because of how much A truly enjoyed himself. There is nothing better than watching your child explore so many new things in such a short amount of time. He was ready to get on the road each morning before even my husband or I were. "Let's Go!" was repeated multiple times with great excitement to start each day. He was also in love with all forms of water - lakes, rivers, streams, waterfalls (though NOT snow!) - and "wawa" or "agua" were exclaimed with enthusiasm each and every time we saw or heard water. The hiking backpack was also a great win - he loved being up high and seeing the world from a new persepctive. He tried to dive into it quite a few times!

He also gained great hiking skills on this trip ~ His coordination grew by leaps and bounds as he insisted on hiking up some quite steep terrain! He loved hiking with his daddy too. He also enjoyed giving strangers rocks and lots of smiles...one of my absolute favorite things about this trip was the friendly people. While I knew Canadians were friendly (we had a great conversation with some Ottowans who told us this crazy story about getting "Timmy's" at 3 am on their two day bus trip to Banff), I have never been on the recieivng end of so many smiles while hiking - perhaps due to the infectiously happy toddler on my back!

He also loved the trains - oh the trains!! So many to point out and see! He is now a little obsessed with bears, though we didn't get to see any, and deer, rocks, tractors...and did I mention trains?

Of course, I will add, that getting hotel suites was very key to happy parents. A had his own room to sleep in and we were able to stay up past 7 pm, enjoying some time to read by the fireplace and drink some good Canadian Beer. I don't think we turned on the TV once (well, except for when A figured out how to use the remote!). My only concern for the future - my little guy is growing up too fast!

I'd love to hear about your vacations...we need to plan on where to go next!

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This week's Toddle Along Tuesday topic is vacations! Where did you go this summer? Show off some pics and tell us what you did! There are no rules here, except that you link up a relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog.