A few years ago, I was a travel agent. Turns out I hated it. I just didnโt click with the job.
I would arrange holidays to destinations like Fiji, England, USA and Thailand. And I would often hand out brochures on the Canadian Rockies. And although the photos were quite striking, I never really envisioned myself visiting these places. I donโt know why but I never felt a strong pull to the Americas. I was always interested in travelling to Europe and Asia.
So when Ben & I decided to pack up shop and move to Canada, it came as quite a surprise to everyone, including myself.
Iโll never forget it. Ben came home after a bender one Sunday afternoon. I was getting out of the shower and he walked in. I blurted out..."Let's move to Canada". And Bens response was,"I was just talking about doing that! OK!โ
And so we did.
I had done a working holiday in London ten years earlier so I guess I was getting itchy feet again. And Ben had a friend already living in British Columbia who had been raving about how awesome it is there.
Anyway, the reason I write this is because Canada is now one of my most favourite places on Earth. More specifically, the Canadian Rockies. Iโm sure itโs a pretty common reaction to feel connected to a place, but I physically feel different when I'm there.
Spine tingling different.
So what makes this place so special to me? Itโs everything really. Itโs the mountains, the lakes, the rivers, the wildlife, the forests. Itโs living, breathing love. And to think I never wanted to come here!
Here are some of my favourite places to visit:
Moraine Lake
Hot tip: Get here early!
Lake Louise
Hot tip: Get here early!
Peyto Lake
Hot tip: Get here early!
Yeah Banff National Park gets BUSY! Itโs a bit of a shame but I canโt complain. Iโm one of the millions that flock to this place each year. I often wonder what all the animals think of us crazies.
Grassi Lakes
Hot tip: Take the more difficult hike. It offers great views and isn't difficult.
Vermilion Lakes
Hot tip: At 5am, watch out for grizzlies that want to watch the sunrise with you.
And then thereโs Jasper National Park. Sheโs a beauty. Jasper looks a little more baron than Banff but thatโs part of her charm. I love how the mountains look up there. Here are some of my favourite spots in Jasper National Park:
Pyramid Lake
Hot Tip: Make friends with the chipmunks on Pyramid Island.
Snaring River
Hot Tip: Bring bug spray, lots of it!
Maligne Lake
Hot tip: Donโt try to walk to Spirit Island like I did. It's a long way!
I am looking forward to getting back to the Rockies this Summer. And I'm also keen to explore more of the mountain ranges in the USA. Glacier National Park and The Tetons are definitely on the list. Any other must dos?
What a beauty!!! I wish I could visit. It is such an incredible country full of amazing places. I love nature. Thank you for sharing it!! Regards from Barcelona.
I hope you get to visit Canada one day soon. It really is a unique and interesting country, with tons of beauty. Thanks for reading and commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed it โค
great article, you right that photos like the heaven in our earth, so beautiful @jessicaoutside.
Hard to believe the water is actually that blue! Thanks very much for your comment.
These types of photos always inspires us for travelling. We all should see the beauty of nature and remember one thing we are the people who are destroying the beauty of earth. Keep loving nature & happy travelling.
I love that photos can inspire us to go out and explore this place we call home. It really is a wonderful world that we should all admire and enjoy. We just have to look after her. Happy trails ๐
I need to visit the Rockies. I lived around Cascade mountains and near Mt. Hood in Oregon and loved being around forest, farms. I eat from my gardens.
Oregon is another favourite of mine. It's one of the states in the US that I really felt at home in. So much diversity from the coast out to the fossil beds. Simply stunning. Thanks for reading and commenting! I hope you make it to the Rockies soon
You are Jessica Outside, and I'm Joey Inside, haha. Oregon is cool like upstate NY where I lived.
Great pictures again! Canada didn't look like this when I visited!
Thanks very much legend.
Ahhh really? You'll just have to visit again ๐
Wow, amazing!
Thanks Tony.
I just love your photography and those
Canadian rockies!!
Resteemed for others to see your
awesome work @jessicaoutside!
Thank you!!!!! @shasta That's very kind. I'm glad you enjoy my photos because I love taking them. Thank you very much for the resteem. It means a lot
Wow! So beautiful! I love it, and want to go there, like, now!
Right?? Me too! Itching to get back there. As soon as possible please :)
Thanks for reading and commenting
Youโre welcome! ;-) Looking forward to Reading more of you!
I just went through all your posts are they are really great. Please join Team Australia!
Wow thanks @choogirl what an honour! ๐ฎ I will get back to you asap with my fun fact. Thanks again legend, your support means the world โค
Yay! I'm writing this week's update now, if you want in. It will take me a couple of hours so you've got a bit of time. Otherwise, you'll have to wait a week to get on the dole.
Haha...so good. I've been reading up on it and the curation trail sounds great. Still wrapping my head around all of this. Here's a couple of fun facts. Let me know if you need anything else.
Looking forward to being part of the team
Also @choogirl All good if time doesn't permit this week. Next week will be fine
You're in! https://steemit.com/teamaustralia/@choogirl/team-australia-new-recruits-02-05-18-and-who-are-the-aussie-witnesses
Some amazing photos you have here, Jess, I love the first one; Having the entire frame full of water really creates a big scale.
The Rockies really are beautiful, driving back and forth through them since before I can remember. And wouldn't you know it? Never officially visited Banff yet.
Cheers,
Speck.
Thanks Speck! They really are spectacular aren't they.
Ah you must stop in one day. It can be a bit of a shit show but totally worth it. We had to return for a second time just to see Moraine. They wouldn't let us in the first time we were there.
The drive through there is so good hey. I love how to animals have their own road crossings too. Really neat idea.
Oh Yeah!
The nature overpasses, I really like the concept of those. Too bad we don't see more of them in urban areas as a way to reclaim parkland.
Have you taken Crow's nest pass and driven through Frank's slide yet? That's also a beautiful dive as it's a little less developed/refined. More winding and rugged.
I dont think I have. I'll definitely keep in it mind as we'll be travelling through there soon. I just looked it up. Looks epic!
I was going to post a picture of Pyramid Lake today, but I saw your post and had to change, I just can't compete with those ;-) Splendid pictures again Jessica, ๐
I can't remember if we saw Snaring River, but I love your picture. It sure feels like you got early for that one too! The little touches of violet, the long exposure of the river, and the sun rising facing the mountains... Superb.
As for the next ones, did you also go to the Vancouver Island Ranges? It sure looked incredible from afar (while there, we were not far, in MacMillan National Park).
Also, it sure was a quick decision to move to Canada, but just looking at the pictures, there is no reason to believe one second it was wrong!
Thanks for the beautiful pictures again!
Ah no!! I wanna see it. You must share it soon.
The Snaring river shot was taken at sunset. There's a cool campground right on the river that provides excellent access. There aren't any services at the campground so the river is perfect for a quick dip, plus I got to see a grizzly which was pretty cool. Always a treat to see them.
And as for the Vancouver mountains, we haven't seen them yet. We've been to the island but we mainly stuck to the bottom half. Another trip for another time. That plus Alaska!
It really was a quick decision although the paperwork really took it's time. And I would change anything about it. Best decision ever.
What made you settle on the east? More work out that way?
Ha! I'll let a few days go by before submitting my Lake Pyramid pic then :-)
Alaska is definitely on our TODO list too. Since we're already in North America, it would be a shame to not go there, the only caveat is how expensive it is to get there (from Quebec City at least)
As for why we moved to Quebec, I think it's a bunch of reasons.
We wanted to get closer to forests, mountains, lakes ; nature in short. Also, get a work closer to home, and just get a better quality of life in terms of working hours (I know, I know, we want everything!)
Mission accomplished in Quebec though, and additionally, people speak French here, so that part was easy for us.
But now that we've settled in for a few years, we're very much attracted to the west ; maybe in a few years ;-)
Good news. I can't wait to see it ๐
Yes I was thinking it would have been an easy fit purely because of the language.
Very exciting! A brand new adventure awaits.
And that's the beauty of the world we live in now. We no longer need to be tied to the one place. I love that we can do work from the road and still earn a living.
Could you pretty much work anywhere with your profession?
Yes, not everyone can do that, some jobs require people to be on site, but I think it will be more and more remote working in the future, or at least partially (half the time at home, half the time on site). No time wasted in transports, no carbon released, employers need less space for workers, everybody wins. The day will come... (it's better if you say that in a very mysterious and low voice ๐)
At my place, we already work remotely with clients, whether they are in Quebec City, Montreal or elsewhere, so some firms are definitely ready to have people being remote all the time. Again, I'm lucky, I know that it's not like that everywhere!
And you, how long do you stay at one place? Because, you're not on the road all year, right?
Yeah that's true. Some people are tied to that one place. It will certainly be a different world when more people are able to work from home or from wherever they desire. I hope we're able to cut some stress from our lives. Or better yet, maybe we will all have our own robots in the future. We could delegate our work to it...MWAHAHAHA.
We generally spend 5 months a year doing the ski season and then we travel around for the rest of the year. It's so nice to stop for a few months as travelling all the time does wear on you a bit. But now, after spending months here on the mountain, I'm ready for the road again. I think we've found a nice balance. We will probably end up going home this year but we do change our minds a lot. As Australian citizens, we're able to visit Canada 6 months out of the year so that's pretty good.
Oh yes, our robot overlords can't come soon enough ;-)
That's a nice lifestyle you have and I think you hit the nail of the head, one just can't be on the road forever. Sometimes. we have to settle down a bit. It helps regenerating batteries and getting hungry of traveling again!
I did not know you could stay 6 months in Canada, but I guess it's because Australians are part of the Commonwealth, so special treatment? Did you ever consider becoming Canadian ?
Awesome photos, great blog all together! Good advice to get there early, it really does get busy in the summer. Thanks for posting.
Thank you! And yes, super busy. It's easy to see why though. Thanks for stopping by
Too good. Awesome shots. Resteemed!
Ah cheers for the love! Thanks very very very much โค
Simply stunning!!! We went to Banff about 6yrs ago and it was magical!! I was 7months pregnant so couldnโt snowboard but would love to go again and give it a go ๐ These lakes you captured are beyond beautiful.
Ah it's time to head back then ๐ I learnt how to snowboard after we got here and loooove it now. You should definitely give it a go when you have the chance. My favourite part is being able to get to the top of a mountain and just enjoy it for a while. The views are almost always stunning
Time to put Canada on my list then ;) Amazing photos!
Absolutely! And thanks very much
I like it alot your post, the photographs are beautiful.
I'm glad you like them. Thanks very much for reading ๐
Wow great post and spectacular pictures. Brings back memories of when I toured Banff with surroundings ten years ago. I really liked Canada. Very friendly and beautiful nature. Hope to go again :)
Very friendly! I'm always blown away by the lovely nature of Canadians. Last week a stranger gave us a huge firework just because he liked our travel story haha....so good. Have to find somehwere to let it off
Congratulations @jessicaoutside!
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That's great. Thanks very much @arcange I really appreciate it legend!
The Rockies are indeed sublime. I have been enjoying exploring them for the past 18 months two. I do miss the being down on the ocean in Australia however.
Oh me too! I'm definitely missing our beaches. I would love to explore the northern rockies a bit more but seems like we're already running out of time this year ๐
I love your photos! Another pin added to the map of "must go there asap" :)
Yasssss! Good news. I'm excited for you ๐ do it, just do it ๐ค
I have to take care of my health and finances first, but I will do it and I will write about it on Steemit :)
Sounds good. I look forward to that day. Take care of yourself first ๐
Thank you :)
Amazing, just want to say I liked and resteemed this before it was cool ๐
Haha - love it. Thanks legend! You made it cool :)
And cheers for the link. Unfortunately I'm too old! Plus we've picked up a motor home for the Summer
haha just cool by association.
I did a working holiday in Australia as a cherry picker. So this brings me back. Looking forward to seeing more of the journey.
Best of luck to you mad dogs.
Ah cool. Where abouts in Oz? Were you able to travel around a bit?
Haha mad dogs. That made me laugh ๐
Few places, worked 4 hours west of Sydney. Then RV'd Sydney to Cairins. Flew down to Tasmania and worked there for a bit. Then took a ferry to Melbourne and flew home.
I still want to see more but I ran out of money lol, I'm not a good cherry picker.
Haha I'm sure you were fine. Probably just paid really poorly.
Wow...sounds like you did a lot. I still haven't been to Tassie myself. I'm originally from the Hawkesbury area. Not sure if you've heard of it. It's about an hour west of Sydney. Lots of farming out that way.
And looking forward to doing my own RV trip around Oz once we get back. How'd you find it? Plenty of places to park up?
We found an app that helps you find safe spots based on reviews. Was pretty good, only one warning from a ranger.
Byron Bay was amazing. Also meat pies lol.
I don't know how long you'll be in Canada but if you're under 25 and will travel more this viarail pass is a really good deal
https://www.viarail.ca/en/fares-and-packages/rail-passes/summer-pass
Haha - love it. Thanks legend! You made it cool :)
And cheers for the link. Unfortunately I'm too old! Plus we've picked up a motor home for the Summer
Glad to reblog this outstanding post for you, @jessicaoutside
THANK YOU!! I hope you have a lovely day ๐
Hi @jessicaoutside, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Paddling Nature Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
Thanks so very much! I really appreciate it โค