My Own Canadian Adventure

After debating back and forth and back again, about whether to go and where to go... I finally made up my mind last week.

I'm taking a mini-trip at the end of August! I've had a very crazy summer at the end of a kind of crazy year. I need a holiday. But not in the sense of most people's holidays... I want a traveler's holiday.

At first I was thinking about going to California, Oregon, and Washington State. I'd still really like to go here some day, but it just wasn't sparking my imagination right now. I also threw around the idea of going to New York City and Washington DC. But I don't want to go to either of those places in the summer, even if it's late summer.

The spot that kept leaping to the forefront was my very own Canada. I met so many people in Europe who said how much they wanted to see Canada. How it was on the top of their "list". They always wanted to know where they should go. Almost any Canadian, including me, will immediately point west and say "Vancouver, the Rockies... go West!"

I did get to visit Western Canada when I was young, on a family trip. But it mainly covered Vancouver Island. While it's a stunning place in it's own right, I didn't get to see the jaw dropping Rocky Mountain vistas and turquoise lakes that abound in Western Alberta. Yet last summer I was telling everyone to go there.

So, I'm going to take my own advice and see more of my own country before I go off and see Australia, New Zealand, or even more of the US.

I'm going to Seattle for a couple of days, mostly to shop if I'm being completely honest with you (way cheaper than Canada!). Then my own Canadian adventure begins. Vancouver, Whistler, BC interior, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, and a few spots in between. My goal is not to party, be cultural, or try new foods. I'm going to relax and get away from my chaotic life for awhile. Sitting on the beach doesn't do it for me, so this is the most relaxing and beautiful vacation I can think of.

This time I'm leaving behind a long-term boyfriend which will be a bit tough, but he's the one that made me realize how much I needed this. And it's only a few weeks, not months!

I leave in just over two weeks. I have to figure details out and get ready to go, work, and study for my final exams. I'll be getting on that plane before I remember to blink.