I have never been one that was much for traveling. I just never really was bit by the travel bug. That and airports kind of make me want to hyperventilate and have an anxiety attack. I hate not knowing WHERE i’m going, and as one that never traveled much growing up, I don’t like to do it by myself. One thing was for sure as of late though, I really wanted to make a trip to Canada and see Banff! If you remember back to my goals of 2017, you’ll remember that going to Canada was one of those! I hadn’t even been out of the country, and Canada is the closest one to me, so I just thought it all made sense. What I didn’t really think about was going up into the mountains in winter, but that’s another story for another day.

As you may know, I completed my certificate for wedding photography from the International Academy of Wedding Photographers, and I have met some AMAZING people from that group. One of those lovely ladies is Realene of Raelene Schulmeister Photography out of Red Deer, Alberta.  Go ahead and check on her site and be prepared to be amazed! She’s an amazing photographer and literally the funniest person ever. When I went down to Showit United this year, I finally got the chance to meet her in real life! We spend most of our time together there, and I knew that at some point, we needed to get together again and before United.

It wasn’t until I started to think about what I wanted to do this year for my business that I messaged Raelene and asked her what she thought about doing a shoot in Banff this year. She was up for the task before I even stopped talking about it, but what I don’t think she realized was that I wanted to do it ASAP. I’m kind of an impulsive person. It gets me in trouble sometimes. We figured out what days would work for both of us, and we started planning our trip! Everyone that I told that I was going to Canada in March probably thought I was crazy. Scratch that. I know they thought I was crazy. Growing up in Wyoming, I knew how winter was in the mountains, but after so many years in Washington with our mild winters, I must have forgotten.

Flying into Canada was a treat! I drove over to Seattle, which is about a three hour drive for me, stayed the night before my trip, and then headed to the airport the next morning. The weather in Seattle was pretty nice, and when I landed in Calgary, it was about the same! It was only about an hour and a half flight and it was relatively comfortable besides the smelly man sitting next to me. I navigated through the airport with ease, but then it happened. I got to customs and because I never had done it before, my anxiety tried to flare up. I remembered to breath, followed the instructions on the kiosk, made my way to the custom agents, and they let me through no questions asked! SWEET!

Once I found out that I had to turn on the roaming data from my phone, and was able to find Raelene, we were on our way to start picking up the pieces that we needed for our shoot. I got to meet some of our awesome vendors, and then we headed up to Canmore. We got to our motel, which had an AMAZING view of the Canadian Rockies. We stayed in that night, but didn’t end up eating dinner until like 10 PM. Somehow the time just got away from us, but we knew that the next day was going to be a busy one. I should also mention that it was sunny and beautiful that day. We went to bed, and anticipated our next day full of fun!

The next day was our free day! We planned on meeting up with another of our Academy classmates, Starr of Starr Mercer Photography. She had a friend in Calgary that she had come to visit for the weekend, and she was more than willing to come get us for the day! We drove up to the Fairmont Banff Springs Inn, had a yummy lunch, and then toured around Banff a little before she had to go back to Calgary! It was fun spending more time with her, and talking business! After she took us back to Canmore, she headed back to Calgary, and we headed back up to Banff. We toured around a little, and then ended up at place for dinner. We had the most delicious pulled pork nachos and then headed back to the motel to get ready for our shoot the next day!

The next morning, it was a little stressful. We had planned our shoot to be amazing, with amazing light and kind of cold weather, but we didn’t think about the fact that it could rain. And did it ever. We drove around Canmore in search of some covered area that would work for our shoot, with not much luck. Then we decided “THE SHOW MUST GO ON!” We made our shoot happen, rain and all, and though the weather COULD have been better, our models were amazing, and the shoot ended up great! I can’t share that JUST yet, but I’ll be SO excited when I can!

A few of Raelene’s favorite photographers and cake artist made their way over to Canmore for the shoot, and we had WAY too much fun during the shoot and afterwards. After a stressful day, we spent the later part of the night in the hot tub and outdoor (salt water) pool at our motel. Me and her friend Chloe did our best mermaid dancing in the pool, and we laughed entirely too much, but it was a fun time for all!

I was sad to leave Sunday, and knew that the airport would stress me out again. I got to customs, and felt like they were interrogating me (which is kind of their job), but made it through security with 30 minutes to spare and I got to reflect on my fun trip. I made a list of the things that I learned when I was there while I was sitting there waiting for boarding to start.

Things I Learned on My Trip to Canada

• They really say “ay?” after they ask a question.
• It was super strange to them that I carry a handgun once in a while.
• It was FLAT except in the mountains.
• People are super nice (even though they’re a little strange).
• Poutine is either delicious, or not very good, but it all depends on the gravy.
• There’s Aussies everywhere because they can get work visas super easy.
• There’s also Asians everywhere.
• It’s called “the prairie.”
• Some of the security at the airports wear cowboy hats.
• Banff in winter is like Frozen when Elsa freezes everthing
• They have a space needle-like thing in Calgary called the Calgary Tower.
• If you DO go to Banff in the winter, you probably ski.
• Apparently I don’t say my T’s….they were making fun of me for how I say “Lightroom”
• On the freeway they go 110……kilometers.
• I quickly had to learn to adjust that 0 degrees was really 32 degrees.

I really did have  blast on my trip, I just can’t wait to do it again in the summer when I can actually see the pretty mountain lakes and not have to wear boots the whole trip! 🙂

Thanks SOOOOO much to Raelene for being an amazing host, and for putting up with my crazy stories as we drove! 🙂 Until our next adventure, my friend!