On Wednesday we had planned to leave Canada and travel to Montana but we heard that the Northern Lights would be visible so we decided to stay in Canada another day to try and see them. We wanted to be a bit further south so we didn’t have such a long drive on Thursday so we decided to stay right along the border.

We started the day by going into Banff. We walked around the town a bit and then found a place to get lunch. It was really good. One of the best tacos salads I’ve had. They also had the best hard cider I’ve ever had for sure. I would of loved to buy some of it and bring it home. Sadly, they only sale it in Canada and I couldn’t take it across the border so I decided to drink 2 glasses instead of my normal one. Let’s just say I was a bit tipsy after lunch. Enough to suggest we all go get matching tattoos. We didn’t but now I’ve planted that seed and everyone thinks it’s a good idea and we should get some on our next trip.

I’d looked at things to do in Banff and saw there was a waterfall within walking range. We decided to walk there after lunch. We walked through a nature path with art. It was really neat.

After the waterfall we walked back to the car and drove to a couple of lakes that were near by.

We only did a drive by and got on the road. We had quit a drive ahead of us and we didn’t have a hotel yet so we wanted to get there as soon as possible. We drove through Calgary briefly, it was a bit smokey there.

On our way down we called hotels in a few towns and couldn’t find anything! Greg finally found one in Cardston, literally the last stop before the border.

We got to our hotel, settled in and the went out to find somewhere to eat. Most places were already closed but we found an A&W opoen.

We had a little suite that had kitchen and table so we brought our food back to our room and ate at the table in our room. It was nice.

Afterwards I looked outside and saw this beautiful sunset. I walked down the road to get a few pictures.

I was excited out of my mind at the prospect of seeing the Northern Lights. I’d looked it up and the best time for us to see them would be about 12-12:30. I was so excited I couldn’t even sit still. I kept checking outside to see if I could see anything but never could. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and thought we should drive out to where there were no lights and it was really dark.

We all set out and found a dirt road outside of the town to pull off on. We couldn’t really see anything but a hazy area in the sky. I set my camera up pointing it towards the haze and when I looked at it, I could see green!

I took a few photos and then tried to get a few of the Milkway.

Jaelee got this picture from her phone.

Jaelee got a bit of the Northern light on her phone.

While we were out there a truck came speeding by the main road and then came to a screeching halt. We thought we heard a pig but we think it was someone throwing up. It sounded like a group of young kids possibly drinking and driving. It started to freak Jaelee out so we decided it was time to go and get back to our room and go to bed.