Epic 10-Day Road Trip Through the Canadian Rockies! [Banff, Jasper, Waterton, Calgary, Edmonton]

Welcome to the Canadian Rockies. Over the next 10 days we'll work our way through Alberta, Canada by go-kart, wagon, gondola, raft, monster truck, boat, bike, and water slides. We'll visit Canada's first and most visited national park, drive one of the most scenic drives in the world, drink water from a glacier, and see some of the most turquoise waters imaginable. We're Matt and Cheryl and we write travel guides for the west. Thanks for joining us and if by the end of this video you want to do this road trip, I'll show you how you can make it happen for yourself. You can also check out the description below. Now let's get going. Our first stop is Waterton Lakes National Park which literally borders the United States as well as Glacier National Park. In fact they symbolically merged into the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Waterton is sandwiched between its more popular siblings Glacier and Banff but we visited twice and have really enjoyed our visits. It's definitely worth a day's visit if for nothing else to stay in the fabulous Prince of Wales Hotel with possibly the best hotel view we've ever had in a national park or anywhere. Tiny Waterton Townsite lies within the park. Just walking around the town provides great lakeside views as well as the impressive Cameron Falls. This is a really great low effort thing to do in Waterton. If you can get from your cart inside the grocery store you can get to Cameron Falls. Today we're eating hot dogs and fries at Wieners of Waterton. A famous Canadian food is poutine and so we are in Waterton right now and we ordered the very famous poutine. The poutine is not good. This is an American girl saying this but poutine is french fries and gravy and cheese curd and I don't like it. We've done the boat ride, Red Rock Falls, Blackiston Falls and we've seen several bears in Waterton. Next time we hope to hike to the famous Crypt Lake in this lovely area that just keeps delivering fun surprises. Now we're heading north on Route 22 in Alberta Canada also known as the Cowboy Trail. This section of Canada is well known for its cowboy culture. Calgary's nickname is Cowtown. Each year the city of Calgary hosts the world's largest rodeo the Calgary Stampede. Everything here in Alberta is the world's largest something. Of course they have to have the world's largest moose but how about the world's largest beaver, dragonfly, egg, teepee, dinosaur and get this a painting on an easel. The world's largest pierogi is a nod to the many Ukrainians who live here. Later we'll visit the world's largest indoor water park in Edmonton but for now we're visiting the world's largest saddle in Calgary. This is the Saddle Dome and it's the home of the Calgary Flames which gives free tours of the aging stadium soon to be replaced by a big new stadium. When the Saddle Dome was constructed it was based on a stadium in Norway but when the city held the naming contest the residents of Cowtown named it the Saddle Dome even though it wasn't a dome and wasn't intended to be western. Here's another fun one. The Peace Bridge was built in 2012 to the tune of 25 million dollars but the residents affectionately call it the finger trap. So this wasn't cheap and already it is under construction again. It's a nice way to just connect the city. There's actually a few other bridges that cross the river into the city and across this bridge is one of the most amazing walkways along a river you will ever see. My family has already fallen in love with this city. This here is like a huge pathway system that goes along the river. The flowers, the grass, the greenery. I mean so clean and so beautiful. The river that flows through town is the Bow River. This is the same river that flows through Banff National Park which we will be floating on in a few days. Okay we figured out Canadian geese are a lot nicer when they're in their homeland. The Calgary Tower is taller than the Seattle Space Needle and it used to be the largest building in Calgary. It was built in 1967 at a cost of 3.5 million dollars, nearly 30 million in today's dollars or just a little more than the finger trap. Made in the 60s they're still issuing the legit tickets. I think that makes it cooler. I think so too and you know I learned something cool about the Olympics that also happened. The torch for those Olympics looked like the Calgary Tower. Yes it did. We learned that on our tour of the flame stadium. Well I found out that they actually turned this into a torch from time to time including when they had the Olympics. They'll light that for like 24 hours at a time with great big fire on top of this. That would make me nervous if this was on fire. It's actually pretty cool to see these tall skyscrapers like eye to eye. The other thing that's pretty neat about this is there's like a little mini skywalk where you can actually stand on glass and look down which is kind of scary and I'm not even scared of heights but it's a little intense. Our favorite thing in Calgary was easily downhill karting. A fun gravity-fueled racing experience. I feel the need for speed. We just finished our downhill karting. We've never done anything like this before. I've never even heard of anywhere having something like this. This was really special because it was a mixture between go-karting and an alpine slide and what I loved about this is it was actually affordable. We got a family pass and it was about $25 for each of us to go down this three times. I rate it a 10. This was an amazing family activity. We turned and burned. I give it a 9. That was fun. Crowds kind of suck when you're trying to go fast. 9. Objection. Crowds are the funnest part when you get a weave through them. I beat him twice. It was fun and dangerous sort of. Oh because you almost had a wreck. Yeah. It was a 10 and I realized I drive like a mom. All my kids can beat me down the hill. All right the thing to do in Canada is get your Tim Hortons in the morning. All right Timbits are the thing here. These are not donut holes. Timbit. Time to pack up and hit the road for Banff. It's a scenic hour and a half ride on Highway 1 from Calgary to Banff where our first stop is the town site of Banff. A lot of newbies don't realize Banff is a town and a national park. Like Calgary, the turquoise Bow River flows right through the middle of town though the views here are obviously better. This is the stunning Banff Springs Hotel. This is one of Canada's grand railway hotels constructed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 1800s. Welcome to the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel also known as the Castle of the Rockies. It used the chateaus of the Loire Valley in France for inspiration. It has hosted several famous people such as Marilyn Monroe and the Queen of England. It's perched on Sulphur Mountain overlooking the Bow River as it slices through Tunnel Mountain. We booked a river float along this very stretch of river and it was awesome. I am so excited. When we drove into Banff we looked down the canyon and we saw the Bow River and now we get a chance to actually go on it. We are going to be on this big 25 passenger raft and they tell us this is a float not a whitewater adventure so we're not dressed for the water we are just dressed for a nice float but I've heard it's very scenic and I can't wait to do it. Our tour guide was from Australia, the first of many park employees we encountered from Australia. At one point we started wondering which country we were really in. He did all the work for us and told us some good stories about the park like how the Banff Springs Hotel was accidentally constructed backwards. A bit of a fun fact about the hotel it's actually facing the wrong way around. This was one of my favorite river floats because the scenery changed so much during the trip. Here are some hoodoo formations and here's an incredible sheer mountain face. The river float lasted about an hour and by the time they kind of got us out there floated down the river and came back it was about an hour 15 hour and 20 or something like that. It cost $70 per person for an adult maybe a little spendy for that but everything in Banff is spendy. Downtown Banff is home to the Banff Park Museum a crazy collection of taxidermy you won't soon forget. No one does taxidermy like the Banff Park Museum. I have never seen so many stuffed animals. There's birds, bears, mountain sheep, fish, all sorts of cool things in there. They've got a great little program for children to kind of look around and look for animals. It's a real short stop I would say maybe 30 minutes. Now it's time to check out the town a little bit. The Cascade of Time Garden is an enchanting little oasis next to the Banff Park Administration Building. It was built during the depression and it shows off some of the best flowers in the park all in one place. The water cascades down the hillside symbolizing the passage of time. We're so used to seeing the frontier theme in most places we visit in the Rockies that we really enjoy how Banff leans more English than Old West. We were kind of talking at lunch how we think it might be paying homage to some of Canada's British past like this like an English tea garden but this is a beautiful garden with some stone walkways. There's waterfalls and just so many colors and varieties of flowers and something that we did is we packed a picnic lunch and ate under the shade of a gazebo. It was just the most charming time. What a nice stop. We tried poutine a couple days ago and it was an epic fell with our family so we are trying another Canadian specialty beaver towels. We've got the brownie, the triple chocolate peanut butter and what's yours Jack? Cookies and cream. Cookies and cream. Okay and this is the triple the brownie. Okay everyone take a bite. They've already done it. It tastes like a scone with frosting on it. It's a scone with frosting and trees. It looks incredibly rich. Chocolate all over the mouth. Welcome to Cave and Basin. This is the birthplace of Banff the snow park. This is really cool. I think a lot of people think of this as kind of an afterthought but Banff actually started because a hot spring was discovered here and back in the 1800s people really believed in the healing powers of hot springs and some people today still do but back then this was all the rage and this has been a really big surprise for me because most people say this is just a quick stop in but I talked to the ranger and she said to do this place properly is at least 30 minutes but up to two hours and for in 30 minutes you can go in this great little historic site and I want to show you my Canada Gold, my pass. This discovery pass can get you into all the national parks in Canada for a year and the historic sites and in Banff there's a couple that you'll want to have this pass for. We've just been flashing our card and getting in everywhere we want to go but inside this historic site there's actually the cave with the spring in it and then some great just photos of the past and some really good interactive things for the family so I highly recommend stopping in at the cave and springs. One other thing I forgot to mention is this is home to a species that only lives here. It's a little tiny slug and it lives off of the sludge on the top of the hot springs. It's really kind of where it eats the algae and kind of floats around up there but I thought that was kind of special because it just kind of goes to show how every species matters and this national park part of the reason why they're here is they are protecting this little slug so I thought that was kind of cool. We are at the Banff gondola. It's kind of a cloudy morning but we're so excited to see the views. In fact one of our sons was saying that it's kind of almost magical to have the mountains with a little bit of haze on it so we're going to see what we can see from the top. Are we going to be able to see anything? Maybe some clouds and some trees but we're being optimistic. The Banff gondola has been in operation since the 1950s and was the vision of a Swiss mountain guide who wanted to make the summit of Sulphur Mountain more accessible to people. It was the first gondola in Canada. Each cable car carries up to four people making for a cozy trip. The ride feels speedy and it ascends over 2,000 feet in eight minutes. It operates year-round and carries about half a million people annually to the top of Sulphur Mountain. Upon disembarking we are immediately greeted with the most amazing views of the clouds. This is what I would call an epic fail on a vacation. We are in the middle of a cloud. We can see zero so if you're here you don't make the same mistake we did. You can reschedule your gondola ride if it's a cloudy day like this and the girl actually gave us that opportunity. You know of course we can't tell from the bottom of the mountain what it's going to be like up here but an employee would know and we could have asked but that being said there are some other things to do up here. At the top of the gondola there's a couple of restaurants. We got some hot chocolate which was delicious. There's a little movie. There's a little museum to walk through so those are all things that you can do. In the end we did get some nice views on the way down as the lower skies were clearing up. From here we can see the town of Banff and the Banff Springs Hotel. We have another activity tonight we hope doesn't get rained out but first we're checking out the Lake Minnewanka Loop. This is a nine mile road that goes by several lakes including the largest lake in the Canadian Rockies Lake Minnewanka. This is man-made and there's an old mining town at the bottom of the lake. This lake offers boat tours here but we already have another boat tour scheduled near the end of this trip. Really a wonderful scenic drive to get away from people. Also the shuttle actually services this drive. You can just take the shuttle out on this road if you'd like to right from downtown Banff. So in Banff there are a ton of things that you can spend your money on. A bunch of activities that you can do. Most of these have actually been put in packages together by the main company that handles this which is Pursuit. Now I would kind of say the other mistake is feeling like you have to do all these things. Like you have to spend a ton of money on these things. You can come to Banff and have a wonderful trip without spending a ton of money on attractions. When you are cruising around Banff and you see some red chairs don't miss the opportunity to sit and enjoy an amazing view. These are all strategically placed and you are guaranteed to see something awesome when you sit in one of these chairs. All right who's finally ready for some good weather and good food? Time to ditch the English theme and get back to our old west roots. This is Banff Trail Riders and they offer the only chuck wagon cookout inside the park. You can do this in two ways horseback or wagon ride. We've decided to take our group of 10 people including my parents and Cheryl's parents on the wagon. The ride starts in the city and eventually reaches the Bow River. It's paved the entire way so if you're bothered by dust this is a good ride for you. It was a little funny seeing the horse riders on our tail or even the bikers passing us but let's not get too picky. The ride was beautiful and the guides were very accommodating and kept us engaged for much of the ride. They didn't offer entertainment but they did have games for us to play while we waited. Okay we arrived at Three Mile Camp where we're going to have our barbecue cookout but while we're waiting for them to cook out we're going to turn city slicker Cheryl into a cowgirl for a brief moment. Whoa baby looking good. That looks good. Mine was so good and I don't eat steak but I ate the steak. Okay. It's all gone. I licked the plate. I'm still hungry. No I'm just kidding. Look it's all gone. Yeah lick the plate clean. So good. Very good. I actually ate my steak and I never do that. It was so good. I pretty much always love the chuck wagon cookouts but now you've heard the recommendation from the rest of our group. Good job Banff Trail Riders. No more laziness. We've ridden go-karts, rafts, gondolas, and wagons. We can't avoid it any longer. It's time to hike. Johnston Canyon is a wonderland of waterfalls, cascades, and cliff walking. Officially there are the lower and upper falls but there are several other falls you'll encounter along the way on this dreamy hike. This is amazing. It really feels like something out of a storybook. It's very beautiful. We made it to upper falls of Johnston Canyon. This is a spectacular hike. I love hikes like this. This is considered a moderate hike. There's a little bit of climbing but not anything that's going to wear you out for the rest of the day. Plenty of energy left to see other things in Banff but there are seven waterfalls on this and you're just walking along the river and something that really surprised me was that there's like thermal features here. It looks like mammoth from Yellowstone at the very end of upper falls but I just can't say enough good things about this hike. We're now in Canmore, a town about 20 minutes away from Banff and comparable in beauty. The Three Sisters Peaks hover over the town and it has a lively main street with gorgeous walking paths throughout. We're eating at the Grizzly Paw Cafe. Thank you. Yummy. We stayed at the nearby hamlet of Dead Man's Flat which got its mysterious name because the ground is flat in Dead Man's Flats. Oh, you wanted to know about the dead man part? Well yeah, a guy killed his brother here once and threw his body in the river but I thought my flat story was more interesting. Nearby is Kananaskis, yet another area with insane mountain views. You probably noticed how jagged the mountains are here. More so than the American Rockies, the Canadian Rockies were carved by glaciers. The glaciers left behind very steep peaks and wide u-shaped valleys where roads now travel. They are really majestic and seemingly around every turn. Now we're taking the shuttle to see the crown jewels of Banff. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are two lakes tucked away in the mountains about an hour away from Banff town site. These lakes are world renowned for their turquoise blue colors. It's the glacier meltwater that gives the lakes such vibrancy which can change based on the clouds and sunlight. These are very popular places which is why we needed a shuttle. Our experience in using the shuttle was a little hectic, a story which we cover in our Banff trip planner video which is linked above and in the description below. I'll just say for now if you want a free guide on getting to Lake Louise, check out the link in the description. The valley of the ten peaks tower over Moraine Lake. Okay we're on something called the rock pile right here which is right next to Moraine Lake. Actually when you climb all the way up to the top here this gives you the best view of Moraine Lake in the background there. Look at that come into focus there. Just a beautiful blue lake. This is where the shuttles drop you off right here. So when they drop you off it's just right by the lake there. There is a trail that goes along the shore of the lake over there. The thing to do here is hop on a canoe which is only about $120 per hour. That $70 raft ride is looking pretty good right about now. Alright what do you guys think about Lake Louise? Oh man it's so cool. That turquoise, that's insane that turquoise. Our hectic day got a little more hectic when an afternoon storm rolled in. I violated my own rule today and I did not wear layers. The forecast said it was going to be sunshine and now look at it and we're kind of stuck here at the lake without proper attire. The storm cleared out the crowds so we had the lake almost all to ourselves in the evening. Cheryl hiked around a little bit and ended up with the lake framed in by the chateau and a rainbow. This morning we are driving on the Icefield Parkway. We've heard this is one of the most beautiful drives ever and so we've got high hopes and we're really excited to see it and we're gonna get to go to the Columbian Icefield Adventure kind of at the end of it and then we're heading into Jasper. So I've heard we're seeing some pretty good scenery and I can't wait to see it. We've been on several scenic drives around the and although I don't really rank them because they are all unique in their own way, this one definitely earns its fame. Unlike many roads in the American Rockies, it does not climb over tall mountain passes. It mostly lays low riding through the glacial valley flanked with towering peaks on both sides. There's 144 miles of mountains and they are split down the middle between Banff and Jasper National Parks. This is Bow Lake which has the coolest reflection I've ever seen in a lake. High above the lake is the Bow Glacier. The waterfall you see here is the beginning of the Bow River which we've seen in Banff, Canmore and Calgary in this video. The river's name comes from the reeds that grow along its banks which were used by indigenous peoples to make bows. This beautiful lake is Pato Lake named after Bill Pato who is one of the first park rangers and a legendary figure in Banff's early years. This mountain man and explorer had a pet lynx and would take it into the Banff Springs Hotel Bar just to liven up the place a bit. This is the Athabasca Glacier and it's just one glacier of many in something called the Columbia Icefield. Okay you can see people walking up the road to get to the white glacier there and then you see people up on the glacier. The only way you can access the glacier is through the tour. First a bus takes us closer to the glacier then we get loaded onto this monster truck which is called an Ice Explorer. I believe there are only 24 of these in the world. One is in the parking lot for display. I think one is not in Canada and the other 22 carry 56 passengers each onto the Athabasca Glacier. The road to get to the glacier is an insane 32 percent grade but the machines are specifically designed to gear down for this road. Tell me about it. We haven't even gotten to the ice yet we're going down downhill a 32 percent grade on just a dirt road. I've never been on a road this steep before in my life. The huge tires are specifically designed for riding on the glacier. Walking on the glacier wasn't much different than walking on snow but it was quite crunchy under our feet and we all tried drinking the glacier water from the stream. Everyone on the glacier just seemed to be happy and having a good time. Afterwards we loaded up on the regular bus which took us to the Glacier Skywalk. This see-through bridge extends over the San Huapta Valley where you can stare 1,000 feet straight down. This opened in 2014. You feel movement. Right. But like you said it can hold three of those buses. Do you think that's true? I don't you know. You think three of those buses could sit on this right here? They can probably say whatever they want because it's too narrow to drive one of those things on so it's not going to hold that much. For better or for worse the Columbia Icefield Adventure and Skywalk are examples of how Canadian National Parks are willing to offer attractions to visitors that the American National Parks aren't. The last half of the drive takes us into Jasper and is a real dud. All it has is more insane mountains, turquoise No joke. First thing had to get some dinner so we went with the breakfast food which is good because all the other places had long lines. Literally as I was making this video in July of 2024 Jasper was hit with a wildfire. The wildfire turned into something they call a monster fire and they couldn't stop it from sweeping through the small town of Jasper. The residents were evacuated and all they could do was watch news reports about different sections of town burning to ashes. Thankfully no one died but anyone who's ever been to Jasper was heartbroken. Unlike anywhere I've seen Jasper seems to win over the people who visit. Our entire group preferred Jasper over Banff. When we got home my mom even got a cat and named her Jasper. So we got a cat and named her Banff. So with apologies to Jasper the town and its residents I'm showing our Jasper experience which will hopefully serve as both a time capsule of what Jasper was like before the fires and an inspiration for you to visit because I know Jasper will rebound quickly and they will welcome you with open arms. Jasper receives fewer visitors than Banff and has a very peaceful feel. The sweeping valley has several great peaks surrounding it as well as a bunch of lakes that you can play on for much less than $120 per hour. We saw several elk wandering around the town as well as this massive guy on the way to Moline Lake. Moline Lake is Jasper's version of Lake Louise. Okay we're here at Moline Lake we're getting ready to go on another boat cruise. We have heard that this lake might be prettier than Moraine Lake or even Lake Louise so we are excited to find out. The cruise lasts about an hour and a half and costs about $80 per person. It is a guided tour we loved our tour guides. The cruise is about nine miles round trip and dives into the heart of the mountains which get more impressive the further you go. It drops us off at the picture-perfect Spirit Island. This morning we got up from the town of Jasper and drove about 45 minutes to Moline Lake. To get the views you're getting from behind me the only way you can see it is via boat. On our tour it's been great because they actually have a boat captain and a tour guide so the tour guide has nothing to do but tell us great things about what we're seeing and he was telling us that that Mary Schaefer kind of mapped this out and all these formations it's interesting she didn't name them after herself but she named them after the people that helped her but in her humble opinion she said that if Lake Louise was the pearl of the damp Jasper area then Moline Lake is the necklace. She just thinks that this is even more beautiful and I'm curious what you think. Nearby is Moline Canyon this fascinating spot provides several peaks into a 150 foot deep narrow gorge. Six bridges provide easy access. The Jasper Park Lodge is upscale and fancy but is a little log cabin compared to the Banff Springs Hotel. It was built in 1922 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and according to my understanding a few buildings and cabins were burned in the wildfires but the lodge mostly survived thank goodness. It sits next to the gorgeous Beaufort Lake and would be a dream to stay in someday. Today we've moved four hours to the capital of Alberta Edmonton. Like Calgary we did some epic activities here and first up is a food bike tour. We are starting off here in Edmonton with a bike tour but this is not just any bike tour this is a food bike tour so we're going to go for four hours. We've got a tour guide here he's going to tell us about it and then every so often we're going to stop at a different restaurant and they're going to sit us down and feed us a little bit here. If you're interested in one of these you could do it even if you're not visiting Edmonton but you're visiting one of the areas nearby. E-bikes have really changed the game. It's our new favorite thing to do on a vacation and it really is a great way to see a new area. If only they had e-hiking then we'd really be getting somewhere. Perhaps my next idea for Shark Tank. The tour provides three food stops. At each one they have the food ready for us when we arrive and we get to meet the owners and hear their stories. This is the capital building or as they call it the legislative building. Let's not use that term for our American capitals because then we might actually pass some legislation. All right how is it? It's amazing this is so worth it because you're not having to navigate through the city. We saw Calgary earlier in this video and I learned on this trip that these two cities are rivals. Calgary is business, Edmonton is government. Calgary has the flames, Edmonton has the oilers. Neither has won a title in over 30 years and that statement just lost me all the viewers from Alberta. So we have here a combination of multiple things. The arepa which make the make the name of the restaurant is this dish right? Okay this is Venezuelan food and so this is cornmeal with some beans and some meat in it and some cheese. We've got some fried plantains. These are fries that are made out of the root of something and then this is lychee cake so soaked in three different kinds of milk and then we've got some dipping sauce and the nice man that owns this restaurant said that he built this restaurant with his heart and he puts his heart into everything he makes. It is so neat to meet these restaurant owners. For our last stop we got to make our own donuts. Is there anybody else that you know of that does this? Did you have a model for this or is this all your idea? No I didn't even know the food by tour was a thing. It really isn't still. We have the food by tour name so essentially it was just an idea that came in my head when a friend invited me to go for a bike ride and I didn't even own a bike at that time. We're the first in Canada to be doing that. The capital building is here so up next we are going to do a tour of the Alberta legislature building. Consider this tour a free crash course in learning Canadian. The building itself was very pretty with a large fountain inside something I haven't seen in any American capital buildings. Come on America let's step it up. This is a statue of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. It's this lady where Lake Louise and the province of Alberta got their names but she never actually visited the province or the lake and our boys didn't think she was all that pretty. They also have paintings of Queen Victoria and King Edward who Cheryl did think was handsome. Now Canada it's time for you to step it up. It's time to stop with the king and queen nonsense. This spot on the ground represents a bizarre sound trap. Stand on this and you can hear the fountain below so close that it feels like you're standing under a waterfall. That was actually fascinating. This was not a bad stop. The tour is free which is a bonus and it's brief. It was 45 minutes long plus the grounds around here are really beautiful with lots of flowers and pretty views of the city. I thought it was interesting because I'm not Canadian and so a little bit of understanding I got was pretty interesting. Just the mixture of their legislature and the monarchy and I thought that was neat but my favorite part was when they showed us the mace. I guess that little thing that the that they I don't know the royalty holds and it like how ornate it was and all the things in it and Matt and I were very surprised with all of the salutes to beavers because beavers like the animal of Alberta and they even had it on the mace. They had it on the doors inside there so that was kind of fun. Beavers the national animal. I said oh it's the national animal of Canada. The national animal of Canada. There you go. Up next is a trip back in time at Fort Edmonton. This is a really well done living history park on par with Colonial Williamsburg. Make your way through four different eras on trolleys, trains, or horse-drawn wagons. The recreation of Fort Edmonton honors the fur trapping and trading history out here on the frontier. The Indigenous People's Museum looked like it was really new and fancy. The exposition area was a fun area with rides and games like Coney Island. This place is all in. It's a top-notch outdoor museum. They bill themselves as the largest living history museum in Canada. I'm standing right now in the carnival area. This is kind of like a Coney Island type of an area and they go back through like the 1880s, the early 1900s, the 1920s where you can watch some silent movies and stuff like that. I also have a train that goes all the way to the back end of the park so it's kind of recommended to take the train all the way to the back end of the park and then work your way forward and as you do that you're working your way forward in time. I mentioned that Alberta is obsessed with having the world's largest whatever. Here's another one. The West Edmonton Mall is the largest mall in North America and was the largest in the world for over 20 years. It has over 800 stores, 20,000 parking spaces, and is the equivalent to 48 city blogs. They claim to get over 30 million visitors per year and it was packed when we were there. Inside is a bizarre collection of stuff. There are multiple mini golf courses, a theme park with 27 rides, a multi-story go-kart course, a regulation ice rink, and a life-size replica of the Santa Maria. And I haven't even mentioned the largest indoor water park in the world. This is over five acres and thousands of people jam in here at one time. This is the world water park behind me. This is a very beautiful water park. It's so colorful, vibrant, there's lots and lots of nice like just paintings, murals along the walls, and a lot of water slides ranging from like little kiddie ones to some pretty extreme ones that actually go up and then down the cycle. My son actually went on that. He said it wasn't that scary, but it was too scary for me. This run is about $65 per person. We're here on a Thursday and it was packed. It's open from 11 to 6 today. We got here around 1 30. All the tubes were sold out and they never got them back in stock, so we couldn't go on some of the slides. My children really enjoyed the wave pool. That was really fun, but it was almost like a water mosh pit. It was so crowded that I was actually a little worried about my smaller kids safety just because I was afraid they were going to get wiped out by a tube, but it was really kind of a fun experience. If the Canadian Rockies looks like a trip you'd like to do, here are four tips for you to pull this trip off. First, the most common airport to fly into is Calgary. From there, you can take the northern loop like we did, a southern loop through Glacier and Waterton. Road trippers might consider taking the TransCanada Highway all the way to Vancouver. Second, it's actually possible to visit Banff without a car thanks to its robust shuttle system, but you'll be limited only to Banff. No Jasper or other day trips. Third, let's talk about when to visit and how long. We generally avoid the muddy springtime in the Rockies and instead like June through September. We felt like we gave the proper amount of time to each area except for Jasper. We could have used another day as a rest day, which would have been perfect in chill Jasper. Fourth, as you saw, there are several activities. They are spread out and there are a lot of people who visit Banff. For that reason, consider picking up our Banff and Jasper travel guides so you can visit with confidence. They are simple to follow and give you a game plan to see the best of each park in an efficient order. We include restaurant recommendations and the scenic drives as well. You can do the same road trip we just did with some customization for you, of course. To get the digital downloads, visit whereintherockies.com and you can have them in your email inbox in just a few minutes. If that's not your bowl of poutine, no problem. We've also provided lots of free help in our Banff trip planner video that you can watch by clicking the video on your screen. Thanks so much for watching.