Our First Visitor!

My sister, Allyson, joined us for the weekend! She flew from Phoenix, AZ, and braved #vanlife to go explore Banff National Park in AB, Canada.  I say braved because she was willing to give up any personal space and have essentially no boundaries living in 60 sqft. with 2 other people and a dog for a few days- not a whole lot of people would be willing to do that! She was the perfect visitor to host, especially for our first. She's easy, goes with the flow, and never complains - except for when she's hungry, then the whole world knows she needs a snack. Although I couldn’t procure any Cheez-its (wtf Canada? Get it together.), we were still well prepared and our pantry was overflowing before we picked her up from the airport :) 

Miles getting used to having a 3rd person in his home :)

One of the many snacks I picked up. Tasted like In'n'Out French Fries & Ketchup!

When we picked her up we headed straight to a campsite just outside of Banff National Park.  Aside from trips to the Roosevelt Lake in our family's 5th wheel growing up (large enough to sleep 5 people just fine and always parked near a full bathroom) she's not ever done any camping. So this was really her closest experience to it and we got to show her the ropes. She slept on a camping air mattress right in between the cabinets on the floor, she was forced not to shower for days, and because we don't have a toilet in the van, she learned to pee out of a Go Girl! As her older sister who camps all the time, I was so proud being the one to teach her this task that seems so basic in all situations, except when you're camping.  It's almost like there is an art to using a pee-funnel. One that I have learned and was able to teach her the ins and outs- basically just how to not pee on herself. I'm not sure if having mastered this art form because of how often I pee in the woods nowadays should actually make me proud or not? But whatever.

The next day, our first full one in Banff, we conquered a 12 mile hike to Lake Annette and Lake Louise. We were told to stick together in a tight group and be lively the entire time on the trail because we were sure to see bears. And having Miles with us made us an even bigger target for an attack. Maybe we just sang Shallow from A Star is Born too many times that we scared off the bears, but we saw none. Didn’t even have to use our bear spray. When we got to Lake Annette- we were the ONLY ones there. It was a beautifully blue alpine lake fed by glaciers from the mountains that surrounded it. It was so peaceful and we relaxed there to eat some lunch for a while.

Jordyn & Allyson en route to Lake Annette.

Lake Annette & Allyson.. can you spot her?!

Family portrait.

One of the beautiful bridge crossings on our trail.

Bridge Selfie.

Lake Annette was quite the contrast from our next destination- Lake Louise. First off, we somehow got on a horseback riding trail versus a hiking trail on our way there. It was covered in fresh large piles of horse poop and had huge crevices in the trail from the paths of the horse's steps. It was not pleasant and at this point all of us were hurting. Ally had just bought brand new hiking boots that hadn’t yet been broken in, Zach’s plantar fasciitis was acting up, and my hamstring was so tight I thought my leg was going to snap off. We were quite the sight on this horse trail. When we finally arrived at Lake Louise, it was really breathtaking. It was everything that you see in photos + hoards of people. SO crowded! But you can see why. Lake Louise is Banff’s crown jewel and really the top thing to see. What gives it its Gatorade's Glacier Freeze hue of blue is silt floating in the water created by grinding rocks underneath the glaciers as they move. The silt suspends in the blue water and the light reflects off of it giving it the cloudy bright blue shade you see. It's really beautiful, I’m glad we went!

Beautiful Lake Louise.

Zach and Jordyn at Lake Louise.

Lake Louise Sister Selfie.

After hitchhiking back to Fran since we were all crippled at this point wasn't seeming to be an option, we hiked back 4km to the van, eager to get to our campsite for the night.  So eager, that Zach decided to take a 3-point turn too hard and got our rear driver side tire stuck in a ditch.... really showing Allyson what #vanlife is all about.  Luckily we got ourselves some recovery boards in anticipation of something like this happening.... well they were really intended to get ourselves unstuck from sand when we camped on beaches...but same same. The boards worked like a charm and after lecturing Zach about the necessity to slow down, we were back on the road. Because of this mishap the site we wanted was taken, but we found ourselves on a beautiful river with other overlanders near by.

View from our campsite.

Miles opted to rest in the van while we sat by the river... poor pup was tired from that hike!

We enjoyed some time outside by the river, made some dinner, and watched the sunset while deciding we should treat ourselves to a spa day at the Radium Hot Springs after such a treacherous hike. Allyson was somewhat distraught about having to wait until the morning to rinse off all her sweat until the next day, but after much reluctance she dealt.

Radium was great. It had a hot pool and a cold pool which was nice to switch between the two. It was more of an established place which has its ups and downs. It was crowded, and felt more like swimming pools than hot springs, but on the upside- they had full on showers!! Hello first hair wash in 5 days :) Looking forward to more hot springs of all kinds throughout BC- established and off in the wilderness. Afterwards we found a picnic spot for some lunch and Ally and I ate while Zach fixed our drawer slide for our fridge that had been struggling for a few days.... #vanlife- always something :)

This was probably Allyson's biggest takeaway- #vanlife is hard work! It's not all cute Instagram posts and non-stop adventuring. There is a lot of planning that goes into it and a lot of unexpected things that come up at any given time; i.e. campsites being occupied and needing to find somewhere else to sleep for the night, van maintenance like the fridge drawer, and getting stuck in ditches... Ally saw it all this weekend. The glamorous and the not so pretty. She and my family joke that Zach and I are just on this extended vacation, living that retired life, but I think now she has a whole new appreciation for what life on the road entails.  Traveling full time is a lot of work, but it's fun work. It's work that allows us the freedom to experience new places, new people, and even ourselves. How cool is it that we have the space right now to just truly explore new hobbies, learn new languages (learning Spanish at the moment!), and enjoy the first couple years of our marriage by doing what we love- traveling.  I'll take all the broken drawer slides, plumbing leaks, getting stuck in ditches, having to change plans when ours get disrupted, pooping outside, and all the less glamorous things that #vanlife can be in exchange for the experiences we are having every single day.

After the drawer was fixed and our bellies were full, we went into the town of Banff to walk around and shop for souvenirs, because if we don't pick up a sticker were we even there?! We then went to a campsite and enjoyed the rest of our evening playing Settlers of Catan, eating dinner, and doing some filming for an upcoming video.  We dropped Ally off the next morning and back to Phoenix she went.  I always get a little down after I leave my family. There is so much space between us, and especially right now- we don't really have any plans when we'll see each other next. But there is always another airport on our route to pick up that next visitor and get our fill of family for a few days... Until next time, little one <3