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After six and a half years of PhD and two years of plague, it suddenly seemed like a good idea to pack my bags, grab my bestie, and head out to the wilderness.

Somebody (no names shall be named) had the brilliant idea to dip their gonads into the Arctic Ocean, so Canada it was.

I landed in Calgary! The exact moment was immortalized in this picture!

Apparently, this is how everybody gets here...

That is Calgary

and here is where I saw my first bear.

This is what looking looks like.

Glad I brought my wide-angle lens!

It is I, posing with a very fancy hotel

And more animals

And more

I felt like a fuckin Disney princess, almost burst out singing!

Also, my first time seeing a real-life tree-hugger! I hear they are quite rare in these parts of the forest. I decided to keep that one and call him Charlie!

It didn't smell but the view was amazing!

... and then back to the lower falls.

And also saw some middle ground with trees and all.

Wish I had had a bit more time to see more Banff, definitely one of the places I wouldn't mind visiting again!

Saw some nice buildings (Fairmont Château)

and met some cool dudes (or dudettes, can't really tell what's under all that fur)

Since everything was still mostly frozen and covered in snow, we decided to take a nice long hike!

I bet this is what people in Florida think Canadian summers are like. :D

The trail took us up to a giant prehistoric fossilized beehive (true story!) and to Lake Agnes which, despite the higher altitude, was about as much or as little molten as Lake Louise.

and I got to try out my ND filters to slow down(speed up?) time

Just. Look. At. It!!!

I have a picture from every side, angle, and corner.

Even Olaf agrees, it's damn pretty!

This is where the water comes from

and this is where it goes.

We weren't the only ones enjoying the view.

Today is the day! We got on the Icefields Parkway and started heading towards Jasper.

We were forewarned that it might get pretty but I wasn't quite ready for this!

Oh look! There are some mountains!

Stop here! I wanna take a picture!

Just... one... more... stop... in Mistaya Canyon

We passed the Sunset Pass, just past noon.

We saw some big curves and even bigger bends.

Even some ice on the field. I know! Who would have expected that from a place called Icefields?!

Later that day we got all tangled up in Tangle Creek Falls.

It was getting late but we were close now! Our last stop for the day was Athabasca Falls.

This was, by far the best-looking 200+ km of highway I have ever traveled on! To wrap it all up we had a nice welcoming committee meeting us in Jasper.

Consisting of a brown bear,

a white goat,

and some monochrome geese.

What could we do with those two days? See the Five Lakes, but of course!

There were a bit more than 5 of them tho, but who's counting.

Here's one,

and here's another,

and one more for good measure.

The weather wasn't great for landscapes but the little critters seemed to enjoy themselves.

Bath time!

Squeaky clean and as good as new :)

One more cloudy panorama before we packed up and left.

First stop, Portal lake! I bet that if you'd jump in it, you'd get wet!

Second stop, Moose lake!

With a lot of Meese!

Since Mt. Robson was being all shy and bashful we decided to ignore him and go climb some other mountains.

I think I found my favourite place to have a cuppa!

and continued with some more hungry (for dandelions) bears.

Just look at the way he stares at those poor flowers! Wouldn't wanna be a dandelion :/