Staying in Mount Engadine Lodge for the night turned out to be the perfect opportunity to slow down and make the most of our beautiful scenery in Alberta.
Our road trip through this gorgeous part of Canada thus far had been fairly packed and having an afternoon with no plans but to drink wine and soak up these views was much-welcome and greatly appreciated.
I awoke the next morning with an extra spring in my step, partly as we were be heading off skiing in Banff but in large part due to having had an amazing night’s sleep.
After breakfast, we chucked our luggage into the car and made our way over to Sunshine Village, in Banff.
And then something I’d wanted to experience in Canada finally happened – we found ourselves our very first moose!
It was just grazing on the side of the road (which is why they say to drive slowly in these parts so you don’t hit one) and was one of those “blink-and-you’d-miss-it” moments.
Thankfully, Lloyd’s eagle eyes meant he’d spotted the moose from a distance and slowed down early enough so we didn’t startle it.
I’d never really cared about moose before until I saw a video and realised how huge and impressive they were. Since then, I’d been on the lookout and somehow hadn’t managed to in years until this very moment!
It was worth the wait though. 😀
Running late, we started the car and carried on our journey over to Banff, still riding high on the thrill of finally having found our first wild moose in Canada.
The first time we visited Sunshine Village (I’ve got a video from that coming up soon on YouTube and Facebook), it was snowing so heavily and the visibility was pretty poor (which actually ended up making for such a fun day of snowshoeing through the mountains).
This time, however, it was bright, clear and sunny!
We hit the slopes straight away, making our way through the runs (it was actually our first time skiing here – we didn’t last time) and quickly deciding on favourite runs to return to.
It was just such an amazing morning/afternoon here – so much so that it wasn’t until that familiar rumbling of my tummy returned that I realised we hadn’t had lunch yet.
With that, we headed over to one of the restaurants on the slopes for Lloyd’s mandatory poutine fix, barbeque ribs for myself and a side of buffalo wings to share.
We then proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon skiing to our heart’s content until eventually, our weary legs finally prompted us that it was time to call it a day and head into Banff.
In Banff, we checked into the newly refurbished Mount Royal Hotel and just kicked backed in the rooftop hot tub till dinner time.
Dinner time saw us at Chuck’s Steakhouse which is one spot I highly recommend for all meat-eaters (there’s stuff for non-meat eaters too, of course, but it is a steakhouse after all so I feel the meat-eater will find themselves very happy here).
We started the evening by selecting which sort of steak we wanted – Lloyd I went for the Wagyu to share…
…before kick-starting the meal with a Caesar Salad (made from scratch – dressing included), right in front of you.
The beef, served with a side of fries and potato gratin, was everything I’d hoped it would be (ordering Wagyu beef, the tenderness was a big one for me and it did not disappoint *licks lips*).
Alas, with all that beef, desert quickly went out of the window as we left the restaurant so stuffed we couldn’t take another bite. Dessert is usually my favourite part of the meal but with that deliciously cooked beef, I had absolutely no regrets about this. 😀
And with that, we decided to call it a night, hoping for good weather for the next day which would hopefully see us doing something I’d wanted to in Alberta for quite a long time. 😀
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