Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I never heard much about the Canadian Rockies. It wasn't until I attended college in Vancouver, British Columbia that I began to hear what unique and breathtaking a place the Canadian Rockies are.

While researching Banff National Park this post, I discovered that I've actually, very briefly, been there. On one of many family road trips, we camped in both Yellowstone and Glacier, then briefly stopped to see Lake Louise before heading to BC for a visit with one of my aunts. Of course, I was in high school at the time, and more focused on sitting in the car to draw and write letters to my friends, instead of enjoying the incredible place we were in. Even so, I immediately recognized the lake when I saw it again and was flooded with memories of that trip.

With over 1000 miles of defined trails,  a tea house only accessible by a half-day hike, and a valleys famous for their fall larch displays, I should probably just move to Banff. Further north is the much larger Jasper National Park, with dramatic glacier carved landscapes, trails winding through isolated wilderness, and many large, calm lakes for kayaking or canoeing. A trip to visit these beauties is definitely in my future!

Not all the places I dream of visiting are quite so far off as Iceland or New Zealand. A few years ago, Andy and I spent a week in Moab in July. It was beautiful, dramatic, and entirely different from the landscapes of Washington. Sadly, to our spoiled Pacific Northwestener sensibilities, it was also unbearably hot. Completely out of character, the heat turned us into typical American  tourists, driving from scenic viewpoint to scenic viewpoint, never spending more than 30 minutes outside the car at a time. Even from the car, the towering, rocky scenery was incredible. I can only imagine what we could have seen if the temperatures had been a bit more comfortable for hiking.  

Since that trip I have dreamed of a longer, more well planned trip in either fall or spring, when our spoiled, heat sensitive selves might up to a little more active exploring. The raw intensity of landscapes in Utah and Arizona call me back. Thinking of the fins, arches, hoodos, and canyons, all so uniquely colored and textured, waiting to be explored. It makes me want to hop in the car and leave for the desert right now! 

New Zealand has been on my travel to-do list for a long time. My love of New Zealand started when I saw Fellowship of the Ring. Honestly, I don't know how anyone could watch those movies without wanting to hop on a plane to Auckland! I've been dreaming of travelling to New Zealand for such a long time that the list of things I want to do there is huge, so I'll only cover the North Island in this post and save the South Island for another day.