greetings from banff.

my job, at times, involves quite a bit of travel. last spring, i was traveling almost monthly when i headed to phoenix (with a side trip to ohio), knoxville, and tuscaloosa. while i'm sometimes a bit jealous of my coworkers who get to travel to coffee growing regions freqently (hello, nicaragua, mexico, costa rica, and more!), i also really appreciate my travel because it has allowed me to see parts of the country that i might not otherwise ever see.

this weekend, i am fortunate to take that blessing to a whole new level. on monday, i have meetings in calgary. rather than just flying out on sunday for the meetings, and return on tuesday-- i opted to fly out on friday and travel to banff national park for the weekend! i'm joined by a colleague from our montreal office. we landed last night and drove up to the town of banff, where we spent the night.

i never knew that i wanted to go to the canadian rockies until this opportunity arose. and i am so happy to be here! hello, huge rocky mountains. hello, yellow aspens. hello, western town. it feels like being in colorado, but on steroids. the town of banff reminds me of some colorado ski towns (breckenridge, particularly), but bigger and really well done. we got in last night and wandered the main streets of town. tons of touristy shops, steakhouses, boutiques, chocolate shops, and more. all with perfect little log siding. we wanted to eat outside, so we found a burger spot with tables outside. i enjoyed a bison burger with goat cheese, garlic mayo, spinach, and bacon with sweet potato fries on the side. it was delicious. the tricky part of tacking on travel is keeping it to a budget. yes, i didn't have to pay for the flight (which is incredible), but everything else is my expense while i'm on my own little adventure. so we can't get too extravagant. we spent last night in a private room in a hostel, and tonight we're staying in a small "inn" in a hostel-like room.

we're headed out to explore banff a bit more-- perhaps a coffee and a walk by the river. then we're heading a bit further along the road to lake louise where we're hoping for an outdoor adventure. i've heard all about these teahouses you can hike to, so i am optimistic that we can do that this afternoon! i'll try to share more stories of our adventures.