Calgary Canada // Photographers Explore The World
Last year, we packed up the baby and headed to southwest Canada for another grand adventure! We hadn’t intended to choose Canada again this year (we’ve already explored Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Vancouver, and Victoria), but a twist of events brought us to our adventure to Banff National Park. You can read about our decision-making journey on on Banff blog!
I admit, the only time I ever really thought much about Calgary was during a rousing game of Ticket To Ride. As the closest airport to our chosen national parks, Calgary became a destination. We found great airline tickets to Calgary at just the right time (thanks, Plane Surfers!), and off we went!
Calgary was a perfect home base for this trip. Since we were traveling with an 8-month-old, we broke up the driving time and spend both a weekend and our last afternoon in the city. There’s also a reformed church in Calgary, so we were able to find a great place to worship on Sunday before heading down to Glacier National Park on Monday morning!
Sights To See in Calgary
I couldn’t resist such a nicely rhymed title. We also couldn’t resist hitting up several shops in Calgary’s craft coffee scene! The baristas at Eclipse Coffee Roasters in Canmore (see our Banff post) were super cool and gave us their list of Calgary favorites.
Besides the coffee, the city provided plenty of interesting things to check out. It rained most of our weekend there, but Josiah was a little trooper!! We packed him up in his little hat and blanket, and he was content to be strolled around in his little travel stroller.
Our first stop was Monogram Coffee, where we also grabbed a quick lunch before hitting the city. This was our Instagram picture….
…and this is what it looked like in real life. Our sweet little buddy keeps us on our toes! Note that he didn’t accept any of the baby food on the left that I was trying to feed him. He just wanted to get his hands smooshed in that avocado toast!
Prince’s Island Park
After coffee, we made our way to Prince’s Island Park on the Bow River. The main downtown area hugs this river, so the park is a perfect oasis! You cross a bridge to get to the island, and the transformation is instant. This park impressed us with its beauty and spaciousness.
As I was adding my recommendation list to the end this blog, I learned that this park isn’t actually named after royalty. There was a guy named Peter Anthony Prince who founded a big-deal lumber mill. They dug a channel by the river to better transport their logs, which resulted in a random island that became the park.
I mean, look at this face!!!
The Peace Bridge, which has been both loved and criticized since the very beginning.
Downtown Calgary
Crossing a different bridge into the heart of downtown, we set off to see what the city has to offer. Downtowns are almost always our go-to when traveling because it holds so much history and character. It’s also where almost all of the best coffee shops are, no matter where you travel. So there’s that!
But even in the rainy fog, Calgary had some nice sights to see. Artwork, cool malls, random floral arrangements, and noteworthy architecture.
Josiah was more than ready for a break by this point, so we scouted out the next coffee shop on our list. This one made our #jacoffeefavorites list! Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters served up a scrumptious latte. They have multiple locations across the city, and this was one of their downtown spaces.
City Overlooks
Our flight home left from Calgary, so we had one last afternoon there. We were all ready for some sunshine and another chance for a #jacoffeeadventures!
Our first stop was kawa espresso bar. Fun fact: kawa is pronounced Ka’va and is the Polish word for coffee. You learn something new every day. It made our #jacoffeefavorites list, and it was nicely refreshing after being latte-less for a few days!
After coffee, Joel found a park outside the city. Josiah needed to get out of the car, and we all needed the sunshine! It was literally a huge hill filled with bike paths among the tall grasses. The views of the city were really nice. I wish I could remember the name of it. It was well worth an hour or two!
We caught our flight early the next morning and made it back home to Alabama! We love traveling, but there’s no place like home. Especially with a baby…
Until our next adventure!
*hugs*
Amber
Our Top Calgary Recommendations
Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters
Calgary Public Library (they give free tours)
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