May 14, 2026: Toronto to Canmore

Since Mark had a conference in Canmore, AB, Miles and I decided to take an extra long weekend to meet him at the end and spend a week traveling through the Canadian Rockies. We had last visited the area in 2019, seeing the sights in Banff and Jasper National Parks, so this time we planned a different route: Yoho, Glacier, Mount Revelstoke, and Kootenay National Parks.

Our trip started off with an exceptionally long wait in the security line at Pearson, at the smaller Terminal 3, which I've always found to be considerably less busy. Although we'd arrived 2.25 hours before our flight, we had just enough to get through, fill our water bottles, and then walk on board the plane, with just one person left to board after us! So, no time to pick up sandwiches at Caplansky's Deli as we'd looked forward to, and instead we had to get by with the limited food options on our Porter flight. Happily, Miles was able to order his favourite cup of chicken Mr. Noodles soup, we shared a bag of beef jerky, and I ate a granola bar that I had packed.

We picked up our rental car (a Hyundai Elantra) and drove to Canmore, with a bit of a detour for a missed roundabout (hidden by construction) along the way, but Miles confidently interpreted the Maps updates for me, and we admired the views of mountains in the distance. As we drove into town, I spotted Mark's conference hotel, so we pulled into the plaza across from it and got ourselves footlong subs at Mr. Sub - by this point it was late afternoon in Toronto, and we'd hardly had the equivalent of breakfast or lunch.

While waiting for Mark to wrap up, we went for a walk along Policeman's Creek boardwalk, with beautiful sunshine and blue skies (but very windy!), rather than the overcast skies that had been predicted. Then we waited a bit more in the plaza parking lot, which had 80s pop tunes playing - more entertaining than your typical parking lot.

After Mark met us, we drove to our hotel, the Lamphouse Inn, and checked in just as our room came available at 4 pm. I had originally (ambitiously) planned a hike at Grassi Lakes, but by that point in the day, we were getting a bit tired. Miles decided to stay in for a rest (he'd had a rough descent with the prolonged turbulence) while Mark and I instead went for a walk along the Bow River Loop via the Engine Bridge. This railway bridge was built in 1891 for coal transportation.  

We had dinner at Crazy Weed Kitchen, which wildly exceeded our expectations, even though I had already read excellent reviews. We shared two salads: Mixed greens with cucumber, apple, avocado, and a lemongrass (and turmeric?) dressing, and a charred savoy cabbage salad marinated in buttermilk with chili crunch; we also had Thai chicken breast with chili glaze, scallion salad, and an exceptionally flavourful cilantro lime coconut sauce on jasmine rice. 

Then we were off to bed - too tired for the hot tub overlooking the creek, but we knew we had lots of other swim/soaking opportunities throughout the rest of the trip.


Our planned route

Policemen's Creek boardwalk

Bow River

Mark crossing Engine Bridge









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