Warning: photo heavy post!

I recently had the opportunity to visit our affiliate office in Calgary, Canada. I have been to eastern Canada plenty of times because we used to vacation in the wilderness of Ontario with friends. They owned an island on Temagami Lake – it was rustic and fun!

This is in 2006, the last time I went to Temagami.

This is my first friend Amanda, and her family had the island.

I had never before been to western Canada, so I was excited about this trip. Calgary is about an hour and a half from the Rocky Mountains so we took a day to go exploring in Banff.

At this point, let me make it clear that Matt and I have gone to the screenings of the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Boone for years now, some was ecstatic to learn that I was going to be able to go to Banff! My colleagues in the office that I talked to didn’t really know about the film festival, which really surprised me! Anyway, here are some shots of the Rockies. The views were absolutely spectacular!

Then we went to visit the actual town of Banff. It is definitely a ski town but I was surprised by how commercial it was – I guess to cash in on tourists.

Now that is a pretty cool view when you are shopping!

We stopped to eat lunch at the Bear Street Tavern, which had ridiculously good pizza. They brought out a chili pepper oil and honey to mix together as a dipping sauce – I was skeptical at first but must admit it was actually quite tasty. When I went to wash my hands in the restroom I discovered a delicious smelling local soap and knew we had to find the store!

So we went to the Rocky Mountain Soap Company where I was immediately in heaven. I have a weakness for good, pure soaps! They make all natural soaps – they even define “natural” on their website and provide complete ingredient lists.

I managed to spend a good $40 on soaps, and now that I am home and using them, I couldn’t be more pleased. They sell online and I’m planning to make an order soon! My favorite is the lemongrass. It just smells so fresh and clean!