Postcards from Alberta, Canada

72 hours of winter fun

a few weeks ago, i was invited by Destination Canada (yes, literally, the country of Canada) to try something called OpenHome, which is basically the opposite of everything that makes travel feel manufactured. instead of scrolling through ‘top things to do in Calgary’ on tiktok and settling on a mid restaurant, you’re welcomed into an actual Canadian home to eat whatever they love, hear their stories, and see a place through the people who live there.

i ended up at John and Connie’s house in Alberta, and within five minutes it stopped feeling like a visit to a stranger’s home and started feeling like i was visiting old friends i somehow hadn’t met yet. John & Connie are basically Calgary food royalty, so it was lowkey insane that i was getting to eat a meal made by them (!!!). they cooked an incredible charcuterie spread, grilled steaks and bison (the game in Alberta is next level), and told stories about the land, the food, and their life there. it was one of those dinners that fills you up in every way.

and then the night ended in the most Canadian way possible: us, overly full, putting on bathing suits, sprinting into their freezing lake for an ice plunge, and piling into the sauna laughing and dancing to early aughts rave music. it was the kind of travel moment that isn’t curated or optimized or designed for content, truly just humans connecting over a table and a shared sense of adventure.

i left that night thinking: this is how i want to travel from now on. i want to be in people’s homes, hear their histories, and taste what they think tells the story of where they live. food is such a shortcut to belonging, and being welcomed into a home makes you feel part of a place in a way nothing else does.

if you’re craving that kind of connection, Canada really does make space for you at the table. literally. you can book these OpenHome experiences through the OpenHome booking link, and if you ever find yourself in Calgary… YOU BETTER GO TO JOHN & CONNIE’S!

this night will stay with me for a long, long time.

btw, i stayed at Hotel Arts Kensington which i loved. Le Germain also came highly recommended!

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Banff, Alberta

i was already going to Calgary, so naturally i extended my trip by a day to make the very necessary detour into Banff National Park. i’ve always wanted to see it in the summer, but because i love winter so much, i knew i could really romanticize being there this time of year.

everyone will tell you to stay at the Fairmont Banff Springs. it’s close to town, near all the cute restaurants and coffee shops. apparently. i wouldn’t know because i didn’t go. instead, i drove about an hour deeper into the park and stayed at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

you’ve probably seen Lake Louise all over the internet in the summer, but winter is a completely different story. i was there the first day it was safe for people to walk out onto the icy lake, which felt genuinely surreal. i ate fondue at one of the three restaurants on property, lunch at another the next day, wandered through snowy woods, and honestly didn’t feel the need to leave at all. i also think it’s a great place to solo travel - i felt safe the entire time.

but the real reason i went was for Basin Glacial Waters, the brand new nordic spa that opened just two months ago. if you’re into sauna + cold plunge culture, it’s truly so sick. there’s a pool that starts inside with automatic sliding doors in the pool that open so you can swim outside. literally what. the aufguss guided sauna experience was heavenly as well and i got to jump into a huge pile of snow afterwards. the setting alone is worth it and i have never been more at peace.

the spa is still getting its bearings, but between that, the scenery, the food, and the general feeling of being suspended in literal snow globe, i couldn’t recommend it more.