Luna doing the deed at a walmart in Salem.

The pasta alfredo and Luna were not friends.

Matt and Chelsea were very kind and said “hey shit happens.”

We then headed out on a trail run slash death march up Ferguson Canyon. 3300 feet of climbing in 3 miles, then a fun technical 3 mile jaunt down.

You cross back and forth through a creek for the first mile. Luna was loving that.

Then you start seeing some pretty incredible views. Matt and Chelsea are the best tour guides and always point out all the different peaks that characterize the various canyons. Some of it is becoming more familiar with me as I spend more and more time in the Wasatch mountains.

Hard to tell how steep this hike up really was.

I was pretty tired. Working 90 hour weeks does nothing for your fitness. I know, shocking.

Trying to get Luna to look cute for a photo. She was not having it per usual.

Luna, in her happy place. Also, tired. We are both back in the mountain grind starting today. Dom and I were starting to feel like blowfish back in Scottsdale. Time to get our butts in shape again.

We got to mile 3 where there was a meadow and views of the surrounding peaks. I sat on a log and ate some snow (fresh snow from a storm last week!) and then ate a spring gel and lamented once more that my mountain leggies had disappeared.

Then my favorite part… running down!

Luna was perfectly tired the rest of the day and fingers crossed no more diarrhea! Mountains cure all.

Met up with my godparents and nephews (for lack of a better word) for dinner. They were in town babysitting while my cousin Paul and his wife Clarice enjoyed a kids free weekend.

Then I got on the road and headed as far as I could before getting tired. Made it as far as Big Sky, MT.

Sleeping in the Volvo is actually pretty comfy. I have black out shades, real blankets and pillows, the works. When I was in my 20s I willingly slept on climbing crash pads and paper thin camping pads in my tiny Honda Insight. Too old for that now. I have convinced myself though that I am not too old to still sleep in my car if it is a bigger car with a better mattress.

LUCKILY- I get something even comfier than my volvo bed setup for the first month of my road trip. What awaited me in Bozeman was a fully built out high roof Ford Transit. AKA #vanlife

My friends Jenna and Steve built out the van when the pandemic hit. They did what we all eventually did: moved out of LA and worked remotely… except they were doing it in a van all over the country. Now they are having a baby and their vanlifing is coming to an end (for now). They wanted one last summer in the van out west before the baby arrives and they settle down on the east coast. SO! instead of doing multiple cross country road trips with a baby in the oven, they had decided to leave their van in long term parking in Bozeman, MT for the month of June while they fly back to the east coast for baby appointments.

All of those details to say that Jenna texted me her summer plans one day. This is us in a nutshell: We text each other our crazy road trip itineraries and somehow align them.

Her text read: the van is there if you want it.

UM YES PLEASE. Dreams do come true. From this, birthed my idea to drive the van north to Canada for the entire month of June. My volvo will stay in Bozeman. And when Jenna and Steve come back, we will switch.

So if you are still reading this is why I transitioned from Volvo lifing to Van lifing!

We met Steve and Jenna at the airport and talked through van logisitics before their flight.

Luna scoping out her new home while Jenna explains to a very delirious Vanessa how the inverter works.

I have 2 other friends that actually live in Bozeman. One from my college rowing team, Chelsea AKA Cumbaa, and one I met through climbing last summer, AJ.

After getting the van situated and taking a 3 hour nap in the REI parking lot, I met up with AJ and his girlfriend and her twin sister and her boyfriend and was the best fifth wheel for dinner and drinks. Maybe too many drinks. Oops.

We went to a cool bar that has an awesome view of the city and surrounding mountains.

All of the sushi at Dave’s.

Was going to order another glass of wine and could not decide between two of them so they brought me tasters at which point I had 2 not so baby glasses of wine and decided not to order any more.

I either had too many drinks last night or one good night of sleep was obviously not enough… or both… because climbing was rough and me feeling “rested” was short lived..

Then the “of course this would happen to me” moment of the day…

I was ready to head to Chelsea’s. I got Luna in the van, turned it on, then realized I left something on the sidewalk. Quickly hopped out to grab it and all of a sudden, THE DOORS LOCK. All of them. Ignition running. Luna inside. Doors locked.

Van 1. Vanessa 0.

If only I had taught Luna the trick of unlocking van doors upon request.

Then I call 20 locksmiths. The first 19 don’t work on Sundays. An hour later someone arrives and in that exact moment it starts POURING.

Finally make it to Chelsea’s (a different Chelsea) and I am greeted by her 3 dogs and her adorable 8 month old named Eloise. We spent the afternoon catching up. The last time I saw her was at her wedding (back in 2019?) That was also in Big Sky. I actually got on the wrong plane when I was flying out for her wedding. Another “of course that would happen to me” moment.

Charlotte, Lily, Bailey, and Luna are quite the welcoming party.

Picture does not do it justice. Lily is the size of a bear.

Gave all the dogs bones so we could all get some work done. I babysat Eloise while Chelsea and her husband Daryl did some errands. They just moved into this house and have tenants moving into their old house this week.

Eloise loves all the dogs!

Fill out forms to get into Canada ✅

Facetime Mom ✅

Research Flathead/ Whitefish ✅

Grocery shopping ❌

Walk Luna ❌

Organize van and volvo ❌

Update blog ✅

Fill water containers ❌

Download movies/ TV shows on ipad ❌

Welp got a few things done… the rest first thing in the morning before getting on the road.

Side note: Luna shared her toy bone with Eloise.

Finally got on the road by 1 and headed towards Whitefish, MT.

I needed some Wi-Fi to take care of a few things so I decided to go into the hotel and get a glass of wine and post up for a little bit. After I got my table I brought Luna quietly into the hotel. They didn’t seem to mind.

Bridget works at the hotel right now, but is saving money so she can open her own dog groomer shop in town. She gave me a few tips for Luna. Even offered to cut her nails the next day!

Downloaded netflix so I can watch in the van.

Before getting on the road, we headed for a trail run at Big Mountain, otherwise known as the ski resort. It was perfect weather. We ran through a forested section and had views of the lake and nearby peaks the whole way up. We turned around early because there was still too much snow and that made it a bit difficult to trudge through.

View of Flathead Lake… I think.

We snuck in one last visit to the dog park just to tire Luna out even more, then started making our way north. We just had an hour drive, but I wanted to get there in the daylight to deal with finding a camping spot, registering on the ArriveCAN app (will explain), and plan the next couple of days.

Ate some mediocre pizza and drank some soda water and got some work done.

As for ArriveCAN, Canada makes the border crossing very easy and efficient. You download the app and within 72 hours of entering the country, you submit passport photos, vaccination info, what port you will be entering through, and what date and time. Then you get a QR code receipt and when you cross the border, they scan that and your passport and you are good to go. I read that you also have to show proof of rabies vaccination if you are bringing a dog cross the border, so I had that handy.

Last day in the States for a while!

I entered through the Port of Roosville, which is actually British Colombia, but very quickly you cross into Alberta.

The entire drive was breathtaking. I made a couple pitstops just to take it all in.

Made it to Canmore by 5 or so. I went straight to the dog park to let Luna get some energy out.

Canmore takes dog parks seriously. Only epic views allowed.

Then I headed to my friend Houda’s. He is the race director of Transrockies, a 6 day stage race across Colorado. I did the race back in 2018 and we stayed close over the years.

Met his roomie Holly and her dog Kensi. Holly and I hit it off. Felt like we knew each other forever.

Houda had texted me the week prior: “trail race, Wednesday night, you in?” So naturally, the only answer was yes. Even though I had no idea when I would make it to Canmore and my legs would likely be dead from driving 1600 miles, I loosely planned on it.

The race took place at the Nordic Centre, which was originally contructed for the 1988 Olympics and is now used as a training center. We ran a 5k around the local trails with stunning mountain views the whole way. The sun doesn’t set right now until after 10, so still plenty of daylight for a 6pm run.

Me and Luna with Holly and Kensi. She just had ACL surgery so she watched the dogs while I ran. I was worried Loony Luna would re-tear her ACL.

The mountains here are something else.

This is the legendary Houda. We had a fun rest of the night, friends new and old. We were up chatting until almost midnight. Houda is the best host.

Kensi and Luna pooped from the day.

These giant mountain faces sucked me in and after just one day, I decided I would spend the whole 2 months bopping around this area.

I have only really spent time in B.C., specifically Vancouver and Squamish with a quick 2 day trip to Victoria. I also have spent a weekend in Ontario and the Blue Mountains for a November Project race. That is what I imagined as a representation of Canada. Then I knew there was Banff, which had been on my list for a while. But I knew when I eventually went I would want to spend a week to really do it.

But what I am seeing now is that there so much more beyond that tourist attraction. Between Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper alone you could spend a lifetime exploring. But in the Bow Valley area (which is where Canmore is, 15 minutes from Banff) there are so many treasures just out the front door!

I spent the day doing some research, picking up some more dog treats for Luna, and enjoying the sunshine while I planned the next couple of days.

I had started posting on a few Facebook groups to find climbing partners when I started the road trip. This is a thing everyone does in the climbing community all over the world. It is how I have met a lot of my closest friends outside of the US. Normally you post what kinds of climbing you do, what your experience is, and what areas you’re interested in climbing at. Then people will comment and others will vet them… normally the only people in these groups are people that truly love climbing and want to climb all of the things.

That being said I was starting to make some connections and made a plan to go bouldering, as well as a weekend trip to sport climb with a Germab girl I met online.

Quick story time…

This is Luna being an amazing dog on a short walk along the river.

7 hours before this photo was taken, Luna was sprinting down this path… chasing a massive elk! I had opened the van door in the morning and Luna hopped out. She usually waits there for her food. I swear not even 20 seconds had gone by and first I hear a yelp from a woman, and out of the corner of my eye, I see an elk GALLOPING across a main street of traffic, down the river path, followed by freaking LUNA.

I started sprinting. In flip flops. Pajamas. No bra. Some guy got the whole thing on video and probably posted it on the “Benicia Happenings” page of Canmore.

The elk jumped in the river, at which point I thought great, Luna hates the water. She won’t jump in. As I continue to PR my mile time sprinting down the river trail, Luna jumps in the river and starts swimming towards the elk.

Eventually because the current was just fast enough, she was spooked and swam back to me.

I think that was the highlight of Luna’s life.

Needless to say I was very unhappy and this river walk was spent practicing recall on a tight leash…

I met up with a new friend to boulder at Jura, a cool bouldering area 20 minutes from town.

Just did a short afternoon sesh. Was fun to explore a new area and do more recon on climbing areas. Alessandro and his friend Mark are locals and knew the area very well.

After climbing I headed back to the van to cook dinner. Loving this whole van life thing. Made sausage, broccoli, beans, and before you say GROSS. I needed to use up some groceries and it actually tasted delicious.

Have I mentioned how insanely beautiful Canmore is yet?!

THESE VIEWS 😍

Coffee beans from Scottsdale, pour over, mini coffee grinder, and a jetboil to boil hot water.

My go to before a big run effort is oatmeal with pb, banana, chia seeds and other fixins. The pack holds water flasks, gels, other “nutrition”, (which is what fuel is called by runners), and lastly bear spray.

It was a STRUGGLE BUS. But I did finish.! Took me a lot longer than I imagined but I didn’t even care. The views were hard to beat. The weather was perfect. My legs were screaming but my heart was smiling.

At the start line, questioning my life choices.

I was out there for just under 3 hours and it was very cool outside so Luna was fine staying in the van with the windows cracked. She had a front row seat to the race and got in 3 hours of Dogflix.

Post race belly rub.

All I wanted was to be horizontal for the rest of the day. I ate pizza, took a nap, and watched my own Netflix. Side note- Hustle on Netflix (new Adam Sandler movie is so good! And edited by a former Grey’s editor).

Took Luna to a new dog park so she could get her energy out. I could not muster the strength to run her myself. This dog park is 5 acres of forest fenced in, so the dogs actually feel like they are in the woods.

Then I prepped the van for my first mini getaway: \240climbing in Little Russia with my new German friend Nadja. Met her also on a FB group. She was meeting me in Canmore that night and carpooling to Abraham Lake, about 2.5 hours away. A little bit of a gamble for someone I had never met, but I had a good feeling it would work out great.

It could not have gone better. Luna was very confused why her seat was now taken… but she took matters into her own hands and decided she was a lap dog.

The drive to Abraham Lake was gorgeous. You drive through Banff and Lake Louise to get there. It’s just hard to put into words how magical this place was.

Big day. I was tired. I am tired just writing about it.

So that’s why I woke up sore…

There was still some daylight when we got in the night before, but when I open the van in the morning the backdrop was even more incredible.

I made some coffee and started packing my climbing bag. We would be out there all day so I packed a lunch, water and treats for Luna, camera, and layers for when it would get chilly.

We carpooled to the trailhead. Luna was VERY excited about wherever we were going.

She likes to stand on the middle console. I don’t allow many things in my car but I allow that if I have a little towel underneath.

We start hiking in. The hike into a climbing area is called the “approach”. Most climbers don’t like hiking or running so climbers that don’t run always ask “Well how is the approach?” Sometimes any number over 20 minutes is just enough of a deterrence to not climb somewhere. For me, I love it.

This approach was just under a mile, moderately steep.

Nadja up ahead.

The rock here is pretty incredible. Solid limestone, some vertical, some overhanging. I won’t get into the technicalities of the climbing, but let’s just say it was a pretty perfect day. We met a Russian and a Czech and got lots of climbing in. The Russian, named Constantine, is actually the guy responsible for developing most of this area. This means he has been the one to bolt most of the routes. Martin has also done a bit of bolting. It was cool to be there with someone that knew every single line in the canyon.

We climbed a lot more than expected and were pretty tanked so we headed out by 4. We decided to save whatever we have left for the next day. Normally you can only climb two days in a row before you need a rest day. When I am on a trip, I will usually push that and climb way more than I should be and wonder why am tired… shocker I know.

Not so rare sighting of Vanessa sleeping \240anywhere.

On the hike out, I felt such a high. So blissed out from climbing in this remote oasis with people I just met.

Looked like a freaking painting.

Because the sun does not set until almost 10, we had plenty of daylight. We made our dinners and sat and chatted. Eventually made a fire, and I actually stayed up for it this time.

Luna is just loving being out here. Too much wildlife though so I have a 30 foot leash for situations like a campsite or climbing crag. Remember the elk not so many days ago… yeah. Learned my lesson.

Thriving on serendipity. Posted on a facebook group. Nadja happens to check the post (she said she very rarely goes on facebook) and then we both take a gamble on each other going to a remote climbing place in the same vehicle. We totally hit it off. Our personalities totally compliment each other, and we both have so much excitement to climb and so much joy being outdoors, could not have worked out better. I hit the jackpot with this girl.

Spoiler alert, she by chance is quitting her job end of June so we have decided to road trip all of July together!

Cooking eggs for dinner in the van with a terribl3 view.

Nadja’s tent setup.

If you look above Nadja’s head, there is a picture of Jenna and Steve. I decided I’m going to take a selfie with all my new friends on this trip and print them out and stick them in the van when we switch vehicles end of June 😜

Martin is a physicist so I figured he may have some insight on fixing the bed.

No luck. So I succomb to the bench again.

Awesome first day of this mini getaway.

I would honestly camp out here entire week if the bed wasn’t questionably in limbo.

I decided it was a waffle morning. I bought a tiny little waffle maker at Marshall’s for $10 before this trip started. Thought that would be a fun thing to have in the van that didn’t take up too much space. I’m a sucker for waffles.

I had bought a box of my favorite pancake/ waffle mix- Kodiak Cakes, added Greek yogurt and an egg and hoped for the best.

First waffle was a fail.

Cooking spray would’ve been a smart idea. So I sprayed it for the second one, and it was PERFECT.

This thing makes Eggo size waffles. I was pretty excited. It’s the little things.

After breakfast, we hiked back in to the crag (climbing area). it started raining early in the day, and you cannot climb on wet rock. So we were stuck climbing the overhang, which equates to a lot harder climbing. Nadja and I found a route we really loved it was rates 5.12a, which is a harder grade for us, but the climb was so fantastic. We hope to come back and work on it some more.

Hard to really tell the angle of the wall here.

We took a lot of breaks between each go. Here Nadja is laughing because she found a to do list from a Monday in February. This was the moment we realized we are the same person. She had about 17 things that she wanted to achieve that day, all delineated in half hour segments. Her to do list contributed to the campfire that we made at the crag.

I draped my long puffer over Luna. Not too sure she was cold, but just in case.

We headed out early as the rain was limiting us quite a bit.

Luna and I drove back to Canmore and once I wasn’t cell service I sent an SOS about the bed to Jenna and Steve.

We troubleshoot it over the phone and finally got the bed working. To put it simply, we just did a hard reset of the whole system.

Praise baby Jesus. One more night on that bench would have been rough.

We then headed back to Houda‘s, which is where I have been parking the van. Luna met Día, another friend I know from the Transrockies world. He also lives in Canmore and works very closely with Houda.

Holly said Kensi doesn’t love the rain so much, so she has this adorable rain jacket. Luna on the other hand couldn’t care less.

Then— I got a brilliant at the time idea to research teardrop trailers with hopes to buy one. In Canada.

I found one at Fraserway on sale and started making calls and shortly thereafter decided I would drive to Airdrie in the morning to look in person. Airdrie is just outside of Calgary, about an hour plus drive from Canmore.

I wouldn’t say this was impulsive because I have been talking about getting one for over a year now. But the idea of buying a trailer in Canada, and attaching it to my volvo once I switched out of the van was mayyyybe a bit aggressive. But also… very Vanessa.

We ordered sushi for takeout as I dreamed about my new trailer.

Given all the rain, there was not many places to go climb that day, but after the morning I had I was willing to climb anywhere.. I met up with Martin and his friend at Moose Mountain. We climbed some shorter routes for 2 hours but the rock was too wet on most of the wall that we called it. Moose Mountain is a popular mountain biking area, and also has some ok rock climbing.

Every time we pass cows or horse or elk or deer… Luna is dying to introduce herself.

Enjoy this photo of Luna keeping a watchful eye on the bunnies. Gives me “You” vibes.

Started at Canmore Brewing

Ended the night the Famous Chinese Restaurant.

Let’s just say beer is not my thing.

Beer, chinese food, then WINE, is really not my thing.

I think I sent my brothers some very funny voice messages about someone’s friend being an olympian. I facetimed my dad. And told my new friend Amy that if she had a specialty, she could work on grey’s.

I was on a level.

I don’t even know what I said to them but they were highly entertained.

I later did damage in the famous chinese food restaurant.

That is all.

Dogs make everything better.

FINALLY A SUNNY DAY! It was realy starting to feel like summer.

Met Nadia and her boyfriend Thomas, and some of her other friends at the Grotto, yet another climbing area within 15 minutes of town.

The whole approach we walked along a creek, which means 2 things- Luna is happy. And my backpack is lighter because I don’t have to carry water for her.

The views from the top of the climbs were pretty incredible. Loving it here more and more everyday.

After climbing I tackled the ever so daunting task of cleaning and organizing the van. I was now transitioning into the part of my trip where my friends were joining. We would at some point have 3 girls in this van so things needed to be overly tidy.

Before

After

I keep all my clothes in cubes that have a mesh top so I can easily grab and go. Each cube is a different clothing category, i.e. tops, shorts, climbing bottoms, layers, non athletic maybe I’ll wear real clothes today outfits. I have an entire bag of just socks, which Casey later made fun of me for because I had a pair of socks to last me 30 straight days… I have a sock fetish…

After some pebble wrestling and a few errands, I headed to get Chloe.

Luna once again decided she was a full grown lap dog.

Chloe and I ate an early dinner in Canmore then headed to Banff where we would camp a few days.

Setup the tent to store a few things and make more room in the van.

We were scoping out a place to climb that had great views, moderate routes, and an easy approach. Chloe had not been climbing as much lately and we wanted to sneak in a few other activities that day since there was no sign of rain for once. This would also be our only day to climb though as the other girls coming this week did not climb.

About a mile in, we realizing we were hiking up the wrong trail. But at that point we figured we would finish the hike to the viewpoint then go find the right trail. We got a few funny looks and even were questioned if we were ok due to the fact that we had 2 giant bags of gear and a rope slung across Chloe’s back for a 2.5 mile hike. The view was amazing, we could even see where we were supposed to be hiking.

Once we finished accidental hike #1, we got back in the van and hiked in to the crag. We got just what we wanted: fun climbing and gorgeous views and all of the sunshine as a bonus... This seems to be a trend just about anywhere in Alberta, with the exception of the sunshine of course. Maybe once we get through June.

Post cimbing there was not much time for anything else since we mistakenly hiked twice that day. We posted up at Banff Ave Brewing for burgers and drinks, and brought our laptops in and started scheming some hikes for the rest of the week. We were those people using a brewery as an internet cafe and we didn’t really care.

Our plan B was now to head to Stanley Glacier. Parks lady said it was gorgeous and definitely clear of snow.

Upon arriving it is still raining and dark clouds hovered. We have no choice but to wait it out. Sure we could hike in the rain. That’s not really the issue, but we would be heading up a trail we had never been and so we weren’t too psyched on hiking in a storm in foreign territory.

At this point it is 1pm. We are still in our pajamas. We officially make breakfast.

The rain never stops and our window for an epic half day adventure is getting smaller and smaller so we begrudgingly decide to do one of the stupid, er I mean wonderful, 1 mile hikes Parks lady suggested.

We went to Johnston Lake and in our rebellious state, we hiked in our pajamas. I even wore my slides.

The rain had finally stopped and we picnicked on the shore before heading to scoop up Casey.

Side note: Johnston Lake was absolutely stunning. The loop was 2 miles not 1 and really was lovely. And we did throughly enjoy despite all the roadblocks of the day. 5 hours of driving and 3 attempts at hiking later, we made it back to Canmore.

We all had a day and decided happy hour would do the trick. I asked Holly for recs and she said a place called Murrietas does Wine Wednesday. We get there and they tell us Wine Wednesday is not a thing anymore, and as our faces drop, they agree to honor it.

We headed to the river to have some post wine wine while waiting for our last friend to arrive. Chelsea, who I wrote about earlier in this blog thing, was driving up from Bozeman and due to arrive around 8.

I really enjoy the river, even when I was chasing Luna chasing the elk, it was pretty magical. The striking view of these mountains is just hard to describe. They make you feel all of the things. They make you forget that you tried to hike all day and ended up walking in your pajamas, lamenting the rain. They make you shut your mouth and stop complaining because just being in the presence of the rockies is a gift in and of itself.

I had walked this trail so many times but never noticed these wood paintings. They were posted on trees lining a path to the river. One of them was done by a 3 year old!

Just a quick side bar before I get tok far into the next leg of my trip:

Chloe, Chelsea, and I rowed together at Santa Clara. Every couple of years we get together for a mini reunion. This year by chance was our 10 year reunion from college so it seemed fitting that we were meeting up in Banff.

Casey and I met through November Project my second year living in LA. November Project (or NP) is better known by my brothers as the crazy running cult I joined.

When I planned this trip to Banff, I naturally invited a few friends to come meet up for different parts of it. I invited another girl Allie who had to bail last minute to see her dad who was having health issues. By chance, all of my friends came the exact same week but I was here for it.

So Chelsea arrives and she is hungry so we decided to eat again. This was one of the better meals I had had in Canmore. I love Canmore but I have to say the restaurant scene isn’t anything to write home about.

We truly had the best day and it set the bar high for the rest of the week. I owe a thank you to Parks lady, even though I doubted her other recommendations.

As soon as we got in the car, it started pouring and we started laughing.

Here’s to hoping that happens every day these girls are here.

There is a highly coveted position for someone to pour teal dye into the Lake at 3am before people arrive for sunset.

I am kidding. It actually looks that blue.

The hotel at the back of this photo costs about $600 a night. Just a bit more than van lifing…

If you don’t stay there, you have to get up crazy early to snag a parking spot. Parking is super limited and supposedly full by 7am. Other option is to book a shuttle. It runs all day and costs $8 a person. The shuttle also books up so you have to book early. Luckily it was not full when we checked, so we went with that option.

This is Lake Agnes

Chloe eating a burrito at the Plain of Six Glaciers

There are two tea houses on this loop. We stopped at the Lake Agness tea house, where we enjoyed tea and biscuits.

Note on the board above: Staff hike food up and garbage down every day! (Pleae hike personal garbage down)

The tea house sits at 7000 feet. We learned that staff hike up, live and work up there for 5 days, then hike down and have 2 days off. Or was it 4 on 3 off? Not sure now, but either way I was very impressed with their operation.

11 miles later we were ready to sit for a long while.

Last stop was Lake Morraine, on the same level I’d say as Lake Louise.

Love these girls so much.