Surprise Corner, Two Jack Lake and Banff Ave

Continued from Lake Louise, The Crown Jewel of Banff

If you are an early riser like me, and have already done a few hikes and trails by lunch, you now have a few hours to kill before the sun goes down. Quite a few, actually, as sunset here can be 9.30 pm in the peak of summer, and 830 pm by late August. What do you do?

Surprise Corner

There is a small spot in Banff called Surprise Corner. Why "Surprise Corner"? Who knows ... but the sudden appearance and incredible view of the Banff Springs Hotel (known as the "Castle of the Rockies") is the incredible reward.

From this spot, the hotel has Sulphur Mountain behind it, while in the foreground the majestic Bow River cascades down into the Bow Falls. It looks like a painting, especially when you come early morning, or about 2 hours before sunset. The majestic glow covers everything with a golden hue.

This is an iconic view of the hotel, as well as of Bow River, and is found in many postcards, pictures and movies. There is a small amount of parking, and it also connects to a few trails.

There are quite a few view points once you park your car. You can walk on the road on the cliff (careful!) and see the view closer to the river. Or you can climb up a few stairs to a pavilion and take in the view from there.

When crossing the street, be careful of the traffic. And when driving, be on the lookout for pedestrians! Surprisingly, despite multiple blog posts, tweets and lots of videos on YouTube on this, Surprise Corner is still not that busy, especially in the late afternoon.

Two Jack Lake

Not far from downtown Banff, Two Jack Lake is a picturesque emerald green lake with a grand view of Mount Rundle. 

Unlike many other lakes which known for scenic views, Two Jack Lake seems to lie low under the radar, but is very popular in the summer with families.

The landscape is great for those in search of some fresh air and some distance from crowds. It's quite near to the town (about 10 minutes drive) and is a great place to catch sunset or sunrise.

During summer, visitors can enjoy swimming, kayaking, stand-up paddleboard, and hiking. We saw multiple families enjoying a summer picnic or some casual fun in the water.

Lake Minnewanka and Johnson Lake are two other lakes that are quite near to Two Jack Lake. However, Lake Minnewanka is the more famous one of these three, and Johnson Lake hardly has any visitors.

If you are doing the Lake Minnewanka cruise, it makes sense to stop by Two Jack Lake when you are done. It's a big lake, and the beach is very accessible.

 Like Vermilion Lakes, it’s another fantastic lake with Mount Rundle views.

With Mount Rundle in the back, and other small mountains nearby, Two Jack Lake is one of the most scenic views in Banff National Park. If you are into photography this is a great spot, and always makes for a great background, especially if you catch Two Jack Lake at sunrise or when the evening light hits Mt. Rundle.

Banff Ave

You will need to buy souveniers. If you have loved ones back home, you may need to buy some gifts.

What better reason that these to explore Banff Ave! You may also need to eat ... and of course Banff Ave has restaurants galore.

Our hotel was on Banff Ave, which made life considerably easier. If you have to stay somewhere in Banff, stay on Banff Ave, as close to the centre of the town as possible.

These are pretty much some of the highlights of Banff. On this trip we didn't do the Sulpher Mountain Gondola or the Lake Minnewanka Cruise, as we had done those many times before. Rather, our focus was to explore some spots we hadn't seen before. Every time you come here, there's more to do.

Up next: Highlights of the Icefields Parkway to Jasper

East Coast: Halifax (Days 10 and 11) and the Return (Days 12 and 13)

Continued from Day 9

Note: This post was slated to be published last year (yes, last year!). For whatever reason, it was missed. Now, as we are stuck in our homes during the Covid19 pandemic, I was reminiscing about a fantastic trip to Canada's East Coast last year, and realized I hadn't posted about Halifax.

Halifax is home to Dalhousie University. It is a small campus, very beautiful, neat and tidy. For some reason, when I visit cities, I like to visit their famous university campuses. Dalhousie is also one of the first universities in Canada I had applied to, and got admitted to, though I never attended as I eventually chose University of Toronto. So, in a way, it was seeing a "what-if-alternate-situation" scenario!

Halifax and Dartmouth are twice cities, separated by a body of water that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The Halifax Harbourfront is a great place to sit and relax, and watch the big ships come and go.

Tired of seafood all through the trip? Well, we weren't, but when we discovered this fantastic Turkish halal eatery, why not get some meat? :-)

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a must-see attraction when you are in Halifax, primarily because it houses some relics from the most famous sunken ship of all - the Titanic. This museum is the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada with a collection of over 30,000 artifacts.

A special permanent exhibit explores the sinking of the Titanic with an emphasis on Nova Scotia's connection to recovering the bodies of Titanic victims.

The museum has the world's foremost collection of wooden artifacts from Titanic, including one of the few surviving deck chairs.

In the exhibition on the Halifax Explosion, there were fully detailed models on how the city looked a hundred years ago.

Citadel Hill (Fort George), also known as the Halifax Citadel, is another National Historic Site and you can enter with your national park pass. It offers good viewpoints to look at the city.

Halifax was a lovely city, full of greenery and parks. I don't know how it was in winter, but it is lovely during a hot summer's day.

Theodore Tugboat is a Canadian children's television series about a tugboat named Theodore who lives in the Big Harbour with all of his friends. Now, when you visit the harbourfront you can see "Theodore" still sailing there.

The last night on our East Coast trip (before we start to head back), we once again tried some halal Turkish.

The Long Return

It was now time to return home. The long drive would take two days. On the first day, we would have to make the big journey to Quebec City.

Fuel up before the drive

Crossing into New Brunswick

Irving gas stations - this was a common sight in the East Coast

Leaving Quebec City early the next morning

Finally, after so many days, you see on the sign "Toronto"

About to enter into Ontario

Finally, after 14 days, we were home! 5,731 km , lots of great seafood, adventures, memories - this was one epic road trip.

East Coast: Peggy's Cove (Day 9)

Continued from Day 8 ...

Peggy's Cove is an iconic East Coast destination. And to think - we nearly skipped it!

If I had to do the trip completely my way, I would have put a whole day here. Simply because I would love to photograph this famous lighthouse in the morning at sunrise, then in the middle of the day when it's busy, and then again at sunset with the famous golden sky behind it, and then at night when the lighthouse actually lights up.

As it was, we only spent a couple of hours there, enough to explore the site and take lots of pictures. I don't have a lot to share here as most of the pictures have people in them, and it's the same lighthouse but at different angles, but still I will try to recount the journey.

Clearly lighthouses are Nova Scotia's most

popular souvenir as well

Nova Scotia is home to over 160 historic lighthouses, some of them world famous (such as Peggy's Cove). Peggy's Point Lighthouse is one of Nova Scotia’s most well-known lighthouses and may be the most photographed in Canada. It was built in 1915.

Cheticamp is still on the Cabot Trail, so when we left the morning after our Cabot Trail trip, we still continued on the trail for some time.

There were still some nice coastal vistas to occasionally stop the car and take in the scenery. We were enroute to Halifax, which was some 4 hours away, and Peggy's Cove was another 45 minutes further from Halifax.

The East Coast is the true definition of a Road Trip. It's not just the destination, but the journey. There were so many things to see on the way. Just little road side stops. Small attractions. Memories. You really have to take your time and explore this part of Canada. Soon though, we left the coast and started to move inwards into the province of Nova Scotia. Interestingly, nowhere in Nova Scotia is more than 67 km (42 mi) from the ocean.

Nova Scotia, another interesting point of note, is the second most densely populated province in Canada (first being PEI). It is also the second smallest of Canada's ten provinces (again, PEI is the smallest).

Almost five hours after leaving Cheticamp, we entered the Peggy's Cove area. We passed a small memorial on the way to the lighthouse. This memorial is dedicated to the victims of Swissair 111. This memorial is about 1 km from the lighthouse.

To be honest, our initial itinerary had us travel back to Fredericton from Cheticamp, and then onwards and back towards Toronto. Suddenly we discovered we had one extra day, and Halifax wasn't too far of a drive from Cheticamp, hence we made the decision to visit Halifax. And of course, if you visit Halifax, you HAVE to go to Peggy's Cove. And boy we were glad we did!

How can you not visit Peggy's Cove! Every east coast trip from anyone I know includes a picture by this iconic Canadian lighthouse. This lighthouse, by the way, is an active lighthouse, unlike some of the other ones we saw on the trip - which were once active but now are only tourist attractions. This lighthouse is operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.

The area surrounding the lighthouse is also pretty in its own right. It was typical Atlantic Canada. Small, rustic, pristine, clean, natural, beautiful, picturesque and simple.

This cove was the scene of a youth novel by Bryan Doyle called You Can Pick Me up at Peggy's Cove (1976), which was made into a film directed by Don McBrearty and into a video released by Beacon Films, Inc., in 1982.

Peggy’s Cove is famed for its picturesque and typically East-Coast profile, with houses perched along a narrow inlet and on wave-washed boulders facing the Atlantic. Although this unique environment has been designated a preservation area, it is still an active fishing community.

The lighthouse was built around 1914 and stands almost 15 metres (49 ft) high.

The village of Peggy's Cove is likely named after Saint Margaret's Bay (Peggy being the nickname for Margaret). Another popular legend claims that the name came from the sole survivor of a shipwreck at Halibut Rock near the cove. Some claim she was a little girl too young to remember her name and the family who adopted her called her Peggy.

If you are there for an extended period of time, you can spend the day watching the waves and exploring around the rocks. There are many signs reminding visitors to exercise caution at all times, as the ocean water around Peggy’s cove is dangerous. Rogue waves (unpredictable, rough waves) commonly splash up over the rocks, even on calm, sunny days. We saw many during our time there.

Today, Peggy's Cove is a major tourist attraction, although its inhabitants still fish for lobster, and the community maintains a rustic undeveloped appearance. The regional municipality and the provincial government have strict land-use regulations in the vicinity of Peggy's Cove, with most property development being prohibited. Similarly there are restrictions on who can live in the community to prevent inflation of property values for year-round residents.

Once you are done visiting the lighthouse, you can take a stroll in the nearby village and surrounding area. There's lots of artists there, and many have shops nearby. The area around the Swissair memorial is also excellent for capturing pictures of the Milky Way on a clear, moonless night. Be cautious driving though, as the road is not illuminated at night.

It was with a bit of sadness that we bid adieu to Peggy's Cove as we headed back to Halifax. We knew this was our last stop on the East Coast trip, after which it was going to be a couple of days of driving back home. One last glance back at the historic lighthouse, and we were on our way.