Wisetrips Travel Blog

Saturday, July 4, 2026 After the 50-minute drive from Peyto Lake, we arrived at Storm Mountain Lodge, near Lake Louise. Inna had chosen the Storm Mountain Lodge for its convenient location for the many hikes around Lake Louise (since shuttles were required to access the hiking trails). (I wish that UberX were available for drop-off at Lake Louise, as the price for shuttle transfers is crazy high) The Storm Mountain …

Saturday, July 4, 2026 At 10:00, after we finished  breakfast at Hotel Canoe's  Sudden Sally  restaurant, we loaded our Hyundai Kona. We made several stops on  our preplanned road trip along the Icefields Parkway. Our first stop was Crowfoot Glacier Viewpoint, about an hour away from Banff. We pulled into a fairly full parking lot at 11:00, but managed to find a parking space. We took a few photos of the spectacula…

Thursday, July 2, 2026 On the way to Hotel Canoe in Banff, where we planned to spend two nights, I  intended to stop at  Wild Flower Bakery  to purchase the next day's packable lunch . Once we reached Banff, traffic was extremely heavy, so I dropped off Alex and Inna nearby so they could order pastries and sandwiches while I looked for parking. It took me a while to find an acceptable parking spot. By then, Inna had…

Thursday, July 2, 2026 We had always wanted to see the Canadian Rockies, Banff, and Lake Louise, but had never had the time. For the July 4th weekend, I checked to see whether flights from San Francisco to Calgary were available at a reasonable price (and luckily, they were). With Inna's and ChatGPT's help, we came up with a detailed plan to see as much as we could in 6-7 days. I had ordered a Nikon P1100 SuperZo…

When my Nikon P900 started malfunctioning in Iceland, I decided to get rid of it and replace it (eventually) with the latest version of the super zoom. Over the past many years, we have used the P900 to photograph birds and wild animals that were far away. The P1100 is the latest installment in Nikon's super-zoom line. Although using the same old 16 Megapixel sensor, it has added a few features, like a USB-C connection. …

When my DJI Action 5 camera died on Bora-Bora (after the first swim in the lagoon), I needed a reliable replacement (that can work well underwater). As I had good luck with GoPro cameras previously, I looked at the following possible replacements: GoPro Hero 13 Black - $339 (Costco.com bundle with 2 batteries and 128GB SDXC) GoPro Mission 1 Pro - $699 Although the GoPro Mission 1 was higher …