Day 27/28 - The infamous Toe Shot and the Northern Lights

DAY 8 - Canmore Alberta! 

Well, today was incredible to say the least. To carry on from Day 7, we drove from Calgary and arrived into Canmore AB around 8pm. Due to the forest fires out here, it's very smokey and the visibility isn't great. As we've heard many times, you can usually see the mountains from Calgary but for us this was not the case. We were waiting and waiting to see the mountains and boom, they were all around us! The feeling we had while driving into Canmore is absolutely indescribable. As the sun was setting, shining down on the mountains we knew this was the right decision.

Our plan from day 1 was to hike Ha Ling Peak as soon as we got into Canmore. We knew it would be really difficult, but well worth the challenge. Due to the heatwave, we decided it may not be the best idea to do so on a hot afternoon... So we decided to get up at 3am and hike it to see the sunrise instead 😂 We knew we needed to check out the mountain and see the trail so we knew what we were getting ourselves into. While talking to some locals around the trail, they actually gave us the unfortunate news that it was closed for reconstruction. However, there was a very similar mountain called E.E.O.R (East End of Rundle) so we thought, well let's just do that one instead!
Let me tell you, this was not the best idea we've had hahaha We got up at 3am, second guessed our selves and then decided, "well, other people have done it so it's obviously fine." We piled on our hiking gear, turned on our head lamps, and headed out. The first 15 minutes went surprisingly well, lots of incline but a clear path. Then, the path just disappeared and we were faced with a vertical slope of mountain covered in scree. We did attempt it, and after almost sliding right down the mountain I decided, nope not today!!! We actually read alot of comments online of how easy it was to get lost on this mountain, clearly we should have listened lol
Thus, we headed back down and decided to tackle the much easier hike of Grassi Lakes. It was around 5am at this point, and we knew we would make it for the sunrise. As soon as we started, it was not hard to miss the MANY signs reading, "WARNING: BEAR IN THE AREA." So with our bear mace in hand, we kept on trekking. We decided to take the "easy" way up to lower our chances of a bear run in. Before we knew it, we were at the top and found a beautiful rocky lookout to wait for the sunrise. In the twilight haze, we took off our gear, sat down and tried to take it all in. To our left was the East End of Rundle that we tried to hike, to our right was the incredible Ha Ling Peak that we wanted to hike, and directly in front was a stunning view of Three Sisters mountain. We sat there in silence for a little while, both clearly thinking about how unbelievable Canada truly is.

As we sat there a little longer, with just the two of us and the breeze through the trees, we started to talk about how surreal it was that after 7 years, this is where we are. After a full year of saving and lots of planning it really was hard to believe we were finally here, together, and more in love than ever. As we stood up to take a look over the edge of the mountain, Zack turned and looked at me with that big, guilty grin, eyes full of happiness, and got down on 1 knee and aksed me to marry him ❤ We've talked about it many times before that our time will come eventually, but I couldn't even believe this was happening on our trip of a lifetime!!
Accordingly to Zack I said many times "ARE YOU SERIOUS? NO, OMG ZACK ARE YOU SERIOUS?" as I ugly cried, hard. I don't even remember what I said really, all I could do was happily look into the eyes of the man I knew I was going to marry!!!!
There was a very long time of hugging and crying and laughing after that, as we enjoyed our moment together. Zack
went on to share all the hilarious and emotional moments leading up to this special day. His search for the perfect ring, sharing the secret with his family, asking my parents and almost blowing it a million times! Probably the best part is how he hid the ring from me, by duct taping it in a zhers bag underneath the driver seat! 😂 Very good hiding place indeed.
 As we continued on talking, wrapped up in the exciting moment, we looked to the landscape across and at that moment the sun peaked behind the mountains. Silenced again, we just sat there in serenity with the biggest smiles on our faces and watched the sunrise for hours.
When we were ready to go, we checked out the turquoise Grassi Lake and continued down the scenic route. We stopped for a while to admire the huge waterfall we were just sitting above, with Ha Ling in the background. Little did I know, Zack had also booked us a room for the night at the Canmore Rocky Mountain Inn, a quaint little chalet overlooking the mountains. After lunch we headed over to check-in. I walked into the room to a beautiful bunch of roses, chocolates, and champagne that Zack had also arranged to celebrate our day! After a very long snooze in a real bed, we popped the champagne (Zack almost died after the first chug of bubbles, classic), and are now awaiting our order in for dinner as we overlook the Rockies.
 Needless to say, this was the absolute best day of my life and has made this trip even more incredible than we ever expected. I am truly the luckiest women in the world to be loved so deeply by a soul like Zack, who puts so much thought and effort into everything he does, and made this day beyond perfect. I cannot wait to begin the rest of our life together, and carry on our trip as fiances!!!!!! 😄