Melinda's 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip!

When I was planning my Dream 40th Birthday Trip and asked my friend Melinda to join me, I agreed to do the same for her 40th birthday a couple of years later.

Where to go proved to be the hardest part of the planning. For quite a while, South Africa was the destination of choice. I had a really hard time getting into that, but at one point in the planning process we attended a information session put on by a Canadian-based company that does a lot of travel in Africa. That did it... We were pumped! We made a list of everything (yes, everything!) we wanted to see and do on our trip. And then the quote came in... We were looking at $10,000 each! Unwilling to compromise on our "everything" list, we decided to shelf Africa for the time being.

But then what? Where do we go from here? We started thinking back to my 40th birthday trip and how Europe was a dream trip for me. We both still want to return and see the places we weren't able to get to, but Europe in general wasn't a number one location for Melinda. I remember several conversations that began like, "What would make the trip you?" "What do you want to do?" "What's important to you?" "What would be fun for you?" And that's how we came up with Melinda's 40th Birthday Canadian Adventure Trip!

Our itinerary was: Yellowknife, NWT; Whitehorse, Yukon; Tofino, BC; Victoria, BC; and Vancouver, BC! With a flight north via Edmonton, AB, we were basically covering most of western Canada in one trip!

We had a fabulous time visiting a lot of new places, seeing some amazing sights, and crossing a few places off our must-see lists! Here are some of our many highlights...

View from Pilot's Monument in Yellowknife, NWT

Carcross Desert - Yukon

Biking on the beaches near Tofino when the tide was out - way cool!

Enjoying tea at Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC

The last night of our trip! (Downtown Vancouver in the background.)

Melinda is far more adventurous, athletic and outdoorsy than I am, but what a privilege it was to be a part of her celebrating. I saw and did things I never would have done had we not gone on this adventurous trip together. When I think of all the territory we covered and new things we tried, I am amazed!

Happy birthday, dear friend! I had a blast celebrating with you!