When people hear my little daughter's name, Maddux, they usually comment, "Oh, like Angelina Jolie's son."

I would just like to state for the record that I did not name the wee one some celebrity-baby copycat name (sorry to all those little Jadens and Nevaehs out there). It's not Maddox like Angelina Jolie's baby, it's Maddux like the Cubs pitcher.

Not that there's anything wrong with Angelina. I love that blood-vial-wearing, horse-kissing weirdo. It's just that I love the Cubbies a little more. And so does Maddi.

Part of the reason I moved back to the great Pacific Northwest was for its spectacular natural beauty. Of course, having only been to Canada a few times, I foolishly thought Washington was the best place on earth (clearly I had missed B.C.'s advertising campaign).
Last weekend, my guy and I took a spontaneous weekend jaunt to Lake Louise and Banff, and I can definitely tell you that Canada (eastern B.C. and western Alberta specifically) is the best place in the PNW.
How spontaneous was our trip? Well, it started out as an hourlong drive to a little town north of the city and ended up lasting about 30 hours and spanning two provinces. Did I mention we had not packed a stitch of clothing, had no toiletries, and were toting a pooptastic nine-week-old?
The bad news is, there are apparently no Wal-Marts between our city and Calgary (a five-hour drive). The good news is that there is a Gap store in Banff. The bad news is that we had already stocked up at an expensive drugstore in Revelstoke (or Revelsuck, as I now call it) and bought hideous souvenir T-shirts to replace our road-weary threads. The good news is that if anyone commented on our bad taste, they did so in German or Japanese, since apparently the only people visiting this gem of western Canada last week were from lands afar (except for a possible Avril Lavigne sighting at our hotel, and she's no one to talk about people who dress funny).
Going to Lake Louise is like visiting the most perfect, ice-blue lake in the Alps except that instead of ski instructors with sexy accents, you are greeted by overly polite people who end their sentences with "eh." Against the backdrop of majestic, snowy peaks and an amazing cerulean sky, the glacier-fed waters of Lake Louise sparkle in the most fascinating shade of blue-green. I'd like to find something romantic and beautiful-sounding to compare it to, but in truth it most closely resembles an Icee.
The nearby Kicking Horse River, also glacier-fed, has similar crazymaking aqua water. Between the towering Canadian Rockies, the dense carpet of evergreens and the gorgeous rivers, the whole five hours we drove each way, I never suffered for things to look at. Even little Maddux was remarkably well-behaved on the unusually long car trip, as if she was giving the jaw-droppingly gorgeous scenery the reverence it commanded.

Our spontaneous trip ended well, although there were a few massive diaper explosions and one very sleepless night, not to mention the commission of grave fashion "don'ts" owing to the fact we didn't pack anything for the trip. Despite our fugliness, we enjoyed our trip (and let's face it, the German tourists are not exactly fashion plates themselves) and I have set aside my foolish notion that Washington state is the most beautiful place in North America.
And here's more gorgeous scenery from our trip. If there's anything more beautiful than a happy two-month-old, I'd love to see it.