#Banfflife

It's been 3 days since I left Banff in the early hours of Monday morning as the early morning fog enveloped the mountains and the sun tried to rise above the. All I could think was, thank goodness, I'm finally leaving.

Banff has a way of holding onto you. It's a sort of Neverland in the middle of the rockies. A place where parents lose their children, and the children never want to leave, because in Banff there are no rules, you never get old, and you never have to grow up.

It's its own world. It is a bubble which you don't realize until you've gone out in the world and come face-to-face with the realities of the real world. There are things that are okay in Banff that wouldn't be acceptable anywhere else, but we sum it up with the phrase #banfflife, because for locals it is the best way of explaining why it makes the things that happen here okay.

It's easy to get overwhelmed with such a small town where everyone knows your business and there's more drama in an hour than in an episode of Real Housewives. So sometimes you need a break. Will I miss it though? Yes, of course. Banff is a beautiful place to live. You're surrounded by mountains and nature. It's normal for a deer to be hanging out in someone's yard as you make your way to work. You can look at the snowcapped mountains surrounding you, while you're sitting in shorts, soaking up the sun on a rooftop bar. Everyone drinks water straight from the tap because it's glacier water and tastes better than bottled water. When you wake up and look out your window and see the sun shining above the mountains, it's hard not to be impressed and feel lucky to live here. Even though Banff and I are going on a break for a bit, I'll be coming back soon enough, because even with all of its flaws, I still love it and it's my home.

View from Banff Ave, May 2014