Eventually, we pulled into Lake Louise. The lake was just like we’d remembered, a cobalt jewel nestled between soaring peaks. Calene and I hiked the steep, graded trail in the forest above the lake, putting off that inevitable moment when we’d wander back into the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise to see if, by some extraordinary chance, there might still be Lladró polar bears for sale.

There weren’t.

But, you know, it didn’t really matter. The road trip had been romantic and charming and wonderful in a way that we could not have imagined. Someday, I will find one of those bears and place it upon our mantel. But until then, searching for a ceramic bear is as good an excuse as any to take a road trip, even when we are in fact looking for each other.