It’s not often that we get to enjoy a trip where the furthest we have to travel is 30 minutes away from home. At the start of November, when the weather was, surprisingly, mild we got to explore our own backyard with the help of Buick’s newest Envision 2017 model. We got even more excited when none of then than Garry Sowerby (of our Maritimes adventure fame) came to pick us up. We spent two days at one of Calgary’s top luxury estates, Azuridge. We were wined and dined and got to pick our ride for the duration of our stay. The objective was to give this newest, fully loaded model a test drive, enjoy the luxury lifestyle for 48 hours and get an opportunity to explore the real Alberta. We took the Envision out to Black Diamond but didn’t actually end up seeing much of the town as we kept making a ton of stops along the way. I love the Alberta landscape, Highway 22, also known as the Cowboy Trail is one of the most beautiful stretches of road. We pass it often but never have an opportunity to shoot here because we’re usually on the way down to the States. The highway is lined with beautiful ranches and I was excited to finally be able to trespass run out to the fields and play around the hay bales and stop to see the horses. It’s the perfect Wild West. It helps when you’re cruising in a brand new vehicle, loaded with all top of the line, up-to date features like panoramic rooftop, apple car play, auto park assist, lane assist, leather seats, built in GPS and wi-fi! Something that got me extra excited was the speed limit indicator on the dashboard! I am not going to lie, I felt like Cindarella getting back into our pumpkin once the adventure was over. Unintentionally, I also wore my best driving outfit, which of course helped perpetuate the fantasy further. In retrospect, when we decided to upgrade our car to an SUV I can 100% say it was the best decision we ever made. For our jobs, the size of the vehicle makes all the difference. The fold down back seats make transporting our lives so much easier, both personally and for work. Thinking about the amount of furniture, clothes and equipment that have fit into our SUV over the last few months is alone worth the higher price tag. We also always look for outstanding fuel efficiency, because, of course we’re still trying to fit within a budget. The Envision, compared to the Encore, that we drove back in the Maritimes, is a substantially bigger vehicle but it’s easy to get used to, in fact you don’t actually notice the difference until you pack it full of suitcases and then realize the trunk space is quite a bit roomier. I love that all the new models now come equipped with what should always be the standard, heated front seats (with option for BACK heated seats!), built-in wi-fi hotspot, rear vision camera, remote vehicle starter system (my favorite!), heated steering wheel & following distance indicator (!). In the world of Buick things changed since you last visited! xoxo
