Calgary

We had a hard time tallying when we last were in Calgary.  We were thinking it may have been something like 2007.  In any case, it had been long enough that a great many things had changed.  There were new C-Train stops, refurbished shopping malls, extended and expanded freeways and brand new skyscrapers changing the downtown skyline.  Other things hadn't changed as much - traffic was still a nightmare, construction was omnipresent and the city maintained an air of hustle and bustle that gave you the impression that everyone was permanently busy, with somewhere to go and something to do.

We carried the good weather with us into town.  We stayed from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening, and while there was still small piles of ice in the shady corners of Ryan and Jenni's garden (from the previous night's hailstorm) when we arrived, it maintained a sunny 30+ C the rest of the way through our visit.  There really is no way you can complain about that.

We had a kind offer of room and board with our good friends Ryan and Jenni, which we took.  After a quick shower to wash off the last traces of camping, we got to spend some quality time with our godsons, Sam and Ben.  They've become little men, with interests in ninjas, Star Wars and strange little shapeshifting robots that turn into spheres.  We all piled into the minivan for a trip to the local Montana's for dinner.  Strawberry daiquiries, ice-cold Molson's and some chicken and rib combos quickly knocked what energy remained and we called it a night on the early side.

The next day started with a leisurely breakfast of Eggs Benny.  We got to watch little Ben work the iPad like a maestro, playing Cut the Rope at a level well-beyond the average 4 year old.  Having seen the iPad in action both at Hanneke and Jul's and now at Ryan and Jenni's we decided it was time to get on board, and all piled back in the minivan for a trip to the Apple store at Chinook Mall.  We used to go there all the time when we lived in Calgary, but it's all grown up now.  High end stores have moved in - Apple, Victoria's Secret, a variety of places to buy cupcakes (they're all the rage!), and many others.  The boys were interested in the Lego store, and they were amazingly well-behaved during the ridiculously long wait for service in the Apple store.

Done with the mall, we navigated through some particularly gnarly traffic to Bowness Park, one of the few Calgary parks to which we had never been.  Even though it was a little busy in the park, it was still quite serene.  Sam and Ben enjoyed seeing the ducks in the pond and, being twins, were ideally suited for the teeter-totter in the playground.  We walked back to the car along the river which hosted a huge number of people in all kinds of rafts, tubes and inflatables.  Apparently it's right up there with cupcakes as the thing to do.  And with the weather we were having, I could see why.

We went back to Tuscany for a BBQ dinner - some monstrous, and incredibly delicious, steaks, done to perfection, corn and asparagus.  While it probably would have been a good idea for us to do something to work off the calories, we instead put the iPad to work, dialing up Tara and Christian in Singapore on Skype.  It seemed like ages since we had all hung out together, and I guess that is probably because it has been at least that long.  We got thoroughly caught up.  I'm not quite sure when the variety of silly hats came in, or why, but they added to the atmosphere.

After the boys demonstrated their never-fail technique of several hundred high-speed laps around the coffee table as a pre-bedtime ritual, we broke out the crokinole table and proceeded to take our kindly hosts out behind the woodshed for an old-fashioned whuppin'.

Sunday morning started with good lie-in.  The fact that we could do this with a couple of 4 year olds in the house, proves once again what rock stars our godsons are.  Our last stop before moving on was another old favourite, Peter's Drive-in, for a burger and milkshake.  Not much had changed there, with the same amazing shakes being served.  It did seem as if a large fries tripled in size in the intervening years, but who's complaining?

After lunch we struck out for the deep south, to meet up with our old neighbours from the days on Bridlewood Avenue.  Natalie and Curtis hosted, with Gabrielle and Keigan (the entertainment for the evening) there to greet us as well.  Sean and Dee-ya soon arrived, with Jocelyn and Spencer .  The kids were soon fighting the heat with a hose and swimming pool, although their efforts to fill an entire garbage bag with water took the majority of the focus.

It was great to catch up with our friends again.  Good to hear that everyone was doing well and that life in Calgary was treating them well.  It certainly reminded us of the good ole days when a sunny weekend afternoon would almost certainly end up with all of us sitting on someone's deck or patio.  It reminded us of what you miss when move as often as we have - a chance to build really good, strong friendships with the people you live around.

After another delicious BBQ, with more baked beans than was probably good for two people with a 4 hour drive in front of them, we hit the road, headed for home.

We left a few friends unvisited, a theme we would have to revisit in Edmonton, and for that we are sorry.  Damn work, and its restrictive deadlines.

Icefields Parkway

I've always thought my parents should teach a course in camping.  They really are the consumate pros.  You really gain an appreciation for it when you see them break down a campsite.  Their routine is amazing - quick, clean and efficient.  The only problem was that, before we knew it, it was time to get in separate cars and go separate ways.  Fiona and I were heading down the Icefields Parkway through Banff to see friends in Calgary.  Hanneke and Jul were heading back to Edmonton in their own car.  Linda and Dad were heading home a little more quickly so that they could pick up their registration for the 10km race they were doing the next day.  Their cheering section, Mom, Mark and Adele, went with them.

So it was still morning when we found ourselves alone and traveling through the mountains, like we used to do when we were crazy kids, just out of school and living in Calgary.  In fact as we drove a nice, sunny Icefields Parkway, we reminisced about the time we came up the other way in the middle of winter.  We were driving our old Honda Civic hatchback, it was very, very dark and snowing very, very hard.  I think back and wonder why the road was actually open.  I think we only saw 4 or 5 people the entire 5 hour drive and in places the snow was piled so high on the side of the road that we couldn't see road signs 3 or 4 metres high.  It was incredibly scary.  This was better.

We stopped at the Athabasca Falls, another standard tourist trap to let photog Fiona do her thing.  She got some really good shots of the falls, including one with an inukshuk that someone had precariously placed nearby - that one's for you Linda.  Unfortunately, upon returning to the car she stumbled and made the completely valid choice to save her pretty face over the camera, and the casing holding the lens snapped off when it hit the ground.  We were devastated, thinking that we would get no more pictures for the duration of the trip.  But Fiona pulled it together and set up a field repair station at the side of the road.  Doing her best MacGyver impersonation she put the camera back together again using only her wits and men's manicure set.  What a lady!

The rest of the trip was a series of scenic high points.    The Unending Range, stretching along the highway, the glaciers, Columbia and Athabasca, receding into the mountain, and lakes so blue-green as to defy the imagination.  Considering how long it had been, and how long it might be before we see the Rockies again, I'm glad we got them at their best and that we got a good long, unhurried drive to enjoy them on.

We pulled into Ryan and Jenni's in the late afternoon ready to replace the majestic mountains with the hustle and bustle of constantly growing Calgary.

The Road to Miette

After the morning at Pyramid Lake we could finally answer in the affirmative to Adele's constant queries of 'Are we going to the Hot Springs now?"

The road to Miette goes past some of the best Bighorn sheep viewing spots in the whole park, so we were hopeful that we would be able to knock another of the big mammals off our checklist.  After the near-bear encounter in the morning, why not?  And we did indeed get a nice herd of sheep, just off the side of the road near the Miette turnoff.  Fiona and Adele got out of the car to take a picture.  The little ones posed nicely and the picture was soon in the bag.  But one of the ewes must have thought the hot springs sounded good as well, because she followed Fiona and Adele back to the car.  She must have realized the only room left in the car was in the boot so she eventually lost interest and returned to the herd.

The hot springs were a welcome attraction to people who had been covered in fire smoke and hard earned hiking sweat.  The showers you use before entering the pool seemed like enough to justify the trip until you first set foot in the hot pool. It was heavenly.  Muscles you didn't even know were tense instantly relaxed.

The only thing better than sitting in that pool was a quick dip in one of the cold pools - one 14C and the other 22C - followed by getting back in the hot pool.  The cold was shockingly cold, not refreshing or any other kind of good cold.  But your whole skin would come alive when you got back into the hot pool.

The location of the springs is also source of wonder, especially for those with any kind of appreciation of geology.  The mountainside were alternately a mix of structured layers and massive, homogenous blocks.  It was really quite fantastic.  We made one more stop at some small falls on the way back and I snapped the last picture in the group on the post.  I think it's one of my favourites.

You'd figure that we saved the grandest dinner for the last night in the park, and you'd be right.  A couple of fire-roasted hot-dogs, along with leftover brats and burgers really hit the spot.  It was nice and relaxed without being melancholy.  The badminton smashes were a little less severe, the Tick was a little less cut-throat and the company of family that we don't see nearly as often as we would really like was thoroughly enjoyed.  It was the kind of scene and evening that you would go back to when you need your 'happy place'.

Pyramid Lake

"Cynthia,

Won't you take me to

Pyramid Lake with you"

On our last full day in Jasper, we were looking for a good scenic hike in the morning as a prelude to what was surely going to be Adele's highlight of the week, a trip to the Miette Hot Springs in the afternoon.  There were several good reasons to choose Pyramid Lake besides the nostalgia of a Blue Rodeo lyric, it's nearby to the Jasper township, has an extensive set of trails that would allow a choice of distances and sits underneath the utterly breathtaking and multi-coloured magnificence of Pyramid Mountain.

The day was nice, but not spectacular.  Some low cloud hung around the mountain tops, but where one might have thought that would detract from the view, it seemed to add a little extra something.  We sort of walked around the lake, not having chosen a path or destination, and ended up at the island that juts out into the lake.  It was quite clear why this particular spot had been and still was so popular.  There were great views over the lake to the mountains in the distance, including snow covered Edith Cavell, and my personal favourite - Unnamed.  Lakeside the clear waters reflected the little sun that we had, and large dragonflies took the time to land on your shoulder for a rest.  We took the obligatory family photo and quickly moved on lest we spend the whole day on the tiny island.

We finally chose a path to complete our journey and after crossing a little bridge we branched off into a more forested section.  We were surrounded by trees and had the path all to ourselves - or so we thought.  We couldn't have been more than a couple of hundred metres from the branch point when Fiona remarked on some sounds that seemed to be coming from the trees.  Our little convoy stopped for a few seconds and after scanning the trees I quickly and smartly pointed up to the large tree just in front of us.

"It's a porcupine, about 30 feet up", I said.  "Look, you can see his tail hanging down below that branch ..."

I'm not quite sure if it was intended, but Linda's response was whip-smart - "Where's the porcupine?  Is it next to the bear?"

At the word bear, I believe about half of our convoy turned and hightailed it back down the path.  The rest of us stopped to take a look and snap a photo.  He seemed a little sad, like we disturbed him.  He wasn't overly large, perhaps a couple of years old and he followed our conversation, moving his head to look at whomever was talking.  We could have walked directly under him and continued on, but at the time, not knowing if was still a cub with an over-protective mother around, it was probably a good decision to turn around.  All-in-all a really cool experience.  If I told you it was the equivalent of finding some cool mushrooms and slime molds later on in the walk, you would know I was lying.

We had lunch at the Pyramid Lake Resort.  We got a long table and the panko crusted chicken tenders were a hit with most people.  My elk, bison and beef sliders also went down quite well.

It was a great morning in all respects for me.  I think I got to walk and talk with everyone, I saw a bear close-up and the mountains looked spectacular.