Travelin' Road Show

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Sun Sept 22 - Farewells and hellos - Calgary, Alberta

It was time to say goodbye to our dear friends. What a great time we had with them and how lucky we are to have had their company this last couple of weeks on our journey. We spent much of the day sorting and packing. Derek and Derek and Lin went out for a bit of shopping while Janice nursed a full-blown cold. Feeling quite ill today. Undaunted we relaxed outside in the sun and chatted until it was time to leave for the airport. After we dropped them off (with a few sobs) we went to the house of an old University of Guelph friend of Janice’s, who we have kept in touch with over the years. Luka and her lovely husband Dean and their absolutely beautiful 8 year old daughter Eliza made us feel so welcome and we caught up on each others lives and were treated to a fabulous home cooked meal, served meticulously by Eliza. We swapped tales of jobs, travels etc and Janice was able to forget for a few hours how yukky she felt with the cold. What a great evening. When we got back to the ‘condo’ we felt a bit sad not to see Derek-2 and Lin there, but happy that we had such a great time with them for the last two weeks, and also happy to have had a lovely welcome from Luka and family.
Forgot to take photos today.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Sat Sept 21 - Bar U Ranch, Longview Alberta

Saturday Sept 21^st- Bar U Ranch

Ranch Area-- What a setting

Derek-2 tooling around

Statue at Entrance to Bar U Ranch

It was our friends’ last full day in Canada and after changing our minds about visiting historic sites in Calgary, we opted for a 90 minute drive south of Calgary to a ranch (Bar U Ranch in Longview, Alberta). This ranch, originally some 157,000+ acres, was one of the most important and productive ranches in Canada and as the big ranch system slowly died in the mid 20^th century, the government took over a 300+ acre chunk that was the main administrative area of the ranch and preserved much of the original equipment, buildings and photographs, with each building telling stories of life on the ranch and various owners etc. Apart from the fact that the ranch is in such a beautiful setting in the foothills, it is fascinating to read the history and to talk to the people on the ranch (dressed in somewhat period clothes.) We had a picnic lunch and wandered the grounds. A couple of the guys in the buildings were cowboys themselves and had several fascinating tales of their lives on the ranches etc… After a taste of cowboy coffee and bannock and petting the Percheron horses, we headed back to Cochrane to enjoy a perfectly cooked steak dinner and a final game of password, which Lin and Janice won, which was sweet. considering the guys had won the previous 3 (yes Derek … it was 3) And so the last full day with our friends was done. Janice has developed a nasty cold and sore throat, hopefully it wont last long.

Love this picture - Statue looks real

Derek-1, cookies Anyone??

Derek-1 -- Shadow on bridge - LOVE IT!!

Horses love these guys.. could be the fresh grass!

Coffee and Bannock served here!

Served by a cowpoke!

Fresh grass - yummy!! Thanks!!

For you older folk- is this Mr Ed's brother??

Idyllic view from the barn!

Wedding Carriage - (there was a real wedding there that day)

Friday, September 20, 2013

Fri Sept 20th - Banff to Cochrane

Friday Sept 20^th- Banff to Cochrane.

We bid goodbye to Banff and made the short trip to Cochrane, following the Bow river. It was interesting to see the change in landscape from the middle of the Rockies to the foothills and to see the devastation of the June floods, still quite obvious as we passed by Canmore and on to Cochrane, to the Bow Riversedge Campground, which is the closest decent full service RV park to Calgary and the easiest one to get to Calgary Airport.

It was still a beautiful day, so after setting up we went for a walk along the Bow River, right next to the campground. We discovered that we could have a campfire here so we totally enjoyed an evening by the campfire, feeling so happy to be sharing it with our friends .

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Thur Sept 19th - Banff, Hiking, Hotel

Thur Sept 19th - Banff, Hiking, Hotel

Rapids, by Bow Falls

Almost at Bow Falls

It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided that some degree of hiking was on the cards. After breakfast we set out for Banff and found a trail that went along the bow river to Bows Falls and the Banff Springs hotel after that. It was a lovely walk and we managed to see the Banff Springs Hotel in sunlight rather than yesterday’s rainstorm. Part of the mezzanine has information and photos about the building and development and general life at the hotel from the beginning, which was fascinating… how the rich and famous lived while the world, was at war!!!! ($50,000 letter of credit required for a 3 month stay in the 1920’s)

Banff Springs Hotel

Derek-2, Janice and Lin

After our walk we went for a drive up the road to the base of Mount Norquay.. wow what a beautiful road.. switchbacks and amazing views of Banff and the mountains surrounding it. We then took a drive to Lake Minnewanka (a funny name if you are from Liverpool!!!). We walked along the edge, took some photos of the views and cute chipmunks, and then did a quick run into town for some last minute souvenir browsing and then to the supermarket for supplies before heading back to camp for our last night in Banff. A game of password (won once again by the two Derek’s) was hilarious as usual.

Bow River with raft in distance

Bow Falls

Us on the Terrace at Banff Springs Hotel

Derek-2 and Lin.. Terrace at Banff Springs hotel

Derek-2 and in at Lake Minnewanka

Another lake(?) by Minnewanka

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Wed Sept 18th - Banff

Wed Sept 18^th – Banff on a rainy day

Banff National Park Museum - Built 1903

Cave and Basin Sulphur Spring - outside pool

Inside the Cave

Banff Park Museum Built 1903

Last night it rained and today it continued. But undaunted we set out for Banff to explore indoor activities and went first to the Banff Springs Hotel and had a quick look around but opted to go to Timmy’s for coffee and D and L’s new favourite Canadian Maple donut. We followed this with a visit to the Banff Park Museum. This was a surprise and very interesting. It is about 110 years old and has preserved examples of the animals and plants to be found in the Banff park area dating back to 1860. There were also lots of stories about past explorers and Park Commissioners and several hundred really interesting photos from the past 100 years. Quite fascinating. The story of Banff is sad in some ways as humans came in and destroyed much of the natural resources of the area, but it is also gratifying to know that the ravages stopped when the park became park of the National Park system. We then decided that, since we bought an annual group pass to National Parks and Historic sites, that we would go to the Cave and Basin historic site.. what a surprise that was. It was the site of the first finding (by Railway employees) of the Sulphur Hot Pprings. They tried to commercialize the springs, but after some measure of success it was taken over as part of Canada’s National parks and protected for future generations. The cave, containing the original hot springs pool, while reeking to high heaven is still fascinating and Parks Canada have created a great information centre with informative videos and photos about the area. We walked around outside before realizing that most of the day was gone and we headed back to camp feeling superbly knowledgeable and satisfied with a great day.

Elk at our campsite

Just picture perfect

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tuesday Sept 17th - Lake Louise Alberta

Tuesday Sept 17th - Lake Louise Alberta

Bow River and good friends

Bow river without good friends!!!

Look... no cane or crutches... well almost!!!

Chateau Lake Louise

We got up and saw the sun and decided that this must be the day we get to Lake Louise... so off we went. We were all stunned (again) by the beauty of this place, but we were also shocked at the change since we were here. It is 15 years since Derek and Lin had been here and 39 years since Derek and I were here as a young couple. I remember it was a tourist attraction... but not MOBBED... and this is the less busy period. Heaven help us. Having said that, nothing can take away the raw and absolute amazing beauty of this place. As we had 39 years ago we decide to hike the trail up to Lake Agnes to the tea house. It is a fabulous walk and walking it with friends made it extra special. A 3.4 km uphill hike.. but his time there were lots of others on the trail. Nothing can describe this place and do it justice. After the hike we treated ourselves to a snack and coffee sitting outside the Chateau. We then went for a quick drive to Morraine Lake... this also was built up and full of tourists (even a gift shop) .. so we only spent a few minutes there before heading back toward Banff. We wen to an Irish Pub in Banff for dinner which was very good, with a great selection of draft beer and good comfort food. A great day... again!!!