Canada Day 2

We left our bags outside our room at about 6:45 and headed down for breakfast. When it was time to load the bus we got on and found the row with our names on it.  We were on the right side almost all the way in the back.

This blog is co-authored by Penny and Paul and was posted by Penny. If you read Penny’s blog you’ve read this.  It covers day 2 quite well so I figured I’d save time and just use it.

Today we boarded the bus for our trip south to Waterton. The first detour was a quick spin through downtown Calgary including a trip past the Calgary Stampede grounds.

Our tour guide described the stampede as a 10 day period of parties, fun and rodeos and very little productive work. Off we go again and our next little fun thing was passing the Nanton area where the British conducted flight training during WWII. One of very few flight worthy WWII Lancaster bombers was sitting next to the road on display. This was very unusual since it is normally inside the hangar and all the passing bus usually gets is a quick peek as they drive by.

We then headed to a reproduction of Fort Macleod, the North West Mounted Police fort that was actually the beginning of law and order in the area.

Next was lunch at Johnny’s a restaurant which was a wonderful western food and Chinese restaurant that had fantastic food.

We headed off to Waterton and the territory went from plains to mountains and it is fantastic.

We stopped at the Prince of Wales Hotel to take pictures,

continued to a set of waterfalls

and then to our motel. All of the tour rooms overlook the lake and it is beautiful.

As we passed a visitor center our tour guide mentioned that there was a strenuous trail that had fantastic views. Paul and I decided to try it.

The Bear Hump trail is only about 3/4 mile long but also rises 700 ft. It is quite steep and we had to stop and rest several times on the way up. Penny and I almost decided to turn back when we met some nice people from Canada who were also climbing. They said it was worth it and Penny struck up a conversation with the woman in the family. That seemed to give Penny a second wind and we forged on with a little more energy. The trail got steeper as we climbed with large beam stairs keeping the trail from washing away.

We made it to the top-and the view made the climb worthwhile.

The trip down went a lot faster and our legs were quite rubbery when we reached the bottom. We were walking back to our hotel – with some doubts of making it back in time for dinner- when a passing truck stopped and asked if we wanted a lift. It was the Canadian family we met on the trail . So we got back in plenty of time.

We have had fantastic weather here and everybody we meet in Canada has been cheerful and friendly. I thought the people where we live were friendly, but these Canadians are putting them to shame-you betcha!

After a very good dinner (the food has been great here,too) we took a walk out the back door of our lake-front room and took more pictures.

Tomorrow we ride the red jammer bus at Glacier National Park in Montana. Our cell phone should work normally since we will be in the USA. We will likely call.

The weather is supposed to stay beautiful all week. The only down side is that there are fires West of here causing the hazy conditions you see in the pictures.

More Kayaking

The great weather continues and I’m trying to take advantage of it while not trying to ignore my usual responsibilities.

I kayaked again this morning and it was a good day for reflections. Calm winds and bright sunshine provided many opportunities for fun pictures.

The birds were skittish today but I got some good shots of osprey.

This is my favorite:


















I also caught a mullet in mid air:

and a pelican just as he hit the water:

 

 
The photography was fun but I spent several moments of zen just drifting and absorbing the relaxing atmosphere of the bayou – and that’s the best part of kayaking here.

Canada–Day 1

21 Sep started early. We got up at 3:30 AM and Karen drove us to the airport for Our early morning flight. We went from Jacksonville to Chicago on a relatively small plane. My backpack barely fit in the limited overhead. We had to go to a different terminal in Chicago to get our connecting flight and it involved a long hike. Both Penny and I managed fine with our heavy backpacks and considered this a warm-up for walking we would do in Canada.

We had the same model plane on the flight to Calgary. The instructions we had to get ground transportation at Calgary apt were not the best but we found our way with the help of one of the airport volunteers. Yes, the airport is full of uniformed volunteers that provide information and directions and may talk your ear off if you have the time and they are not too busy. It’s a great setup and worked well for us both times we were at the airport.

The bus to the hotel was the typical setup. We had to wait a half-hour or so for the bus to arrive but in the process we met some of the other couples that were on the same Caravan tour we were. Some had taken other Caravan tours and were very pleased with them.

Our Hotel was a Hilton Garden Inn and was nice. Our drive to the hotel gave us our first views of Calgary and it has traffic issues to be sure.

We had a 7 o’clock meeting ahead of us but we were on our own for dinner. Penny and I got a map from the front desk, selected a place to eat and set out on foot to find the place.

The place was called Moxie’s and is a Canadian chain upscale bar and grill. We had great service, good food that fit our diet and we even ordered wine – which we rarely do – but I didn’t have to drive and hey, we were on vacation! We even took pictures before the meal came/

Penny had a steak sandwich with a side salad . I had a Thai beef salad which had marinated steak, pineapple, tomatoes, red peppers and mint and what was left of the approximately 6 ounces of steak they served on Penny’s sandwich.

On our walk back from the restaurant we saw our first wildlife, a rabbit- or more properly a hare. We scared it up in a field behind the hotel.

At the meeting we were given an outline of our tour and the basic rules involved. Basically we stay 2 nights in each place. Our seats on the bus were assigned and rotated by 3 rows clockwise every day so we ended up sitting on both sides, front middle and back by the end of the trip. We got a list of names of everyone on the trip. We were told to have our bags outside our room by 7AM and that breakfast would be provided in the morning before we boarded the bus.

Next time I’ll do day 2.

Kayak Weather

I hate to let this beautiful weather pass without taking advantage of at least some of it.  This week we had the first bit of open-your-windows-at-night weather with cloudless sunny days and relatively low humidity.  We had lots of catching up to do with the house and yard and Penny was not feeling well enough to do more than a little quilting.

Today was different.  I loaded the Kayaks and we spent some of the morning on the bayou.

The weather was spectacular and although there wasn’t a huge amount of activity on the bayou we did see many of the birds we like to watch.

Here is what we saw:

A posing pelican.

A bald eagle?

A turkey vulture (fuzzy pic).

An osprey watching us carefully.

A heron in a tree

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A c-130

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Some F-16s and an F-15.

A kingfisher.

An osprey carrying a fish.

We also latched up our kayaks side by side and just drifted enjoying the bayou and relaxing.

Not a bad morning.

Take a Beach Walk With Me

Penny made me do it.  I’ve been concentrating on unpacking and catching up with the house since we got back from Canada.  We are into our beautiful fall weather and almost every sunrise and sunset is at least pretty if not impressive.  The sun also sets out over the water at the beach so it is a good time to take pictures.  Tonight’s beach walk had many of the features I enjoy so come along with me and I’ll share it with you.

I went to my normal spot at the National Seashore. When I arrived there were only 2 other vehicles there so the beach was pretty well empty.

When I arrived at the beach there was a new addition.  Someone had made a seat at the small dune at the entrance to the beach. It looked like a great place to sit and watch the sun set and to take pictures.

The temperature was just right and the beach was in-fact quite empty.

The tourist industry is hot this year and the first thing to see in the gulf is boats full of tourists and fisher people.

I was in the mood to take happy snaps of everything that popped up so this walk is well documented.

The sea oats are full of seeds and in their prettiest form.

Little sand crabs scampered into their holes ahead of me as I walked.  One guy went the wrong way and got stuck in the open.  He tried in vain to bury himself in seaweed but couldn’t.  I picked him up and he just froze in my hand.  I of course took his picture.  It was more difficult than it sounds because he was in my right hand and my camera was off and the lens cover was on.  Fortunately the crab stayed frozen in my hand while I fumbled left-handed and took the pictures.

of course there were birds.

and planes

and,of course, a sunset.

and I had another bird pose for me in the sunset.

The sunset was pleasant

Lots of people showed up for it

One last look before leaving.

The walk left me relaxed and refreshed.  Penny did good by pushing me to go.

Oh Canada!

We are home after our amazing trip to the Canadian and American Rockies. 

I was surprised by how warm and flat our tap water tasted after a week of drinking cold glacier water.  The water in Canada may be cold, but the people are warm and friendly. Everywhere we went the natives were great. We could also pay for stuff with US money – they did the conversion where necessary and gave change in Canadian money.  They use coins for one and 2 dollar denominations. 

The one dollar coin has a loon on in and is called a loony. I showed one to Sophie and the first thing she noted was it didn’t have a smooth circular shape.  Instead it is 11-sided.

The two-dollar coin is circular but has intermittent groves and spaces on the edge.  It has a copper center and nickel ring. Sophie saw this and said it was cool.

The Caravan bus tour we took hit all the places we would have gone if we had planned the trip and added some we would have missed.  The tour was well-organized, evenly paced and very enjoyable.  The countryside was scenic and enjoyable so going to each place was not boring. The weather was ideal for all but one day and that was the “best” day to rain on us if we had to choose one.

We didn’t see as much wildlife on this trip as we saw on our Montana trip.  We did see a lot of elk.

I’m not going to talk about specific locations tonight – that will either come in later blogs or I’ll forget about it.

Today was our first full day home and I spent most of the morning sleeping. I came hold with a cold which was a nasty coughy-sneezy thing.  Fortunately the worst of it lasted just 2 days.  It is still with me today but it is tolerable now.

The rest of the day went to unpacking and laundry and I only got about half-way through those chores.

Penny put together a picture book, drawing from the 3000ish pictures we took, and it is now in process at Winkflash.

I’ll end with a couple of pictures I liked.

Lake Louise after the fog lifted.

Peyto Lake – yes it really is that color.