May 31, 2013 - Drumheller to Canmore, AB/ Banff

We left early so we could try and located a motor/gear for our bedroom slide. Stopped at three RV dealers and no one had the part in stock. Looks like nobody stocks parts anymore. So we decided the best way to keep moving and get our part was to order it from a Oregon dealer and have them ship it to Fairbanks. If we tried to ship into Canada, customs can hold it up for several days. So off the Canmore The next day we went to Lake Louise and Lake Morain, two very popular tourist spots in the Banff area. The drive to the lakes wasn't too bad...

May 26, 2013 - Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise

The drive to Canmore, AB took us through the Kootenay National Park and the Banff National Park. This was definitely the prettiest drive so far. As we got closer to Alberta, the mountains seemed to grow larger. This is what the brochures all look like! Unfortunately, our pictures cannot do them justice. Canmore is another tourist town with ski slopes nearby and hiking and biking in the summer. We seem to be pretty much in between seasons, so not much is going on and it’s easy to get a campground. While here, we drove over to Banff and Lake...

Apr 19, 2013 - Home Sweet Home - Despite the weather

We're very happy to be home in Canmore, even if the weather isn't ideal. Until the last couple of days, we thought Spring had forgotten where Canmore was. But things are looking up. The snow from last weekend has melted and the temperature has been up to 10C for the last couple of days. Just warm enough for us to get out on our mountain bikes and enjoy the pathways around Canmore. Hopefully the roads will be cleared of gravel and we'll be out on the road bikes soon! In the meantime, we're busy planning our traveling for the rest of the...

Jan 2, 2013 - The Canmore Nordic Centre

We're really lucky to live so close to a world class cross-country skiing facility! The Canmore Nordic Centre is 3km from our place and we make that drive a lot, on foot, bike or in the car! We use the gym located at the Nordic Centre for weight workouts, mountain bike and run on the trails in the summer and ski in the winter. We've been skiing classic style for years but this year are determined to learn how to skate ski. It definitely isn't as easy as it looks! Today we were out on our classic skis on a beautiful day with great conditions!

Dec 23, 2012 - Back in the swing of winter

Well, we've been home for just over a week and we're well entrenched in winter in Canmore. We've been skiing 4 times in the past week, have watched our resident squirrel collect the lining from our bbq cover to insulate his nest(a portent of the weather to come), finished our Christmas shopping, decorated our Christmas tree and survived the blast of winter cold that hit us yesterday. Our plan was to bundle up and ski at the Nordic Centre today but we discovered that despite having over 20 different tubes of cross country ski wax, none of it...

Dec 15, 2012 - World Cup Skiing

Our homecoming to Canmore was well timed, we were just in time to see the cross country skiing World Cup races at the Nordic Centre. Exciting races and a festive ambiance around town. The CP Rail Holiday train even stopped in town on their annual cross country trip. Made a great stage for that day's award ceremony! Had fun visiting with Ena, John, Barb and Don at the races. We also got out for our first ski of the year. Barb and Don joined us for a short jaunt around the Nordic Centre. Great conditions and just long enough to get us a bit...

Oct 19, 2012 - October in Canmore and the Okanagan

Hard to believe it is already mid-October! The weather has been great so we've kept on biking and even gotten in a couple of late golf games. We also headed out to the Okanagan for a week. We visited with Dale's folks in Vernon for a couple of days then headed south to Kelowna for a quick visit with Barb, Kevin and Pisco. We got in a round of golf at the very pretty Shannon Lake course, had a fabulous dinner at Quails' Gate Winery, went to the dog park with Pisco and Pam ran the Kelowna half marathon in a respectable time of 1:41. Then we...

Sep 15, 2012 - Kananaskis and Canmore

Peter Lougheed (Law-heed) died on Thursday. He was a local and Canadian hero and a transformational Premier of Alberta from 1971-1985. Today we visited Peter Lougheed Privincial Park in the Kananaskis Country to the west of Cochrane. We were also drawn to the park by the description of our British full-timing friends, the Cappers, who visited there a few years ago. The Kananaskis was home to the 1988 Winter Olympics Alpine Skiing Events when Calgary hosted the Olympics. Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is about 25 miles south of the Trans...

Sep 12, 2012 - Fall Fun

The first 12 days of September have been golf,golf golf, with 5 games on 4 different courses. Highlights were the two 18 hole rounds, one at Kananaskis Kidd course and the other at the Stanley Thompson course at the Banff Springs. Both spectacular golf courses! On Sept. 6, we celebrated Dale's birthday with a round of golf followed by a night at the Post Hotel in Lake Louise. A beautiful hotel and a great meal! Next up was the Canmore 1/2 marathon which Pam ran in a much better than expected time. She is now inspired to do another in...

Aug 28, 2012 - While the Cat is Away...

...the mouse has been out taking photos! I lucked out with an interesting sky on my way home from Calgary last weekend, I've been to a couple of locations close to home in Canmore, to Wedge Pond in Kananaskis and at Vermillion Lakes in Banff. Definitely a theme of mountains and reflections in the evening (I'm way too lazy to get up for the early morning light). Very happy that my cat is coming back on Thursday! Hopefully he used the camera he took with him.

Aug 8, 2012 - A Round of Golf at the Canmore Golf and Curling Club

Pam's Dad Lloyd and our friend Carey joined us for lunch at the clubhouse followed by a round of golf at the Canmore Golf and Curling Club. Lunch was great, golf wasn't...except for Lloyd who finished things off with 2 birdies! Can't complain too much about bad golf when the weather and scenery are this good!

Aug 6, 2012 - Canmore Folk Festival

This year was the 35th Canmore Folk Festival and it was an awesome one! Great weather and amazing music. New discoveries for us were Locarno (a Mexican band from Vancouver), Kim Churchill (amazing 21 year old singer/songwriter from Australia) and Mike Farris (a blues singer from Texas with a huge voice). Also rediscovered David Miles, a really talented singer songwriter who we first heard at Lake O'Hara quite a few years ago. Ian Tyson sang some of his classics on Sunday night (finishing with "Four Strong Winds" of course). Monday was an...