Jul 22, 2012 - Same Crew, Different Venue

A couple of weeks ago we had a great family bbq at Tommy's place in Banff so tonight we reciprocated with a bbq on our deck in Canmore. Dad, Christina and Nicky drove out from Calgary and Laurie, Tommy, Eva, Maggie and Stella came in from Banff. The highlight of the evening was the invention of a new Olympic sport by Eva and Maggie, hammock wrestling! Oh, and the 2003 Mission Hill Oculus wasn't too shabby either.....

Jul 19, 2012 - No Rest for the Retired

We had a busy week of cycling, volunteering and golfing. And even managed to get in some gym time. We started off the week with a 9 hole round at the Tunnel Mtn. course in Banff, followed by a very enjoyable dinner at the Juniper Hotel with Bonnie, Bob and Bob's sister and brother-in-law, Ann and Tony, who are visiting from the UK. Pam cycled into Banff on Tuesday to help the Highway Wilding research assistant, Mirjam, prepare track plates for the field and then she went along on Thursday to help put the plates in culverts. The idea is to...

Jul 6, 2012 - Catching Up With Bonnie & Bob

Bonnie and Bob made the drive to Canmore and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon catching up on the deck followed by dinner at O'Bistro. The next day we headed to the Tunnel Mtn course in Banff where Bonnie and Bob pulled out their not so modern golf clubs for their first round in many years. They were a bit frustrated for the first few holes until they got the hang of it again. But it is hard to stay frustrated in Banff, all you have to do is look up and take in the scenery and you're smiling again. We finished off with lunch on the...

Jul 3, 2012 - A Busy Canada Day Weekend

The Canada Day weekend was packed with action and finally some decent weather! We started out with a golf game at Canmore Golf and Country Club with Sharon and Tony, followed by dinner at Crazy Weed which proved to be the best place in town to watch the fireworks exploding below the full moon in front of the Three Sisters. The following day we heading into Kananaskis Country with John, Ena, Phil and Alicia on a hike to the ridge of Old Baldy Mountain. A hike we've not done before but that we'll likely do again, the views from the top were...

Jul 1, 2012 - Canada's Holiday

We've really settled in at Stoney Nakoda. Many people who were here for the weekend have left, but a bunch of new people have been arriving all day; some with luggage. Since it's a Canadian holiday today, I don't know if they do like we do in the states and celebrate on the Monday. We've asked a few people in the casino, but haven't gotten a straight answer. We went for a ride and checked out a campground, but decided to stay put at the casino. There was nothing near the campground, but here we have the casino to entertain us. We spent a...

Jun 30, 2012 - Stoney Nakoda Casino

Today was a quiet day; no big exciting activities to report. There was no wind later last night & most of today. When the sun was out, it was really warm. These mountains really dictate the temps. This morning, Ed got a paper at the casino, so he was all set. There's also free coffee & tea in the casino. What a resort this is!!!!! In the afternoon, we headed for Canmore, about 20 minutes away. It's a skiing town, with many accomodations & some restaurants & shops. We went into a couple of stores and Safeway for groceries. It had started...

Jun 25, 2012 - Banff Volunteering

We've been doing lots of volunteering since we've been back. Pam has been continuing with wildlife photo classification and we'll both be back on the CABIN water quality monitoring project later in the summer. We're also helping out with a project to monitor the little critters that cross under the highway in the culverts. To prepare for that we spent a morning helping Mirjam, the research technician, getting the track plates cleaned up after the winter season, a dirty job but we managed to make it fun. We've also been sitting at Moraine...

Jun 22, 2012 - Aiden Blue Eyes

Dale's Great-nephew, Aiden, stopped by for a visit, accompanied by Grandma Lorie and Terry. The June monsoon held off for a while so we were able to have lunch on a patio and then head to the playground. An enjoyable afternoon spent getting to know Aiden a little better!

Jun 6, 2012 - Banff National Park

Woke up just after 6am to the incessant sound of some type of horn. Never did find out where it came from or what it was. It lasted on and off for almost 35 minutes. Cool and not as many clouds when I got up but that soon changed. The high today was 46 and it is supposed to get down to 30 tonight. It rained most of the day and radio reports saying this area would get about 88mm of rain between yesterday and today. That is close to 3 1/2 inches. I drove Canada 1 and Canada 93 north from Canmore to Saskatchewan Crossing (103 miles from...

Jun 5, 2012 - Canmore, Alberta, Canada

At Spring Creek Mountain Village, Canmore, Alberta,Canada. 50amp E/S/W. I left Shelby, MT at 08:20am. It was completely overcast. I arrived at the border crossing at Sweet Grass at 08:50am. After the customary questions about alcohol, cigarettes, firearms, money, etc. I was waived through at 08:53am. I drove past the Olympic ski jumps in Calgary. Just outside of Calgary it started raining and continued until just before I got into Canmore. The high was 66 degrees and it was 61 when I got to the campground. Have a mountain out my RV front...

May 13, 2012 - Day 19, Crossing to Canada

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and all you other mothers who may be reading this. We crossed the border at Sweetgrass. Interesting process. Cops will be cops and can’t go anywhere without a weapon. Because no one can take a handgun into Canada, Rob went out and bought a shotgun to bring. So at the border, we had to fill out all this paperwork and pay $25 to take the shotgun. We had to park the bus and go inside to answer more questions including whether we had ever been in jail. We looked at each other and laughed and told the lady “only to...

Apr 23, 2012 - Back To Our New Home

After our trip down memory lane we drove right to Calgary, just in time to meet Lloyd, Cam and Michele at Lloyd's golf club for dinner after their first round of the season (golf course opened that day). We stayed the night at Lloyd's in Calgary and drove home today. Time to unpack our boxes and settle in. As much as we can in the next week until we head out again, this time to Peru for a month! Despite the snow on the mountains, it is definitely sprig in the Rockies. It was 24C today, the very pregnant Elk are brousing in the meadow, the...