Alberta

A 50th reimagined

/ Greg / Leave a comment

My wife and I have had a string of bad luck with our plans for recent anniversaries and our respective 50th birthdays. Ever the optimist, when a week’s trip to the Okanagan to celebrate her 50th fell through on account of the health of a close friend, we put together a quick three day visit to Calgary because even in tough times you have to find a way to celebrate.

Calgary has quickly become a favourite city for the two of us since moving to Saskatoon. It’s a reasonable 6+ hour drive, we’ve found a favourite hotel, and over a number of visits we’ve found a collection of favourite restaurants and bars to fill a weekend. On top of that list is Native Tongues, where an early meal during their happy hour lets you order the delightfully named “snackarita” that saves you money to buy even more of their amazing tacos. Hands down so far, this is our favourite restaurant in the city.

At Native Tongues in Calgary
At Native Tongues in Calgary
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The best Calgary has to offer

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Calgary has a vibrant craft beer scene, and while I can get some selected beers at home in Saskatoon, it’s always better to visit the source for a taste of their craft at its freshest. I did my research and lined up my visits to a number of craft breweries so I could taste the “best of the best” that Calgary has to offer. This is obviously a subjective list of breweries and taprooms but I highly recommend each of these.

Stop number one, just as an unexpected snow storm whipped through the city for a few hours, was Annex Ale Project. When I arrived, I noticed they had a number of beers on tap from 2 Crows from my old hometown of Halifax on account of a tap takeover event the previous day. I had previously tried all of the 2 Crows so I stuck to sampling a couple from Annex. My favourite was their “Heavy Meadow” (a saison) and I also quite enjoyed the delicious burger from the attached burger joint. Burgers and beer are always a great pairing!

Annex Ale Project in Calgary
Annex Ale Project in Calgary
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A book lover’s dream

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I have very fond memories of the opening of the new central library in Halifax, and many, many hours spent within it until I moved to Saskatoon in 2016. Six years here, and I’m eagerly anticipating the construction and opening of a new signature library, viscerally aware of the importance of libraries to the communities they serve. While I have a fondness for my small neighbourhood library just a couple of blocks away from my house, I’m looking forward to the day that Saskatoon has its own shiny new central library.

On my recent trip to Calgary, I took advantage of some very limited down time on a work-related trip and spent a couple of hours touring and experiencing that city’s new central library. Opened in 2018, it is an architectural gem and I was excited for the chance to explore.

Calgary Central Library
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Getting away to Sylvan Lake

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Knowing myself to be a restless soul, once my wife booked our secluded cottage just south of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, I started looking around for what kind of trouble I could get myself into within a one hour drive. Don’t get me wrong… a cottage in the middle of nowhere sounded great, but sometimes when things are too quiet, I need an escape valve for a short diversion to give myself the ability to enjoy some more peace and quiet. Maybe a touch odd, but it has been working for me on my travels for years now.

Sylvan Lake popped up through my searching as meeting my criteria for a fun half-day excursion. My wife elected to stay back at the cottage, so I hopped in the car, popped open the sunroof, turned up the stereo and hit the arrow-straight highway east for about 45 minutes. My first stop was Sylvan Lake Brewing Company located on the east end of the town. I had visited far too few breweries in 2020, and sadly this would end up being the only “new to me” craft brewery I got to visit in the entire year. Sigh.

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The middle of nowhere

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When we left Banff National Park driving east into central Alberta, the sun was shining, the sky got bluer as the mountains receded, and my wife and I, while sad to leave the Rockies behind, were looking forward to a few days of serious down time at a cabin about twenty kilometres south of Rocky Mountain House. For all intents and purposes, we were going to the middle of nowhere to simply relax.

On a fortunate tip from a co-worker of my wife, we rented a gorgeous cabin at the Prairie Creek Inn that was the perfect mix of seclusion and luxurious comfort. For three nights this was our corner of the universe and both of us couldn’t have been happier with where we were.

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Journey as the destination

/ Greg / 2 Comments

Our last day in the mountains in Alberta marked the midway point of our short, late summer vacation. We only had loose plans for the day – check out of our Banff hotel, pick up coffees for the road, then explore the Icefields Parkway before heading east toward a cabin we had booked for the rest of our vacation near Rocky Mountain House. This would be my second time driving the parkway, and I don’t think this drive will ever fail to wow me.

Having already explored Lake Louise a couple of days earlier, we passed that by on the highway and headed straight for the parkway. The post Labour Day roads were fairly deserted, the Tim’s coffee was tasting good (obviously helped out by the scenery), and our driving day was off to a great start. It would be a day of a lot of pulling off the road, including this first stop where the highway is elevated above Bow Lake.

Icefields Parkway
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When Banff empties out

/ Greg / 1 Comment

Labour Day 2020 started out as a rainy day so our plans were fairly modest. My wife and I had a lovely breakfast just outside the Banff townsite and over huevos rancheros decided on a drive to Canmore to visit an independent bookstore – a decision that both provided us our first chance to see snow this season on the highway into town and also helped me get an early jump on my xmas shopping. After a lazy middle of the day at our hotel, I got a bit restless. The clouds cleared, the temperatures rose and the town of Banff emptied out as most people headed home for a return to jobs and for the start of the school year.

There aren’t many lovely summer-like days in this part of the world where you get the sights mostly to yourself, so I took the opportunity to head to Lake Minnewanka. I had no plans other than to simply spend some time at the edge of the water. No plans never looked so good!

Lake Minnewanka
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Making the most of it

/ Greg / 3 Comments

Our “big trip” in 2020 was in many respects not as big as previous years. The ongoing pandemic narrowed our travel radius to driving distance of home rather than flight distance. Luckily for us, there are some amazing sights to see if you entertain a few eight hour road trip days. We planned a week away in Alberta split between its mountains and its prairie, and for everything that 2020 has thrown at us, I think we engineered a pretty impressive and needed vacation away.

After driving from Saskatoon to Banff where we made our home for three nights, an ominous longer-range forecast offered a glimmer of hope that we pounced on for a driving exploration of the Rocky Mountains. We started from Banff early in the morning and made our first stop at Lake Louise. I had been here a couple of times before, once with my Dad and another time with my wife, but never with the lake unencumbered by snow and ice. There is a reason many, including me, consider this the most beautiful place in Canada.

Lake Louise
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