Hiking and Ranching around

So for my birthday weekend, a friend of mine decided to take me out the the kananaski Country for the weekend to enjoy the mountains. Most people always go to the touristy areas of Banff and Lake Louise, the more well known National Parks. Most people forget about the provincial parks near by. We left on Friday to the kananaski area. It was raining a lot, and yes, we saw another double rainbow. I guess it's actually not that hard to see one, as I just saw one the week before.

We checked in at the Delta Lodge. It's actually a really nice place. It's very secluded and has a nice wooden feel to it. The G8 was actually hosted here one year. Easy security I guess, just block off 2 roads! There were little lodges to rent out, or we could get a hotel room in the main lodge. We went for the cheaper option, the "free" hotel room. Apparently when my friend stayed there previously they messed up so we got a free room out of it. Better yet, it was upgraded when we checked it. YES!

Once we checked it we headed to dinner. Since there weren't a lot of accommodations or restaurants near by, we went for dinner at on of the restaurants in the lodge. Yes it was pricey, but decent. I think it was called, "The Fireweed Grill". We then took our bathrobes, yes bathrobes, and headed to the outdoor/indoor hot tub. It's kind of nice to see all that mountainous scenery while basking in a warm pool. I think it was the perfect way to end the night.

The next morning I made us some sandwiches in lieu of planning to have an outdoor picnic. Sadly it was pouring rain. I wanted to hike to some where and then sit and enjoy the food, but Graham was too concerned about my leg breaking off. So we did some mild hiking (ie no elevation).

First stop was Mt. Lorette Ponds. It was a great little stopping area. It was mostly paved so easy to walk around in the rain.




Next stop we went to Barrier Lake. We tried to hike to a look point, but then things go too steep and we got lost in the forest... so we turned back.


We started to get hungry so we stopped off at Opal (pond/river/creek?) to eat. Nothing to fancy, just chips, Turkey & Brie sandwiches, and a salad. Pretty healthy despite being made at 8am in the morning.

Last stop was Eau Claire Loop. An easy little trail with a TON of ground squirrels running around. No major "wow" factors.

After all these easy hikes, we headed to the Ranch which is located in the Black Diamond/Turner Valley area south of Calgary. We were getting a little tired, so we stopped off in Cochrane to grab some ice cream. McKay's Creamery is a well known little gem here. Homemade ice cream since 1948! They have such unique flavours. I tired the Saskatoon Berry flavour and White Chocolate Raspberry. Om nom nom. While in town we picked up a few "smokies" (aka sausages) and stuff for a BBQ dinner.

Once at the ranch, Graham was not very happy taking his car on the gravel road. Also the heaps of puddles of water did not help. Getting a lot of rainfall at the ranch makes everything seem like a bog. We made dinner, and the prepped the horses for a ride. I think I rode Penny (aka Taz now) and he road Paulie. Horses don't like to walk in boggy water so they were a little difficult to ride with, but with a little pull and tug here, they listened.



We were going to roast marshmallows and make s'mores after the ride, but since all the logs were water drenched, they wouldn't like. No s'mores tonight :(

Next morning, we made a few snacks and drove an ATV to the top of the hill at the ranch. Great view, but thunder clouds were well on the way. We booked it back down the hill as fast as we could go. Literally after arriving at the base again, HUGE rainfall drenched us. Meh, at least we got off the top to avoid lighting!

That was my weekend. Nothing special, but to me, this was what I used to do every weekend when I flew down the years prior to my move. I guess I just like reminiscing about the past.

Final Thought: I like heading to the mountains then to the ranch. It makes everything feel like a trip/vacation to Calgary, and that I'll be going home soon.

My Kelowna!

June was the month full of lots of trips. After my leg was up and running again, I didn't want to stay in the house. Also, since it was starting to warm up, why should I stay inside? On June 3rd, Dustin and I decided to embark on an adventure to wine country. Let me tell you, it was perfect timing too! We ended up picking the perfect weekend. 100% pure sunshine with a light breeze. Usually BC is a rainforest with slight rainfall, but NOT THIS WEEKEND!

Kelowna is about an 8 hour drive from Calgary through the mountains into BC. We left at about 5pm after work and booked it out of there to try an avoid traffic. Our only pit stop was in Canmore to pick up some Wendy's as grub. Unlike my other road trips, time didn't allow me to go pick up snacks from the grocery store.

So the awesome thing was I also saw a double rainbow, and no...I did not cry. It was pouring rain just outside of Calgary. I also didn't have a good shot of it, so I couldn't take a picture. Driving to Kelowna was amazing. There were mountains, and tons of wildlife. I'm not going to lie, although Dustin drives fast (safely), he didn't stop to allow me to take pictures of the wildlife. LIKE COMMON! I saw a Momma bear with not one but TWO baby cubs by the road! AND a Mountain Goat! All I got were these whispy pictures...*sigh*. I was quite emo shortly after. Like CUBS, seriously!



We also passed some nifty towns and get this, I even passed an ENCHANTED FOREST. No joke! I couldn't take any pictures of it, *shakes fist at Dustin*, but I did quickly see it. Here's a link to see what I'm talking about. (Link)

Here are a few pictures of the drive there.








So we actually made it to Kelowna on "one" tank of gas. Well the reason, it's in quotations is because the yellow light was on and I insisted he give up on this feat because I did not want to be pushing his Toyota car at night. So we filled up about 6km outside of the town. But we probably had enough gas to make that 6km. Anyways, the drive that was supposed to take 8hours took us 6.5. Fast, eh? Also since we gained an hour there, it was only 10pm when we got there and checked into our hotel.

Since it was still early, we went out for a bit and tried to cruise the town, but everything closed down or cleared out by 12:30am. Crazy! On a Friday night too! We took a walk along the harbour board walk and took a few pictures, then just drove back to our hotel in prep for the winery tour the next day :).



We thought we were going to sleep in, but we both woke up early from the sun streaming in our window. We said, oh the heck with it, then got out of bed and drove around Kelowna Lake before our tour. The lake was great! There were also a lot of vineyards, orchards, and ranches around there.




We got back to our hotel just in time to join out tour. For about $97 (incl tax +tip) we were driven around to over 5 different wineries and tried over 31 different wines. Each glass ranging between 1-2 oz, I was quite tipsy by lunch.

First winery was Mission Hill Estates. Gorgeous architecture! Absolutely amazing. Wine...pretty good? I bought a bottle of Rosé (blush) there.






Second stop was Quails Gate winery. This place had a really nice blend of white wine - Chasselas-Pinot Blanc-Pinot Gris (white). Try it, I like it and I don't usually like whites. Surprisingly I started to like more white wines while on this trip.



Third stop where we also had lunch was Little Straw Vineyards. It's my favourite winery. Really great wines there. I spent about $100 on 5 bottles there. I'd recommend the Tapestry, Old Vines Auxerrois (whites), and Merlot-Cabernet-Syrah (red). Really Really good.


Next stop was a winery that looked like a bomb shelter. I can't really remember the name... but it could've been either Mt Boucherie or Rollingdale. Either way, wasn't really my favourite nor worth mentioning.


Beaumont was the last winery we went to. It was pretty good. They have organic wines, so that's pretty cool. Their red "Heritage" wine isn't too bad, and they have a fun white wine. Not sure what it's called...but they called it the "Party wine".


After that we went back to Mission Hill to have dinner. Great atmosphere & food. I took a few more pictures.






We then met up with some Brits we met on the tour to a pub called Whiskey Jacks. We watched the Canucks game (yay, they won), and then headed to the hot tub at our hotel.

Next morning we decided to take the long way back to Calgary. We drove down the Okanagan Valley, southward towards the American boarder. It was a 12 hour drive. As we passed Crowsnest Pass, we saw "The Frank Slide". In 1903, turtle mountain had a giant rock slide. Demolished a town, blocked rivers into lakes, covered rail roads/roads, etc. Frank was home to approximately 600 people in 1903; it is estimated that 90 of the roughly 100 individuals in the path of the slide were killed. Read about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Slide.

We got in pretty late, like 11:45pm, and we had to work the next morning. BUT overall, a great trip :).

Final Thought: I'd love to have a cottage/house in Kelowna as my getway place. Seriously just amazing.

Drumheller - The badlands!

Okay, so the weekend after long weekend, two friends and myself decided to venture not to the mountains, but to where dinosaurs once roamed. Well... I guess technically they roamed everywhere...but Drumheller has a lot of dinosaur fossils.

Drumheller is located east of Calgary in "the Dinosaur Valley" and is home to the World's Largest Dinosaur. It's made out of fiberglass.

We left bright and early as always, and drove for a while. Unlike the drive to the mountains... this one is not as scenic. In fact... it was flat and under construction. Once there, we had breakfast at Whiff's flapjacks house (a small hole in a motel). There aren't a lot of restaurants there, and yelp either recommended this or a chinese food place (most likely not run by chinese people). The breakfast was decent, enough to get me through the day.

First stop was Horsethief Canyon. I imagined it to be more spectacular. Don't get me wrong. It was pretty...but not WOW like the grand canyon. Also, being attacked by mosquitoes did not make me happy.




Our next stop was someplace where no bugs would be. We decided to go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. It reminded me a lot like the ROM in Toronto. What was cool was that they had their own excavation lab there.








From there we took a little rock around the outside facilities. We walked fast to stop the mosquitoes from sucking us dry. I also secretly was on a hunt for a fossil of my own. It's illegal to take anything home with you, as it is an official dinosaur provincial park...but a girl can dream.





After that we headed to the world's largest dinosaur. $3 for admission. Pricey to go up 4 flights of stairs to the mouth of a dinosaur. That was it. But at least I can say I did it. Also, look how big its foot is!






We were tired by then so we walked across the street to go grab some ice cream. We sat on a nearby bench and watched the neighborhood kids play in the sprinklers. Yeah... I can see how this sounds creepy.

We wanted to stop off at the old coal mines (this was a town based on mining back in the day), but they were about to close in 1hr. I was looking forward to it too because they actually have a tour where they take you into the mines! Oh well...next time? So instead we headed to the Hoodoos nearby. Kinda neat formations, eh? According to Wiki, "A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos consist of soft sedimentary rock topped by harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects each column from the elements." They told us not to climb on the hoodoos... but realistically everyone was doing it.







After we were done with that we drove to the Rosedale Suspension bridge. It's also known as the Star Mine Suspension bridge used for crossing Red Deer River to get to the coal mine. Built in 1931, this pedestrian bridge is 117m long.






We were told by the flapjacks place in the morning that we should stop off at Last Chance Saloon. We'd never been to a Saloon before, and the drive there was unique. We crossed what are called the Wayne Bridges. Crossing eleven bridges in 6 kilometres and discovering the hamlet of Wayne - population 27. Once home to thousands of coal miners and residents who worked in support of this industry, now home to 27. That's right, in the 1930s the depression hit, and the coal industry died. Can you say ghost town? Anyways, in the Saloon, it had everything in there. There were so many random things handing on the walls and ceilings. It even had a gun hole through the wall! That's really western, *Bang Bang Bang*





After that we decided to head home. This was only supposed to be a short day trip and it was getting late. But before we left, we stopped off at one last spot. Horseshoe Canyon. This was supposed to be the better of the two. Unfortunately it rained the day before. The waitress at the breakfast place had warned me that hiking is not recommended as the clay could give out and slide under you at anytime. Meh, I saw it. That's that.




Final thought: Is it really worth it to drive 2 hours to the middle of no where to see the coal mines again? Maybe not...maybe in 20 years...