Gull Lake

This week I went north to Gull Lake. Originally, I thought I would go and check out Sylvan Lake until I realized that it was packed with condos, pubs and restaurants and thousands of people. It was not quite what I was looking for. The only campground that I could find around the Lake (called Jarvis Bay) was full so I continued on to Gull Lake where I found a spot. I got the very last site available in the Brewers campground which is located inside the Aspen Provincial Park. It was a very nice campground - it even had showers which is so nice after you area all sweaty from biking, hiking and driving all day! There was a nice beach, but was quite shallow so not great for swimming, but very nice for wading around in.

I also visited the town of Lacombe which apparantly some magazine named one of the 10 prettiest cities in Canada. I'm not sure I'd put it in my own top ten, however it was very beautiful with it's old and well cared for downtown buildings.

I also went to the town's local Corn Maze! There was four acres of corn with a three part maze cut into it! It was rather incredible! I did the phase one of the maze where you find five checkpoints within the maze and answer questions which, if you answer correctly, will point you in the correct direction. It was fun!

I made a friend at this corn farm! He was so cute and a true believer that the grass is better on the other side of the fence!

Kananaskis Lakes

Last week I went camping at Kananaskis lakes for a night. I did a few hikes over the two days and visited a number of amazing spots. I just love the smell of the trees and water out there; the air is so fresh and clean. The only bad part of the two day event was the thunderstorms that hovered over the lakes for the entire night! It began with hail which confined me to my car for about a half an hour. After that it just rained, lightly for a while and then after I went to bed it poured all night. The thunder was so loud that I could feel the ground shaking in my tent! I was only a tiny bit wet in the morning. The next day was beautiful again!



Here is my little ol' site!







Beautiful eh!









This is the view from the top of the Mt. Everest Exploration trail which gives you a good view of both lakes. I guess this trail was in honor of the first Canadians who climbed Mt. Everest.

Most Favorite Shoes Ever

I could almost cry....over shoes. I bought these sandals in South Korea in 1998. Yes, nearly a decade ago. I've gone hiking in these shoes, worn them in water, worn them everywhere. I LOVE these sandals like I've never loved a pair of shoes before. Today, they broke. They broke in such a way that they are not to be fixed. Man, I'm gonna miss these shoes.

Emerald Lake

So, although Emerald Lake is not one of the Day Trips listed in my book I went out there last week with my gal pal Thenes! If you have never been, I highly recommend the visit. I had been there one other time about five or six years ago when I first moved to Alberta. It is about a three hour drive from Calgary, but well worth it.

We did the hike around the lake which is beautiful and diverse. It is just over 5 km, but is very easy and we hardly broke a sweat! That is my kind of hike! In this second picture you can see where there had been a landslide and the trees are just growing back in.

There is a really nice lodge at the lake, but it is also very populated at this time of year. Perhaps a nice place to go in the winter for a weekend and likely more affordable then too.

Along our way back towards Calgary we took a detour to see Takakkaw falls which someone had recommended to us. It is also well worth the time to make the drive to see. It is a crazy road that sidewinds up the side of a mountain and then a very short hike which leads you right up to the base of the falls. It is incredibly loud and misty at the base. Very powerful and beautiful to see!

We stopped into Field to see the visitor center. Well, to be honest, someone told us that there were free hotdogs in honor of Canada Day, but I think we missed them! Oh yeah, and to even make our day better, the enterance fee to Banff National Park was waved because it was on Canada Day! Once again - Canada Rocks!

We had supper in Canmore before finally making our way back to the flatlands! It was a fantastic way to celebrate our great country!

Big Rock

It is amazing the places around here that I havn't been! Take Okotoks, Black Diamond and Turner Valley for examples!

Okotoks is such a beautiful town and I can see why so many Calgarians are migrating south to live there. It is actually much larger than I had expected. I parked in the downtown area and took a walk and visited a number of quaint shops and antique stores which are all in this area of Victorain style buildings. They reminded me of Fredericton in N.B. which has numerous houses of that style. Very nice.

From there I drove to Black Diamond where I stopped for lunch and found this awesome little 60's style diner called Marv's Soda Shoppe! I had a chocolate malt (made by Marv himself) and their classic hotdog. It was probably the best hotdog I've ever had and it had celery salt on it - strange, but yummy!

If you couldn't guess, this is a picture of Marv! He has an amazing curled mustache! This diner also had one of those old organs that play by themself and the keys move - not sure of what they are called, but it was very cool and I had never seen one before, other than on tv...

Along my travels I also stopped to see the Big Rock which weighs 18,000 tons! I guess it is the largest glacial erratic in North America and was dumped on this now farmer's field by a glacier which carried it there from up Jasper way some 35,000 years ago! They are gigantic and when I was there a few people showed up with their gear to do some climbing on it!

From this area I drove more north toward highway 22. It is such a pretty area and some of it is in such a valley that you can't even see the mountains even though they are very nearby. Some of the properties and houses were amazing; you always hear rumors of various celebrities who own houses out there and I can see why. If you could afford something, who wouldn't want a place out there.

I did see one funny sign to a property which was called, "Happy Ass Acres" and I thought that it must be a great place to live!

Drumheller

The town of Drumheller is developed in the badlands which are about 1.5 hours east of Calgary. I had flown over the area many times, but had never visited the town before. It is a beautiful place with lots and lots to see and do. I could have stayed another day and still not have seen everything there was to see.

I of course had to go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. The museum is a day trip in itself as there is so much to see and read about. The museum is named for Joseph Tyrrell, a geologist who first discovered dinosaur remains, an Albertosaurus skull, in the area. He also happened to be the one who discovered coal deposits in the area which eventually led to the area being known for its coal mines.

After spending a few hours in the museum I went on the interpretive walk which is just outside of the museum. I did it rather quickly as the mosquitos were bad. It was however very interesting.

From there I took a drive on highway 10 where I first stopped to check out an old suspension bridge that took workers to a coal mine.

I then continued on to the HooDoos. It is very cool, although I had expected to see a larger area of hoo doos, but there are only a few of them in that location. I guess hoo doo's got their name from the word voo doo. Early native Canadians believed that at night they would come alive and throw rocks at unwanted intruders!

The same highway eventually led to the Atlas Coal mine where you can actually take a tour inside the mine. I didn't take the tour as it was getting late in the day. Perhaps another time I will.

On the way back to Calgary I stopped just outside of Drumheller to take a look at the Horseshoe canyon where they do the helicopter sightseeing trips from. It was quite rainy by that time so there was noone around but me!

Anyway, it was a great day trip and I'd like to get back there one of these days and take my bike because near the Tyrrell museum there seems to be a lot of trails that would be fun on a bike!

Day Trips From Calgary

I bought this book a while back and decided that on my days off this summer I would try and do as many trips from the book as possible. I started a few weeks ago and have tried to go somewhere on most of my days off. I decided that since I have lived in Calgary for six years, it is about time to see this part of the country. For the first few years I did nothing but work because I was too poor to go anywhere and my car was too unsafe to drive far!!! Ahhhhh, to be a pilot!!! We do it for love and definitely not for the money!

I'll try to write little bits on what I have seen so far!