Calgary – Day 8 & 9

We were planning another walking day in Calgary today, but before we got out of the apartment Patti’s son Robert phoned to ask if we wanted to go to Kananaskis for a hike while he golfed with a friend. We accepted.

Here’s this morning’s picture of Cat on my bed, playing with my ball which I use for massaging tight muscles.

It should have been about a one hour drive, but we ended up in a 13 km long, stop and go traffic jam, which turned out to be due to some repair work on one lane of the highway for only 100 m or so. It took two hours, door to door.

At least we had incredible scenery to admire while we were stuck in traffic.

Robert dropped us off at Kananaskis Lodge, then drove to the golf course 8km away. We grabbed some lunch in the café at the lodge, and then started walking towards the golf course.

The forecast high for Calgary was 24° today, but it was only 15° when we set out after lunch. As we walked, it got warmer and I took off my jacket.

The trail was paved the entire way, winding its way downhill for the first couple kilometres through forests with occasional glimpses of the mountains. The scenery was incredible.

In the next couple kilometres we crossed over the river twice. Robert had pointed these bridges out from the car and emphasize that we should turn right and not cross the road at these points.

Then we came into a much more open area between the mountains, where the sun was intensely strong, and it became quite hot.

As we were approaching the golf course, Robert texted and suggested that we go another 4 km to Wedge Pond, but my feet were not happy after all the walking yesterday, and with the 8 km we had done today, so we met Robert at the Kananaskis County Golf Course restaurant for an early dinner.

One of Robert‘s friends who works there joined us for a while, and then they went to hit a few balls at the driving range. We walked over to meet them there. The backdrop to this driving range almost makes me want to take up golf. Then the friend showed us the staff accommodation, which is quite nice. Most of the staff live at the accommodation by the golf course and work there in the summer. Many of them also work at a nearby ski resort in the winter.

After that, we drove back to Calgary and met Sonia, who moved to Calgary from Brampton last year, for a visit and gelato.

After the gelato, Sonia gave us a walking tour of the neighborhood, showing us the library in Memorial Park, taking us by a different route than we had arrived there yesterday, so that it was only at the last minute we realized where we were, and some local public art that we hadn’t seen yet walking around.

Our time was short, but we made the most of it, and it was nice to catch up.

On our final morning, we packed and tidied up. Cat tried to help, or was indicating I should take them with me, but unfortunately, I had to leave him behind.

We took a short walk and I picked up some food for the plane.

Patti‘s son drove us to the airport and while we were stopped at a traffic light I spotted this on the window of a local business. “Thanks Calgary for being a great city to visit.

I was impressed to notice that there was a multi-use path that approached within 800 m of the terminal. So close Calgary! Maybe next time the connection will be complete.

There were no lines for the machines for getting our baggage tags and checking our luggage.

On our way to security we saw this nude cyclists art.

There was no lineup at security and we were walking to the gate less than 15 minutes after we were dropped off.

The flight was uneventful. We were in the third last row so it took although it took a while to deplane, we still had to wait a for our suitcases to appear in the baggage claim hall.

Traffic was backed up for passenger pick up outside the terminal, but Michael had made it to Post 10 and was waiting. We came out at Post 24 and walked as quickly as we could to him while security tried to get him to go around again. Fortunately we arrived before security insisted .We walked up to where he was, and Patti let Ivan, who was still stuck in traffic, know where she was standing. A quick goodbye and off I went, another wonderful trip done.