Catching up

I apologize dear readers as it's been a while since I've updated my goings on. Well, they did it! Those two crazy kids got hitched. The ceremony was awesome and the reception a blast. I'll save the details for another post with pics, although my battery died so I may have to wait to get pics from friends. 

So, I left off last with my morning run/mosquito death march in Calgary. After cleaning up from that, I checked out and had two or three stops to make on the way out. First, I stopped at the Yelp recommended Belmont Diner in the Marda Loop neighborhood of Calgary. It lived up to its recommendations.

The scene of the incident. Sadly it looks less steep in this picture than it felt at the time. You can just make out the trail as it disappears in to the treeline. That's where the hilarity started.

Looking back towards the Econolodge. It's the red roofed building you can barely make out center left.

And then the steps started. This was after I fell and slid down the mountain on the unmarked trail.

Looking back over the Bow River.

The hill was so steep the had to cable the walkways back  so that they wouldn't avalanche to the bottom.

After the hills, I would like to think of it as Quadburn.

So, why doesn't the WO&D have this kind of cafe?

Example of the cool architecture along the trail in Calgary.

 After the Belmot Diner, I headed to the Military Museums of Calgary. The had halls of exhibits for several Army units and separate ones for the Air Force and Navy as well. The current exhibit on Afghanistan was powerful. A must see if you're in the area. My favorite kid like pleasure was the docent asking me "would you like to look through the persicope?" Uh, you don't have to ask me twice!
It was a recently installed periscope from a submarine. You could increase the magnification and the up and down angle along with rotating it 360 degrees. I want to install one in my house!

I had the Cody Scramble.

Very good, and with bottomless toast and hashbrowns. At the top, you can just make out the single serving of Cheese Whiz next to the juice. Must be a Canadian thing because it was with the jellies and jams.

Cool after breakfast treat with the check.

The Military Museums of Calgary.

In Flanders Fields.

The Queen's tub of rum, standard issue on all RCN ships.

Up periscope!

Ducimus means "We Lead"

The periscopes from the outside. That wouldn't be too noticeable on the house would it?

 After the museums I headed downtown Calgary on a specific mission to hunt for an Arcteryx sport coat. No that is not a typo. I couldn't wear it at the wedding but it would bring a whole new dimension to formal wear.
I finally found some street parking after trying to negotiate a parking garage where the height in printed on the sign in meters. Damn metric system. Then I tried to turn down a street reserved for light trains, but a French Canadian vociferously corrected my error. I walked over to Bankers Hall, Calgary's version of Tysons Galleria. I walked in to the Henry Singer store (a high end men's store) and right in front, on the 50% off sale rack, was the exact sport coat I was looking for. I was prepared to get it then and there but I was foiled when it was the only one they had and it was a size 38. Very disappointing.

That soured me on downtown Calgary so I headed for another check in at an obsession of mine, Land Rovers. While enroute to the museums, I spied a Disco 1 with a license plate surround that said TheRoverShop.ca. After some on line  investigation by my support base at home (Thanks Ash!), I found that it was a Rover shop located in north east Calgary. I stopped in, met the owner Vern and checked out the operation. They had a nice looking 83 110 that I could really have driven away in, but I don't think he'd be very excited about taking a 220K miles Disco 1 in on trade.

Saw this bike messenger in Calgary. Not a great shot but you can make out a few of the gadgets he had stuck on his helmet, including various lights and a helmet cam. It must have weighed 10 pounds!

Nope, not the same thing.

Rover fix achieved.

Just down from my hotel was the ski jumping venue for the '88 Winter Olympics.

Once done with my Rover fix, I headed west on the TransCanada Route 1 to Banff. When I approached the entrance booth for the Park, I mentioned it looked like rain to the booth attendant. Well, it was more than rain. At one point I thought it was snow, but it was heavy rain and more hail. There was even a little bit of lightning, apparently a rarity around here. I battled through another hail/rain storm to get to the Buffalo Mountain Lodge atop Tunnel Mountain in Banff. I didn't notice it in town, but upon checking in, the candles clued me in to the power outage not only at the lodge but all over town. I met Kristen and Darren along with Kristen's family while waiting for the rain to stop. After unpacking a little, I met up with Frank, Lauren, Kath and Amy. We all then made plans to do as everyone else did and headed back east to Canmore for dinner since they still had power. This power outage didn't really help the bride's pre-wedding stress levels but she was a trooper and it all worked out great.

For the 616 B shifters, you knew I'd find something traffic related!

So, Banff is located around the ridge where the gap in the mountains is if you follow the road. I hadn't caught up with the rain at this point.

Getting closer, there are actually mountains, big mountains behind all of that rain and cloud in the middle of the picture

!

No power? No worries, crank up the fire and it feels right at home.

Looking out the balcony at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge. The building in the picture is the Wapiti Lodge where the reception was held.

Great Mountain Spinach Salad at the Iron Goat.

Chicken, goat cheese and roasted red pepper pizza. I'm so glad Canmore had power.

The Iron Goat looks out over the Three Sisters mountains. Very cool setting.

In Canmore we had a delicious dinner at the Iron Goat. After which we returned to the lodge where power had thankfully returned. I passed out in the super comfortable beds here. On to another day!