Matthew was ready for another collection of flights. First, there was a short flight from Geneva to London, then a three hour transit at Heathrow followed by 9 hours to Calgary. He slept for five hours on the Calgary flight so Heather was able to have a couple of naps as well. By the time we arrived in Calgary at 8pm, it was 4am back in Geneva where we started the day, but Matthew was doing surprisingly well. We were met at the airport by my brother, John and our nephews Ben and Noah - Matthew's first meeting with his cousins. Apart from some confusion as to who was supplying the car seat for Matthew (neither of us had one!), we were home by 9pm after a careful drive by John (with Matthew on Heather's lap). We put Matthew to bed and crossed our fingers for a good night sleep knowing that babies and timezone changes don't go well together!
Not surprisingly, Matthew was the first to wake at 5.30am - after a long night of hourly wakings. Needless to say, it wasn't the best night of sleep for his parents. John made some welcome morning coffees before heading off to work for the day and the boys headed off to school. The three of us took it very easy on our first day in Calgary with the biggest excitement being Matthew and myself walking with Michelle and their dog Tilly to pick the boys up from school, followed by a stop to feed the ducks on the lake. Like some earlier encounters with dogs on our trip, Matthew loved Tilly (a Golden Labrador) and would laugh and smile with excitement. Tilly particularly liked hanging around during Matthew's mealtimes, hoping for a dropped spoon of food, but often settling for a lick of Matthew's hands, which he took much delight in. In fact, he would often hold out his hands for her to lick after the first experience.Thursday was also a pretty easy day. The three of us walked to the nearby shopping mall to buy some supplies (including chocolate of course!) for our upcoming trip to Canmore in the Rocky Mountains, leaving the next day. Back at the house, Matthew loved playing with the boys who kept him entertained on his playmat. He particularly liked Ben's glasses - anything that is a bit different or that he can grab, takes his fancy!
On Friday, the boys only had a half day at school, then we headed off to Canmore, just over an hour's drive away, soon after lunch. We had three nights at the Blackstone Mountain Lodge on the edge of Canmore. It is a relatively new development with an all important heated outdoor pool and hot tubs for the boys to play in. Each family had their own self-contained apartment - we had a one bedroom apartment and John, Michelle and the boys a two bedroom (as well as their espresso machine from Calgary!). Lots of room for everyone, and quite a luxurious set-up. In the lobby they had a huge toy Grizzly Bear, and like most other animals, Matthew loved him instantly, and had no problem reaching out to touch him. Let's hope he doesn't do this if he encounters a real one in the wild! Ben and Noah spent plenty of time in the pool, showing off their spins and somersaults when jumping into the pool. We had a quiet day around Canmore on Saturday, taking a morning walk along the Bow River in the morning followed by a huge lunch at Crazyweed Cafe, one of many cafes and restaurants in town. On a sunny weekend like this, it was certainly a busy place to be, with lots of locals heading up from Calgary to make the most of summer before it quickly disappears into a long winter.
Sunday morning was early start for myself, John, Ben and Noah as we set off to walk up Ha Ling Peak, a nearby mountain that overlooks Canmore. After a short drive around to the other side of the mountain, we set off on the track which involves about 800m of climbing and took just under three hours to make it to the top - a great effort by an 11 and nearly 9 year old to make it all the way to the top. The view over Canmore and the surrounding mountains was quite spectacular as it was a clear sunny morning, although rather cool for someone from Perth! The track initially heads through forest before end up on a rocky scree slope nearer the top. Because we were on the track by around 7.30am, we saw only one other person as we climbed up. We did however pass plenty of "hikers" coming up while we descended. Some of them clearly didn't realise what lay ahead of them and looked quite unprepared. The descent took just over an hour so the boys had tons of energy to get down the mountain quickly with the incentive of a swim before lunch! For lunch, we headed off to the very nice Banff Springs Golf Club. We all enjoyed a great meal of burgers/fries/dessert/coffee etc before heading back to Canmore for Heather to have a much needed deep tissue massage - one of the best she says she has ever had!!
On Monday, we were all meant to head back to Calgary, but Heather and I decided we liked Canmore, and the lodge we were at, so much that we would stay for another day at only $95 for the night. After Matthew had a morning swim with Ben and Noah, we headed to the Rock Mountain Flatbread Company for lunch for some great pizzas. The four Calgarians headed home while Heather, Matthew and I relaxed for the rest of the day.
For our final day in Canmore Heather had another of her fabulous massages and Matthew and I went for a walk outside to watch the squirrels and rabbits on the lawn. Final packing before we headed into the main part of Canmore to final a coffee shop given John had taken the coffee machine back to Calgary. We settled on the Good Earth Cafe and ended up having our best purchased coffee on the trip so far - interesting given we were in Canada. We ended up having lunch there before having a wander around town and buying a few souvenirs for back home. It was then into John's old Ford Explorer for the journey back to Calgary. We had a great time in Canmore and will definitely return some time in the future for another stay. Back in Calgary we had a big roast turkey, vegies and Australian wine for dinner (perhaps an early Canadian Thanksgiving!)
We packed a lot into our last day in Calgary. After Matthew's morning sleep, the three of us drove over to MEC - a huge Canadian outdoor shop that is bigger and cheaper than anything in Australia. We stocked up on some new clothes and backpacks for Heather an myself, but most importantly, some outdoor gear for Matthew - fleece and rainwear for next year's orienteering season in Perth! We dashed home just in time for a game of golf at the nearby Constitution Golf Course where John won by one stroke. For John 50 wasn't a very score, but for me - 51 wasn't too bad having not hit a golf ball for over two years (and taking into accounthitting a 10 on one hole).
Once back from golf, John headed off to a work function while the remaining six of us went to the Calgary Zoo. We had a heart pumping encounter with a Grizzly Bear who was wandering around his large enclosure which has a couple of viewing areas behind glass. He came right up to the glass for a good look at us. Not often you can getto be within six inches of a Grizzly and no-one gets hurt!! For our last night in Calgary we had fish-n-chips Canadian style. No dim sims, chiko rolls or crab sticks but they still tasted pretty good.
John kindly took us to the airport the next morning, and so ends a fabulous visit to our family in Calgary. Matthew was keen to pack Tilly in his nappy bag, but we managed to sneak off before he'd worked out the logistics!
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