A Date! Alberta Weather; Bow River Trail; A Grizzly Fence? First Calgary Event; A Fancy Dress Road Crew

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that I would have to take Suzanne out for dinner one of these nights. I finally got around to fulfilling that husbandly duty, and we went on a date to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Normally I would try to take My Lovely Bride out to a fancy place like Wendy’s, Pizza Hut or Fred’s Fish House, but I knew that there were none of those fine dining establishments in Lake Louise. In other words, I was in trouble. I didn’t realize how deep the trouble was until I saw MLB prepping her dress… it wasn’t just any dress, but a slinky number that I hadn’t seen before. I knew I couldn’t embarrass her by wearing gym shorts and a tee shirt, so I found the blazer I carry in case I’m summoned in front of a judge. I even had one of those neck-choking things… I forget the name of it.

 After getting some photos outside before the blizzard hit, we went into “The Chateau” for dinner. As we were waiting for drinkees to arrive, we noticed a four-legged critter running around with nuts in its mouth. There are chipmunks in the vicinity who manage to infiltrate the hotel to stay warm and clean up the crumbs and other detritus under the tables, thus saving on staff hours running vacuum cleaners.

This photo proves that we actually got a table, and I didn’t just take a quick photo outside to make readers think I was a cool husband…

The setting was hard to match. Not only did we have a window table looking out onto Lake Louise, mountains and glaciers, but I had a beautiful date. Am I lucky or what? The meal was even delicious…

While we were in Banff, we enjoyed excellent weather – cool days with warm spells, and cool to cold nights, perfect for sleeping. Little did we know that when we moved just 35 miles north to Lake Louise, the weather would turn frigid. Daytime temps were in the 40s and low 50s, and at night the mercury dropped to the mid-30s. There was even a chance of snow one night, but it didn’t materialize. We had to leave a heater on all night just to keep temps in The Coach bearable. (Whoops, “bearable” is probably a bad term to use around here). Gretchen is enjoying the warmth of our electric fireplace; Rudy is probably off chasing one of his stuffed toys.

One of our favorite places to bike and run is now the Bow River Trail in Lake Louise. It is a loop that runs along the Bow River south of the village, and is notable for two things; the first is the exceptional scenery along this ice-cold stream. 

The second thing that makes the Bow River Trail special is the electrified fence and cattle guard that keeps grizzly bears out of the tent area, and also discourages them from riding their bikes and running the trail alongside the tourists… I thought that was a bit selfish of the chamber of commerce and Parks Canada; after all, the grizzlies have a right to keep fit, don’t they?

As much as we love Lake Louise, we had to move south to Calgary on Saturday morning, because Suzanne’s events have grown from one to three over the past week. Tonight (Saturday) she gave her Making the Connection talk to a full house at Self Connection, a metaphysical bookstore in Calgary. It was very well received, and her remaining events here are both sold out. We were also happy to get our shipment of her new book, Wolf’s Message, sent here. Thanks to Mike and Marla Simpson, owners of Self Connection, for hosting three events!

We are now staying at a campground in west Calgary, and when we returned from a run, found these two ladies, May and Petey, doing road repairs… we were shocked, because they were dressed up, and not wearing the usual grubby overalls that we’re used to seeing on road crews back in the US. Canadians are obviously much more formal than Americans.

Finally, thanks go to Faithful Reader Terri of the Frozen North, who was able to translate the words from the Columbian ground squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus) that I met on the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park: “Dude. You are NOT gettin’ past me without tossin’ down a treat! This is MY territory. Din’cha smell the bushes?!”