Visitors from England

On 21st April Sabrina and my friend Sara from work drove to Calgary and spent the day shopping before picking up my friend Caz and her boyfriend Charlie from the airport.  They came for 10 days, and we managed to do so much in that time!

On the Friday we went up the Gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain.  Nick and Chris decided to hike up the mountain instead of taking the Gondola.  Was such a glorious day with the sun out, and hardly a cloud in the sky.  After lunch we drove to Lake Minnewanka.  The whole of the lake was still covered in snow, except a tiny area where it was a beautiful blue/green colour.  We saw some mountain sheep on the road.  Then we drove to Two Jacks Lake which was close by, and this was fairly frozen also.  I was working all day Saturday, so Caz and Charlie went dog sledging on Spray Lake, just outside Canmore.

 

  

On the Sunday I was working in the evening, my last shift at the Rimrock.  In the morning we took a nice walk along the Bow River to the falls.  On the walk back we saw some huge huge elk, just sat on the side of the path!  After lunch we drove to the Vermillion Lakes, which are just on the outskirts of Banff and then up Norquay so they could get a view of the whole of Banff and the surrounding mountains.  Again the sun was out, and it was lovely outside.  I definitely want to go back and cycle round the Vermillion Lakes.  We saw some Canadian Geese too!

  

Monday we went skiing at Sunshine, and it was Charlie's first time up a mountain.  Nick was working that day, so I had to try and remember the things he'd taught me from his instructor courses, and try to relay it to Charlie.  I'm not very good at teaching, but somehow managed to stay patient, which is rare for me.  We skied again Tuesday, and then Nick came on Wednesday, and by now Charlie was really improving.  We took Caz down a black slope in the afternoon and she did really well.  On Thursday we took a full car load to Lake Louise: Charlie, Caz, Sabrina, Chris, Nick and I, and we were surprised we managed to get everyone into the car with all our stuff, but Betsy Mae pulled through.  Again we were really lucky with the weather, and had a great day skiing.  The slopes were pretty icy as Lake Louise hadn't had any snow now for about 2 weeks, so that will probably be the last time we ski there now before we leave.  On the way back to Banff we took a detour along Banff Parkway to try and see some wildlife, now that the snow has gone and a lot of bears have been sighted.  Unfortunately all we saw was one lonely elk.  That evening we went to the Grizzly House for fondue for dinner.

On Friday we took a day off from skiing, and hiked up Tunnel Mountain.  It usually only takes about 1.5hrs, but it was slippery from all the slush and snow and so took us a record breaking 3.5hrs!  Saturday Caz and Charlie went skiing, and I stayed home because I wasn't feeling too well.  Then on Sunday we all went to Sunshine for their last day of skiing.  This had to be the best day skiing yet; the sun was out and the snow was great.  In the evening we went to the Magpie and Stump for mexican, and what was meant to be a night of partying turned into us all going to bed early because we were exhausted!

Caz and Charlie were flying back from Calgary on Monday, so we decided to spend the day there.  We arrived just in time for lunch, thanks to my map reading skills, and had a picnic in the Prince's Park.  It was an unbelievable 18oC!  I can't remember the last time we felt the sun that warm.  Then in the afternoon we took a stroll round Calgary and went up the Calgary Tower, which sounds more exciting than it was.  However, it was unbelievable to see flat plains and then the Rocky Mountains just appearing on the horizon.  We ended the day with a drink in a pub and then dropped Caz and Charlie off at the airport.

Laid on the glass floor at the top of the Calgary Tower.

It was really great of them to come visit, and I had such an amazing time with them.  So thanks for coming to see us!!