A brief update -- we had our first official visitors and overnighters since moving to Canmore. David's cousin Violet, and husband Larry, came to visit for a few days on their way back to Ontario from a houseboat vacation in BC. It was great to spend time with them and travel around to see some of the highlights of our 'backyard'. We're also hiking, but didn't do so last week as we had Susan's cousin Gayle Singer visiting from Ottawa.
Susan and Gayle took 2 bicycles and first did the Goat Creek Trail beginning just off of the Smith Dorian Road and following the creek into Banff (about 20 km), then took the bike trail back to Canmore that parallels the highway -- total trip about 45km. Their next adventure was when they headed down to Waterton National Park to do some bicycling and hiking. They were joined by cousin Sheila McHugh from Lethbridge, and hiked the 15 km from Waterton south to the end of the lake, ending up in the United States; from there they took a boat back north on the lake. Susan bought and carried bear spray while on the hike --- the bears must have known because they didn't show up during the hike, and everyone returned safely. In fact, they saw very few animals.
During Susan's time away, David finally got out his bicycle and used it to get to and from town to pick up essentials such as a netbook and wireless router!!! We're now more fully connected than before with new ways to 'waste time'. Also went into the Bank of Montreal branch on a few occasions --- yes, I've spent more time in the branch here during the last 2 months than I likely did during our whole time in Montreal and Toronto -- a very nice and welcoming branch; we know some of the staff by name and they recognize us -- really nice feature of a small town. Thursdays continues to be the market at the civic centre, and fresh fruit is definitely the order of the day. Last Sunday David did a motorcycle ride (the Golden Triangle) with the Chinook Wings from Calgary -- met them at Dead Man Flats, rode to west to Castle Mountain Junction, then to Golden (B.C.), south to Radium for lunch at the Radium Resort Springs Course, then north up hwy 93, and west on the Trans-Canada to home. A few animals along the way -- Golden Eagles, deer, mountain sheep. A very pleasant day with good travelling companions. Wednesday evening was a ride into Cochrane to meet up with some other riders and our friend Doug Kilborn -- went south to Turner Valley --- nice road with some curves (definitely the roads tend to go straight out here compared to those in eastern Canada -- curves and twisties are always a gift when on a motorcycle.
Currently, we're getting ready for Susan's trip to Ireland/Scotland/England at the end of the month - packing and repacking. David will join her in London for 3 days, then on to Paris for 4 days, and then to eastern Europe for an 18 day tour out of Vienna. Hope we can do some blog updates while on route, but we'll wait and see on that count. Very smokey here in the valley today due to the forest fires in B.C. -- a strong wind from the N.W. -- basically staying inside today. Hopefully that will clear by tomorrow and we can go back to enjoying the outdoors and related activities.
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