April 22-28, 2015.
This week we visited Kelowna, Banff and Calgary. We saw wonderful friends in each place so it was a great week and we’re really feeling like we’re “home” again. Back in Canada, back to familiarity. We even ran into friends randomly on the street and in the gym in Calgary. Okay, Canada is that small. We really do know Joe from Winnipeg and Chris from Calgary. It’s not just a stereotype about how “small” Canada is. It’s real.
Highlights:
First thing we drove from Sqamish, British Columbia to Kelowna, BC. The drive through the Okanagan was beautiful to match its reputation. Laura, a sweet friend of Erin’s (and former colleague from March of Dimes) invited us over for dinner. It was awesome to catch up and enjoy some fish tacos. Thanks Laura!
We had a brief stay in Kelowna and moved along to Banff to visit Meg. The rocky mountains are spectacular.
Banff is known as a tourist destination so it comes with higher prices and grand storefront facades. We checked out a couple bars, candy shops and walked the tourist strip (even though it was super, super cold).
We only stayed in Banff one night and then continued driving to Calgary. Before we left Banff we grabbed brunch with Meg who taught us a couple local secrets. Turns out most restaurants have a “local special” so people living in Banff don’t have to pay tourist prices. So we ordered off-menu brunch. Great tip Meg!
We stayed with Melissa and Mike in Calgary for the first few days. Mike is a great cook so we ate well. Melissa and Jackson went to chiropractic school together (and Melissa was one of our roommates when we lived in Toronto), so they were able to trade techniques and we visited her clinic to see how she ran her business. We last visited Mike and Melissa last summer for their wedding which was such a blast. I wrote a blog post on it last year if you want to see an absolutely adorable country wedding. We went for a jog/walk in Nosehill Park one evening too. We’re getting outside a lot.
We also visited with another former roommate Farshid who took us out for falafel (one of our favourites).
We went to Unitarian Universalist church and saw our friends Hazel and her husband Greg who played music for the whole service in the Bruce Cockburn Tribute Band. We’re back in Canada now for sure! We saw Hazel earlier on this trip when she was visiting her Mom in New Orleans (blog post about that visit).
Stats:
0 US states this week, 26 in total during the trip
2 Canadian provinces this week, 3 total during the trip (NB, BC, AB)
1132 kms this week (703 mi), 20824 total on the trip (12939 mi)
Spent $871.53 this week, $22903.25 total CAD
*Jackson is saving money by getting smaller drinks.
Young retirement 