Week ending Apr 23, 2015 Sicamous with a weekend in Calgary area

Friday dawned sunny and reasonably warm. A typical day in the Sicamous area. Mid morning we went to John and Lorraine's for coffee. We had a great morning catching up with each other's adventures since we had seen them last. They spent this past winter in Mexico, doing some volunteer work and enjoying the warm weather. They do understand our desire to spend the winter in warmer climates. As we were leaving their feral cat that we had fed the fall we house sat came out to met us. It still is no friendlier than a coupe of years ago.

Saturday morning we left Sicamous (leaving the trailer behind) for Canmore. The drive across the pass was really special. The sky was bright blue, the mountains looked spectacular with the white snow against the blue sky.

 

 

The roads are like summer driving. We were amazed at the lack of traffic on the highway. We stopped for lunch in Golden, eating at the Fire Pit BBQ Smokehouse. By early afternoon we arrived at Elizabeth's in Canmore,  our fine accommodation for the night.  Since we had been sitting in the truck most of the day we decided a walk was in order. Off we went, our first point of interest along the way was the Foothills Hospital home lottery's Canmore townhouse. Of course we had to buy a ticket. We then carried on along some of the streets in downtown Canmore and encountered Bud and Gina, who used to run a B & B just down the block from us on Birchwood Place. After a short visit with them we headed back to Elizabeth's for happy hour. Thanks to Elizabeth for a great dinner, a nice bed and Sunday morning breakfast.

Sunday we departed Elizabeth's early in order to arrive in Bowden to have lunch and a visit with John's parents. By 2:00 ish we left heading for High River, where we met Trev, Sue and the three boys to have dinner at the Golden National. After a nice visit and delicious dinner we headed to a hotel in Cochrane for the night.

Monday morning after a breakfast thanks to the hotel we stopped at the UPS store to pick up our mail, then on to Walmart and Safeway to do some grocery shopping.  Our next stop was downtown Calgary for a visit as well as business meeting with our financial people. After lots of laughs and some business we are now ready to prepare our income tax. So again we hit the road, back to  Sicamous. Before we left Calgary we stopped at Sobey's liquor store for a case of wine.  One of our favorite wines was on sale for a great price, and we also get a further reduction buying by the case. We also stopped in Canmore to pick up some sausages from Valbella Meats.  After driving through the mountain parks, past Revelstoke, we stopped at Kay Falls, one of our favourite spots on the route.  We arrived at Janet's about 7:00 ish in time to have a nice visit before calling our travel weekend over.

Yamnuska

Mt. Bourgeau

Kay Falls

Tuesday morning, we asked Janet where we could get the bearings on the trailer checked and repacked.   She phoned John, mentioned above, who came over in the afternoon.  In the process of greasing the bearings, he discovered that the hydraulic brake line had broken.  This is the third time since we've had the trailer.  Fortunately, he had the tools necessary to fix the line, and get it tied up so it doesn't bounce as much while we travel, so hopefully this won't happen again.   It is very nice to have someone we trust help us with this maintenance, while showing us how we can do this ourselves in the future.  When it's done in a shop, their insurance requires us to stay out of the shop.

Wednesday John greased the last axle, as we had run out of time with the brake line repair, so the trailer is now ready for its next year of travel.  After lunch Janet, John and Joan went golfing at Birchdale.

Janet

This is a small family par 3 golf course, the perfect type for us. We took Janet out for dinner at Grandmas and Grandpas restaurant in Sicamous. On the way back to the house we stopped at a historic site that honours the Ukranian Canadians at the site of an internment camp from WW I.

Thursday was a work day.  We paid some of our pad rent by helping Janet put the new cover on her truck shed.

We chatted with Janet and Tricia about their Greek vacation plans. Joan had a telephone visit with Bea and Lester from our B & B days in Canmore. They are experts on Greek vacations, so were a wealth of information, helping Janet and Tricia plan their upcoming trip.