Just hangin' out....

Sunday morning our caravan friends, the McCloud's and Olivier's, attended the local church services of their denominations, so TLE and I decided to check out the nice bike path that runs right by Bow Rivers Edge RV Park.  The Bow River, right now, is running banks full from all the rain and runoff of the past few weeks.  This is the same river that has caused extensive flooding down in Calgary and specifically in a town called High River.  In this area the river came over the banks a little, but only caused minor damage to the aforementioned bike path, which can be skirted by just riding on the grass along side the damaged portion of the path.

We had "planned" an early start, but awoke to heavy fog, and temps in the high 30's.....I was not expecting that.....had to turn on the electric heaters for the first time in a long time.  Eventually around 9:45 the skies had cleared and we headed out on our individual bikes.

Bow River Bike Path

This particular bike path is also very popular with dog owners as it is the only area in town where you can walk your dog without a leash.  We initially went "left" as we entered the path, knowing it eventually would "dead end" about a mile, or so down the river, then turned around and followed it all the way into town where we exited the path at the local Safeway supermarket.  The paved part, which you can see in the above picture, was undamaged by the river, but further on toward town where the path turned to crushed rock, the crushed rock had been washed away leaving only the muddy road bed, so we moved a little to the right and rode on the grass.  In all the path covers about 4.5 miles along the river, and is quite popular for runners, dog walkers, and, of course bicycle riders.

 Forest and Cindy had suggested we run into town when they returned from Mass, and have lunch.....Tom and Darlene would be gone most of the day going to church, and visiting relatives afterwards.....Darlene was born and raised in Alberta and still has a lot of family in the area.  As we were cruising down Griffin back to the RV park Forest and Cindy passed us in their truck.  We arrived back at the park having logged 7.5 miles shortly after them around 11 am, and made plans to meet at their coach around Noon to drive into town for lunch.  I had seen the Texas Gate Bar and Grill a few times as we drove through town a couple of days ago, and wanted to check it out.  We found out Saturday that "Texas Gate" is the term used in Alberta to describe cattle guards.

They had a few interesting beers on tap, and one was Rickard's Red, which sounded interesting to me, so I ordered a pint to go along with my Caesar Salad.  Basically I got the salad, and TLE ordered a Rueben, and we split them down the middle......just the right amount for lunch.......and the beer was a pleasant surprise.   This is a Canadian brewed beer, so I'm not sure if is exported into the U.S.A., or not, but if you can find it get some!

 Right across the street from Texas Gate is the famous, at least in Alberta, MacKay's Ice Cream, and it deserves to be famous.  I found my favorite on their menu board..."Rum & Raisin", and ordered a scoop in a waffle cone......I can see why the line was out the front door....this ice cream is worth waiting in a line to get.

See the 3rd row over going left to right....Rum & Raisin

We walked around town checking out the various stores and just enjoying the wonderful weather.  It was the perfect Sunday for a walk around town.

Later in the day Jim (Jim and Gail Ellis) came by to let us know they had some friends (Kim and Kim.....yes, both husband and wife are named Kim....that's a first for me) coming up from Calgary for the afternoon who also own a late 80's Newell, and could he bring them by to see our coach?  Of course, so we set a time after 4:30 for them to come by.  Kim, the male counterpart of this duo, is very funny, and between he and Jim we were kept laughing almost non stop.  Jim suggested we all convene at his site for a fire, and some Saskatoon Pie....made using the Saskatoon Berry, which looks similar to a blue berry, but has its own flavor.

As I have remarked previously, the sun does not go down very early this far north.....it is typically still light after 11 pm.  In the picture below it is getting on to 10 pm, and is still very light outside.  In the upper left corner you can see Kim and Kim, and just to the right is Gail Ellis.....the rest are the usual suspects.  Jim is off to the left (out of the picture) taking his own pictures, which I am sure he will share at a later time.

Left to right: Kim, Kim, Gail, Tom, TLE, Darlene and moi

We had a great time visiting, and learned a lot about Albertan as well as Canadian life.  We continue to be impressed with the friendliness of our Canadian brothers and sisters, and especially Albertans, and we love their accents!!!

Monday we are going to take a tour of Jim and Gail's 1987 Newell, so there will be pictures!  Originally, we had planned to drive up to Banff and Lake Louise Monday, but the Jello had other plans, plus the weather guessers are predicting over 60% chance of rain, and maybe hail.  Since we will be driving up to the Columbia Ice Fields on Wednesday, and it is such a short distance from there to Banff and Lake Louise we have decided to wait until then to tour those areas.  We'll be camping in the large parking lot at the ice fields where it is legal to spend a few days for a nominal fee, plus we won't have to worry about fitting our 60' plus rigs into any small parks.  Everyone says the views from the parking lot are amazing.

Thanks for stopping by!