Posted on by Mitch&Katy · 2 Comments

Last day in Calgary

So today we woke at a reasonable hour (10ish) had a shower and headed north towards the Rockies!!

Trent and Morgan had pre organised an “easy” hike for us to get a taste tester of the hiking season they enjoy during the summer here in Calgary. It was about an hour drive up to the foot of the Rockies and by following our maps Trent had taken us right to the bottom of one of the many mountains. We set off on this hike and it immediately became apparent that we’d been lied to and this wasn’t an “easy” rated hike. About 45min up this mountain I built up the courage to ask the real rating and Trent blessed us with an honest answer of “well it’s rated hard on the hiking map”. I don’t know about anyone else but for mine and Katy’s second hike ever, a hard rating is probably much harder than necessary.

The beginning had a few steep bits and some nice trails where conversation was flowing. Fast forward another 30min and conversation was completely halted by the absolute gradient of this slope. I’m no engineer but I’m guessing the gradient of this slope had to have been at least 50/60 degrees. It was excessively steep and an absolute workout on the calves,quadriceps and hamstrings. At this point the only thing keeping us going was the occasional dog going down that wanted pats. We would stop every dog possible, giving us the happiness required to continue and not throw Trent off the side for luring us into an easy hike that’s actually classed as difficult.

Bear spray firmly in hand, we confidently proceeded up this mountain with haste. Morgan assured us that the bears and deadly cougars know there’s lots of humans on this route so they tend to avoid it if possible. The “if possible” made me a little uneasy but we continued nonetheless. Eventually we made it to the top of this beast and were graced with a breathtaking view. It was a lot colder on the top and the clouds were obviously rolling in. We stopped for a few quick photos and a bite to eat of the sandwiches Trent had premade for us as a picnic on the summit.

After a few quick photos and munching down our picnic it started to snow! Yes, you heard me it started to snow. At my best guess it was probably about 5 degrees up the top which is strange considering 2 hours ago we were on the ground worried about sunburn. We decided we didn’t want to hang around too long while the snow picked up so we quickly started our descent of Prairie Mountain.

The descent, although very tough on the quads, took considerably less time. It involved quite a bit of skill to trek down a very steep mountain without rolling an ankle and we all managed to achieve the base without a hiccup. All in all it took about 3 hours, probably 2 hours up and 1 hour down.

Katy and I were stoked to have conquered our second mountain (after Ben Nevis; Scotland’s highest mountain. See https://bennevis.co.uk/ for more info on that great peak) and no matter how much we complain we will always enjoy the experience and reflect on how beautiful and peaceful the hike was. We drove back to Calgary and quickly had a shower and prepared for our last night in Calgary.

After a short intermission at home we headed to one of Toms friends house. Conner Christmas! The same dude that joined us for the Ocean Alley gig yesterday. He had invited us all to his place for an open fire pit bbq with burger buns and salad etc so of course we accepted. We absolutely destroyed a few burgers and a couple beers before heading off to see a part of the city called Ingleston. It’s on the other side of town from where Trent etc lived but seemed like quite a happening place.

We went to a dog friendly bar in Ingleston after Conner’s Bbq, which was obviously going to bode well with Katy and myself as we are both dog lovers. We had one quick beer here and it was time to go and see Conner’s comedy show. He was part of this new act that was started tonight called “ugly duckling comedy” in Ingleston. It’s basically a bunch of comedians getting some time to tell their jokes and start something brilliant. Honestly this show was funny! I like to think of myself as a comedy connoisseur and Katy and I went to improv comedy in Copenhagen a while back that was genuinely not funny. These few comedians were all funny. I had an absolute ball and laughed till my abdominal muscles were sorer than the legs that climbed me a mountain earlier. Conner’s set was hilarious and obviously so was the headliner. Many lols were had.

A link to his Instagram if you’re interested.

My particular fav of the stand up was when Conner talks about his name and how his full name is Conner Nicholas Christmas, his dads name is David Murray Christmas (Merry Christmas) and his mum is Dayna Christmas (Day Christmas). I later found out that that’s no word of a lie and his family are all genuinely named after the festive period 😂.

We went back to Kensington pub, which is the pub Morgan’s mum owns and the pub where we know everybody. We had a few drinks and said our final goodbyes as everyone knew we are heading off east on our flight tomorrow.

Everybody has been so lovely and they we’re so happy to have met us. We had such a great time in this place and our friends here have such a close knit family it’s been nice to be a part of. They’ve definitely looked after us as one of their own, can’t thank them enough. Calgary has been a great city and I honestly couldn’t think of a single fault other than downtown wasn’t as busy as your usual city, it was weirdly quiet. I think probably getting the locals tour for the week has been the best way to see everything so we have our friends to thank for that.

Off toToronto tomorrow where we pick up our car (and Kirsten) and drive through to Ottawa, Ontario which is 4 hours drive.

Check back soon

M 🙂

Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Day 7 – Calgary and Basketball

So we’ve been away for a week already! Time flies when you’re unemployed and having the time of your life; but at the same time it feels like we’ve been away for ages. Probably because we’ve seen so much and been in 3 different cities already.

Sunday morning we woke up in beautiful Banff, honestly the views of this place are out-of-this-world! Everywhere we went you could see another snow covered peak of another mountain which is surprising since the weather was a toasty 24. When I packed I was expecting Scotland weather: bit of sun, some rain and mostly just ok weather but we’ve had some really hot days already. Me being me (a cold frog) I’m almost too scared to wear my shorts in case it gets chilly.

Here’s a pic of Mitchy enjoying his fruity cocktail and simultaneously slow roasting himself.

Back to the story – we left Canmore (just outside Banff where our Air BnB was) and drove back to Calgary where we met up with all of our housemates for the week. We had breakfast in the garden and chilled for the afternoon before heading out to watch the basketball.

For those not in the basketball scene, like moi. The Raptors are Canada’s only professional basketball team playing in the NBA. Surprisingly they’re doing very well this year and have made it to the finals which for some reason takes like 7 games to prove your the winner.

We spent the night eating nachos and drinking cocktails (ok that was just me) off of a converted pool table while watching the Raptors play game 2 in which they played well but ultimately got whooped in the last 2 quarters :(.

Here is all of the housemates enjoying our front row TV seats.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this baby update of Calgary. Hopefully we’ll have more to show you this week coming! – Katy xxx

Posted on by Mitch&Katy · 1 Comment

Calgary & Banff/The Rockies

Hi folks, sorry I missed a day, we were too busy having fun. We bring ourselves to the end of day 6 of our travels and it really does seem like it’s already been a lot longer. Sorry if there’s not many pictures I’ve been terrible with the lens recently.

Yesterday we got to the airport and saw on the news that there was raging bushfires in the Rockies and the smoke from those fires had blown across to Calgary. So our friendly aeroplane ride was turbulent as we came into land. I personally think the pilot did well to get us down onto the ground as visibility looked to be about 10m no joke!

Trents girlfriend Morgan and her mum were nice enough to pick us up from the airport. We acquainted ourselves and were shown through the house after a small drive through smokey Calgary. We waited until Trent had finished work and then headed out to the pub that Morgan’s mum owned. It was a lovely, wood finished large pub with a lot of character and personality! It was also right in the middle of a “happening” part of town which made it a great spot to be. After we had had diner and a few drinks we were informed that Morgan’s mum had picked up the entire bill which was so lovely of her. We spent the night visiting various bars where our friends either worked or were regulars. When we got home post midnight there was a loud chap on the door. It was their 69 year old widowed next door neighbour. She says that she has her fire pit going and would be offended if we didn’t join her for a drink by the fire- so we obliged.

After a late night and a much needed sleep in, we jumped into the car and headed for the Rockies. We had an air BnB booked in Canmore which is the next town down from Banff.

We drove to Lake Minniewanka which is just outside of Banff and stopped for a photo shoot. All the while hoping to see some of the wildlife such as a bear or mountain lion( from a distance).

Morgan told us that by the time you see a Mountain lion or a Grizzly bear the best you can hope for is a quick death-if you can see them it’s because they want you too and they’ve seen you long before. (Side fact- there’s also never in the history of hiking been a bear attack on a group of 4 or more people so.. yknow, the odds were in our favour. Similar to getting eaten by a shark or killed by a redback spider in Australia. It’s rare!). We did manage to see a few chipmunks and rabbits which were cool and much less terrifying, the lake was absolutely amazing and the colour of the water was a strange blue. Photos definitely do not do it justice.

Afterwards we drove to Banff to have a look around and eat some lunch and sit in one of the various beer gardens to have a beer. The views in Banff are spectacular. Everywhere you look the backdrop is the Rocky Mountains. It almost looked fake because they were so close and so ginormous and belittling. We met up with Tommo (yes the same Tom from Vancouver) as he had driven back across from his holiday with his parents.

Our time in Banff had come to an end. I think it’s wonderful and kinda reminded me of Queenstown in NZ. It had this lively alpine atmosphere where everyone is so happy and friendly. The weather was also stunning 24 and sunny so I manage to work on my tan sitting on the patio too. We drove back to Canmore and checked into our BnB, which was comedically difficult as if they’ve made it a riddle.

Enter the elevator and insert the key. Pull it up and turn to the left 1/4 turn. Floor 3, exit the elevator and turn towards wild rose room

-Direct quote from air BnB mans manual. It was extensive and ridiculous believe me.

Our Air BnB has a hot tub so we decided to soak up what was left of the daylight in a very very hot spa. It was lovely at first but we didn’t last long because we were absolutely roasting. Not to mention we were hungry and ready to walk down the road for dinner.

Tonight didn’t consist of too much, the 4 of us walked around town which is only 1 street. We had a delicious dinner and had 1 or two drinks then headed home as the unanimous decision was that we were all exhausted.

Not sure what tomorrow morning will entail, it’s looking like we aren’t going to get up to Lake Louise which is disappointing but you can’t do it all and and we’re pretty strapped for time, it’s another hours drive away from Calgary to get there. We were thinking of doing a short hike around here because they’re all meant to be amazing but we might be pushed for time as we have a dinner reservation in a sports bar with about 20 people as the Toronto Raptors are playing in the basketball finals. So we need to be back in Calgary for 4pm.

Love to all.

Check back in soon for the next installment

M 🤘🏼