… a continuation of my earlier post.

We arrived in Calgary on the afternoon of August 14th - ironically, our wedding anniversary. One of our first stops was to our old apartment at Collingwood and Caribou in the northwest. It was an odd feeling to stand in a place we hadn’t seen in almost 6 years, but it also felt good to “come home”. The two apartments we had at this intersection were among the most comfortable we had ever lived in, and I still have fond memories of some cold Calgary nights, curled up in our little abode.

Then it was off to Nose Hill Park with Stephen. I’m particularly proud of the fact that after 20 years, the sense of humor that Stephen and I share hasn’t matured one bit. We still act like clowns and have a lot of fun together; it’s a refreshing break from the “grown-up” corporate environment that I subject myself to. Nose Hill park gave us a good vantage to view the city that we left behind. A city that I miss tremendously.

After a few days of clowning around and having fun, we tackled Chinaman’s Peak at Mount Lawrence Grassi in Canmore. This climb started with a welcome by some of Canmore’s finest.

Two things quickly became apparent: I am out of shape, and this mountain has grown considerably since I was here last. Alas, after many stops and the dogged encouragement of my wife and Stephen, we made it to the top. It was a moment of some reflection, and I made sure to put a few rocks in my pocket to remember this particular ascent.

Mountain climbing is a metaphor for all sorts of things in life. For this particular climb, though, I simply prefer to remember the beautiful view with the company of good friends.

We headed towards Fernie, British Columbia on the morning of August 18. On the way, I took a shot of this beautiful windmill. When I was in grade 5, I made a model of a windmill for a science fair project, and have had a tremendous respect for them ever since. They seem like the perfect energy generator to me; emission less, quiet, and architecturally beautiful. What I didn’t realize when I took this shot was that there were at least thirty more in the distance. Just magnificent.

We went past the site of the Frank Slide, the Crow’s Nest Pass, and many other Canadian sites that Stompin’ Tom has written songs about. Indeed, one could drive through these parts and completely ignore the history, and that would be some loss.

We did some hiking in Fernie with Stephen and his parents, and I’m happy to report that my body was a bit more used to the rigors of mountain hiking by this point. Still, I felt the need to disrobe slightly (yes, I had a T-shirt on underneath), and this picture resulted.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. We boarded our flight back to Raleigh on the morning of August 21, and were tucked into bed by the wee hours that evening.

1 comment
Posted in Blog
Written on Tue, 04 September 2007 at 3:59 pm
Tags: apartment, Calgary, Canada, Chinaman's Peak, Fernie, Nose Hill Park, Seattle, vacation
If you liked this post, then consider subscribing to our full RSS feed.