Candy and Jim's Great Canadian Adventure: 2015

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Our Great Canadian Adventure Comes to an End

It's been a fabulous three years here in Calgary, but all good things must come to an end....(or do they?!). Our time here has been filled with mountain adventures, yoga, good friends and lots of golf! We are going to miss our Canadian friends terribly. It's never easy to leave loved ones behind, but our dear friends here made leaving our family in Houston just a little bit easier. We have had so many good times eating and drinking our way through most of 17th AVE and 4th ST with all of our buddies. From Stampede parties on the patio to Sunday dinners and shared holidays, Canadian and American, we will have memories galore to reflect on. I can't say it often enough, "Canadians are good, good people."

Our sweet friends, Suzanne and Dayna, threw us a Going Away party last Saturday and invited all of our favorite Canadians. What a great turn out! We laughed and cried and reflected on the crazy stories we have about each other. Most of them were about Jim, but you knew that already, didn't you?

Our time to live in Calgary is over, but we will return as often as we can. Don't forget us, and "Y'all come see us, ya hear? eh?!"

Lowey, Jim, Kate, Marlene and Michael

Don, Ida and Jim

Julia, Guy, Suzanne, Darren and me

Chris, Ken, Kate, Jim, Dayna, me, Michael, Marlene, Susan and Lowey

Dayna and me (or Dayna and I?)

Me and Dayna

Lowey (with Grade AAA Stamp of Approval) and Jim

Julia, Darren, Suzanne, Dayna, me, Allison, Guy and Natasha (Jim reclining in the middle of the table....don't ask)

Julia, Darren, Suzanne, Allison, Guy and Natasha minus the big purple mountain

Gordie, Cathy and Roy

Suzanne and Julia

Kate, Chris and Dayna

Me, Suzanne and Julia

Me, Cathy and Roy

Lauren and Jim

Jim, Don and Michelle

Roy, Al and Melissa

Me, Cathy and Roy

Jim and Roy

Suzanne and Marlene

Chris rockin' her tattoo

Iain, Marlene, Suzanne, Chris and the back of Michael's head

Suzanne and Don

Cindy and Erik, who will have the first Mission Crossing Baby! (BTW That's a non-alcoholic beer.)

Guy and Don

Catherine, me and Wayne

Brianna, Will, Andrew and Jim

Carol, Michelle and Jim

Me, Carol and Michelle

Chris, me, Ken and Jim

Wayne "Hook-Em-Horns" McNeil and Jim

Suzanne, Roy and me

Carol, Jim and me

Lowey, Iain and Ken

Me, Les, Deb and Jim

Susan and Dayna

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Easter 2015 in Radium and Invermere

We attempted to play golf last Easter in Invermere, BC, thinking that by April surely the snow would be gone and it would be somewhat warmer in the British Columbia valley, which is about 150 km south of Lake Louise. As it turned out we cancelled our reservations at the last minute due to a weather forecast of snow. And wouldn't you know, it didn't snow at all! So this year we vowed not to listen to the weather forecast and drive over anyway...come what may. We drove over on Good Friday morning and got 18 holes in at Eagle Ranch Golf Course before it started snowing. The course was in beautiful shape, and the day was sunny, but cold and a bit windy. We enjoyed a great dinner that evening at a German restaurant called Helna's Stube, which Jim continued to pronounce as "Helen's Stub-E" all weekend long. It was so good, we had dinner there again the next night! I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures of the Wiener Schnitzel and Spatzle, but it was de-lish!

On Saturday and Sunday we hiked in the hills above Radium Hot Springs, where we spent the night. Yes, it was snowing, but it wasn't too cold for a nice walk in the "grapple"! We were warned by our lovely Austrian hotel hosts, Bjorn and Sylvia, to watch out for "coogaah" (cougar) on our hike. Happy to say we never ran into anything more dangerous than a long horn sheep.