CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA

July, 2019

We took a slight pause from our visits to Glacier National Park and enjoyed a 5-star out of 5-star long weekend visit with Bob and Marlene Gill, friends made during the month we spent in Mesa last March.  They live in Calgary, Alberta, and not only were they incredibly gracious, welcoming and warm hosts, but they took us to visit Lake Louise and Banff National Park and treated us to a Stampede pancake breakfast. What great friends!

Alberta is known for the oil industry, for its vast farming and cattle ranching areas, northern forests, the Rocky Mountains, cold winters, excellent skiing, and fossils, including the discovery of a dinosaur fossil – a species that goes by the common name of “Albertosaurus.”

Calgary is the largest city in Alberta with a population of nearly 1.1 million, and it ranks high for quality of living, according to the Mercer Quality of Living Surveys, and it is listed as one of the cleanest cities in the world by Forbes Magazine.

Calgary is best known for the “ Calgary Stampede”.  About a million people visit the show a year, and it is billed as “The Largest Outdoor Show in the World”; it’s all about Rodeos, Native Indians, Food, and of course rides.  The City hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988, and it was pretty cool to see the ski jump venue as we drove along the highway.

Bob and Marlene let us know that between December and the end of February the average daily daytime temperatures are below freezing (below 32 degrees fahrenheit), and that the overnight temperatures frequently dip into the single digits or colder.  There is a monthly average of 20 days of snow (!) during the same period of time.  There is wintry weather in November (average 16 days of snow), March (average 16 days of snow), April (average 7 days of snow), and October ( average 5 days of snow) as well; temperatures aren’t quite so severe.  With average daytime temperatures during the winter months in the 70s and overnight in the mid-to-high 40s, Mesa may just be a little bit better alternative than their winter home!

Lake Louise and Banff National Park are small communities in the Canadian Rockies.  The overcast skies we encountered on our ride into the Rockies cleared as the day went along.

Canadian tourism describes Lake Louise as “a hamlet in Alberta, Canada that was named for the nearby Lake Louise.  Lake Louise was in turn named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of John Campbell, the 9th Duke of Argyll, who was the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883.”  The area is a year-’round recreation and vacation destination.  Winter skiing and hiking the rest of the year is complemented with water activities on the lake during summer months.  Sitting on the water’s edge, The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (sister hotel of the Chateau Frontenac we visited in Quebec City) provides first-class accommodations, and it is an icon of the hamlet.  The vista from the Hotel begins with the phenomenal color of the waters of Lake Louise that rise to the heights of the surrounding mountainsides.  Beautiful!

From humble beginnings as a 10-square-mile hot springs reserve, Banff National Park became Canada’s first national park.  It now extends to more than 2500 square miles of mountain scenery nestled in the heart of the magnificent Canadian Rockies.  The forest is thick and deep, the mountains as majestic as the Colorado Rockies, and the Bow River supplied by waters from Bow Glacier melt, runs swiftly through town (as well as through Calgary – 79 miles away).  Banff is a touristy town that has the usual t-shirt and souvenir traps, a broad range of restaurants as well as an assortment of upscale and exclusive shops.  However, visit the Rimrock Hotel or the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and be transported to Old World Europe, perhaps even feeling like you’ve been transported to Switzerland.

After enjoying our Stampede pancake breakfast we were treated to a drive through downtown Calgary…

…and before taking our leave from a marvelous weekend with such wonderful friends the sky offered us one last view that we had never seen before!

Lake Louise and Banff offer a different view of the Rockies than we have ever seen during times we’ve spent in Colorado Springs and Rocky Mountain National Park, in Yellowstone, or hanging out at Glacier National Park.  Lakes of glacial waters are that great teal blue color, the mountains intimidating, and the outdoors inviting and challenging.

Calgary is an active metropolitan city that is sophisticated and upbeat, and well worth exploring, especially when it’s not Stampede.  Just be forewarned – if Marlene asks you to play pickleball, prepare to be humbled.

Barbara and Brian