Canmore - 51° 5' 1" N, 115° 22' 4" W

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Sometimes adventure comes in the way of familiar experiences done with new friends.

Kate and I were sad to see our neighbors, the Eaglesons, move from their house beside ours on Broadview Road to a new one closer to the kids' school.  Our sadness quickly changed when we met the new neighbors, the Pettigrews, who are a delightful clan in their own right.

Shortly after they moved in, Kate was at their door, armed with an apple pie and a big helping of Collins Family hospitality.  We soon found out they were
escapeesformer residents of Winnepeg and their desire to play in the mountains (and job opportunities) had drawn them to Calgary.  We quickly decided they were too much fun to leave to find all the good things in the area all by themselves, so we appointed ourselves as their tour guides and took to dragging them out to our favourite cycling haunts, for both mountain- and road-bike rides.  So far we have toured around the river pathways, invited ourselves over to their home, done a full-day mountain bike outing to Little Elbow River, rode the Legacy Trail between Canmore and Banff, and Went with Gord to bag his first summit on Ha Ling Peak.

On the trail at the Little Elbow River

Lunch Break

Chillin' on the Legacy Trail

Luckily, the Eaglesons - and especially their cute, not-so-little-anymore kids - are still in our lives, too.  We keep inviting them out and they keep showing up.  It is a real treat to have the young energy and watch some awesome parenting.  If we ever decided to kidnap a new set of kids and raise them as our own, we hope we could do as good a job at raising them.

Alena and Kate bowling at the Winter Club
Throw in our cute-as-a-button great niece and we are fully supplied with little playmates.  Isn't being retired and having daytime available to play a good idea?

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