... try and find us

Despite having visited and travelled through many, many places around the world, I was always a bit embarrassed to admit that I hadn't been very far north in my own country.  I had been to Fort McMurray but not further into the top half of my homeland.  Even Kate, my Australian-born bride, had been closer to  Santa's Workshop than I have.  We knew there was a rough road that meandered all the way to the Arctic Ocean, but it took some investigation to learn that it was called the Dempster Highway. Pre-COVID we planned a trip.  Chatting with the Australian family, Wendy and Graeme showed interest in joining us.  Late August/early September was set as the timeframe to: avoid the swarms of bugs that summer brought be there for the fishing season (more to enjoy the bounty than do the fishing) catch part of berry season possibly get lucky with the turning colour of leaves Spoiler Alert: In the end, we succeeded fabulously on all points. Although COVID delayed o

 I had written in a previous post about the Harley family that would be staying with us for FolkFest when we got back to Canmore. Kate had not yet met them and we hoped that everyone would get along.  It turned out that everyone's expectations around compatibility were greatly exceeded.  The Harleys were enamoured with Canmore and were very game to try out our local swimming hole (Quarry Lake), some local hikes and even just hanging out at Adrienne and Ray's place (our house-sitting gig while we were homeless). Martin and the girls try out a spring-fed pond (Quarry Lake). Taking the Highline trail up to Grassi Knob. Ella and the girls on the trail. At the top of Grassi Knob. ... and of course, The Banff Instagram spot. Sean knew that Martin liked to ride a mountain bike, so the two of them went off to do some boy-bonding on the Bow Valley trails. Trying out a new trail on Mount Lawrence Grassi Methinks he has had some fun We also had so