Posts Tagged With: Canmore British Columbia

2013 Trip Six, The Northwest, July 1

July 1, Monday, Canmore

This is 2-3 blocks from where we are staying.

This is 2-3 blocks from where we are staying.

July 1 is a national holiday in Canada. It relates back to the British North America Act in 1867 resulting in the first Canadian confederation. It took a while and some controversy before it became a major holiday. Canmore has a parade, activities in a park, and fireworks. Fireworks are at 10:30 pm, we are going to skip them so we can be rested for exploration of Banff National Park tomorrow.

RCMP

RCMP


Front end loader with actual rocks moved by the floodwaters.

Front end loader with actual rocks moved by the floodwaters.


We walked down the hill to the main part of Canmore for the parade. It lasted about an hour. The largest applause was for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the construction crews that helped restore the towns roads, etc. It was a good parade with a very nice turn out. We felt sorry for the marchers; it was sunny and the temp was in the mid to high 80s.
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The park had a football field and several bands performed their shows which we watched. The rest of the activities were primarily for kids. We headed back up the hill and had a mid afternoon snack before regrouping.

Performers at "Oh, Canada,Eh?"

Performers at “Oh, Canada,Eh?”

We took in an evening performance of “Oh, Canada, Eh”. Actually it was the 5,660th performance of the show. Obviously it is a fixture here on the dinner-show circuit. The show highlights and spoofs Canada, the 2nd largest country in the world. “You know you are Canadian when you design your Halloween costumes to fit over your snowsuit.” Over 40 songs are in the show, all written by Canadians throughout the years.

It was a pleasant evening, not necessarily the highest cuisine nor Broadway bound but an enjoyable evening’s diversion.

Ed and Chris July 1 10:30 pm

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2013 Trip Six, The Northwest, June 30

Well, we made it to Canmore, Alberta. Granma Bep had breakfast ready for us and gave us some Saskatoon summer berry tarts for the road.

Chris and Granma Bep

Chris and Granma Bep

Sunday we finally left behind the flat plains and started climbing to rolling hills and semi-arid plains at a higher elevation. Irrigation and oil wells were the most frequent vistas. The Rockies are not a major vista until past Calgary.

This portion of the Trans Canada highway goes through the northern section of Calgary. The highway does not go through the downtown like many of our interstates. When it reached Calgary, there was a mix of cloverleaf type interchanges and just plain roadways. For those of you in the Twin Cities, think of University Avenue with 3 lanes in each direction and you get an accurate picture.

Calgary has a population of almost 1,000,000. We will visit it more beginning next Sunday. Again, the development has a strict line and you go from farmland to dense development. I bet Metro Council would love to be able to do that.

We are staying in a basement unit of a home in Canmore. It appears that the flooding was just a block away and a ridge behind the house blocked it from floodwaters. There is still a boil water advisory in effect and it is likely to continue throughout our time here. We did bring a case of bottled water with us.

View from front of Canmore residence.

View from front of Canmore residence.


We have driven past some of the washed out roads but will take pictures when we are walking and not with traffic behind us.

We picked up some groceries, unpacked, and I went for a walk in the neighborhood. Tomorrow is Canada Day, a national holiday and we plan to watch the local parade and festivities in the park.

Living room area

Living room area

Sorry it is a slow and unexciting report. Hopefully we can make it more exciting real soon.

Ed and Chris June 30 10:30 pm and it is light out.

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