Calgary weekend rest - June 8 to 10

Sunday, June 10^th

I met up with Kathleen Flemming in the morning for coffee and a lovely long chat.  Kathleen is an old CG College buddy who works at JRCC Halifax.  It was such a great coincidence that she was in Calgary at the same time as I and that FB and the blog got us connected way out here.  We chatted a lot about the CG since we had worked together when I was at the College in Sydney, but were sensible and made sure to update each other on our kids and friends and life in general.

My sister Teri and her husband Dan, from Red Deer, picked us up in the afternoon enroute to their grandson Enoch’s 4^th birthday party in the SE end of the city.  What a treat to see Ramona and Tim and Enoch, their two little girls and extended family and friends. Wayne and I lucked out with taking care of Esther, the newest addition to the family. Teri and Dad took us out for a lovely dinner and along the way we took a quick look at a camper-van for sale.  It was too small and old, and I’m wondering why there isn’t much on the market halfway in size between that and what we have.

Saturday, June  9^th (Day 13 on cycle)

Distance and Time: 45.5 km at 2:41

Route:  SW to NE Calgary via bike paths, overpasses and railroad tracks

We cycled together to the SW to visit my uncle Angus and Aunts Sue and Pat.  We traded stories about cycling and mountain hiking folklore and learned much from Angus about my grandmother’s family, the Bell-Irvings.  Sue is from Yarmouth so she and Wayne had a good chat as east-coasters always do.  We left with bags of homemade cookies and tentative plans to visit Cochrane with Angus next weekend to see the old gravesites of some of my grandmother’s family.

I then cycled to the NE end of city to another Walmart parking lot at the Deerfoot Mall.  The weather was wet and windy, and the bike path signage was not too clear.  Most of the pathway followed a river and there were lots of detours due to flooding.  I found it  necessary to ask for lots of directions, but I finally made it to join Wayne and the RV.  My old friend from high school, Lorraine (Mercer) Miller, lives nearby.  Luckily she had a free evening and waited patiently for my call, then picked us up and treated us to a great Vietnamese supper.  It was so good to get caught up with her, and I hope to see her again next weekend too.

Friday, June 8^th

We parked in a Walmart parking lot at Westgate Mall. It was like spending a day ashore after a voyage.  We scrambled around replenishing food, propane, and updating the blog.  We then waited out thunder, hail and rain before cycling downtown to MEC to stock up on inner tubes and other bike supplies (thanks to all of you who contributed to my retirement MEC gift certificates). I managed to get a bike map of Calgary with some difficulty.  It is not carried in stores or tourist info centres, and we were told it was only available from the City of Calgary. Luckily we arrived at a recreation centre just before it closed and they had one copy left in stock.