Lake Louise, negative 30 degrees

The kids have a 5 day weekend (one has a 6 day weekend but I put in a dentist appointment, bwa-ha-ha). So, Terry and I took off Thursday - the first day of this holiday - and we booked a ski day. Due to COVID and being working adults who have to ask for time off and coordinate with others in our respective offices to do so, we were loath to try to reschedule when the weather report threatened below-negative-thirty for the day.

I am definitely the chilly-Chelsea of the group. To be sure to stave off frostbite I wore: (top) wool base layer, fitted merino wool sweater, flannel shirt to divert the itchiness and a very heavy wool sweater, of course topped with a warm ski jacket; (bottom) wool base layer, Polartec fleece ski pants from 20 years ago when I last skied, and insulated ski pants. And alpaca wool socks. A balaclava with COVID-y mask underneath and my helmet and goggles, plus new Columbia mittens with their reflective technology (and hand warmers in the tip of each mitten) finished off the look. One important lesson we learned last week skiing - cotton masks soak and freeze. Go with synthetics when you are looking at severe weather.

We were trying out the farthest slope from home - Lake Louise, clocking in at exactly 2 hours away. Between being mid-week and the forecast, the place was empty. We got a sweet parking spot we'll never see again, just 2 rows over from the reserved section. When we arrived the lifts hadn't opened yet even though we got there an hour after the slope normally would have opened. We also got coupons for free hot cocoa for the kids as a reward for braving the weather.

By 10:30 the first lift opened, and by the time we re-geared and got out there it was a bit later. We knew there was a whole back mountain area and the resort was huge, so we weren't sure about things like where to leave water and lunches and such that we had been doing, if we were to bring any. So we took a tiny backpack with a Contigo of cocoa and a couple of snacks, and the various items of gear that got shed at different times. We planned to eat a hot meal at one of the cafes. And away we went.

This was our first ski outside Nakiska and ... wow. The runs were longer, there was no ice anywhere, and what felt like a million more options although that could be misleading because half the runs are black diamond, which nobody is ready for. The views are stunning. We were super bundled up although we had a few setbacks with fogging goggles, chilly toes that required hand warmers (and thus the ordeal of removing and then replacing ski boots). We actually managed a pretty normal day of skiing. On one run, the powder was so thick I worried not about slipping on ice - the normal east coast issue - but about a ski getting stuck in a thick mound of snow.  I estimate that all the time we spent going inside to warm up or drink a hot beverage would probably translate to lift lines in a future visit;  so the general experience of how many runs we could get in is relatively accurate, minus the slow start. there was literally no line at any time.

The downside, and this was huge:  to get from the back mountain to the front you can ski various runs or you can traverse a run called "ski-out" that appears to go sort of around the mountain and return to the base area. It is 2.5 miles. Nowhere is it explained that you will be walking on level or even uphill ground for about 1/3 of that trip - until you are already about 100 feet into the journey. It was hot and miserable and really ended the day on the wrong foot :-(

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Skiing

 We've been skiing the last 6 Saturdays, and have learned quite a bit. We learned that when Nakiska is packed with people and we leave when it closes, it can take longer to get home than if we had gone to Lake Louise. We learned that when it is -25 outside, there are no lines for any lifts and no traffic getting home.  Those who did not ski before December learned how to get down a Blue slope in reasonably good shape.

 Now that the 6 weeks of lessons we signed the kids up for are over, we have plans to try each of the other three major slopes in the area (thanks Costco for the discount lift tickets to exactly these three mountains!)  We also won't go quite so often. We'll have Saturdays we sleep in, and Saturdays we go  hiking - as well as Saturdays to ski. Now that the Superbowl is going on right this very minute, football crowds out no more Sundays - we'll have whole weekends we can decide what to do on a whim!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

How we spent the break

We solved puzzles - well, Terry and Alex worked on them.

We played games. There are always new games among the Hanukkah and Christmas gifts and this year was no different.  Throw, throw burrito is even more fun than it looked and as we were gifted the large/outdoor version, are very excited to take this camping with us in the summer.

We (the kids) built gingerbread worlds - after making the gingerbread from scratch. It's a great recipe and remained delicious even after it started to go stale.

We skied, thanks to dad/Papa, who gifted the kids lessons for Hanukkah. Lynne and Terry skied for the first time in over 17 years!

We cooked, baked, read, watched movies. Kids went sledding. We had intentions to go ice skating but didn't make it out of the house that day. One of us listened to several entire podcast series.

The kids went five days without leaving the property (almost not going outside at all, but they did refill the bird feeder and take our trash).

We started the new year with a hike and a promise to get out way more often. Of course, the grumpy teenager ranted that a hike was the epitome of starting the year off on the wrong foot. It will be a delight to throw all this back at her when she is an adult - hahahahaha!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saskatoons

 I made a saskatoon pie yesterday with berries we'd picked and frozen over the summer. We'd tried them fresh - tasted a few in the field - and made jam right after the picking. It was all OK but not worth the heat and the schlep to the berry field. Now I understand the hype. Pie is the saskatoon's forte, its area of excellence. Now we need to plan next year's picking and focus all our efforts on pies, just pies.

Wild Ice

Wild ice is the term used for ice skating on a pond, lake or other natural body of (frozen) water. Technically we have been on wild ice before, last year. But ... Lake Louise grooms a rink and the Bowness Park Lagoon is small and narrow.

Gap Lake is very popular - so popular, in fact, that there have been accidents and the local authorities asked people to stay away. We drove out to Johnson Lake and it was snowy and rough. We figured we'd just pop over to Two Jack Lake and check it out because it  is only 5 minutes down the road. Expectations were exceptionally low, and extraordinarily exceeded. 

Between the volume of cars in the parking lot and the specks of people dotting the surface of the lake, it looked pretty solid. We found parking, grabbed our skates, and headed for the shore. I am not going to lie, the clear ice freaked me out. I preferred not seeing all the way to the rocks at the bottom of the lake.  Terry showed me how to apprise the cracks of ice to tell how far the ice was solid. And of course note the hordes of people skating hither and thither, emphasizing the solidity. There were folks being pulled by their dogs, folks playing scrimmage hockey, pushing their children in strollers ... even a guy on a fat tire bike riding around. There was a whole lake of space!

It was super windy, to the extent that you could be pushed to dizzying speeds if you let the wind catch you. Alex, deeply into her teens, actually admitted to having fun!

The downside is that we have not skated this year at all, and we got cold, tired and achy. We saw a guy grilling out of his truck's bed and realized that was a great idea. Our plan for next time involves coming earlier and bringing some camping equipment to make a hot lunch. That way we can have a morning skate, some rest and regrouping, then a second run in the afternoon. Whenever next time will be ...

Boom Shaka-laka-laka

Saturday we were up and out the door to a well-recommended hiking trail - Boom Lake. It was our longest hike as a family - over 10km. Terry feared Zoltan's sluggishness would keep us from ever cresting that hill, but with the incentives we'd put into place the weekend before he was more than happy to keep trekking ahead. There also were no really huge climbs, so that helped too. We didn't want to throw too much into one experience!

At one point the trail narrows with snow-dusted evergreens on either side, which Alex called the enchanted forest. She's so grouchy and teenagery, and then comes out with things like this! Also, a lot of the snow was more like crystallized flakes. Neither Terry nor I had ever seen anything like it and we've certainly been around plenty of snow. 

When we got to the lake, it was time for lunch. A gray jay thought so as well, and we had to defend Alex's sandwich from it several times (the rest of us kept the sandwich in the bag in between bites). We had done a great job keeping Zoltan's blood sugar up and although it was the longest hike, it was also the least fraught. It felt weird telling my kid "you may not feel hungry, you may feel anxious or angry or grumpy. Just eat." when of course mostly we're supposed to be telling our kids to notice actual feelings of hunger before chowing down. But I digress.

After eating we wandered down towards the far end of the lake, where we could see waterfalls high up in the mountains. We knew that parts of the lake were avalanche territory so we didn't stray too far. The return was pretty uneventful except the trail was definitely getting busier and the parking lot was packed when we left (plenty of spots when we arrived). The one regret of not doing the hike later was that the sun started to peek out and the skies got a bit bluer, which is always nicer for the photos. But avoiding crowds is a worth goal.

After all that exertion, we had a few quiet hours at the hotel and off to our favorite Banff restaurant, Park Distillery. It was as delicious as always, and one funny note is that the table next to us turned while we were there. The first couple had been speaking French and when the second pair started talking, I understood them so my mind said "French." Until Terry leaned over and said "Hey, they're speaking Russian." Oh yeah, they are.

Wintery Banff

November and December being on different calendar pages, it didn't occur to me I was booking two weekends in a row when I looked at the kids' day off from school on December 4 (they have a Friday off every month, and half day Fridays the rest of the month). So the week after we went to Jasper, we went to Banff.

Last year for the holidays, my father bought us a gift certificate for afternoon tea at the Fairmont hotel - we could choose Banff or Lake Louise. We hadn't made it before everything shut down in March and we finally took this opportunity to go. So it was a nice lazy morning, the a drive straight to the hotel. Everything was very beautiful and fancy, the treats were delicious and the kids were finally introduced to scones with clotted cream and jam (a housemade strawberry and rose variety). The kids were delighted by the tea timers - three connected hourglasses, one set to run out after 3 minutes, one at 4 minutes and one at 5, so we could determine how steeped we wanted the tea. The hotel was being extraordinarily careful about spacing - the room has a series of picture windows overlooking the mountains with a table set at the center of each. There was one dining unit at each table by the window, and that was it. 

Sated and warmed, we head to our hotel for an early check in. As most of our stays since the pandemic, we opted for a condo style, with kitchenette and entrance from outside. One treat was the woodburning fireplace, which we employed each evening. We had a starter pile (and matches!) stacked beside the grate, woodsheds throughout the grounds, and kindling available at the front desk whenever we needed more. The kids had their own queen sized beds in the loft, and they delighted in dangling things off the balcony into the living room area. They were oddly uninterested in the outdoor hot tubs or even the heated/hot pool. The hotel was situated by Tunnel Mountain and had trails that ran right from the grounds. It was also near a campsite we were considering for the summer.

After a quick change into hiking gear, we took a short walk/hike to a trail we'd been meaning to check out. We were losing the light so didn't go as far we wanted, but the good news is that trails have not yet been closed generally so we can easily go back.

We saw a moose!

We dedicated Saturday of our Jasper long weekend to Moraine. Moraine Canyon is about 15 minutes outside Jasper, with Moraine Lake another 30 minutes past that.

We knew an ice hike to frozen falls would not be possible because of the lack of frozen-ness but had heard the loop around the canyon is still a nice hike. I am SO glad we decided to go anyway. There were actually several spots where we could climb down to the bottom of the canyon, some of which was dry and some had water in both free-flowing and frozen varieties. Not very concerned about bears this time of year, we downloaded trail maps to the kids' phones and let them loose. They were still very eager to collect steps and thus treats, so they left us in the dust, although they did sometimes double back to check on us and gain more steps. One of the most fun stops was in a cave that had what looked like ice stalagmites rising from the ground. The kids got behind it, and the glow from one of the phone flashlights through the ice looked ghostly. It was lovely. We also got to see waterfalls both frozen and running, and falls both far away and ones we walked right up to. 

After the hike and some lunch, we headed toward Moraine Lake. The hike we ended up choosing was called the Moose Lake Loop, and it leads from Moraine lake to Moose Lake. The signs that have been features in social media advising folks not to let moose lick their cars - we passed that sign and it gave us hope for a possible moose sighting. 

It was supposed to be a decent snowshoe, but we are learning that either this just isn't the year for snowshoes or trails generally get too packed down. Within the first 500 meters or so Zoltan had a total meltdown and removed his snowshoes. Alex soon followed. Even Terry eventually decided they weren't working for him and took his off. There was a woman and her son that were following the same trail at roughly the same pace - we'd stop for something and they would pass us, then a bit farther up vice versa. They saw two moose on the road on the way in, we must have just missed them. Awww!

Things definitely perked up once the family has shed their snowshoes and we got some beautiful views of mountains across the lake. On the drive back to the hotel we finally crossed the last Alberta wildlife off our bingo sheet - there were moose!  One in the road, and one off on the shoulder. They looked like a mom and baby. We got a couple of photos from my phone - we were not about to stop and have Terry go around back to get the good camera. 

For dinner we tried the DownStream. My smoked duck was extraordinary and was even more delicious as a sandwich the next day. All the other meals were decent but nothing to write home about. All in all, it was a very satisfying day.

The trip home the next day was uneventful, with a few photo/leg-stretch breaks but no hikes. I took lots of mediocre photos through the dirty windshield of stunning mountains, then a new set of stunning mountains. There is a reason this is considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world.

Jasper: Take Two

It is (1) our second successful trip to Jasper and (2) our second attempt to visit Jasper in the winter. So for both of these reasons we should give thanks.

We skipped out on Thanksgiving and instead took advantage of the outdoors still being available to us despite some (necessary) tightening of COVID measures in Alberta.

Conditions on the Columbia Icefields - the main road between Lake Louise and Jasper - can be changeable and it is strongly advised not to be on the road after dark. Thus we kept our stops to short bio breaks and a couple of leg stretches. We did take a slightly longer break at Athabasca Falls, to see them partly frozen, but by that point you're practically in town anyway.

We got to the hotel slightly before check-in time and were able to get directly into our room. We had looked at a few Jasper restaurants and honed in on some top contenders. We were hungry pretty early on, so had no problem getting into The Raven Bistro. Everything was excellent and we both recommend it and plan to go back. The major highlights were the Spanish spiced wings and the Mission Hill Vineyards Chardonnay out of Kelowna. My bison short ribs were equally delicious as an open faced sandwich for a later lunch.

The hotel had a "to go" style breakfast with yogurts, granola bars, etc. And egg and cheese on English muffin. I'll be honest, those were inedible. On the other hand, the kids fought over the chocolate muffins, so it was a win some, lose some situation.

Sad to learn the lakes were not frozen enough for any ice skating, we still decided to head toward Pyramid Lake for some hiking. Terry and I are in different teams for the Consulate's Step Challenge (teams of 5 "walking" to the North Pole by end of the year) and we decided to incentivize the kids to do more hiking, less whining, by bribing them with sweets for the number of steps they take. We created monsters, but we also took in our fastest family hike times ever due to the aforementioned reduction in complaining and (for Zoltan anyway) a decline in "I'm so tired I need a rest! My feet hurt! I can't go any further!"  

We returned to the hotel ready to lunch on leftovers, but there was no power at the hotel at all. We decided to eat lunch out but there was no power anywhere in the town of Jasper.  So we returned to the room and gave thanks for the bread, peanut butter, jam, fruit and other snacks we had brought. Minimally fortified, we decided that sitting around a dark and gloomy hotel room (gray day, no lights) was not a great way to spend the vacation. We decided on a hike that started from the Fairmont Jasper Park. As we drove through the gates of the Fairmont, we were stopped by the staff who did temperature checks and asked COVID questions. They said if we just wanted to hike/stay outside we didn't need to do anything but if we thought we might stop in for a bite to eat we'd need the checks. The Fairmont had POWER!?!? Stowed that thought away for in case the problem wasn't fixed before dinner, because other than the Fairmont we didn't know of any electricity between Jasper and the next town, Hinton, an hour away.  The hike was short, and not too strenuous, and a much more pleasant way to spend an hour or two. Upon our return to the parking lot, I poked into the hotel and learned there's a bar, not a cafe, and probably no hot cocoa. So I called our hotel Jasper to learn that yes power is back on!  So we headed "home."

The family's first COVID test

 Zoltan complained about his throat feeling weird on Sunday. On Monday morning he had a bit of a fever, lots of sneezing, and congestion. Absolutely positive it was a cold, I checked the Alberta health care system's advice and discovered the fever puts him in the category of a core COVID symptom. He could quarantine for 10 days + feeling better, or have a COVID test + feeling better, before being allowed to return to school. We chose the test.

The system found a testing location relatively close by (in an old Greyhound bus terminal!) and there were plenty of open slots. I chose a time that had more openings, figuring fewer people would be showing up then. It was a very orderly process. When we walked in, we sanitized, were given disposable masks to put on, then sanitized our hands again before being sent to the intake area. The lines moves quickly for the number of people. At what was once a ticket counter I provided Zoltan's health info and received some paperwork, then we got into the next line. He ended up with a back-of-the-throat swab as opposed to a up-the-nose one, which probably felt better. We were advised the text informing us of his results were processed through an automated system and could some through in the middle of the night. Well warned.

Of course by the next day his temperature never rises to "fever" level and he's basically bouncing off the walls in perfect runny nose, coughing health. Waiting for the results. 

The next morning I come down to a text on my phone "URGENT from AHS." My heart was pounding as I had never even considered he'd actually have COVID but URGENT sounded, well, urgent. Nope. It was negative.

Still kept him home that day due to lots of Kleenex and coughing. More bouncing off the walls, decided keeping him home was a bad idea. Sent him to school the next day with a box of Kleenex and a bag of cough drops.

The garden just keeps on giving

 We've brought the herbs indoors and dug up every last vine and plant that had produced, or promised yet failed to produce, food. A few weeks ago we had a tentative dusting, then an earnest full week of snow that killed anything still living. I brought in every tomato that had even a blush of red. Today the very last one adorned my salad - we are now in grape-tomatoes-from-the-store-til-next-summer season. And all that snow melted during a week of above-freezing temps, which was sort of annoying but also made for a more comfortable Halloween.

We have been alerted we got off the wait list for the other community garden where we had requested a plot so we will have two plots next year - in opposite directions from the house - although the new one is also on the way to the source of all rhubarb, so there may be even more muffins and jam next year.

Speaking of which, last week I took a hearty portion of the rhubarb we'd frozen and made a pie. I used some of the pectin we'd recently made (from apple peels and cores) in an effort to keep down the wateriness. It was significantly better than the last pie, but still waterier than I'd hoped. And surprisingly a bit too tart. And then it got moldy in 3 days so we tossed most of it. We now have just enough rhubarb in the freezer for another batch of muffins, which will wait for deeper into the winter.

And the highlight of garden delights: beer brewed with some of the garden's fresh hops. It has a bit of the taste of a sour, and is absolutely my favorite of all the beers Terry has ever brewed that I can remember. I may have to hoard it and hide it. Luckily for me he just bottled a batch of something else he may like more, and has a third batch on deck that I won't like.  Because he never brought a ladder to the garden, many (most?) hops growing tall went unharvested - an error we will not make next year. 

We still need to check out our second garden plot, figure the size and which direction is toward the sun. Then we get to enjoy a gardener's favorite winter activity - planning for next year!

First snowy hike of the season

It was meant to be the first snowshoe of the season, but there wasn't enough snow and what was there was pretty packed down. Because we meant to snowshoe we picked a pretty short trail to get the kids used to their new, larger snowshoes. Johnson Lake was beautiful, as pretty much everything in Banff is, with picture perfect photo ops right off the parking lot - things we keep in mind in case people are able to travel in the next 2 years and either or both of our mothers visit.

The trail is flat, just circling the lake. The ice was tempting to the kids, although it was clearly not strong enough and the entire center was still liquid. There were minor snowbanking moments, really just getting used to the way we hike in the winter. Some complaining of course, but even that felt perfunctory and not really heartfelt. It was a perfect day, blue skied and crisp - a perfect antidote to the gray relentless snowing of the last week.

The exciting wildlife sighting today was a fox!

After the loop, we popped over to Two Jack Lake where the kids hung out in the car, eating their lunch and trying not to bug each other too much, while Terry and I wandered a bit along its shores. 

Snow!

 We've had snow on the ground for a solid week now. Alex's days of riding her bike to school are probably over until May (assuming kids can actually continue in-person education until then). I just read this quotation and had to laugh, as we certainly embrace the snow in this family!

If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life 

but still the same amount of snow.

Dinosaur Provincial Park

In every adventure we have had since arriving in Calgary, we've left the city and headed west - to the mountains, towards British Columbia. For the first time ever, we went east. For two and a half hours it was a flat and boring as Kansas (not my observation, but the observation of colleagues from Kansas). But then, as we drove to the park's parking lot, the terrain opened up to a surreal, Martian-like landscape. Hoodoos!

I knew the park was large and that we were allowed to climb the hoodoos, unlike in Drumheller, home of the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Fun fact - so many people don't look at maps before heading out that scores of tourists find themselves at Dinosaur Park, thinking they can just pop down the road to Drumheller and are very sad to learn they are more than 2 hours away from each other, that the Provincial Park home page for Dinosaur has a huge notice explaining this fact. 

As the name of the park suggests, many dinosaur fossils have been found and continue to be found on the grounds. Protocol for finding fossils is to leave them alone and absolutely no removing them from the park. We did not find any. There are two fossil displays: in one, the bones, mud and other artifacts of nature are preserved exactly as the first explorer found the skeleton and the second is a replica of a dig site, with the tools, bones, and detritus of human presence (mostly old water bottles). We climbed and descended, lost a member of the party and found him again, and finished the day with ice cream, about an hour later than we had expected to be at the park.

As we drove in, we grumbled that we would never return. An hour into the day, we resigned ourselves to definitely coming back at least once.

A busy weekend

It turns out to have been a good thing that we had already told the kids we'd head out for our Canmore bike ride later in the morning, as we didn't get to bed until after 1am. We didn't sleep as late as we wanted, but we did sleep as late as our bodies and our little Stomp-a-lots let us.  

We got to Canmore around lunchtime, with the goal to check out one of the restaurants we hadn't yet tried. Our original plan was to take the patio seating, but, well, it was pretty cold. Mountains tend to be colder than prairies.

After our fortification, and a stop at the Canmore Visitors Center for maps, we were on our way! We took a route along the river, and headed toward where there was supposed to be an abandoned mine.  We didn't really find the mine, but did find the abandoned coal car to the side of the bike path. What fall colors exist here (shades of yellow and green) were out in full force. We kept stopping to admire the trees, the deep blue skies, and the river.

Next morning I was up early for a hike with a friend. Terry's Sundays are booked with football and Alex hates hiking so I decided to stop moping and get out there. We headed toward an area where there are three major hiking routes within a couple of kilometers of each other - we heard these particular hikes get very crowded so we wanted choices. 

Why these hikes, you may ask, if they get so crowded? Larches. Before you Google that, a larch is a deciduous tree that changes color and drops its needles. They are comparatively rare, and even around here - a haven for them apparently - there are only specific pockets of space where one can find them on a hiking path.

Anyway, it was a bit of a comedy of errors relating to the overcorwdedness, long line for bathrooms, difficulty finding parking, and then we hadn't communicated well where we'd meet back up so I was by the bathrooms looking for her, while she found where I had parked the car and waited for me there. All this to say, we actually started hiking more than half an hour later than planned. And then we realized the trail we planned to take (Pocaterra Cirque) was (1) like a traffic jam full of humanity and (2) super slippery from all those feet packing down the snow into ice. Yep, Snow/ice all over the trail. On September 27.

After about 10 minutes we turned around and decided we'd hike a different trail. We made a beeline for the least trafficked of the three (Arethusa Cirque). There were a number of fits and starts there too, many photos taken at the earliest stages of the hike and many references to Alltrails because to be honest, the trail was often not obvious. I was so grateful to have downloaded the route in advance!

Adventures in baking

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, a much preferable holiday to celebrate than Columbus Day, although the coincidence of the dates is food for thought. 

We were invited to an outdoor, socially distanced Thanksgiving dinner.  The kids have been really rocking their baking game, so we set them to be in charge of our contribution, dessert. They decided to bake it today, rather than on any of the other three days that have passed since they last attended school (they do go to school on Fridays, sometimes!)

They were preheating the oven and came to me to see if I could figure out why it wasn't warming up. I tried a few things, then called in the actual engineer-type in the family. He also could not discover the reason, but we did confirm there was nothing that was easily troubleshooted (troubleshot?) We had a couple of options and had to decide how to proceed. The broiler would turn on, so whatever the problem was, it was at the bottom of the oven. We didn't want to disturb our landlord on Thanksgiving, and no repair person would be working today anyway.

One option was to ask a friend to use her oven. I would be driving her to the dinner, so figured if there's any risk of COVID or transference we'd already be taking risks with her. We decided to hold that for last resort.

What we did do, and didn't seem to go too badly, was to use the broiler to our advantage. We'd turn the broiler on to heat the oven and placed the oven thermometer where it was easily visible (note: the extra chore Zoltan did a month or so ago to clean the oven door was definitely paying off!) We put the cookies in and stationed one family member to keep an eye on the cookies/the oven thermometer, turning the broiler off/on or opening the oven door as the temperature wavered more than 10 F degrees in either direction. A few cookies got a bit browner on the top than ideal, but nothing burned and they all tasted as good as ever.

Creative problem solving for the win!

Chasing the aurora

When we lived in St Petersburg, we took an Arctic vacation in Lapland to cross off the one item on Terry's bucket list. We saw an aurora borealis. Turns out, that only whet our appetites for more.

Within the first month of our arrival in Calgary, we were directed to a Facebook page (yes, that is still around) for folks who check out scientific data, make guesses about where good viewing might be, and head out in the middle of the night in hopes of catching a view. People even do this on a work night! We were super stoked, pumped up to be just like these dedicated individuals whose stunning photography we would marvel over the next day.

But there were always hesitations. It is the middle of the night, usually, and we had work the next day. Plenty of times folks would post about going out and never finding her (Aurora). What would we do with the kids? If no sleep on a work night was a dicey proposition, no sleep on a school night is a hard "No." So we spent our first few months just watching and reading. We learned a few things, like Bz going South is good but if it goes North you may as well go back to bed (except that it can suddenly plummet South at any moment, you never know, Aurora is a fickle one). After October there really weren't any more auroras near Calgary, although to the way north it was still a nearly nightly occurrence. We learned about solar flares and solar minimums and lots of reasons why the aurora was probably going into hibernation. 

We got sad and worried we had totally missed our opportunity. 

Turns out 2019 was a solar minimum, which means we are now on a 5 or 6-ish year cycle toward the solar maximum. So things can only get better!

Back to Friday night. In the evening there was chatter that conditions looked good for an aurora, so after the kids went to bed I was back on Facebook seeing what people had to say. Some were already posting photos of the aurora from locations within 30-45 minutes of our very house! We got excited. I installed Facebook on my phone so I could track where people said they saw stuff while en route. We took the general advice that is given every time a newbie asks "Where to go?" - which is "head north to get out of the city, then go east or west." Folks were posting photos from due west and from due north, so we started off with a goal in the northwesterly direction. 

We did pull over on the side of the road once because there was something hazy and we weren't sure it was anything. Nothing green was visible to the naked eye but when we looked at the photos later it was unmistakable.  But that's nothing to stay up all night over, so we kept hunting.  At a crossroad where we were about to turn, we decide to pull over and check out the sky. And there she was.

Last camping trip 2020: Jasper (part 3)

 

On our last morning I woke earlier than anyone else and couldn't sleep. But it was of course in the 40s and that doesn't work for me. So I did something for the very first time - built the campfire! I don't care that the kids learned how to build a fire during their survival camp and the oldest is 12. I had never built the fire myself before and I am super proud of how it turned out. Another fancy thing we tried this time was making pancakes. We had the wets mixed in a jar in the cooler, and the dries in a larger jar with the other nonperishables. We figured we could just pour the one into the other, shake it up, and voila! It actually did turn out pretty much like that. Our homemade blueberry syrup on top and hot beverages for everyone ... it was a great start to the day.

For our return trip we planned to take a number of short stops - essentially just stepping away from the car park, snap some photos and get back in the car.

Stop 1: Athabasca Falls. There is a relatively short hike into a canyon and by "potholes" created by the rushing water. We did not take the hike. We mostly wandered from viewpoint to viewpoint, and were rewarded with a rainbow produced from the mist of the falls. The falls are reported to freeze in the winter, so I see a second visit in our future!

Stop 2: Sunwapta Falls. I can't remember what made these falls seem particularly spectacular in my research. They were nice but when you're made checking out all the local waterfalls a priority, you start to get a bit jaded. I believe these were the falls where people made their way to the rocky edge just by the waterfalls for their photo ops, and I did mutter to Terry "And this is when we get to see someone go over the falls. I can't watch."

Stop 3: Athabasca Glacier. There was a lot of uncertainty, given the information we could find online, about whether we could actually get anywhere near the glacier without buying the Columbia Icefields package where they bus you over and you walk on the glacier. (when driving away, we saw the private drive for the tour). It was a bit of a hike to get to the point where the path to the glacier is roped off - and between the rope and the glacier was a summertime river so really we were never getting anywhere near the thing. We could still photograph it of course, and make plans to allow time for the tour next trip. The other interesting although disheartening thing is that starting from where you'd turn off the road (2.2 km from the parking lot) and the entire drive-then-walk to the general glacier vicinity, are signs proclaiming where the glacier was in the past. It would have met the turnoff in 1935, and the ropes are where it was in 2014. That's a lot of melt for one (admittedly long) lifetime!

 

Last camping trip 2020: Jasper (part 2)

 

The next morning was not as chilly as I'd expected, or perhaps I am getting used to nearly-freezing sleeping temps.  We had decided on a lazy morning, and Terry put the new dual-burner camp stove to good use with eggs and bacon sandwiches on bagels, as well as coffee, tea and hot cocoa. We prepped sandwiches, apples and granola bars (homemade - Zoltan got the recipe from the kayak guide featured in our last vacation) for the bike ride. Wapiti campground has a bike path leading directly out of the site and up to town or to a series of lakes. As none of us are particularly energetic or skilled bicyclists we really had no particular idea of how far we would get. It also turned out my new bike has a different valve than the other bikes so Terry was not able to add air to my tires. I really felt it on the ride. 

The path winds through woods and spends part of its time just off the road. Alex noticed an elk in the woods down a bit of a ravine from the bike path, so we stopped to gawk at that. Right around the time we needed to stop for lunch we stumbled onto a rocky riverfront, so we took a break and broke our bread. Terry and I also had a discussion about whether to head toward the lakes - the original, optimistic plan - or just go to town. Town won out.

This is where I sing the praises of Vicious Cycle in downtown Jasper. They loaned me their bike pump and showed me what I was doing wrong with my valve and pumping.  What a difference a tire full of air makes!

I then met up at Terry and the kids hanging out under a tree by the information center. Very cozy. We hit the candy store and the grocery store before starting the ride back to the campsite. Other than lagging way behind because I don't like to go fast on the downhill, there were no incidents or mishaps (yay!). 

Dinner was baked potato, steak, and some raw veggies. My brilliant move of the day: the apples we'd brought for snacks were mealy and not tasty. So we cut them up, I sacrificed some of the sugar I brought for my tea, and we threw them over the fire when we pulled dinner off. Just in time for dessert we had yummy baked apples.