The build up to our Canadian trip was somewhat intense with studies, exams, parties, shows, concerts, meals, birthdays, work trips, and other stuff so it's fair to say that when we arrived at Manchester Airport in the early hours of Friday 25-JUL-08, we were ALL completely knackered!
We were picked up at home at 05:00 and at the check-in desk before 06:00. The all-new security process meant we had no hold ups and by 07:30 we'd had breakfast, shopped in duty-free and were patiently waiting for our flight to call as planned for 09:00. Oh well... he who hopes... Of course we had a delay, but in the end it was only about an hour. Sarah just sat reading in a trance when she wasn't actually asleep on the seating. Katie and Linda took full advantage of the electric massage chairs in the departure lounge and by the time we boarded the plane "That Tosser" Peter, the GCSE's and the SATS exams were just faint memories.
We had a long day, a very long day as the plane had to call at Gatwick to pick up further passengers and of course, it encountered more delays. By the time we landed in Calgary we'd actually been up for more than 17 hours and actually sat on the plane for more than 12 hours. So HOW nice was it to be met at the airport by Janet and Eamonn!! Friendly smiling welcoming faces, a HUGE truck, and big hugs that said more than words could ever do.
So at this point, before I get into the stuff we saw and the things we did, I'd like to say "Thanks!!" to our generous hosts. We were SO well looked after and made to feel as though their beautiful home was our own. Their warmth and generosity are bottomless and they did SO much to ensure that we enjoyed our visit and that we got to see and do and eat and drink all the right things. Seriously... Thank You both SO much!
Our first call was into downtown Calgary to pick up a new lens for my camera that I'd ordered in advance and for Sarah to buy herself a camera with some of the money that she'd gotten for her birthday earlier that week. I was perhaps a little bit excited by this occasion, (well.. once a boy...). Then we were driven by Lily (and some big Irish/Londoner) out of town and through the fascinating scenery of green and yellow fields, red barns, huge great trucks pulling 2 or 3 trailers, more raptors than you could shake a big lens at and windmills, sweet white picket fences (some with dozens of baseball caps strewn accross them), horses and dusty tailwinds behind 4x4's at the side of the main highway. We eventually arrived at Crystal Shores Point and were welcomed by the three bears toasting marshmallows on the front porch. No... really!
We had a gorgeous Chinese banquet and a few beers and wines and it was great to be there at last relaxing and catching up and to be able to explore the house and to slide around on the wooden floors (well.. Linda did, and Sarah did... and Katie did too... and I strongly suspect that Eamonn does too, all the time... when nobody's watching!).
Next morning we woke up (at about 03:00 of course, then again at around 04:43, 05:50 and 06:02, etc) to the sound of a train bellowing out his signal in the distance and to the stunning and more than welcome sunshine, then we peeked out at the lake scene behind the house. What can one say? It was great to actually be looking at this scene in the flesh after watching it develop over the last 8 or 9 months via the blog. * Look at the house in the top left of this picture and remember it for later.
It was so nice to see the girls relaxing in the garden sunshine at every opportunity. They've worked SO hard this year for their exams and they deserved a good rest. Sarah read about 6 or 8 books during the holiday, one of which was Peter Kay's autobiography which she would just burst out loud laughing with every 10 mins.
Okotoks, what's all that about then? It's a developing community that deeply cares about 'sustainability' and it's very pretty and is populated by around about 20,000 people living in and around a small town of about 120 years history.
'Okatok' was a word given by the 'Blackfoot' people meaning 'rock'. About 10km southwest of Okotoks we saw 'The Big Rock'. A glacial 'erratic' great lump of Quartzite that came to rest in the middle of a meadow some 18,000 years ago having been carried over decades or centuries by a glacier, from the Rocky Mountains. It's a very pretty place indeed and the sight of this great big stone in the middle of nowhere is quite thought provoking. How the hell did that get here? etc...
Well, it probably got broken off it's origins which is likely to be the side of Mount Edith Cavell up near Jasper by some shifting ice, and then hitched a ride on some more melting ice on the Athabasca glacier, and when it had eventually all melted away it suddenly found itself in the praries surrounded by beautiful flowers and grasses and Gophers, simple as that. Bear in mind that it took us about 8 hours of driving to make the same journey a few days later! Can anyone else see the heads and faces of two birds of prey in these rocks?
The ladies stood in front of the rocks to give the idea of scale... It's about 40m x 20m x 10m and is the largest of the trail of erratics that were left behind all those years ago when the ice melted. A trail that streches from Jasper National Park all the way to the foothills of Montana in North America. Once again... How the...?
Then they just decided to pose as if for 'Hello' magazine in front of the Paparazzi... don't they all look fab! For those in any doubt, left to right we have Sarah, Linda, Katie and Janet.
Our next port of call was Saskatoon Farm which is only a very short drive from J&E's. Saskatoons are berries about the size of Blueberries and similar in shape and appearance and texture. The flavour however is quite different and at this farm among many other things one can buy pies and pastries and preservatives of Saskatoon berries and even go out to pick your own. The entrance is grand and makes you feel as though you are out in the wild west. Gophers are abundant (and very cute) on the approach road and I couldn't help but think of the fairground game (and later computer game) of 'Whack the Gopher' everytime one of them popped up. What...?
While at the farm we saw unbelievable hanging baskets, loads of them, if only we could grow them like this:-
and there are sculptures and antiques to see and buy. On the day we visited there was an exhibition and sale of Zimbabwean sculpture, very interesting, very hot and very good grazing for the mosquitos that tried to eat me all in one sitting, (greedy buggers!).
It's a lovely place and it was so nice just to stroll around in the sunshine among the beautiful flowers and the interesting 'stuff' as we eased into our holiday. The cafeteria wall was decorated with tea pots, actual tea pots cemented into the wall, never seen that done before and now I'm trying hard not to post yet another picture on here...
Back at 'home' I started to play with my new toy (lens) and took full advantage of it's ability as we all tried to see the house accross the lake which appeared from a distance to have it's own beach. * Oh yes... It has it's own beach!
We shopped the next day with much excitement as we did the whole Wal*Mart thing, and Sobeys, and Candian Tire, and Starbucks, and and and... Where else could you go down one aisle for your potatoes and the next aisle for your new gun, then along two for your 14 gallon carton of chocolate milk and next one more for your petrol powered snow blower and a fly-fishing kit? Not Tesco that's for sure! One thing you don't want to do on your journey to Downtown Okotoks is arrive at the railway crossing just as the lights start to flash and the train approaches. These trains are HUGE! They take ages to pass but I can't deny that they are interesting to sit and watch... They pull all sorts of stuff along behind them. Even if they do sound their horns at rediculous hours of the morning and night, I enjoyed watching them. This one took around 5 mins to pass.
But anyway... We made it to Starbucks before Sarah burst with anticipation and all was then well. This would be the first of MANY calls at this establishment. "Two Double Chocolate Chip Cream Based Frappacinos and Two Marshmallow Rice Crispy Cakes please!" Ahhh the joys of being on holiday :-)
After the shopping trip we arrived home and Eam tried to hide in the back of the car just as he saw the amounts of biscuits, buns, beer, wine and chocolate milk in all the bags and it started to dawn on him that we were going to be here for a while. The girls had already taken over the 'Bonus' room and it looked like 8 teenagers had moved in.
The Wii got some stick and Sarah and Katie grew more and more competitive and more and more loud with every Oreo cookie comsumed. I think this one was boxing, thank heavens it's only a game or there would have been teeth and blood and snot everywhere. You know what I mean... Arry?
The natural progression from this was of course to go down to the basement and play darts. This was brilliant!! We teamed up, EFC - Sarah, Linda and Me versus LFC - Jan, Katie and Eam. Oh how the ale flowed, it was just like being in a 1980's St.Helens Pub. Paul Young and Spandau Ballet blasting from the speakers and people (dressed in pyjamas and tracksuits) enjoying each others company on the surface whilst actually hoping to beat the pants off each other at the darts board. EFC actually beat the reds on this occasion, my Dad would have been proud to watch his boy in action :-)
The quality of the throwing was, er, let's say, variable. The quality of the throwing styles and stances was intriguing (ok, hilarious!). Katie seemed to be playing her own game and ignored the board in favour of the nice new plasterboard walls and Sarah caused Eamonn to feel weak with the power of her throwing, in fact it was like she was firing an Excocet and at one point she actually pierced the wall and if you look carefully you can see the boy from next door peeking through the damage. (You can click on any of the pictures to see it full size and then just go 'back' to the blog.)
The step ladder was for Linda to mark the scores on the board. Oh... the marking was hilarious! Two grown women bickering about the best way to subtract 8 from 10. Anyway, not that it got competitive at all but Janet summoned up some spiritual inspiration in the latter stages of the game. "Take yer time... Your forty pounds is safe in my pocket... keep out of the red..."
Next morning Linda was as excited as a five year old with a new box of pens as it was time to call at the mail box to see if anything had arrived and to post off a birthday card for our niece Tabbi back in the UK. Linda had had to threaten Katie with a kitchen knife in order to settle who would get to open the mailbox, you'd never know that from this photograph but the language and the threats and violence.... Shocking!
Our next day out was to High River, a little town where Janet works. The journey was a bit stressful and I just don't know how Janet copes with this commute every day? Bear in mind that this is the main highway, so I suppose it's the Okotoks equivalent of the M6/M1 interchange! Eamonn was fast asleep when I took these pictures but it really didn't matter, we didn't see another car for 15 mins and there was no need to turn the steering wheel for at least 22 mins by which time he'd woken up again and increased his heartbeat to ooohhh.. maybe 54bpm? Just to enable him to indicate and turn Lily off the highway ;-)
When a lady called Katie Quirk arrived at the banks of the Highwood River in 1882 she told her husband, "John, I will go no further." Some say she was so happy with what she saw that she could find no reason to travel on. I can see why. High River is a lovely little place. We left the car in the park and strolled along the banks of the river in the sunshine. We later returned to sit in the park and eat our lunch among the trees and the black squirrels. All around us there were family gatherings and (gas!) barbeques going on between the picnic tables and RV's. These people are prepared for anything!
The town centre has a nice, gentle, peaceful, old feel about it, it's very quiet, there's an old Canadian Pacific Railway Station which has been turned into a museum and various carriages around one of which is used as a cafe. We ate in a fabulous cafe called 'South Fork' on another visit to High River which was just like something from out of a 1970's Burt Reynolds film with Formica and Gingham. It probably hadn't ever been decorated or changed since it was built back when, but the food and service were superb. Bean Soup and Chilli Dogs, Marshmellow Pie and endless supplies of chocolate milkshake and luke warm coffee. You couldn't help but feel at home in the place.
The town has some murals on the sides of the buildings which depict historical events and significant families or individuals. A bit like The Falls Road in Belfast really but without the feeling of sorrow and menace. This one below is a celebration of ChuckWagon racing. A truly western tradition which gets the heart pumping. The names along the wall are local racing families.
This 'Wolves' sculpture in the main street is stunning. It was carved by artist Lorne Eadie from the base of a dying tree to preserve the history of the tree and replace it (the tree) as a permanent placemark in the town. The creative director for the piece was Rocky Barstad. It's true! This tree was part of the Alberta Heritage Tree Project which aims to recognise and preserve trees that have community, cultural and historic significance. What a genuinely nice thing to do.
Well that's about it for episode 1. Only another 10 to go in order to share the highlights of our Canadian holiday with you. We decided to leave High River at this point because as you can see below it was getting a bit cloudy.
