DAY-02 Into The Canadian Rockies

Day-02: Friday, September 4, 2015

Starting Location: Delta Lodge at Kananaskis, AB

Interim Location: Kananaskis Lake Provincial Park, AB

Ending Location: Delta Lodge at Kananaskis, AB

We awoke to the expected rain, a light rain but enough to shroud the nearby peaks in fog-like clouds. With another fire log on the hearth to knock off the chill we updated emails and other eInfo before deciding it was time for breakfast.

Our reservation included a continental breakfast so around 8:30 AM we headed down to join the crowd of similarly aged people doing similar things in their retirement, traveling to parks and places for this month anyway, in the Rockies of Canada.

We met the Olsens from Minnesota and as it would be Fort Meyers, FL in the winter. We talked photography with Linda and her husband from Spokane. There was one thing missing from the group or at least amongst the people we met; there were no Boston Red Sox caps, shirts or other gear. Well for that matter no one was wearing VT gear either. It's seldom that a Red Sox or a VT Hokie outfit doesn't show up.

As for Linda and photography, after about 10 minutes I screamed "UNCLE", you win; we were talking of animals and scenery and how many pictures we took as well as what kind of cameras and lens we had but all that aside when she mentioned shooting RAW images (I still don't know what that means) and attending 20 or more "Art Wolfe Photo Workshop Vacations" with her husband, well that was enough. For me I could brag about photography sessions and learnings with Denny and Pete but Art Wolfe, that's outside our league.

By 11 AM Sheila and I had packed the car for our day trip in the Kananaskis Valley. We proceeded from the lodge south on HWY-40 toward Kananaskis Lake.

Within a mile or so we came upon a pair of deer, yes probably similar, perhaps distant cousins, to the deer noted for eating our roses and bulb flowers at Kitty Hawk.

The rain was constant though light but enough to make this an "inside the car" day.

We stopped at a campground store for a map and drinks. According to the shop keepers the summer season has ended and the winter has yet to begin. We picked up a few things and resumed our travels. One of our acquisitions was a bag of Special Edition Stanley Cup Oreo Cookies. I didn't know Nabisco allowed anything other that the Oreo logo on the cookies.

Kananaskis Lake was pretty much deserted but clearly a favorite of boaters and hikers.

En-route back to the lodge we spotted a large bird alongside the highway. Turns out it was a Spruce Grouse, a new bird for my personal list of sightings.

Further along Sheila spotted Mountain Goats munching their way along the highway. Yes you read that right, Sheila, nature woman herself, spotted the goats.

By 3:00 PM we were back at the lodge and kicking back and just relaxing. Well that was until the afternoon activity of meet & greet over drinks and appetizers. We stopped in briefly and chatted up those of our like kind as had occurred at breakfast. This afternoon a large tour group, about 30 people came through; it was a Tauck Tour apparently doing much the same as we would be doing over the next few days in the Banff and Lake Louise area.












For dinner we reserved a table at the Season's Steakhouse, perhaps the best restaurant in the lodge complex. Though I had hoped for a glass or even a bottle of Cupcake vintage wine, it was not to be, so I had to settle for a Schug Sauvignon Blanc, nice but clearly not comparable to a good glass of Cupcake (take that however you might).

As for dinner, after sharing a salad, Sheila had a filet and I had a Bison Rib Eye with a side of Truffle Mac & Cheese.

An added joy for the night was the music of the pianist in Season's. Linda, not the photography Linda, was great, she had a wide and varied repertoire of songs and was all over our requests for Jimmy Buffet and James Taylor. Turns out that Linda is an elementary school music teacher; yes in Canada they still have music classes for the young.  Though she was responsive to our requests, we just could not remember the name of any Rachmaninoff hit songs so we had to leave such classical music for another night.

We were done with dinner by 10 PM or so and returned to the room to burn another fire log before calling the day over.