7th Week in Canada


Advertisement
Canada's flag
North America » Canada » British Columbia » Panorama
May 25th 2010
Published: May 25th 2010
Edit Blog Post

Adam's Blog:
Our week in Invermere has been leisurely as we settled into our new home. We are staying in a purpose built development called Lakeside Meadows - approx. 10 years old. It seems talking to locals that when they opend up a new road across the Rockies from Banff/Columbia Valley, Invermere became the beneficiary (or as some locals would put it basketcase) of development. Alberta & people of Calgary had been going through a boom period (their 3rd in past 50 years), as a result of Oil & Gas resulting in many cashed up Calgarians - at least up until the financial crisis in 08/09. Many have bought into develpments such as Lakeside and you can see why... Beautiful (log/natural stone alpine style) homes with panoramic views, on estates near to exquisite golf courses, private community recreation centres, parklands etc....With Invermere 3 hrs away from Calgary it makes for the perfect weekender. Budget seems to start at $400k for 2 brm condos(apartments) to $1m+ homes...so tastes for all.
Maureen & David's home was beautifully presented and with a private view overlooking the nearby trails and Lake Windermere, across to the snow capped Purcell Mountains.

The weather had been nice mid 20's to start with and after getting unpacked, food & drink we explored the local area. The Recreation centre had an indoor pool / hot tub / games room / gym and adult lounge - all overlooking the playground and oval, so plenty of time was spent there by all. We had the place to ourselves as it was very quiet all around.

On Tuesday - it was finally time for me to turn 40 so after Canadian Pancakes for breakky we headed out for the day stopping on the lakefront, walking the shops and eventually arriving at Eagle Ranch Golf Resort for a relaxing lunch on the patio deck. They cetainly know how to look after your needs - then again $120 for a round probably pays for that. (I saw an interesting special at one of the golf courses advertising " For just $99 you get two free rounds".....what the?)
After lunch I was dropped off for a massage which the left shoulder was needing - having overstrained some muscles getting luggage out of the car, then we all came back together at the Rec Club for a party. A great day out.

The weather turned a bit sour for the rest of the week so we stayed indoors for most of it...although one day we took the chance to walk down to the marina and then back along one of the many paved trails. We were in the middle of nowhere when stopped by a property worker in a golf cart advising that a Grizzly Bear had been seen in the area and to be careful...then he took off....That spooked us, so we didn't stay around for long - getting back home....Now to put this in perspective- considering Aussies are seen to be very Steve Irwinesque when it comes to dangerous animals - we did some checking and there have been something like 20+ deaths from Bears in Canada in the last decade! (Great White Sharks have nothing on this) - including one less than three years ago in the Panorama district of a walker. Grizzlies being the big Daddy up here. As it turned out the grizzly was 5km down the road, crossing a creek when it headed into an RV camp....the workers tried to move it back to the woods - some guy came out of his cabin with a coffee onto his deck, when the grizzly ran within 5 metres past him.....'Does a bear watching camper...$h!t in the woods? you betcha'.

The Long Weekend for Victoria Day arrived and along with it droves of Calgarians for their 3 day weekend. The place was packed, which was a good thing......so think Qld - Noosa, Vic - Sorrento, NSW - Central Coast and you get some idea. All of a sudden the kids had 30+ to play with at the park...the pool and hot tub was full of teenagers and you could smell smoked meat on the bbq's and fire pits lighting up the village. Two housse down from us the Lakeside property developer was arriving in to his mini mansion for the weekend for a party with his paragliding mates so our street had a dozen cars outfront....All up it was a nice to see although we are now glad to have returned to normal for this week.

We have one more week here before heading over the Rockies to Canmore...our laptop screen has gone kaput but we manage to use a monitor, the wifi for emails at the Rec centre and I am at the local library entering in this blog. As we didn't get in our car on Monday arvo heading back to Calgary, we have become adopted citizens of Invermere....pop'n 3500 + 4.

bye for now.


Additional photos below
Photos: 11, Displayed: 11


Advertisement



Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0612s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb