Elbow Falls & Canada Day

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ELBOW FALLS

I had been advised by my neighbour (while I am over here in Canada) Jana that for a nice little drive and relaxing spot to visit I should check out Elbow Falls, which is only located an 50 minute to an hour drive from Calgary. I finally had a chance to go explore this beautiful little secret a few weeks ago and while it is not really that strenuous for hiking the view itself was very worth while.



My drive took my past Bragg Creek, the place of my infamous bike accident and up towards Kananaskis Country where the further I drove I began to see yet another amazing drive appear before my eyes. This will be a drive for another day but the beautiful green trees and the mountains of the Rockies were very much visible in the later part of my drive. Elbow falls is part of the flow of water from the Rockies along the Elbow River. I found it interesting that the river was quite small in width compared to the vast spaces from bank to bank. In place of flowing water was copious amounts of large silver, white rocks and I just assumed that the water levels were low for this time of year. As I found out from the teachers at school the next day, this look was a result of major flood damage from 2 years ago. The banks had actually spread out as far as the river ran but due to this damage the banks were now alot further apart.



This did not stop a large number of people enjoying many different activities at this picturesque little spot. As a walked along the trails to explore the river to the west I saw a lady reading a book in the shade, families having picnics, a man and his son fish, even people walking their dogs along the rocky remains of the flood. I wanted to walk on but the trail disappeared into the forest and not known where bears and cougars roamed and being completely unprepared if they were about I decided to go back to check out the falls. Head back east I saw on the other side of the bank a group of people quad biking through the forest. While their buzzing sound that flowed through the air like the sound a swarm of bees would make, I couldn't help but think how much fun that would be and maybe look at considering looking into as a future activity.



As I walked along the silver, white rocks and along the flowing Elbow River I began to see the formation of the beautiful Elbow Falls. I was amazed to see people swimming in the water, some people with their deck chairs out o the rocks and soaking up the warmest day Calgary had had in a long while. I had to remember that these people are not blessed with beaches as we are back home so this is as good a spot to swim as any. The falls were quite beautiful and make sure you see them from both sides. There are a couple of nice to climb out to just sit and relax or take that pretty awesome photo but generally this is a great spot to take a lovely lady on a picnic for a nice relaxing date or couple time, to relax and go fishing, or take the family and enjoy the whole surroundings. There was one trail that was sealed off by easy to break through the barriers that I contemplated walking along. I had noticed that the path was quite shallow and the drop on the right hand side was quite steep and thought since I was by myself I probably shouldn't take the risk. Little did I know I would be tackling something alot more challenging and risky in a few weeks time but that is for another blog I will write later on.



Even on the way back towards Bragg Creek, I saw people at different river side spots, sun baking on the silver, white rocks
or with their deck chairs out relaxing by the river, or swimming in the water which still took me a bit of getting used to. I guess we play around in our river water areas too but seeing sun baking on the hard uncomfortable rocks just had me scratching my head.



On the way back I decided to stop in Bragg Creek which I have explained before on my blog that looked like an old country western town in most parts. Dave, the PE Coordinator at work had raved about the ice cream that was sold at the Frontier Candy, and since I am a sucker for a good ice cream and I just happened to be in the area I decided to investigate this little treasure. This little place had a number of different candies like you find in specialised candy stores or the one in the Original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie. It also has a wide range of flavours to choose from. I would guess forty or fifty but its what they have done with the flavours that make the taste bugs tingle on your tongue and your mind ponder the possibilities of combined flavour explosions in your mouth. Dave had raved about the salt caramel and chocolate so I had to get that and I love root beer (or Sarsaparilla for my friends back home) so I had to get that flavour as well. I think I also got caramel choc but I had three different flavours scooped up and pushed down into a waffle cone and eagerly went to pay my $9 at the counter.



This is where once again a simple event turns into an adventure. They only take cash or debit cards! Well I had no cash on me and rarely do as since modern technology has taken over I rely on the swipe or pay wave of my card to do its job. I tried my Aussie Card and that didn't work! I tried my Canadian card and that didn't work. So there I was with ice cream I felt guilty if I licked starting to drip all over my hands and having no ability to pay for it. I asked the man if there was an ATM near by and since his fifth language was English he had a bit of difficulty telling me where I needed to go. I promised him i would return with the money as now this was causing a little scene as it just so happened the store got quite busy at this time. Now some people without morals would have quite simply made the shallow meaningless promise, ate their ice cream and walked off without paying. Not me! I walked around searching for the ATM with my guilty conscience still inhibiting me from taking a lick. I found an ATM, after walking around for five minutes and searching in all directions of a small saloon like pub, which once again didn't take my Australian card so quickly pulled out my Canadian card got some money and rushed back to pay the man in the shop. By this time I had to take a lick of my ice cream otherwise it would be a puddle of wasted indulgence on the ground, leaving a trail of my small adventures around this small section of Bragg Creek.



I finally managed to pay the man and did enjoy my ice cream which was pretty damn good, but just remember if you do go to by an ice cream from Frontier Candy, make sure you have cash on you!!!!!!!!



CANADA DAY

I had finally made it to school holidays and it just so happened that Canada Day was the first day of my two month stretch. I had decided to walk through down town and check out just how the Canadians celebrate their day of national pride. As I walked down from my newly discovered safe place to park without getting a ticket, I saw that the Stampede (coming up my next blog) seemed to be more of a priority as people had the cowboy hats on, hay bails were set up out the front of bars, shop windows were painted with cows, horses, cowboys and cowgirls but no real sign of Canadian pride until I had reached Stephen Avenue. Even there, it was a mix of people fighting the idea of whether they wear gear to support Canada Day or wear stampede gear.



Downtown did have a number of different places to visit and enjoy the day and was very much a family set up which I guess we do in some ways back home. I walked through Olympic Plaza were they had country music playing and a see of red and white enjoying the day. I walked to Fort Calgary where families enjoyed the large parkland set up and food trucks that were located both there and along the banks of the Bow River where I had a quick snap with a Canadian maple leaf mascot. I ventured to Prince's Island where it was packed full of people. They even had the Indian Tipi's up to symbolise the importance of the native people in the celebrations of this day. I also walked through Eau Claire where they have a small pool where what seemed like hundreds of kids were splashing around in it. They had market stalls open and the vibe was just a happy, positive experience to be a part of. I did find it interesting that not many people I knew of had mentioned having family or friends over for a barby, or talked about going to watch the fireworks on the prime spots of the Bow. Unlike us back home, where you are sitting by the pool or the beach with a beer in one hand, a snag in the other listening to Triple JJJ's hotest 100 with the cricket on the television waving a mozzy that constantly bugs you for most of the day. In Adelaide (except this year) you could be at the cricket or in Perth crowding the Swam River but it probably due to the fact that Stampede was 2 days away and it was Wednesday holiday that it didn't feel as big as I thought it would be.



Ah, home! Its funny that early on I wished nothing more than to stay here and enjoy the Rocky Mountains forever and while a party of me still wishes that, now that I am in the last 6 months of this 12 month adventure, home, friends, family are starting to flow strongly back into my heart. Even Richmond, my beloved Tigers are 5th on the ladder (as over July 12th) and playing great footy and I am missing it. I start to think of my house and even of late the Melbourne Volleyball Tournament that I look forward to each year and have been such a big part of with school and I begin to realise that what I am starting to feel. Home is calling to me!

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