We had a long weekend here last weekend for Canada Day, so a few of us went into the mountains for a hike.
We went to Ha Ling, which is just behind Canmore and only about an hour drive from Calgary.
It was a 2.3km hike with a 750m elevation gain, so it was fairly steep, but it was great!
This is me about half way up
View from about halfway
View from the top... maybe a little over-exposed, but.. oh well!
Me at the top!
We went to a pub in Canmore for lunch after the hike - it has the best view of the mountains from the decking, so was a lovely way to end the day.
A few days later I did my first outdoor climb!! It was great and I am hooked! I went with a guy that I met during training. He has all the equipment and has been many, many, many times. He is also very patient and a great teacher. We went to a place called Wasootch, which is just before Canmore. It is situated in the loveliest spot! It is a small valley, that has a little creek trickling through it, lovely big green trees and hardly anyone around. So we could hear the water running as we were climbing... so beautiful. I can't wait to go back.
I only took one photo, and this is it... not sure if it does it justice.
The Calgary Stampede is on at the moment, so everyone is out in their finest cowboy / cowgirl outfits. I went into the grounds today, and it's just like the shows that we have in Australia (Royal Show, etc), but a little bigger and has rodeos and chuckwagon racing (which I haven't seen yet). I am going to a stampede breakfast tomorrow (I am not too sure what it will entail) and we have a Stampede BBQ lunch at work on Thursday this week. It's huge here. I think some people just party for the whole week!
We had a girl's afternoon yesterday - these are our finest cowgirl outfits :)
It's 32 degrees here, so it lovely and warm!
