Leaving Calgary

After almost exactly one month, I finally made my departure from Calgary, this southern Albertan city I'd come to explore. My reasons for going there were manifold, and I managed to accomplish them all. Besides wanting to get to know the city better, I had wanted to meet with everyone I knew there, as well as making a few more friends. Done. I had planned for a long time to take a swimming lesson using a technique called Total Immersion, which I'd been introduced to by Tim Ferriss, and I managed to do that with my instructor Grant. I needed to fit my camper out with a solar panel, and this has also been achieved. Lastly, having volunteered at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival for the past four years, I wanted to give the Calgary version a shot as well, in which I succeeded.

My first ten days were spent housesitting for my friends Martin and Jenny, who welcomed me into their home in the northwest of Calgary and even paid me for the service. During this time I met with my friend Steve, whom I knew from Intention Alberta 2014, and we had breakfast together one Sunday. I also made a new friend, Amy, with whom I slacklined and went for a hike in Lac Des Arcs. After ten days I moved to the northeast, into the house shared by Stephanie, Tyler, Ras, and Olivia. I stayed with them just over a week, working for four days and getting extremely valuable help from Ras in the work that was done on my camper, setting it up with a solar panel.

Afterward I went to Canmore and Banff for a couple of days, came back to Calgary for a day, and drove down to southern Alberta to visit Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat. My last week in Calgary was spent taking a swimming lesson, volunteering at the folk festival for three days, and hanging out with my friend Kye, who is an urban farmer. Kye was an excellent host, a great cook, and a riot to hang out and chat with.  He introduced me to his roommates Michelle, Keelie, and Colin, his Brazilian couchsurfer Saulo, and his close friend John, who blew me away with his intellect and wealth of knowledge.

I was also hosted for supper one night by my friends Janet, Paul, and their daughter Quinn. Janet made cedar plank salmon, which turned out to be the best salmon I'd ever eaten not raw (salmon sashimi will always be my favorite).
My friend Dave invited me for supper at a new vegetarian restaurant in downtown Calgary, Skye invited me to his feast of gratitude, and Chelsea and Liz each met me for lunch at some very pleasant locales.

My time spent in Calgary was a memorable one, and it was with sadness mixed with alacrity that I drove away, back towards Edmonton, the starting point of my journey. I have now come full circle. Time to wrap things up and head east.

Southern Alberta

I drove south of Calgary on Friday morning for South Country Fair, a festival which I was supposed to volunteer at. South Country Fair, in my mind, is the southern cousin of North Country Fair (no way, right?!?), and having enjoyed myself at NCF for the past three years in a row, I thought I'd give SCF a try. My friend Drewe from Edmonton was also going down there with his partner Jenny, so we were going to meet up as we'd missed each other at NCF this year.

SCF is set just outside the town of Fort Macleod, which is about 1.5 hours south of Calgary. On the way I passed Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump, a UN World Heritage Site which I'd been meaning to visit. As I approached the festival, I reread one of the emails I'd received from the volunteer coordinator (I know, I'm such a multitasker!). In it she mentioned that as a volunteer I could buy a $40 ticket to the festival. I must have overlooked this salient detail when I first read it because it caught me off guard this time. I thought it strange that I would have to pay to go to a festival while investing 8 hours as a volunteer. When I arrived, this was confirmed to me, and the $40 was presented as a discounted price for the ticket. If I'd wanted to get in for free, I would have had to put in 12 hours as a volunteer, something which hadn't been explained to me previously. I felt a bit bummed out even though this was my own omission. Additionally, I was informed that I would have to pay $30 to bring my camper onto the festival grounds. This venture would therefore set me back $70 and I would spend 8 hours standing at the gate, greeting people. I debated what to do, and came to the conclusion that the vibe I was feeling was not a positive one, and that I would prefer to skip the whole event. I didn't know any of the performers and the whole atmosphere was unfamiliar to me, so there weren't many benefits for me in staying, as far as I could see. I apologized and left, sending a very apologetic email to the volunteer coordinator. I hope they made things work without me.

Instead I drove back to Head-Smashed-in and got in for free after sweet-talking the ladies at the gate. The vistas were gorgeous and the 15-minute film informative, but I'm definitely glad I saved the $10 entrance fee as it didn't seem quite worth it.
After the tour I cracked a coconut and devoured it right in the parking lot. It was lovely. I want to eat coconut every day.

I then drove down to Fort Macleod, a lovely little town with a quaint turn-of-the-century garrison feel to it, something which they preserve for tourist purposes, I presume. It also bears the distinction of being the birthplace of Joni Mitchell and the set for several scenes from Brokeback Mountain and Passchendaele. I biked around for a bit, then continued on my way down to Lethbridge.

Lethbridge and Medicine Hat are two southern cities I'd been meaning to visit for a while, probably because they are some of the last places in Alberta which I hadn't seen yet.
Lethbridge is absolutely gorgeous and has a studious and affluent feel to it. I set up a slackline right as I got in, then went for pizza with some friends I'd met through Zeitgeist.  The next day was extremely windy, which is pretty normal for that city, it seems. I tried to cycle around but was discouraged by the gale-force winds. I did visit the farmers market and bought some bread and honey, but then I was done and packed up.

Next on my list was Medicine Hat, which is about 2 hours east of Lethbridge. This city, not much smaller in population than Windy City, was definitely underwhelming in comparison. There is barely a downtown to speak of, and it all feels somewhat desolate and sad. Even the people seemed unhappy. I did meet some lovely folk from couchsurfing, however, which was the highlight of my stay.
As per usual, I set up my slackline in a park and made some good progress on that front.
I decided to stay for one more night and head back to Calgary the next morning as I prefer to drive in daytime. The next day was dreary and eventually rain began to come down in spades, but I made it back to Calgary safely, in anticipation of some much-needed water immersion of my own.

Canmore and Banff

Canmore and Banff are both towns that I'm somewhat familiar with as I've visited them several times during my 7-year stay in Edmonton, usually accompanied by someone I was dating at the time. I think I've been to one or the other with at least 4 different partners, which probably makes me a total slut in some people's eyes, lol.

Both towns are quite touristy and attract large numbers of travelers both in summer and winter. There are lots of trails and hikes as well as climbing, cycling, hot springs, mountains, and many cozy eateries and watering holes. In the winter there is skiing and snowboarding, of course. I remember when I was still in Taiwan some of my students would talk about going to Banff on their holidays, which was the first time I'd heard of this strangely-named town. I think Canmore is less popular with foreigners, but Albertans love it.

This time was my first to visit solo. I parked in the Save-on-Foods overflow parking lot in Canmore, in part because I actually prefer it to Banff (slightly less crowded and also a bit more diverse) but mostly because I would have had to pay for each day I stayed in Banff since it's in a national park, which I didn't want to do.

I drove up from Calgary on Tuesday night and on Wednesday I rode my bike to Banff, where I bought some bananas and set up a slackline.  I had wanted to try a high line to see if I could climb up on it, so I did, and made it all the way up, only to fall backward, landing on my left arm. This left me a bit rattled, but I went on to set up a totally slack line, in the sense that there was no tension in it at all. My friend Johnny in Edmonton walks on a rope with no tension, which is something I've been meaning to practice. I didn't have the temerity to do much after my fall, however, so I packed up and made my way back to Canmore. On the way I must have pulled something in my left knee because I developed a sharp stabbing pain there while pedaling. Needless to say, I was the worse for wear by the time I got back to my camper. I picked up an Iron Maiden beer and ate some supper. Afterward I bought some expensive groceries at Nutters and walked to Elevation Place (that facility is amazing!) and made use of their free wifi for an hour or so.

On Thursday I biked around looking for a spot to set up my slackline, which I ended up doing behind the Civic Centre. I got into a conversation with a young lady named Cheyenne, impressed a few locals, then went and did some bouldering at Elevation Place.

In the evening I was met at Elevation Place (again) by M.A. MacKenzie, who is a Zeitgeister from Banff whom I'd found on Facebook. We chatted for an hour, then I went home.

On Friday morning I went to the Canmore farmers market looking for honey but found none, so I bought two veggie samosas and drove back to Calgary.

I don't know if or when I'll get to see Canmore or Banff again, but these are two of my favorite places in Canada so far, and my memories of them are all fond ones.

Calgary, and the transformation of Merry

So after I moved out of Martin and Jenny's place, I went to see my friend Ras who lives in the southeast of Calgary. I ended up staying at the house which he shares with his partner Olivia as well as Stephanie and Tyler, who own the house. They also have a three-legged dog named Tippy, who is a total sweetheart.

Initially, I was only supposed to stay for one night as Chris Reynolds, the wife of Garbage Warrior Michael Reynolds, was scheduled to stay in the spare room that I was occupying. Michael and Chris are on a speaking tour and one of their stops is Calgary. I will not get to see them, however, as I'm hoping to catch a talk by Mark Lakeman of City Repair Portland on the night before I head to Fort MacLeod for South Country Fair. Chris didn't end up coming over, however, and I stayed for a whole week.

Ras is another wonderful friend of mine whom I'd met through Zeitgeist Calgary. His overall knowledge and hands-on skills are overwhelming, and he promised to help me install a solar panel as well as some extra batteries in my camper so I would not run out of power as I had a few weeks prior at North Country Fair. He bought all the materials for me from his friend at a staggeringly low price, while I worked for four days doing landscaping so I could replenish my finances a bit. On the Saturday of that week we proceeded to install the panel and the batteries. We finished it up on Monday and now I'm fully equipped, with a 250 watt solar panel on the roof, three deep-cycle batteries, as well as an inverter which allows me to plug in appliances, my computer, and whatever else I need. It also allows me to run my fridge during the day, though I turn it off at night as the temperature usually cools down then.

Living in Steph and Ty's house was a great experience as well. All four of them are extremely welcoming and generous, and I tried to do what I could to be of service here and there. On my last night in their house we watched a video, played board games, and I expanded my mind-altering experiences *wink wink*

Also, if you're in Calgary and happen to drive by a Dog & Car wash on 16 ave (Highway 1), close to Encana stadium, take a look at their bushes, I was the one who prettied them up ;)

My first housesitting assignment.

Today ended my first housesitting assignment, in Calgary. I spent 10 days living in Martin and Jenny's house while they were away in BC.
I took care of their two cats (as much care as one needs to take of a cat), ie. I fed them and made sure they didn't tear the house down, and in exchange I had a place to stay for free, which included a bed, a shower, a kitchen, etc. It was a great experience and I'd definitely do it again.
I know Martin and Jenny from before, having met them through the Western Canada Zeitgeist Convergence a few years back, and we had stayed in contact. This made it easier for both parties to make the necessary arrangement, as there were no trust issues involved and there was already an established friendship. I wonder if I should keep looking for more similar opportunities as I travel, to give myself an occasional break from camper living.
As far as I know, there are some websites where one can register for housesitting assignments, and though there is a membership fee involved, it might be worth the few dollars. On the other hand I could try to advertise my services for free, both on the internet and through my friend networks.

In the past 10 days I've spent a lot of time biking through Calgary, getting to know the city a bit, which was one of my main reasons for coming down here and deciding to spend close to a month in this city. Very early on I met a lovely lady on Tinder, and we quickly connected over slacklining and spiritual talk. Amy is a schoolteacher as well as a yoga instructor, and she dabbles in acro yoga and slacklining, which is one of my big passions. We've gone hiking to Kananaskis together, and I'm hoping we can go check out the Glenbow Museum together in the next few days.

Actually, speaking of slacklining, I had set up my line in front of the house a couple of days ago and at one point a van pulled up next to me and a woman with three little daughters and two young Korean ladies piled out and they proceeded to try the slackline. They invited me to join them at a pancake breakfast the next day, but I arrived at our agreed spot a few minutes too late, so I didn't find them. If any of them is reading this, I hope they weren't upset and perhaps our crosses will path again one day.

Today I biked down to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, but there isn't much to see there now as it's suffered quite a bit of damage from last year's floods and most of the trails are closed. I did chat with a few volunteers and checked out a woodpecker nest. I also had to get some personal closure from a previous relationship (it's a long story) by visiting Peter's Drive In, so I did that. It was disappointing, but at least now I don't ever have to go back there again.

Oh, and I have some landscaping work lined up for this week starting Tuesday! More on that later :)