Canmore - a relaxing day, ending with excitement!

Canmore - a relaxing day, ending with excitement!

September 14th, 2019

Following several days of traveling in the car, we were glad to sleep in this morning and spend some time relaxing before heading out to Blind Bay, B.C., tomorrow, for our first house/pet sit. 

After a late breakfast, we headed downtown to meet up with the daughter of a friend of ours who lives in Cookstown, Southern Ontario. Alex runs 3 coffee shops in Canmore, all called Beamer's. We stopped in to say hello, and get a latte each. It was great to meet her, and the latte was prettily decorated, and delicious to consume. 

Alex runs three coffee shops in Canmore

Works of art

We resolved to take a walk through the main street of the town. There were still several tourists, much to the delight of the merchants. It almost felt like the middle of the summer, and the temperature was the warmest we had experienced since we left Ontario. 

The Three Sisters dominate the town, and are synonymous with Canmore

Just before arriving in the main thoroughfare, there is a delightful boardwalk along Policeman's Creek. This couldn't be missed, so we took about 20 minutes to complete the part of it that stretched towards the east. Great scenery, once again, with mountains surrounding the whole area. 

It's always a joy for us to wander around street shops that are not in a mall - especially when they look rustic and harmonize so perfectly with the mountainous surroundings. 

The North West Mounted Police Barracks - now a museum

The Wood Restaurant

The Ralph Connor Memorial United Church - dedicated to an early frontier missionary

Really loved this double decker bus restaurant

Mark beside the Big Head Sculpture. The resemblance is quite striking!

We returned to the condo for lunch and, while I enjoyed preparing a Keto-friendly Chicken Provencale, Mark enjoyed a dip in the outdoor hot tub. 

This afternoon, we chose to stay in and do nothing so that we could replenish ready for a return trip along the wildlife corridor of Spray Lakes Road - where we had been the evening before. This time, we resolved to travel along it for about an hour, and then turn back, after dusk, so that we would not need to drive the full loop, like before. 

Once again, we took things slowly, and were rewarded by spotting a grouse on the road ahead. It flew onto the shoulder and remained there for a few minutes before flying off altogether. She gave us time to take a couple of close-up photos. 

Not long after that, we heard a band of coyotes yelping. We focused the camera in the direction of the sounds, but nothing came into sight. We did capture part of the symphony on video. 

The sounds of a band of coyotes

Just twenty minutes later, we came upon a grizzly bear (this time, for real - in the wild!). She was foraging for food in the bushes, but came right out in sight at times, enabling us to savour the moment. We were thrilled, as we had been hoping, since we arrived, to happen upon a grizzly and, on our last night here, in Canmore, that hope was fulfilled! 

Completing a U-turn on this dirt road, we headed back to the town  - about a 30 minute drive. We noticed that there was still enough light for the camera to pick up some nice shots. 

As we neared the town, the lights of Canmore welcomed us back, and we arrived back at our Air BnB just 2.5 hours after we had left.  

The lights of Canmore

The Wood Restaurant lit up at night time. There were still patrons on the outside patio

It was a wonderful way to finish our time in this beautiful setting, before starting our journey tomorrow.