canmore

All summer long Bianca has wanted to go to Canmore for the day to do a hike, and for some reason we haven’t been able to go as a group because other plans kept getting in the way. Anyways, we were finally able to go a few weeks ago, and here are some pics!

mckenzie towne fire

So this was definitely an interesting weekend to say the least. Early Sunday morning, Nick got home from work around 1:30am and we went to bed. Around 2:45am, my phone rings and I see that Bianca is calling me. I knew she had gone out that night, and so the first thing that came to mind was that she was a little drunk and maybe needed a ride home, or something happened and needed me to come pick her up. Now, this hasn’t ever happened, but given the time that she was calling, and I knew where she was, it seemed like a plausible idea. Well, I pick up the phone and the first thing Bianca says to me is “Are you okay? Is your house on fire?” I was a little confused and told her no. She then told me to go look outside as she says it looks like there is a BIG fire right by my house. I later find out that she was on her way home in a cab, and from 22x (a road by our house) Bianca said it looked like the McKenzie Towne shopping area was on fire. I looked out our bedroom window which faces north and couldn’t see any smoke or fire, so I raced to our other bedroom which faces south and I could see high flames coming from the other side of the building. I couldn’t see the source, so I didn’t know how close it was to us, so I called Nick and he came and had a look himself. I quickly got dressed and went down to the basement and out our garage to the back alley. As soon as I walked a few meters east and looked south to where the fire was, I could see that at least to two sections of townhouses were on fire about 3-4 rows down from us were totally engulfed in flames. I calmed down a little, because the fire wasn’t too close to our house. I ran back to our house to grab my better camera (I had my phone on me, but it wasn’t taking great pictures). Once I grabbed my camera, fire trucks were beginning to show up and Nick was tired and wanted to go back to bed. He said, “Well it has to burn down a few more rows of houses before it gets to ours, so I’m going back to bed”. Haha, couldn’t believe how he didn’t really care and had no interest in watching (at the same time, he really isn’t one for getting excited about anything).

So he went back to bed and I walked around the complex getting closer to the fire and took a few more photos (I submitted them to the Calgary Herald, and they used my photos in their online gallery of the fire – my 15 seconds of fame). Eventually the crowd got a lot bigger and the firefighters were beginning to tell people to back away. They began to have the fire under control so I decided to walk back to the house and go back to bed.

The next morning we found out that all together about 4 units were affected. One unit was completely levelled, 2 are heavily damaged (so they will probably have to be knocked down) and a 4th unit is also damaged. There was also an entire row of cars that were damaged as they began to melt (that’s how hot the flames got), and the trimming around the windows of the condos across the street also melted a little bit, and they will also have to be replaced. I feel pretty lucky that the fire didn’t come close to our place and our home didn’t burn down. There is still an investigation going on as they believe someone started the fire, so for the first two days we weren’t able to have access to our garage and on Sunday morning when I left for church, I had to cross a police line, which was a little weird. Overall it was a little bit of a scary situation, and I hope a fire never comes that close again to our home. 

girl's weekend away

 A few days before the Labour Day Long Weekend, my mom called me up at work begging me to go away with her. She hadn’t had a vacation yet this year, and just needed a break and get away. I already had plans for Saturday (X-Fest) and I really wanted to go to church on Sunday, so I said that we can leave Sunday afternoon. In the end I also ended up booking off Tuesday so we get to go away for more than one night. Originally she wanted to go to Great Falls, Montana, but Danika also was coming with us, and she didn’t have a passport (who doesn’t have a passport!?!?), so I suggested Fairmont because it was about the same driving time, and it was still outside of Alberta. I had heard all these nice things about Fairmont, and always wanted to go.

So Sunday, Danika and my mom arrived to my house all packed and we left around 5pm. We had to make a stop in Canmore because Danika and my mom hadn’t had supper (even though it was on the itinerary I had made up), but with Danika being pregnant, when she’s hungry, she needs to eat. We saw a really cool car while at the Tim Hortons, and I began to show my mom how to use Instagram. We arrived in Fairmont around 9:45pm, so we quickly checked-in and proceeded to the hotel’s private pool because it was open a little later then the public hot springs. After, Danika and my mom decided to go on a little adventure to find a vending machine, because Danika was hungry again while I went back to the room.

The next morning we got up and headed into Invermere for breakfast at Blue Dog Cafe which I scoped out prior to our trip to Fairmont on Urbanspoon.com. The one thing I love doing before going on a vacations now, is to look up restaurants on Urbanspoon of our destination. I like doing this because I am able to look for somewhere to eat in a city that you aren’t familiar with, and if you have no idea if you’re going to eat, you end up at sketchy or terrible restaurant, and be stuck with a really expensive bill as well. I don’t eat out too often (about once a month generally), so when I do, I want to make sure it’s somewhere really good and I get my money’s worth. Plus it’s a great way to find restaurants that you may not have found (due to not being located on a main road) and find those restaurants that are hidden gems. Well Blue Dog Cafe was one of those hidden gems. It wasn’t very big, and its menu was very small, but what they had available was extremely good. Danika had these berry & crème cheese pancake warps and my mom had the salmon omelette. So good!!

We did a little window shopping after that in Invermere and then head to our hiking destination. We ended up making a wrong turn and totally got lost and driving up the mountain on a terrible road (sorry car!). Eventually we drove back down the mountain and found the right turn off and did our hike after all. I kind of just wanted to go back to the hotel after we got lost because I was tired and we had wasted a lot of time, but I’m glad we didn’t. It wasn’t a very long or hard hike anyways, and we had a lot of fun. We headed back to the resort to enjoy the hot springs and then proceeded to dinner after getting ready at one of the resort restaurants (nothing to write home about). We also went to the private hot tub again, and it was nice because most of the resort guests had already left, so it was nice to have the hot tub not so full.

The next morning we packed up and had some breakfast. We checked out and because Danika had to be back in Okotoks for 6pm, we decided to leave a little earlier then I had planned back to Calgary. We did take a nice lunch break in Canmore again, and thanks to my handy Urbanspoon app, we found an amazing pizza restaurant called Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co just off of the main road in downtown Canmore. It was so good and I actually have already been back since! They had the most amazing soup (and I never order soup when I eat out) and homemade root beer. The pizza was to die for and so delicious.

In the end my mom was kind of glad that we started the Long Weekend a little late because we didn’t have to deal with any traffic and the resort also wasn’t as full. In all it was a great Walford Girl’s getaway and I am very sure this will become an annual thing. Till next year!

 

x-fest

So Crystal, Bianca, Andrew, Kurtis, Sean and I all went to X-Fest, and it was such a great day. We started by meeting at Bianca’s store (Bianca Amor’s Liquidation Superstore) and grabbed a bite to eat because she had food trucks stationed in her parking lot. I have never seen her store so busy. It had a line up all the way around the other side of the store. Nick and I were going to buy some stuff, but because we go there all the time, we decided to nix the idea and buy what we had wanted next time we go. The food trucks were also busy and the line ups were a little insane. When you get between people and their food, you end up seeing some nasty sides of people. I wish people would lighten up and realize that food trucks are really not fast food. Food trucks are fairly new to Calgary, and I think a lot of people have a misconception of them. You will get great food and it usually is yummy, but it’s not exactly neither cheap nor fast.

Oh well, I was patient and pleasant and it was well worth the wait. Waffles & Chix premiered on Saturday and I will definitely go searching for them again. It was yummy, and who would have thought that waffles and fried chicken would go together?

The weather started to turn on us, so we decided to head downtown and grab a drink or two before heading to Fort Calgary. By the time we got there the weather had cleared up and the evening was just beautiful. We ate more Food Trucks (um….Fry’s  Dolls is soo good) and watched all the different bands come on stage and play. Of course the highlight of the night was Linkin Park! Can you believe that they have never played in Alberta before then?? They have been around so long, and I can’t believe it has taken them this long to get here. Well it was worth the wait.
 

Andrew & Crystal (ps. the newly engaged couple...so happy for them!)

The Girl's

Bianca & I

 Crystal & I