The Last Hurrah…

Day 5 – July 27th, 2020

 

Mike had told me to sleep in and rest up and I figured that wouldn’t happen, as 6/6:30 had been my usual wake up time.
I did wake up around 5:30 and told myself I MUST sleep… which I then did, until 9 🤪🙈
Which was maybe a little excessive for the plans for our day ahead but Mike said he didn’t dare wake me since I’m never usually able to sleep in 😏

Because of covid our hotel wasn’t serving the usual breakfast, so we had to head out to find substance.
‘Graze’ was where we settled in at and we got the Farm Fresh Eggs Benedict to share.

A few more little shops were entered as we meandered back to the vehicle and then we drove to find one or two more sights to let our eyes feast on, before leaving for Calgary and eventually, home.

We drove up to this view and I’m not sure of what it was called but we sat with our feet in the fresh water for a few moments while coming up with a game plan for where to go next.

I wanted to see Grassi Lakes but the only way we could see to get to them, posed a lot more steep, loose stone lined paths then I felt comfortable attempting to undertake.

So, we waved farewell to Canmore and drove on to Calgary, needing to make it in time to eat at ‘Monki Bistro’ before it closed 🤓

From mountain ranges and lakes, to roadways, vehicles and cityscapes… both unique and enjoyable to gaze upon in their own way… neither my favourite 😉😜

If you’re in Calgary, PLEASE go eat at ‘Monki Bistro’ and think of us 🙌🏻🤤
I ordered the reverse French toast and Mike got the brisket poutine.

They were both potentially flavourful but in the best way possible.

I’m the type of person that if a dish is supposed to have sauce, I want it to be swimming in it and these were both capable of being afloat 😉👌🏻

Leaving a restaurant utterly satisfied and pleased is such a good feeling. Like when you find something on a super sale or feast your eyes on an unexpected beauty.
Think I’m being dramatic? Maybe… but I don’t think I  am and we really, REALLY like food 😁

We needed to stop at IKEA to get blackout blind for the babes room, so we did a decently fast walk through of the whole place.
I found some smaller sized plates I wanted (been searching for probably a year, no joke 🙄) but of course, they were out of stock 😏
Nordstrom Rack and Homesense were also pursued and finally, we left the city.

Much later than planned… our estimated home time being in the wee AM hours and we still had ‘Drumheller’ to stop at… (but we’re young and free so that wasn’t a problem… right?) 😅

I’d told Mike we should really stop there. I’d been years ago and figured I could use a refresher but I thought he would think it was pretty interesting.
Turns out he took it on faith and didn’t look up a thing about it, so he was pretty shocked when suddenly we descended down into a totally different terrain than moments before😜

On our way to Horse Thief Canyon, we drove by ‘The Little Church’.

Which was much littler than I’d even expected😅
Surprisingly, Mike actually fit inside and it was a fun little stop… the slogan of the church being, ‘Seating ten thousand people – six at a time‘… literally, as it had six mini pews inside.

Horse thief canyon certainly evokes images to match its name… making it easily imaginable to visualize herds of horses racing through the valleys, cowboys with lassos overhead, thundering behind them 😉

Driving quickly because of the soon setting sun, we went to find the Hoodoos.

‘A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoostypically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements.’

The earthy tones and warm weather, making for perfect exploration inducing conditions…but we had McDonald’s to eat back in the truck and home to return to, so we didn’t take that exploration vibe too seriously 🤪

 

I made up my mind to stay awake with the husband until we arrived home and besides some slow/heavy eye blinks around Saskatoon, (1hr away from home) I did it 🤓

We never solidified a name for the child but we did narrow the list from three, to two 🤪
Not my favoured outcome but better than zero progress made I suppose 😏

In the end, it was a great trip ☺️💗

The driving having been so broken up for the most part, that I never endured THAT much discomfort, we had mostly beautiful weather, a lot of good food and for the most part, pleasant company* 😉

*I’m referring to myself and my husband for those who could think I was making mention of the friends/family we met up with as perhaps unpleasant, which was not the case 🤪

The time allotment was good too… we aren’t usually super slow lookers/observers etc. so we got to see a lot, in a semi short amount of time and also get a good idea of what we’d want to see again, if ever.
I’d say Jasper and the drive from Jasper to Banff, was our favourite part.
I’m sure there is much to explore around Banff itself but by that time we were fading a little and it was also so busy with people, it lost the allure a little, same to be said for Canmore.
Though we had much less time in Banff/Canmore so maybe we just needed a little more time to find their Jems 😉

We pulled up to our little home around 3:00 am, crawled into bed post haste and awoke to a sunshine filled +22 by 8:00 am.
The official end of the ‘babymoon’ and the start of unpacking, yard upkeep and checking off the rest of the ‘pre-babe to-do’s’ 😉