Wednesday was the busiest day of our vacation.
We started off doing a little shopping in Canmore. We stopped at Tin Box; a boutique shop, and also the Canadian equivalent of the dollar store. There was a third store, but I forget the name. It was in half of a person’s house, and contained a bunch of nic nacs with an old west theme.
Then we had lunch at The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company. My favorite part of lunch was the root beer. They make their own from scratch and it is by far the best root beer I’ve tasted!
The air around Canmore was hazy from controlled burning by the Forest Service, so I was happy we were going down to Calgary. We dropped Rachel off at the airport, and then we headed to MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op). It’s the Canadian equivalent to REI. Anybody who knows me, will understand why I had to go there.
Turns out, I made a very special find. I have been looking for an alpine equalizer for many years. For some reason stores are either out of them, or back ordered.
I have been using a long strand of cord to build my anchors (which works just fine). But, the cord is really long and no matter how well I bunch it up, it will get tangled. Also, it’s a bit stiff, so working with it is clumsy. The equalizer, however, is a wonderful time saving device, manufactured by Trango. It does the same thing as my cord but it’s faster, and is easier to handle.
In any event, when I walked into MEC, and they had a shelf stocked full of equalizers, I about went crazy. I was dancing in the eisle. It’s embarassing what a gear junkie I am! Finally, I had the nerve to ask if they had one in “red”…
Along with the equalizer, I also bought this lip balm pod. If you haven’t seen this, it’s a small plastic container with a bracket and a small rubber band. You can fasten the lip pod onto just about anything, and then whenever you need chapstick, it’s right there. (I am constantly getting chapped lips outside, so this lip pod really appeals to me.)
After spending a few hours in the MEC, Dennis & I drove downtown and had a quick bite at Fourth & 4th. The food was okay, and it came out quick.
After the meal, we walked over to the Princes Island Park, to see Shakespeare in the Park, put on by the Mt. Royal College Theater Group. Their rendition of Midsummer’s Nights Dream includes interludes of Queen music, which I thought was an interesting modern treatment.
The performance was very entertaining; Dennis & I were both captivated the moment the first riff of guitar blasted over us. It was a very physical rendition, and I quite enjoyed the violent expressive dance by the elves & fairies intermingled with the tenderness and more human movement of the young lovers.
After the play, we drove back to Canmore. The sunset was beautiful, soft, and ripply. This picture doesn’t do it justice.
Tags: Calgary, Canmore, Grizzly Paw, Shakespeare in the Park