Day 13

Apologies first. The Chromebook needs to be recovered and I don't have the tools to accomplish that on hand so posts will be short as long as I'm poking them out on my phone.

We changed things up this morning and went to the Green park, different equipment and 2 minutes farther away. About 30 minutes in Cullen was in dire need of a bathroom. We were going to quickly go home and Sal and Campbell would catch up. Campbell decided to try and keep up and went too fast down the exit pathway and ended up sprawled on the grass. His hands got dirty. He cried for about 30 seconds and was fine. Good thing he made landing on the grass.

When the boys napped I went for a long ride through Fish Creek Park. They are repairing some of the upper sections of the Bow River Pathway and have it detoured through neighbouring streets. Signage was better than some major road work sees. I enjoyed riding through the spots that I have come to know very well after all the trips here.

The boys ate a good supper so we treated them to some ice cream. A huge deal for $5.

Sal wanted to find a pair of shoes, so much for no more shopping, and Google showed the Skechers outlet north of downtown so I fired up the gps map on the phone and we navigated our way over. She got a couple pair, the second at half price. We stopped at Five Guys for excellent cheese burgers and fries. We turned on early as tomorrow our vacation from our vacation begins.

Day 11, Riverfront Ride

The day started slowly, mostly because Campbell slept until 10am and had to be coaxed awake. A short trip to the Red Park followed but once the boys had their sandwiches they were ready to go home. In a park they normally have all to themselves there were a dozen younger kids mostly just sitting on the equipment.

Somehow Campbell napped again in the afternoon. Cullen was supposed to take another wink, wink nap but he fell asleep too.

Mike bbq'd steaks with goat cheese and a balsamic reduction, roasted asparagus, and Sal added potato pancakes. I asked Mike if he wanted to go downtown after supper to ride along the riverfront. We loaded the bikes on the rack and grabbed various camera gear. Parking downtown in the evening is so much easier, and cheaper. We found a spot right along the bikepath/walkway. The traffic wasn't on the streets it was on the bikepath. Close to downtown there were people all over the place, walking without a care in the world, left, right and center. Our bells got heavy use as we weaved around people. One we passed over the Peace Bridge to the north side things cleared and we were able to ride a straight line. We went west as far as the Crowchild overpass and then crossed a suspension bridge back to the southside. We stopped on the bridge to take a few pictures and you could feel the bridge bouncing underfoot. Riding across with the surface moving beneath the tires was a strange sensation.

We decided to stop for some refreshment at Eau Claire Market, beer or coffee was the decision. Beer won. We walked in to the patio and sat outside. A waitress asked if we had been seated by a hostess, no we just walked in the open gate. "Not supposed to do that" she said but left a drink menu anyway. I had a very crisp 7.2 IPA, Parallel 49 Filthy Dirty. My taste has recently moved from dark, bitter beer to IPAs.

I tried a new free video service called 'Relive' that takes the data from a Strava gps recorded ride and creates a flyover video. Check the link below, it's very cool.

I'm okayed for a third week of vacation!

Video from Riverfront Ride

Peace Bridge and downtown Calgary

Lunch at the Red Park

Cullen waiting for little brother