Hockey Humble Pie

Since belittling this fair nation's sporting prowess in a previous posting, I have come to realise that the final game of the Stanley Cup (that FA cup of hockey if you recall) is a monumental occassion that you just can't help but get swept up in; and as reluctant as I may be to refrain from admitting it was much more exciting to watch than any of England's world cup games so far - it was!
The only downside of the much anticipated game was that it was won, once again, by an American team - something which really, clearly galls the Canucks who have been trying to win this since 1996.
That's hockey done for the season, and now it's ball (as in base) and football (as in not real football - American football) for the rest of summer. Let's just hope that England pick it up a bit against Ecuador!
The holidays are coming and a big drive out to Sault Ste Marie is on the way, but there's still a bit of playtime in the mts to be had before then.

And they thought we were going on a summer hike;

I hope that all is well in your part of the world (where ever that may be)

S&S.

What time do they let the bears out?

No trip to the Canadian Rockies would be complete without a visit to the turquoise waters of Lake Louise - so that's where we headed at the weekend and hit the tourist trail. The overflowing car park suggested that the trails around the lake would be hectic, but it seems that most people just get out of their vehicle, walk twenty metres to the lake shore, take a picture with the Victoria Glacier in the background and then wander back to their car as the man in leather shorts serenades them with his Aplenhorn.
A hike up the Big Beehive made for super vistas down the Bow Valley and we managed to dodge

the clouds for most parts of the day (having left Cochrane in baking sunshine, the clear sky didn't stretch as far as Lake Louise).

To cap the weekend off, a stint up to the Rae Glacier was had on Sunday. The Highwood Pass only opened on June 15th, so we mosied on down into Kananaskis Country and up to Elk Lake and the Rae Glacier. At the summit of our hike, a kind man calmly informed us of the Grizzly Sow and two cubs that had just been spotted on the steep, well treed trail that we had climbed - and had to descend. Needless to say, we made the return trip to the car much noisier!!
So perhaps it doesn't matter if we don't get to spot a bear this year. We've problably wandered past many critters without noticing them, just like this little feller, who I didn't see on the way down from Lake Agnes until Brina yelped as I was nearly about to stand on him;

Obviously porcupines have nothing to fear - certainly not me - as their 30 000 quils will stop anything in their tracks. So they tend to sit around soaking up the sun, watching the world go by.

Is that soccer or football?

Hockey, hockey, hockey. Canada is fascinated by big fellers on ice skates punching the living daylights out of each other and trying to catch that damned illusive puck which is almost impossible to see on t.v - they should make that thing a bit bigger, then at least they might hit it or even catch it once in a while!
The Stanley Cup is the FA Cup and Champions League Final combined in Ice Hockey terms. The big stinker for Canada though is that American teams keep on winning it. Edmonton are Canada's representatives this year, who are somewhat rivals to Calgary. I always imagined the good old, warm hearted Canucks to be pretty easy going, but when it comes to hockey rivalry, it's like putting a drunk scouser in the Stretford end on match day!
Lost in the midst of inter hockey hatred and Calgary's sudden allegience to that great hockey U.S state of Carolina, is the World Cup. The football world cup - no, I don't mean the Superbowl, real football - soccer if you wish. There is scant coverage of one of the biggest sporting events in the entire world (although it is slighty better than they cover it in the States), but the local pub in Cochrane is run by a man from Middlesborough, so at 7.00am, the doors open, and in rush a mob of football hungry Brits all from our tiny town!!! It so happens that Cochrane is an ex-pat community of no small number, and when inside the pub it was like time travel to the Old Queen Vic' in the East End!
Canada's lack of interest in the world cup may stem from their not participating in it (they did qualify once in 1990, but failed to score a goal and came home early). And, with the Stanley Cup looking like it's going south of the border again this year, perhaps it's time for me to get my brush out and prep for Canada's most eagerly played game - Curling.


It's a bit like crown green bowling on ice (everyting's played on ice because there's so much of the bloody stuff here!)

Maybe this is not the time to mention that Scotland (that other great sporting nation) beat Canada to the gold in the previous winter Olympics.

I'm pretty sure that someone will point out to me that Owen Hargreaves (on the England team at the world cup) was born and raised in Calgary. This is true - however, then many others will point out that he is like a sack of spuds and without doubt the weak link in the team. Ho hum, maybe I'll stick to searching for those bears..

I have stolen this piccie from a friend's blog (Ken the Yank spends far too much time surfing the web for useless info, but sometimes he comes up trumps and he found this pearler of a picture);

So there's the big scary critter, ready to kill at all costs, sat at the bottom of the, tree. The little ginger kitty apparently become somewhat pissed off when the dopey old black bear wandered through kitty's garden. Kitty, angered by bear's complete lack of respect for kitty's hunting ground, charged the bear which could fortunately climb at a speedy pace (goodness knows what would've happened if kitty had gotten hold of the bear!!!). The bear attempted to descend, but kitty, still in a rage (and still in the belief that she was in fact an enormous lion), roared (meowed) showed those ferocious claws, and forced the bear back up the tree. By all accounts, the owners had to call kitty back in after an hour or so by shaking a box of Friskies, so as to let the traumatised bear down from the tree and escape to safety. Forget bear spray and all that other gubbins when hiking, just take your cat! (Cheers Ken).

As for goings on, the weather is still struggling to find its form at the moment, but we did get out to show mother the sights and sounds of Banff at the weekend and plan to hike up one of Banff's landmark mountains this week (Mt Rundle).

Thought that after a bit of Canadian mockery in this post I'd redeem myslef and show a bit of Canadian national pride by gettin in a shot of the Maple Leaf.

Normally after a hike we'd end up at some greasy spoon cafe, but on the weekend it was a step up as we ended at the Banff Springs -and they didn't serve pints of tea in mugs - or have any slabs of teeth breaking flapjack.

Well, keep your fingers crossed for sunshine - (sunshine here, not England as it sounds like you've had your quota for summer now!).

Keep smiling,

S & S.

Elusive Critters

So my ongoing claims from previous posts about finding great shots of Canada's finest critters remain unfounded, apart from Yogi, but I suppose that's cheating (now where did Brina leave that picnic basket?).
Canada had been treating us to days of nice hot sunshine, which has now been jinxed by the arrival of mum! Nice one mother, bring Manchester's rain over here why don't you! The ironic thing is, it's warm and sunny in Manchester - I suppose if the North West is having good weather, the crappy stuff has to go somewhere ( just a pity it has come here!). We had told mum about the great views, and super climate - but there is a certain glint of disbelief as she is greeted by nothing but thick, dank, grey towers of cloud.
We are still playing catch up with this blogg, having missed out a whole chunk of winter, so just for the record;
Yes, the first ski trip of the winter was bloody freezing - Brina's eyes only froze too until we got back to the car - made her ski faster though!!!
All that white stuff was great fun, but we are realising how short the summer season is now (especially with all this rain) so are having to make the most of these long daylight hours. At least it keeps me out of the basement renovations (all that can wait until winter when it's dark and miserable - as there is nothing more miserable than DIY).


Despite the clear lack of animal photography (which may not seem like a big deal to North American viewers of this page - but to humble Europeans who shot all of their large mammals to extinction hundreds of years ago and now find nothing more incredible and ferocious than Scottish Blackface Lambs prowling the fells of the UK - this is quite a big deal) we did go in search of Canada's iconic critter - the Beaver!!! We found a lodge and lots of lumberjack work like this....



These guys can chew their way through some serious log.


There are a few hikes and what not to be done in the coming weeks, and a trip up to Japser (those of you who don't know where that it - look on a map! - oops, sorry, that's the Geographer in me coming out again, Jasper is about four hours north of here, beyond the Columbia Icefields).

Anyway, hoping all is well with each and every one of you,
Cheerio for now,
S & S.

P.S. And big ups from Yogi as well (we'll get him next time).