MacsTravel Blog

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We had Calgary circled on our calendar. Glenn and Jo Larson had very generously invited us to stay with them at their places in Calgary and Canmore and we were really looking forward to catching up! The last time we had seen each other was in 2018 at the 30th reunion of our graduating class from Queen’s (Jo is an honorary ‘88 having attended Queen’s in the early 90’s). We actually have Glenn’s jacket from that reunion in our basement, but that is another story.

But first, smoked meat. Although a strong deli culture isn’t something you would typically associate with Calgary, our daughter Andie had assured us that there was a deli in the city’s downtown that she visited with friends that would far exceed our expectations. And so we visited Myhre’s Deli.

Although not a Montrealer, I come from a family steeped in the lore of the deli. This was first class!

Sufficiently fortified it was off to Glenn and Jo’s, who had just returned from a family trip to Denmark. Despite a serious case of jet lag they were incredible hosts. It was great finally meeting their daughters Carolyn and Mere, who, as expected, were terrific. We warmed up quickly to their rescue dog Leo. There may have been cats around as well: I can’t confirm that.

We had a great dinner in their lovely yard, and made plans to tour their neighborhood and the adjoining Kensington and Bow River areas with Jo the next morning while Glenn headed to work.

Jo is the Everready Bunny of tour guides! We raced through the neighborhood with Leo leading the way and took in a lot of the area. The Kensington Village area was full of fun restaurants and shops. We really enjoyed the walk along the river with its great biking and pedestrian trails.

After picking up Glenn we headed off to Canmore, which is the last major town north-west of the city before Banff. It is a Mecca for outdoor activity and from their townhome in the hills there were so many trail and path options to explore. Naturally, we took the ones that led to the Canmore Brewing Company!

Plans for a quick drink turns into a much longer stay than anticipated. Fortified by grilled cheese from the neighbouring food truck and the sharing of memories and stories from the past and plans for the future, we found ourselves trekking back uphill to their home over trails that seemed much steeper than earlier that afternoon. It was a great evening.

We were heading up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper early the next morning and Glenn and Jo had volunteered to drive about a third of the way with us to point out some popular spots to stop, and to take us on one of their favourite hikes. We will share more about that trip in the next blog entry on Jasper National Park.