Having a great time here visiting with good friends and celebrating an 85th birthday. I flew in on Friday morning. Quite the descent - we must have hit an air pocket as we dropped quite a ways and everyone on the plane either screamed, yelled or yelped (me). That is the worst I've ever experienced after 40 plus years of flying. However I arrived safe and sound and got the bus into Calgary. Too early to check into the hotel so I changed and went to the Buffalo 1886 cafe at Eau Claire market - had a grilled cheese, mushroom, bacon & onion sandwich with little potatoes. Expensive but good. The cafe was an old building made of wood. Off I went on my 11 km walk along the Bow river - it started out cloudy but the sun came out and it was great. The leaves are changing here and it's beautiful. Just trying not to think what comes after fall!!! (boo, hiss!) I had a bit of a distraction once I got to the other side of the river and hit Kensington. I love that area! I had a Mount Everest coffee (coffee, irish cream, whipped cream...yum) and a sit down. Then I went into a Tibetan shop and got myself a little "donut" for my singing bowl I got in Nepal as well as a lovely pair of earrings. I then headed back to the hotel and checked in - wow a one bedroom apartment for $74. Yee haw. I "freshened" up, changed and headed to Mountain Equipment Co-op but could not find anything that fit/I liked except socks! I then headed out to the Himalyan restaurant only to discover it was closed until 5 p.m. and this was 3?45 so I had a greek salad and spinach pie at a restaurant just down the road. Disappointing...did not get my momo's. Oh well I do plan to return as it's just a weekend trip on the hound and will do the other walk on the Elbow River as well - and maybe sneak out to Banff or Canmore. The rest of the weekend was spent with friends and had a lovely time. I started this post in Calgary but could not finish it for various reasons so here I am one week later. It was an emotional weekend - the friends I stayed with had to put their little doggie to sleep and so very sad...she was a sweet little girl. It is very hard to say goodbye to a much loved family member - whether they have two legs or four.
While in the Lake District I wanted to do some light walking but not heavy duty hiking where I could easily get lost and my body not found for days partially eaten by hungry...sheep? Anyway, you get the drift...not too grueling and safe for a solo walker. I get a bit nervous when I am too far from civilization. There are lots of books about walking in the Lake District but they seem to be all about walking the fells in remote places...neither Thelma nor I fancied that. While browsing in the post office/shop in Ambleside one day (if you are ever in Ambleside you must go there - a treasure!) I found a stand of walk descriptions on post cards. And there I found my walk. After all who could resist a stroll on the "coffin trail" in William Wordsworth country... I took a look and thought hmm...cafe along the route...that works for me. (with at least the security of knowing there was an available "loo" along the way.) Okay, I may not have totally...
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