beer – OldPlaidCamper

Lesser Slave Lake

Lesser? There’s a bigger one?! Yup – maybe we’ll get there in a few weeks…

Lesser Slave Lake is about 100km long east to west, and the widest point is about 15km across, north to south. We’ve had a mix of wildfire smoky days and clear blue sky days. On even the clear days, we were unable to see the far shore, so it feels more like being at the sea rather than on a lake.

Perhaps due to the fairly remote mid Alberta location, the lake and surrounding area is quiet in terms of visitors. The sandy beaches are pleasant, quiet, and the perfect place to sit and spot bird life. I’m not good at identifying birds, but the bald eagle was easy, along with the loons. We’ve seen other ducks – mergansers? – and a hawk or two, as well as terns, crows and those small birds that refuse to slow down so we can identify them! If you’re into bird life, then this is the place!

Mixed boreal forest kept us well shaded on the hot days, and the mosquitoes knew where to find us. Bug bite count? It’s gone up from two…

If you’re ever looking for quiet camping in a rugged location, and you don’t mind a bug or two, then Lesser Slave Lake might be perfect for you. We love it here!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Crimson Lake, AB

Tall trees, a large lake, big blue skies, a mysterious creature, and a few bugs – zero complaints!

Mysterious creature, surprisingly approachable

Enjoying the slow trip north, and, at the time of writing, only two mosquito bites. Will that number go up? No…

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Off the grid

Stampede is almost over – so much fun and yahoo! Time now for a change. We’ll be off the grid and on the road for the rest of July, all of August and most of September. We’re heading north, then a bit more north, as well as slightly east, all in our little teardrop. All being well, we’ll be visiting new (to us) places, and taking our time as we go. To all the hungry mosquitoes waiting out there, just pretend you never saw us, ok?

I’ll post something about somewhere as and when it is possible, but we’ve (deliberately) chosen stops that promise to be off the grid, particularly in relation to wifi and internet. But that doesn’t mean there are no coffee shops and breweries along the way, so perhaps a photo or two of beer, mosquito bites and careless sun burns will turn up, and I’ll be able to read and catch up with your blogs!

On the road and off the grid? Saddle up!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful next couple of months!

Summer in (and out of) the city! Cheers!

Alberta cooler

We’re back on the road for the next little while, in fact we have been the past week. We trundled through the prairies for a few days, before heading into Kananaskis at the end of the long weekend. As we ventured in, we saw quite a number of campers leaving early. We wondered why?

It grew distinctly cool as the weekend progressed – more snow anyone? Yup, that happened. Thank goodness we didn’t have to worry about keeping our evening beer chilled. Who needs ice or a cooler?!

By the time this is posted we should be somewhere in BC, searching for some warmth and a little less snow…

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hoodoo?

We do! If you ever have the opportunity, traveling the Hoodoo Trail in the Drumheller, AB region is an interesting way to discover some amazing geological formations in an arid location.

I imagine it gets pretty busy – and very hot – in the summer months, but we were lucky enough to stop at the formations shared here on a relatively quiet and pleasantly warm midweek spring day. Early in the season as it was, it felt hot after the long slow start to spring – no complaints!

It always amuses me that the area is known as the badlands, and I understand why, but they are some of my favourite lands to visit, with such a different geography and geology. Dinosaur territory if that kind of thing interests you…

We ended our morning with a fine lunch and cold pint at the Last Chance Saloon in nearby Wayne. As with the rock formations, if you ever have a chance to visit, it is great place to stop and cool off.

One of my finest photographs ever, taken through a dusty windshield

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Beer and chocolate…

…and spring? Hoping for three out of three…

Apparently, this is the good stuff? (*Yes it is!* Mrs. PC)

I’ll keep it brief this week, and confess we’ll be having two out of three of the above this coming long weekend!

Apparently, this is the good stuff? (*Yes it is!* Mr. PC) A wee heavy (a Scottish beer style) and what I’ll be after too much beer and chocolate.

If you choose to celebrate Easter this weekend, enjoy, and even if you don’t, perhaps you’ll have a beer, some chocolate, or maybe even enjoy some spring sunshine where you are?

It is sunny, and it is calendar spring! Taken earlier this week – technically, three for three?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

“Yes, I know dogs can’t have chocolate. No, I’m not sulking…)

PS:

Nope, two out of three! Taken yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.

Thaw freeze thaw

And so on. It’s winter. It’s spring (sort of!) No, it’s winter again. Thaw-freeze-thaw! Or is it freeze-thaw-freeze?

As I write, it is more springlike, although the forecast is calling for snow by tonight and through Friday. We’ve gone from wearing our warmest coats to beat the -25C last week, to not needing a jacket at all today for +9C! March is about to roar in like a confused polar bear (I think that’s the saying in these climate change challenged times?) and we’ll aim to enjoy it either way.

Minus 25C on the wobbly bridge over the Bow – but where is everyone?!

Much of the warmth has come from repeated chinooks, and, for out this way, that’s not unusual at all, although the frequency is irritating if you like the snow… I took a snap of part of the chinook arch stretching across the sky to the west of the city yesterday. The wind was barreling in along the Bow valley, warming everything up. Slush city!

The birds definitely enjoy the warmer weather – the moment the temperature goes above freezing and the sun beams down, you can hear the little brown birds singing in the shrubbery, flitting from bush to bush and asking is that it for winter?

Geese, chilling out last week – honk if you’re feeling the cold

The resident geese on the river look a bit happier than they did last week, when they sat huddled and shivering in the arctic temperatures. Midweek, we saw a bald eagle fly over the bluff and turn to head west along the Bow. I’m guessing it nests somewhere on the edge of the city? We’ve seen it a few times this winter, and it’s quite the sight with the high rise blocks in the background!

As for beer choices, with the topsy-turvy temperatures, do we go with a darker winter oriented beer, or a more suitably springlike sipper? Decisions, decisions… I know – how about both?! Freeze-thaw-freeze, thaw-freeze-thaw, and so on!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Winter mountain hush

What a relief it was to arrive at Baker Creek, check into our little cabin, and smile when we were told internet was spotty at best due to limited satellite uplink capacity (or something) and cell phone service was basically zero. Imagine our disappointment…

No cell service?! Oh our disappointment, teehee…

It was hard to see who was more gleeful to be out in the mountains, and to be running helter skelter through the deep snow, but I think Scout edged it. She was able to make slightly faster progress with four leg drive than we did on two. And yes, instead of dumping bags and heading straight out the door to explore the immediate surroundings, a short pause to don snow pants and snowshoes would have been sensible. Sensible? Nope, no time for that!

We stumbled and postholed around the perimeter, trying to stay in the middle of snowmobile tracks, but with Scout leading and pulling, we weren’t able to keep from drifting into drifts. Mother had mentioned, before we left, not to fall into any deep drifts. Good advice! (We saw, from the road on the way home a few days later, an elk caught in a deep drift and bulldozing – elk-dozing? – it’s way out. Hope it made it…)

Poorly equipped for even a short walk as we were, we still enjoyed how silent and still (our mad stumbling aside) everything was. The blanket of snow was so pretty, muffling most noise. Winter mountain hush! Blessed quiet! We could just about hear the tinkling chuckle-gurgle of the creek, and, luckily, see it in a few places where it hadn’t been snowed over. Scout desperately wanted to get closer, odd for her, given she doesn’t enjoy the water, but we resisted her efforts. Sorry, Scout – wet feet and minus fifteen don’t mix!

Eventually, slightly wet legged due to snowmelt on lower jeans, and ready to admit we should have put on snowshoes, we returned to our cabin to unpack, find dry pants, and get warmed up by the fire. Oh, and crack open a red ale we’d been saving as a fireside sipper. It was just the thing as we planned a proper snowshoe adventure for the following day!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Foggy

We thought we’d head out for a brisk walk in the park, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the start of the year, continuing a week of walks enjoyed in bright, if a tad chilly, conditions. Oh:

A lovely view of downtown – it is there, honest!

The view from where we live looks out over the downtown, and at night we can enjoy the lit up Calgary skyline, even if the waste of electricity makes us wince a bit. Yesterday, it was as if Calgary had disappeared!

Bright on other days, low winter sun and all

We’ll be disappearing ourselves for a little while, as we head out into the mountains for a short stay. Looking at lots of snow, quiet trails, and a warm cabin at the end of the day! New year, same old us…

Essential cabin supplies. Dry January? Nope.

Thanks for reading, happy new year, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Belgian style

Style – if you haven’t got it, then there’s no need to worry about it. That’s what I tell myself. Belgian style? Not sure what it is exactly, but having investigated, I think I could get to like it?

From up on the bluff, and it really was a bit chilly

Oh, ok, this isn’t a fashion thing, you’ll be relieved to know. It’s a beer thing, you’ll be shocked to read. We set off on a quite chilly late morning last week to discover for ourselves a nearby microbrewery promising beers in a Belgian style. Given the properly seasonal weather, we were hoping for a glass (or two?) of strong, dark, monkish beer, and we were not disappointed!

A strong golden, and a strong dark, my strong recommendations

Should you be in the area, and you like a well made big beer, then Two Pillars could be for you. We liked it! If we were feeling the cold and had to move fast to keep warm on our walk over, we were well insulated (or even ever-so-slightly inebriated – those were some mighty big beers in small glasses) and taking extra care in the slippery conditions walking home. We might have dozed off for the rest of the afternoon – must have been all that exercise…

We bought a few fireside sippers home with us in preparation for a couple of winter cabin trips we’ve got coming up soon, and they’ll be just the thing after an hour or two of snowy playtime. Yum!

Imperial porter and a Christmas red ale – yum

Let’s keep it short and sweet, not unlike a shared after dinner winter porter. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

	plaidcamper on Lesser Slave Lake
	Bob Stanton on Lesser Slave Lake
	Jane Lurie on Lesser Slave Lake
	plaidcamper on Lesser Slave Lake
	plaidcamper on Lesser Slave Lake