Yup, we’ve relocated, and you’ll never guess where!
Oh, ok, you did guess!
The call of the mountains and wide open spaces was impossible to resist, so we didn’t. Calgary will be our home for the foreseeable future.
You can see our new home from here (it’s near that tree – no no, the other tree)
Irritatingly, I’ve been somewhat unwell the past couple of weeks, so haven’t had much chance to explore and reconnect with favourite people and places. The upsides are we’ve much to look forward to, the healthcare was excellent, the prognosis is all positive (once I get my strength back – I’m as weak as a kitten, or, or, an off colour early middle aged OldPlaidCamper) and I’ve had more time than I would have wanted to go through old photos and (re)use them here!
Can you hear the call?
We’ll be properly out and about again by September. Meanwhile, I’m adding 5 minutes more each day to my walking time (I won’t even say how low the current total is, other than it would be a very short and flat trail), trying to keep up with Mrs. PC and Scout, and lining up a few new AB beers for when the time is right!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
New place needs a little work…No, OPC, not yet! Such an impatient patient…
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how much we enjoyed our stay in Irricana, AB, and that I’d include a bit more, so here it is. I’ll let the pictures do most of the heavy lifting, due to laziness or maybe being too relaxed to scribble very much.
I will say the Irricana campground is a great place to stop a few days. It has a rodeo arena (is that the right term? I’m no cowboy…) and there are a couple of baseball diamonds. Little league baseball on a Thursday night is a big draw locally, and there are often horse boxes turning up with young riders making turns in the arena. One quiet afternoon – no horses – I clambered up above the chutes and snapped a few photos. It’s the closest I’ll get to bronco riding…
Hold on to your hat!
Back to the campground. Clean and tidy, it’s run by Norm, former Stampeder and all round good guy. Zipping about on his ATV in sunglasses and Stetson, he couldn’t have been more friendly or attentive. I saw him help out so many campers, be it assisting with parking a large trailer, lending an axe for firewood, or rooting out a water hose if someone had forgotten it. What a guy!
“Hey, Adam, wanna beer?” “Maybe later, Norm – we just had breakfast!” OK, not strictly true, and I jest time wise (it was always after lunch), but an indication of Norm as a great host!
Eight seconds? How hard can it be?!Horse power
If you’re ever out that way and looking for a quiet (outside of Monster Truck weekend) place to stay, then Irricana might just be for you!
Monster, oops, I mean our modest truck, Irricana, AB
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
No trucks, no monsters, just larks and gophers – a lovely prairie trail to hike or bike Not just for cowboys – and how hard can it be?! Sadly for them, I can think of one or two who struggle with this…
We’re absolutely loving being out west, traveling under (mostly) big blue skies. We spent a week in Irricana, AB, a tiny town northeast of Calgary, and a sparkling prairie gem. I’ll write more about Irricana another time.
Detail from Irricana mural
Very spotty internet and an unwillingness to hammer my phone plan have combined to keep this very brief. So here are a few photographs that might give you a prairie high – and it’s legal and chemical-free (assuming ranchers and farmers are doing the right thing…)
Good morning to you!
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! And Happy July 4th to our southern neighbours!
Rockyview County?! (Not in this photo, but on a clear day, you can see the Rockies in the very far distance)“Can we go to the mountains, cool off?!” Soon, Scout, soon!This will get you to the mountains – eventually – no rush!
It’s Canada Day next week (Tuesday) and, as always (perhaps more so given the recent distressing nonsense from near and far) I’m so happy this is my home. It’s not perfect, but my sense is, as a nation, we are mostly trying to paddle in the right direction (it would need a large canoe, but all are welcome to climb in)…
A lake somewhere in Saskatchewan
So, if you’re Canadian and choose to celebrate, have visited Canada, maybe would like to visit one day, or simply like maple syrup and the big outdoors, Happy Canada Day!
It’s good to know there is a small town in northern Ontario called Moonbeam. You’ve probably heard of it – it’s known throughout the entire galaxy:
Yup
I’d read there was a UFO monument in Moonbeam (we were camping a few kilometres away) and didn’t tell Mrs PC about it, not wanting to spoil the surprise. I think it was probably more than she could ever dream of?
“Take me with you!”
After all that excitement, we had to stop for refreshments.
Stellar!
Oh yeah, and we’ve camped in some lovely spots – this might be my favourite, so far:
Somewhere near Val-d’Or, QC, Canada, the world, the solar system, the galaxy, the universe
It’s big out here! Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
…and we wouldn’t mind if we were still down by the river, but we came home after the third day of rain, and five nights out overall. It wasn’t the rain, it was the cold – it barely hit 10C for the afternoon high. Ok if you’re hiking, less so for sitting around enjoying the fire in between rain showers…
“Mountain” sector tent site – light that fire!
One afternoon we decided to revisit the microbrewery just outside the nearby village of Frampton. It wasn’t too busy, most likely due to the unseasonably chilly temperatures, but we received the usual warm and friendly welcome from the brewer on for the afternoon. We tasted a light lager, pretending it was late May, not mid-March, and it was pretty good, one for properly warm days ahead. For those, we stocked up on the raspberry sour we’d enjoyed so much last summer. It’s not a style I usually like, but this one is really good.
Last summer – raspberry sour on the left – yum!
I couldn’t resist a new NEIPA and bought a couple to savour later – slightly too strong but very tasty if you like a big hoppy beer. The last one we tried was only currently available on tap, so we’ll hope to return and buy a bottle/can or two – a new nut brown that was, for me, a perfect autumnal sipper. Goodness, I only had one sip but it was absolutely spot on!
Absolutely a good spot to be in
We weren’t only tasting beers or sitting by the fire or snoozing or in between snoozes – we also wandered up and down a couple of nearby trails. The vibrant fresh greens and bright new spruce tips were very welcome sights.
Happy trail
The rain and mist cleared from time to time so we were able to see longish views across the valley. The trail winds past a second section of the campground, a few walk in tent sites in the “mountain” sector. These are lovely secluded spots if you’re happy to hike up a steepish short way with all your gear.
Across the valley
One afternoon, mind and body suitably rested from the hiking, the scenery and the all round pleasantness of the Etchemin valley, I fell asleep and had the strangest dream. There was beer, spruce tipped and resinous, growing on trees. Oh, if only…
Can(ned) dreams come true?
Time to wake up! Well, this has been less sunny but not miserable, like a rested OldPlaidCamper during the second and rainier half of a camping trip. Apologies for the ridiculously long post heading this week, no idea how that happened. Sleepy brain?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thunder? Heavy rain showers? Heat? Humidity? One or two bugs? Check, check, check, check and check!
But… almost constant birdsong, a musical river, freshly unfurled spring greenery, a distant farm dog barking, spells of warm sunshine and a remote campsite in the trees above a river? Yup! On balance, let’s just say “when can we go again?”
Hanging out
We had a splendid few days down by (or just above) the Etchemin. Two decent sized bug bites on my ankle (how? I was wearing boots!) had me temporarily renaming it the Itchyman River, but I got over it, and barely mentioned it at all out loud. I didn’t provide any insects a free lunch once I’d applied the bug repellent. Use it, OPC. Happens every start of camping season – when will you ever learn…?
Itchyman – are those clouds bubbling up? Maybe…
The trailer and bug screen performed as hoped for, the wood-store was well stocked and dry – one match got our fire lit every time, maintaining a pretty good run (he says, modestly) – and is there a better outdoor aroma than woodsmoke and coffee? Perhaps my hiking boots left outside and under the trailer? With that aroma, why do the bugs even approach my ankles?
A splendid site
We saw and heard geese, and I startled a pair of ducks as I leant over to snap a shot upriver, at which point a kingfisher scolded me, Scout shook her head, and Mrs. PC seemed happy enough I didn’t fall in.
Several mornings a hummingbird buzzed me as I was making coffee, darting to the side I wasn’t looking as I tried to spot her. I caught a blur of small brown bird as she buzzed into the trees, perhaps disappointed we don’t take nectar with our coffee.
Set up
The Etchemin flows through a lovely little valley of low wooded hills and patches of cleared farmland. Not much more than an hour south of Quebec City, it is a delightful spot to find a change of pace. Breathe in, breathe out, stretch, relax, repeat, and it’ll soon be beer o’ clock.
It’s beer o’clock already? Well alrighty…
A very welcome break from the noise and nonsense that can be hard to avoid in the wider world. Spring this year hasn’t been all that it could have been, but a few more trips like this as we edge towards summer and maybe all will be well, with equilibrium maintained…
Fresh
More about this trip next week – the river, the rain (yup!), the microbrewery and hiking trails nearby.
New
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Hooray! I said I’d share the first green blades of grass when they appeared, so here we go, from earlier this week:
Green! Just…
Ok, so we had to look hard, but it was there! Since then, with a morning of sunshine and a few more heavy showers, it has been greening up nicely. Spring! Boing! May! Phew!
Finding and fixing a puncture – the bike would be enormous!
Now our thoughts can turn to camping, so much so, I finally repaired a puncture in the inflatable tent yesterday, and next week we’ll be uncovering the trailer and seeing if any small critters need rehousing before giving it all a general spring airing. A riverside site in mid May is booked and beckons… Yup, it’s May! Hooray!
Sunny on the plains
Short this week, rather like the stretch of sunny spring days so far… Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
… of joy. An unexpected gift (thank you, Mrs. PC!) arrived in the post the other day, “A Thousand Feasts” by Nigel Slater. As the cover blurb describes it, this is a memoir of sorts, and, if the first few chapters are any indication, an utter delight.
I really enjoy reading Slater even if he can (sometimes) come across as slightly fussy. I prefer to think he is simply being particular. I would say that, as I’m certainly particular about particular issues. But never fussy, oh no…
Can we all agree that strong, black coffee should be just that, and if a warmed croissant isn’t served with an offering of apricot jam on the side (ok, or strawberry at a pinch) then it probably isn’t (another) sign of end times? No need to fuss. Although, if we are going to hell in a hand basket at ever increasing speeds, surely apricot jam isn’t too much to ask? Anyway, I’m not fussy, oh no…
Small cups for a small moment, and just right! Not that I’m fussy…
Back to small moments of joy. I often recall a favourite breakfast we shared with friends on the road many years ago. We’d taken the overnight boat to France, and (some of us, no names) had probably explored the outer limits of how many pints a person should consume in a ferry bar on a choppy cross-channel trip.
Designated drivers aside, we were feeling a little worse for wear as we rolled up to a small railway station cafe somewhere in Picardy. It was just as you might imagine – wicker cafe chairs, red check cloth covered tables, and a dapper waiter. The waiter was poised in every sense, happy to take our breakfast order, and never mind our mangled French.
Rural QC, not rural France, but just as one might hope?
Petit déjeuner? All the essentials – strong dark roast coffee, chewy country bread with a firm crust, and warm flaky croissants. Oh those croissants! I get warm and flaky just thinking about them. (And yup, for the children, they were served with apricot or strawberry jam on the side!) How I enjoyed that restorative spring sunshine breakfast – nothing fancy, and a perfect meal!
Warm and flaky, coffee and pastry
Right, enough with the reminiscing, I’ve got to go make a cup of strong coffee and get back to reading “A Thousand Feasts” – both are recommended! I’ll finish by saying this is a splendid book if you enjoy wonderfully descriptive writing on people, places and cuisine. It’s often amusing, very observant and it celebrates the joy found, home or away, in small moments. For me, that’s most welcome in these broadly troubling times!
“That’s right, Scout! Strong and dark!”
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
OldPlaidCamper 