Day 12 Sat Feb 2. Canmore.

POWDER DAY (and I’m not skiing it !!??)

Up relatively early still trying to convince myself it was practical to head for Sunshine today but gave up pretty quickly.  The legs would have probably won the argument with the powder hound in me even if there wasn’t the practicality of getting the tyre seen to. Had looked out the window just before going to bed to see lovely light snow wafting down.  Several cm settled at the motel in the morning and temps have continued to drop into the negatives.  Checked with Alamo and thankfully they had a contract with the tyre dealer I was planning on visiting anyway, so just after nine and after another pump up I was driving very cautiously to the end of town where I found yet another job I don’t ever want to do – changing tyres outdooors in sub zero temps!

They got the job done very quickly and so back to the motel to check out.  Because I’d booked the additional night quite late it meant changing rooms but at least much less mucking about than changing motels. Drove into downtown and went for a wander.  Still snowing lightly and temp now down to about 15C below.  Now I LIKE cold weather but I found today pretty challenging.  Normally at these temps its sunny and calm, but with wind and falling snow your choice of neckwarmer becomes a major issue.  Occasionally the cloud would lift a bit and you’d get a glimpse of the truly stunning backdrop this town has to offer.  After surveying the scene headed into Good Earth for coffee and cake and, more importantly, a warm up. 

Even without Robyn to guide me by recognising curtains in establishments she remembered (?), I had managed to recognise a venue from my time here with her and Trevor.  So after a token few minutes more wandering around kicking the pixie dust off the pavement, I was heading into The Grizzly Paw for lunch.  I have often waxed lyrical about the quality of the wings I had here many years ago, and I believe the local honey wheat beer kick started my fondness for wheat beers and heffeweitzens in general.  I am happy to report that both items lived up to both memory and expectations.  The fact that the beer is called ‘Grumpy Bear’ has absolutely no bearing on my enjoyment level of said product.

After such a repaste I had lost what tiny inkling I still had left to do something productive with the day, and as the novelty of walking around freezing my arse off had well and truly worn off it was back to the motel to hang out in the warmth of the lobby until the new room was ready – which actually only took about 15 minutes.

Last nights room was pretty good but I am now ensconsed in luxury.  A full kitchen including oven and not one but TWO separate bedrooms.  Given that the temp has now dropped somewhere south of 20C below, I could be tempted to never set foot outside.  Thankfully spared from being able to truly relax by a series of technological issues surrounding phones and ATM access during the afternoon and early evening.  But eventually I was able to access cash which meant I could get coins for the washing machine and I could then settle down to cook up a stack of roast veges and crab cakes.  Now if I can just convince myself to actually ski tomorrow ……