One of my good friends lives up outside of Calgary. We had been meaning to visit them along with just seeing the area as D has never been. I visited Calgary with my parents when I was quite young so don’t remember too much about it. My core memory from the trip was going to the top of Calgary Tower and taking a trip out to a glacier where we got to ride on this giant contraption with wheels at least 10 feet tall – with the warning that you could fall into a crevasse. I also had a few free nights at different hotel chains and luckily was able to use those and save a few bucks.
We flew into YYC and obtained our rental car – a Volkswagen Taos. Previously when we went to Vancouver, I had rented a Volkswagen Tiguan so was familiar with their SUVs. We landed a little later in the evening so after checking into the Hyatt Regency, set off looking for dinner. Calgary is known for their beef as there are a lot of cattle ranchers in the area (it also just so happened that there was a Cattlemen’s convention in our hotel that was wrapping up that same day). The reception at the hotel mentioned SALTLIK steakhouse just down the street so we walked on over.
The restaurant was surprisingly out of a few cuts of steak (blaming the recent conference). We ended up with some appetizer/small plates and then shared a steak and dessert. Overall it was fine but nothing that really stood out.
The next morning I walked a block over and grabbed some breakfast from a small cafe located in the basement of a tall office building. The breakfast sandwich was fairly tasty!
The weather was supposed to be decent this day so we decided to make a day trip out to Banff. The time of year that we visited was the end of winter so it was still a bit chilly (but not TOO chilly). My friend had mentioned that her favorite lake to visit in summer on the way to Banff was Lake Minnewanka. The lake was frozen over but we stopped to take some pictures and used the restroom that was there. It was just a short drive from there into downtown Banff.
We parked the car and grabbed some lunch at The Boss Kitchen and Bar. The restaurant was named after a legendary grizzly bear that lives in the Banff national park. We split the pulled bison sliders, poutine, and a salad (the waiter was kind enough to split the salad for us).
After lunch we walked around town to get coffee. The town reminds me of most small mountain skin towns. We found a cute little coffee shop called Mountain Folk Coffee and then it was on to Lake Louise. I didn’t realize that when the lake freezes over you can actually go walking on it and the nearby Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise makes a skating rink on the part of the lake adjacent to the hotel. We walked out onto the lake and then also tried to check out the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel doesn’t allow non-guests to really see much of the hotel.
Initially I wanted to drive part of the Icefields Parkway (Alberta Route 93), which is a famous 227 km scenic route that many say is one of the most beautiful drives. Somehow we got a bit confused and ended up going down 1 West instead. So we turned around and headed back to Calgary just in time to grab some dinner. I had seen good reviews about a pizza place called Noble Pie. The wait if we wanted to sit and eat was going to be over an hour so we decided to just order a pie to go. I believe the pizza we got was the Magic Pie (Tomato Sauce, Garlic, Fresh Mozzarella, Fennel Sausage, Basil, Cream & Parmigiano Reggiano).
Breakfast was at another spot located on the first floor of a bigger commercial office tower. This time we sat and ate at the restaurant. It was a chain called OEB Breakfast Co. I had their version of a a breakfast poutine and D had the classic breakfast.
We then meandered over to the CORE shopping Centre. We wanted to look at and possibly pick up some sunscreen. The FDA hasn’t approved some of the better ingredients for sunscreens so we look and sometimes pick up suncreen products when out of the US. We then went to explore some neighborhoods surrounding the city before going to see my friend’s new business venture. We went through Northwest Calgary (Nose Hill Park) and Edgemont.
We then met up with my friend and her family to walk around the new business and afterwards headed up to their place north of Calgary in Airdrie. We enjoyed a dinner and just hanging out with them. They also have quite a few critters such as some beef cattle, dogs and many cats. It was a good evening.
Unfortunately the following day when I woke up, I wasn’t feeling 100%. The weather had been holding out but it also started snowing this morning. I ran out to get us some coffee and breakfast from Rosso (nearby) and then we just hung out. We did need to check out of the first hotel and move to another hotel (nearby).
Driving around in the snow reminded me of my days in MI. Overall it wasn’t too bad but I was glad to have rented an SUV for this trip. One of the previous Top Chef Canada contestants had opened up a fried chicken venture and so we headed on over to Cluck N Cleaver Chicken for lunch – overall not too bad.
I’m always in search of decent coffee and D found this small place in the Chinatown region called Hidden Corner Cafe. Definitely was a bit hidden as you go down into the basement of a building and there is a small cafe present. We enjoyed a warm beverage and a pastry.
We were then able to check into our hotel at the Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire. All of their rooms are set up as suites so this was a first for me. It was nice having a living room area separate from the bedroom. We had dinner reservations at Vero Bistro Moderne. This was a cute little place that is a fusion of French and Italian cuisine. This was a unique but good overall dinner.
Because of the sometimes bitter cold, the city of Calgary developed a system they called the +15 Skywalk. These are weather controlled walkways set up between various buildings throughout the downtown corridor and are open to the public. You can therefore make your way to various parts of the city without ever having to step foot outside. We went to The Bow building for breakfast at Patisserie du Soleil. There is a large mesh head art exhibit in front of the building. We grabbed lunch at Bread & Brew and coffee from Analog.
We also drove out and checked out a mall to look at more sunscreen. For our last dinner we made our way over to Caesar’s Steak House – using the +15 Skywalk. This felt like an old school steakhouse and experience as it opened in 1972. I had a lovely Manhattan and nice steak with sides. We shared an apple pie for dessert.
And then we had a very early morning flight back home the next morning. Overall was good to see our friends. I did experience (not consistent but multiple days) where I had this outbreak of intense itchiness of my palms and some other areas. Not sure if related to the cold or to the significant dryness in buildings due to heat. It was not pleasant. I used to live in very cold places but that’s been decades now.
-StewsCat
