Tag: Calgary

To Sail Or Not To Sail – Now What

As I noted in the earlier post, To Sail Or Not To Sail – What we Did On Our Summer Vacation, we have made the decision to explore the feasibility of retiring on a sailboat.  Having made that choice, we hit the first hurdle, which is simply put as “Now What”.

Our first step was to visit a sailing shop of some sort.  These are fairly rare when you live in an area without access to your typical sailing venues.  We are kind of landlocked with no big lakes close by, which is not really a good thing.  We did find a shop (Glenmore Sailboats) in Calgary and popped in for a visit.  Very friendly place and very willing to discuss sailing and live-aboard.  As first moves go, this turned out pretty well.  We asked questions, he answered.  We asked where people sailed in the area and he listed off 4 places.  These are Chestermere Lake, Glenmore Reservoir, Ghost Lake and Newell Lake, Alberta.  We now had some places to check out.  We asked about lessons and he recommended the sailing school at Glenmore Reservoir.  We asked about live-aboard and if people actually do what we were thinking.  The answer was a resounding yes.  He knew of many people who do it.  Some succeed, some don’t, which makes complete sense.  Preparation is key.

We left feeling pretty good about things, other than the answers creating even more questions.  I’ll leave that to later and concentrate on our next moves.  Lori arranged lessons on the reservoir through the Calgary Sailing School.  These were to start on June 1 and were on Lasers.  I’ll leave that experience for the next post.

Glenmore Reservoir in Calgary
Glenmore Reservoir in Calgary (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At this point, we now know that we are going to seriously look at this, that it is doable as people do it all the time.  We immediately went into lala land and started casing out costs and boats.  I was shocked.  Check this one out.

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Pretty impressive living space.  The pricing is amazing to.  Sailboats in this class can go for anywhere from $75-125,000.  The other part we looked at was living costs including maintenance.  This is where it gets hairy.  We have read that you can do this for anywhere between 500 and 5,000 a month.  Both ends I see as extreme and the most common number I see is 3,000.  The idea suddenly becomes a bit less crazy.

I’ll leave off here and take you to our adventures on Glenmore Reservoir on my next post.

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A Nice Day For A Skate

We went for a skate the other day at Bowness Park in Calgary.  Unfortunately we couldn’t skate through the forest as that portion of the creek was closed due to thin ice.  We did skate on the lake for a while though.  Lots of fun.  Took the movie with my iPhone.

Elbow Falls and Cobble Flats, Alberta

Northern lights over the city of Calgary, Albe...
Northern Lights Over Calgary, Alberta

We have been spending the summer fairly close to home this year.  That may sound unlike someone who likes to travel and wonders “Is It Possible To See It All”, but one must remember that we live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a veritable smorgasbord of things to see and do, all within hours of our home.  On this journey, we travelled about an hour west to K-Country (Kananaskis Provincial Park) and visited Elbow Falls, and continued west to Cobble Flats where we lunched prior to returning home.  We were entertaining some guests from Winnipeg on this run and as we had never been here, we decided it was the place to go.

First stop, Elbow Falls.  The video doesn’t do justice.

The area is very tourist friendly with a paved path along the river, protected by guard rails.  There is a large picnic area, but one has to arrive very early to get a spot.  A nice peaceful area to spend a day though.

Roger and Wendy

As the picnic area was full, we left and headed a bit further west, ending up at Cobble Flats.  A beautiful spot for a nice lunch.  A beautiful creek with a picnic area along the creek.  we grabbed a spot and had a great time enjoying the surroundings and company.

The area is surrounded by beauty in every direction.  It is great to live in this part of the world.

The Creek
The View
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Hanging Out at Heritage Park – Calgary, AB

The pathway along Glenmore Reservoir
Glenmore reservoir Image by elliottzone via Flickr

One of Calgary‘s major attractions is one of the biggest outdoor museums in the world, Heritage Park.  It is basically a town from the early 20th century set along the Glenmore Reservoir.  A beautiful setting for an outstanding piece of history.  The buildings on site are historical  and have been donated or purchased and moved to the park.  Once here they have been restored and turned into exhibits.

When one enters the park, the first exhibit is Gasoline Alley, a museum of restored vehicles and pieces from early gas stations.

Gasoline Alley

Restored vehicle in Gasoline AlleyFrom Gasoline Alley, it is off to the town site itself.  There is everything from fully staffed general stores, candy shops and bakeries to a pool hall and post office.  Each is staffed with well informed park personnel who are willing to answer questions and point out the features and history of each building.

Main Street - Heritage Park

The video below is taken in the Blacksmith shop and is indicative of what happens here to teach people about our history.

Then there are the vistas where one can sit and watch sailboats and the bustle on the reservoir.

Glenmore Reservoir

All in all, Heritage Park is a great way to spend a quiet day in the middle of a large city, without knowing you are in a big city.  There is something for everybody, whether it is history, antique cars or old trains.  If you are in Calgary, make it a point to visit this terrific exhibit.