Alberta – 5th Day

Posted on July 4, 2018 by jmatie22

Last day in Calgary and Alberta. I woke up early at 9am so I could get a lot in before my flight.

Since it was raining, I started off with lunch at Ten Foot Henry (I took an Uber, and I have to say, Uber is basically like SF prices. I didn’t travel more than a mile, and I paid $10 Canadian):

Ten Foot Henry

After, since it was still a bit drizzling, I made my way towards a cafe at Inglewood called Rosso:

Rosso (Inglewood)

Sitting in the cafe, it eventually stopped raining, so I was able to walk around Inglewood (which is like a basic old town downtown). I even stopped by a local CIBC to do some banking.

Reaching the end of Inglewood lead me to the RiverWalk, where I past Fort Mason, and China town. I then ended up at Prince’s Islam Park, and walked around there for a bit.

After, I returned to my hotel to grab my car, where I drove to the Saddle Dome to check out the preparations for the Calgary stampede next week.

From there, I headed to the YYC. I was early, so I checked out the Aspire Lounge. The Lounge has a good selection of alcohol, food, and a sleeping area! One of the best Priority Pass lounges I’ve ever been to.

Alberta – 4th Day Part 2

Posted on July 4, 2018 by jmatie22

Coming in from Banff, there was crazy traffic (there was an accident on the trans Canada high way, which looked like a truck carrying cars fell into the center lane, likely from the rain).

I checked into the Delta (on 4th ave and 1st) at around 7:30pm.

From the hotel, I walked around a bit. I explored around City Hall, Olympic Plaza and Calgary Tower. I then strolled along Stephen Ave, and tried to go to the National on 10th. Unfortunately it was closed (for a private event). However I was able to go to the one on 17th ave (however it did not have any games):

National (on 17th)

After the National, I walked along 17th, between 4th and 1st. It too much was happening. I tried to go to a cocktail bar called Proof, it was closed because of Canada day.

So then I proceeded to the Peace Bridge, which is supposed to look the best at night because of the lights.

I ended off the night at my hotel’s hot tub (although it definitely wasn’t as nice as the Fairmont in Banff).

Alberta – 4th Day Part 1

Posted on July 4, 2018 by jmatie22

This day was the last day I would be in Banff before heading to Calgary.

The first thing we did spend an 3 hours in the Fairmont hot springs. The price was $80 Canadian, it it was definitely 8 times better than the previous hot springs we went to. It had several pools with different temperatures, along with a steam room and a sauna. The steam and sauna room had this mint vapor smell, which I really liked. As for the main mineral pool, it was interesting if you had your ears below water, since you could hear music (I’m sure the music was also playing out of the water, but the waterfalls I think prevent you from hearing it).

Also, the coed lounge area had unlimited free cookies (I had 3 :)).

After the hot springs we did a distillery tour at Park Distillery. They make vodka, gin, whisky, and some flavored vodkas. I did learn a couple of things during this tour, such as

It takes at least 3 years for whisky to be in a barrel before they can call it whisky (Park does 5 years)
Gin is made from Juniper berries

Also, one thing to call out is this amazing drink Jon had that had honey in it (it was called ___ mountain). It’d be great to get the ingredients and try creating that drink at home.

After the distillery tour, I headed for Calgary!

Alberta – 3rd Day

Posted on July 3, 2018 by jmatie22

On this day, I actually went on a hike. We went to the Johnston Canyon, all the way up to the ink pots (it’s called that since they look like ink pots).

The hike itself was paved for half of the way, making the first half easy. The second half had pretty steep hills, but still manageable. The only annoying part of the hike is that it rained on and off (fortunately I had my rain coat).

After the hike we went into town to eat Korean food (originally we were going to get Ramen, but the line was long). Here is the food link:

Seoul Country Korean Restaurant

Afterwards, we chilled at the hotel’s hot tub for a bit before we got dinner.

For dinner, we went to a place called The Bison Restaurant and Lounge. Food overall was good. Here’s the link:

The Bison Restaurant and Lounge

After dinner, we made our way back to The Hidden Ridge since we wanted to finish all the alcohol everyone bought (that’s what happens when you tell people who are working to BYOB).

We spent the night in the Wedding party’s room. One game we played was this alternate life Tinder game (basically what it would have been like if Jon had not met Cyrene). And then we burnt the non-top 4 cards away. Abi ended up winning the game (and Sam came in second).

Afterwards, some of the guys went to smoke cigars, while Abi and I started a game of “Here’s to the Governor”. I sucked as usual, but Jimmy was the worst. Also, Cyrene’s brother (although not playing) made up some complicated rules. I ended up switching out with Jon so he could get a taste of the game.

Alberta – 2nd Day

Posted on July 3, 2018 by jmatie22

The intention of the day was to start at lake Louise and hike sentinel pass. But since I had barely any sleep, I decided to have a chill day.

We started off by going into town (Banfff) and getting brunch at Tooloulous. Here are the details:

Tooloulous

After brunch we went and checked out the Banff upper hot springs (it was only $8 Canadian and government owned). The thing about hot springs is that it is just mineral water with no chlorine.

The view was good, but you definitely get what you pay for.

After, we got dinner at an Indian place called Masala. I actually forgot to take food pics (hence no blog link). The butter chicken was good though (and the texture was very tofu like, which I was fine with).

After dinner, we did a pub crawl to three bars.

The first one was an Irish pub called St James pub. It was a standard Irish pub, but very large. I got a cosmo (which was deemed very non hetero lol).

The second place we went to was called Rose and Crown. This place was fun! There was a 4 player game that you basically try and shoot moose (I think the multiplayer aspect made it fun, although it was $8 a game). I won the first game (see the score below). Drinks at this pace though we’re not cheap for a bar (I ordered two keno drips, each $12.50 Canadian). The other good thing about this place is you can select music (the EDM choices were only the popular songs).

The last bar/pub we went to was the Wild Bill’s Legendary Saloon. Drinks were super cheap ($4 a shot). There was also a live band that played covers for some popular folk songs. They did also have their own songs (one which was called “Tits”, which everyone seemed to like, but I was pretty meh to it).

After the bars we tried to hit up a club called the Dancing Sasquatch. No one wanted to pay cover to we went to the McDonalds right beside it (I ordered a poutine, which was good after 5 drinks in).

After McDonalds, a couple of us checked out a club called HooDoo (same owner as the previous club, but this one was free). The music at the club was top 40 EDM / Pop, and the transitions were actually pretty good.

Alberta – 1st Day

Posted on July 3, 2018 by jmatie22

Arrived in Calgary at around noon. Airport seemed new for the most part.

Customs was fast because of Nexus (although funny story? Yuri slipped his Nexus card into the machine and ended up having to wait).

After customs, I proceeded to the rental car, where I skipped the line because of being an Avis Preferred member.

From the airport, I stopped by a Real Canadian super store to pick up some snacks. I then went to the “privately owned” real Canadian liquor store (which looks super ghetto inside) to grab some liquor (Haneson and some brand of vodka I’ve never heard of.

After, before going on the road to Banff, I stopped by Timmy’s to grab a chicken chipotle wrap, mocha latte, and 20 assorted Timbits.

The road to Banff was pretty straightforward. Going on the trans Canada highway was cool (the speed limit was 110 Km at some points, and the scenery was awesome).

After an hour and a half, I arrived at Hidden Ridge Resort. Since I had a smaller room booked for the first two nights, and a larger one booked for the last night, they let me upgrade the first room for only $90 Canadian so I could stay in the same room!

The room itself was pretty big. The rest of the day we had a barbecue and drank at the wedding party’s room (basically my room but mirrored).