Day 13 – Calgary Alberta

This morning, Brian and I headed out midmorning to meet Jon Clarke for a round of golf at a nearby City owned course called Shaganappi Point (I just love the name). This would be the first time in nearly 3 years I’ve seen Jon, and the first I’ve even chatted with him save for a few emails exchanged before this visit. The golf course turned out to be quite a beautiful setting, sitting on a bit of a hill over the Bow River, with fantastic views of downtown Calgary.

It was a great round of golf, aided by a few Kokanee – though I think we may have been a little overly creative/forgiving with the scorecard.

Following Golf, we made a quick stop back to Brian’s to reload Canyonero – this time with CLEAN laundry that we had spent that last day and evening taking care of. We managed to find room for Brian’s suitcase as well, as we quickly darted out to the airport to drop him off for a flight to Toronto, as he begins a week of vacation. It was great to see Brian in his new setting – even if he won’t be in Calgary for long.

From the airport we headed south down Deerfoot Trail to the other end of town, and the Douglas community were Jon lives with his wife Sherri and new daughter Josie. Deerfoot is the closest thing to a major artery that Calgary has, and surprisingly it was free of any Toronto like traffic, even at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon.

Once we arrived in the Douglas Community, finding Jon’s actual street was a bit of an adventure - the real challenge being the street names themselves. EVERY SINGLE STREET in the Douglas Community has the name Douglas in it. Seriously, on the way to Jon’s place we passed Douglasdale Boulevard, Douglas Woods Hill (not to be confused with Douglas Woods Boulevard, where Vone stopped me from incorrectly turning), Douglas Ridge Boulevard, Douglas Ridge Close (whatever the hell a ‘Close’ is), Douglasview Road, Douglas Ridge Green, and Douglasview Rise, just to name a few. I’m not sure who thought this would be a good idea, but it sounds like an ambulance driver’s nightmare to me.

Street names aside, Jon and Sherri’s neighbourhood is very nice, and their house is fantastic. They’ve obviously put a lot of energy and effort into the place, and it shows. Jon’s apparently become quite a handyman in his old age! Their new daughter Josie is just a few months youner than Lilo, and just as cute (if I may say so). It was really neat to see Jon’s relationship with her. While I had no doubt he’d make a great father, I have to admit I was surprised by the affections he showers Josie with.

Before dinner we were joined by Laurie – another close friend whom I haven’t seen our talked to in years. Laurie is also doing fantastic. She’s set to marry a great guy named Trevor, who we met later in the evening, and her happiness definitely shows on her face.

Jon is a sales rep for a seafood distributor, so naturally we dined on king crab, shrimp, scallops, and steak (which was really more of a side dish for the seafood).

Everything was amazing – Jon’s skill for creating great food seems to have only increased. Seeing him goofing off in front of the BBQ reminded me of days gone by at Laurie’s cottage: while so much as changed for all of us, some things stay the same.

One of those unchanged things is our ability to consume copious amounts of alcohol and chat until the wee hours of the morning. This will probably hurt tomorrow…