Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Mike and Maggie's Visit - Round 2

Mike and Maggie made the trek up to Canada for their second visit!  Last year, they happened to come during the coldest week of the entire winter with temperatures in the negative 40s.  This year, they were pleasantly surprised at the mild temperatures and sunny skies.  Their first night here, we went out to celebrate Matt's 30th with drinks and German chocolate cupcakes at the Drum and Monkey.
The next day happened to be Matt's actual birthday and the Super Bowl.  We had a nice night in with snacks and presents while watching the game.
Officially 30 years!
While Mike and Maggie were here, we couldn't miss out on the perfect snowboarding weather so we headed up to Banff for the day.  Maggie and I shopped around town while Matt and Mike hit the slopes.  It was sunny down in the town, but up on the mountain it was pretty snowy and windy - great powder for snowboarding.
We also decided to check out a moderate hike called Troll Falls.  We rented snowshoes and drove up to Kananaskis to find the trail.  We ended up not really needing the snowshoes since there wasn't a ton of snow and the trail was pretty well packed down but it was still fun to give them a try.  The frozen waterfall was really pretty.  Apparently, there were more falls a bit further up the cliff, but it was too treacherous to hike with the icy, slippery snow, especially in my condition (not the best idea to hike a slippery, icy cliff while pregnant).  So, instead we headed back the way we came in and then grabbed some lunch at Urban District Tavern.
Mike climbed up the ice to snap a picture behind the fall.
This is the view from behind the fall.
Mike, Maggie, and I went shopping on 17th Ave one day and saw a movie another day.  For their last day here, we planned a heli-tour around Kananaskis.  The four of us took a helicopter ride around the mountains.  The views were unbelievable.  The ride was really smooth and it was the perfect day for it. I was the lucky one who got to ride co-pilot, while Mike, Maggie and Matt rode in the back.  We all got to wear the headphones with microphones so that we could chat while up in there air.  Matt and I got a glimpse of a few of the mountains that we had hiked this past summer and it was really neat to see them from above.
Matt looks a bit nervous before take-off.
On the way home, we spotted some Big Horned Sheep along the side of the road.  The week was lots of fun and we were so glad the weather turned out to be so beautiful for Mike and Maggie's visit.

Saturday, February 2, 2013