Playing in Portland

Matt, Melissa, Brooke, and I planned a long weekend trip to Portland, OR where we met up with Kara for The Color Run. Our weekend of fun went like this:

Thursday:

• Arrived and checked-in to our hotel
• Explored the city - visited Tugboat Brewery and few other pubs

 

Friday:

• Headed to Stumptown Coffee and Voodoo Donuts for breakfast

•  Rented bikes and rode around the city for some sightseeing and shopping

• Grabbed delicious dinner at Henry's
• Met up with Kara and went to My Father's Place for some drinks

Saturday:

• Woke up early for The Color Run 5K

•  Cleaned up and grabbed lunch at Shiraz
• Then we split up - Kara and I went to play soccer while Melissa, Matt, and Brooke went shopping
• Ate dinner at Sizzle Pie and then headed to the Timber's game

•  Matt and Melissa called it a night and headed back to the hotel while Brooke, Kara and I went to meet up with her friends at Dig a Pony

Sunday:

• Went for brunch at Mother's and walked around Hawthorne to check out the vintage shops
• Brooke and Matt headed back to Calgary but Melissa and I stayed an extra day
• Went to a Fiesta themed birthday party for one of Kara's friends
• Had dinner, wine and watched a movie with Chelsea and Kara at their house

Monday: 

•  Met Kara for lunch at a restaurant where they were preparing to film Portlandia!
• Got a tour of Kara's office
• Melissa and I headed to the airport to fly home

Pretty view of the Rockies from the plane

Another Day, Another Mountain

Matt and I decided to squeeze one more mountain climb in before winter (yes, winter begins in October here in Calgary).  So, we planned a hike for a weekend in late September. During the week before, we found out that our neighbor from Houston, Mike, was going to be in town for work. So, we invited him along.  We planned to hike Heart Mountain in Canmore, recommended by Brooke. Also joining Mike, Matt and I were Mike's co-worker Gary, Humberto, Pamela, Marina, and Alex. We headed up to Canmore around 9 AM and got to the base of the mountain around 10.  We met everyone there and started the hike/climb. Right from the start, it was a steep, steady incline.

The fall colors were beautiful!

After about an hour, Matt and Mike decided to head back down and take a more relaxing trail.  The rest of us continued up the mountain.  The views continued to get better and better the higher up we got.

There were a few tough parts up to the top but we finally made it to the summit after about 3 hours.

Inukshuk at the top!

We made a group decision to take the "easy" way down which was significantly longer but slightly less treacherous. Instead of heading back down the way we came up, we headed to the other side of the mountain, following the ridge of several other mountains. Then, we headed down through the forest and finally made it back to the parking lot after a total of about 6 and a half hours. Meanwhile, Mike and Matt had done a quick hike along Heart Mountain Creek, had a snack in Canmore, and made it back to the parking lot with time to spare.

We were so glad to be back down at the bottom!

After the climb, we all headed to Canmore to grab some much needed food and drinks. We headed back to Calgary just in time to see an amazing sunset behind the mountains.  Although I'm looking forward to winter (did I really just say that?) because of snowboarding, I'm going to miss hiking the mountains.  Luckily, we will have some time next summer to hike a few more mountains before our time in Calgary is up!