Calgary Catch-Up & Keep-Up

 My motto this summer seems to be "Work Hard, Play Hard".

This past week, my son and I flew to Calgary to spend time with my sister and brother-in-law. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that I was very sad when my sister had to move back out west. We vowed to arrange a chance to catch up with each other, and this was the week. We had a fantastic time together. My sister and brother-in-law made sure we had lots of local experiences, even though we were too late for the Calgary Stampede. Here are some of the highlights.  

Floating the Bow (Thursday)

A Calgary tradition is to enjoy recreational river travel. They rented a huge inflatable craft and we spent hours bobbing along, enjoying the scenery and occasionally paddling so we wouldn't get stuck on the riverbank.

Visiting Frank Slide (Saturday) 

This is the site of Canada's deadliest rock slide. We went to the Frank Interpretive Center and read all about the 90 seconds that killed 90/600 inhabitants of this booming mining town. I remember reading a Silver Birch book about the topic. 

Walking Nature Trails (Tuesday)

On our very first day, we strolled down the beautiful paths near the Bow River. All the biting bugs seemed to like my blood the most, but it was worth the itches as we enjoyed the scenery.

Playing VR on our "Down Time" (daily)

My sister rented a VR headset for us to try while at their home. It was a lot of fun. My son and brother-in-law enjoyed fishing, visiting Antarctica and exploring the ocean floor.

Experiencing a Spa Pedicure (Wednesday)

This was an effective way to purposefully slow down, since you can't move when you are getting your nails done. The Riverside Spa was an oasis of calm, although the laughter my sister and I generated while there probably disrupted some of that serenity. It was a great companion piece to the shopping we did earlier that morning and later that week. You can't beat the 5% sales tax on purchases.

Tackling an Escape Room (Friday & Sunday)

This was such an enjoyable experience that we did it twice! This was our first time participating in something like this. Our first room was Egyptian-themed and thankfully, we were able to succeed in breaking out. It really exposed how people problem-solve in very different ways. My sister and I were big planners who wanted to strategize; we liked trying to organize all the information and consult verbally and slowly. My son and brother-in-law have a very different approach - they wanted to jump in immediately, gather all the props and tools they could accumulate, and play with the various options as the ideas came to them. To be honest, it was good to have all sorts of types in the room together (even though it wasn't always smooth sailing) because the various strengths led to solutions. During the second escape room, we failed to complete the task within the hour (we got out in 62 minutes) but we were much better at communicating and collaborating with each other. 

Watching a Movie at a Luxury Cinema (Wednesday)

We have fancy movie theatres in Toronto, but they weren't open. We went to a socially-distanced showing of Space Jam Legacy. The movie wasn't great (because it felt like "corporate flexing" and "animation ability showcase" rather than a good story) but I shouldn't expect much more from this franchise, and it was more about the environment and the company.

Playing Bocce in Edworthy Park (Sunday)

Even though the sky was not as blue due to the fires in neighbouring BC and Saskatchewan, the weather was a delightfully dry heat and on our last full day in Calgary, the four of us went to play bocce in the park. I was particularly impressed with a few of my shots, so I recorded them for posterity with a photograph.

This was all in addition to the great places where we ate (e.g. Angel's Café, Chops). Sadly, it wasn't all party time. It was a good thing that my body was still on Toronto time, because it was necessary to continue to work on my Queen's University AQ course as well as put the final touches on my upcoming ETFO Summer Academy session with Chelsea Attwell. I tried not to let these work obligations interfere with all the fun, so often I would spend an hour or two every late evening (when everyone was in bed) or early in the morning (before everyone was awake) providing feedback on module culminating tasks, reading discussion forums posted by the course participants and crafting the first of four Progress Report updates. Chelsea and I even had a phone consultation on Friday to polish our presentation synchronously. This was necessary so I didn't feel overwhelmed with overdue work when we returned to Toronto. Keeping up reduces the catching up!

I am so grateful that I had this time with my sister. It's shocking how alike we are in some ways. We have already begun to plan our next trip/visit together, and knowing that is on the horizon will help make the time apart not be as bitter.