A look at the indigenous and unique foods and a description of what to eat in Iceland when you visit. Hot dogs, puffin, whale, and shark. Really!
What To Eat In Iceland
Where Are Calgary’s Food Trucks?
[twitter]If you’re looking for a fun and different lunch, try chasing one of Calgary’s Food Trucks. The fusion food on wheels is proving so popular in the city, the pilot project has ballooned from an initial fleet of 10 trucks to more than 30. Finding the location of Calgary’s Food Trucks is best done via Twitter. Each of the trucks, if they’re on their game…
Rocky Mountain Hikes: Ha Ling Peak
Ha Ling Peak Trail Length: 6 km return (1-2hrs up, 45-90mins down) Elevation Gain: 819 m Ages: Kids with serious skills and determination (10+) Ha Ling Peak is a part of Mount Lawrence Grassi hovering next to the Three Sisters overlooking Canmore. Until 1997 it was known as Chinaman Peak, when the name was changed due to the unsavoury nature of the original title. Ha…
Rocky Mountain Hikes: Lake Agnes Teahouse
[twitter]Lake Agnes Tea House Trail Length: 7k return / 2-3hrs Elevation Gain: 385m Ages: Good for kids 5+ (saw some younger ones, but this is a *real* hike, and they should be keeners) There are many paths to hike in the Lake Louise area, one of the most popular being the route up to the Lake Agnes Tea House. The hike itself is not simple,…
Calgary Daytrips: U Pick Berries Near Calgary
[twitter]When I was growing up, we had a field of wild blueberries behind our house. Every August, I would spend hours each day filling old ice cream buckets. My dad would then clean them, and sell them to his colleagues at his work. I would get about $1 a pound – turning a $5/hr summer job. Not bad for 1985. Now, as my kids are…
The First Guy Named Buzz To Walk On The Moon
[twitter]July 20, 1969. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. My first vacation memory is of a trip to Florida with my grandparents in 1975. We did Disney, but we also visited the Kennedy Space Centre. I drove a moon buggy, and was fascinated by space. January 28, 1986. My 16th birthday, Challenger exploded on take-off. It fascinated me, that visit to Florida…
Calgary Daytrips: The Highwood Pass Loop
[twitter]The Highwood Pass is the highest paved road in Canada. At more than 2200m above the seawall in Vancouver, the road travels through Kananaskis Country, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, and the Highwood Public Land Use area. For 6 months of the year (Dec 15 – June 15) the road is closed because of big horn sheep migration patterns. Actually, the sheep own the road all…
Where To See The Chuckwagon Races At The Calgary Stampede
[twitter]The highlight of the Calgary Stampede is the evening GMC Rangeland Chuckwagon Derby. The races happen each night over the course of the Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth with money for nightly wins, and an overall prize pool over $1M. The chuckwagon races have courted controversy over their history at the Stampede. With deaths to riders, drivers, and horses comes scrutiny. The truth is, the…
My #ExploreAlberta Bucket List
When you move to a new place, you tend to be more excited about discovering it than people who have lived there forever. Think about how you explore a city when you’re a tourist. You delve deep into the history and highlights of the place. Locals, treat it like their home, get in a routine, and are less likely to go out and really experience…
Prairie Oyster Sausage From The Missing Link
Not content with chowing down on the best midway food the Calgary Stampede has to offer, this weekend I fired up the home grill and had a prairie oyster sausage. Prairie oysters, or rocky mountain oysters, are bull testicles. Maybe you’d prefer to call them calf fries, swinging beef, dusted groins, or cowboy caviar. If you’re from Spain or Argentina, you’d called them huevos de…
Best New Midway Food For Stampede 2012 – Naaco Bites
For the second year in a row, an ethnic twist on fair food has won the title of Best New Stampede Midway Food. In 2011, it was Kubie Korn Balls, a delicious corn fritter with bites of kielbasa sausage that tasted like a pancake breakfast. This year The Calgary Food Truck revolution has swept into The Calgary Stampede for the centennial celebration. There’s a long…
Get Yer Redneck On
[twitter]This weekend I got my redneck on, and, I gotta tell you, it was kinda fun. I don’t get NASCAR. I’m not a car guy. Still, with the kids loving Cars the way they do, I thought it would be fun to take in some racing action while we were on vacation. The Montana Raceway is a 1/4 mile track between Kalispell and Whitefish in…
Three. Or Is It Six?
[twitter]Six years ago today, I had my first date with a girl I had randomly met. She was wooed by the fact that I had called her on my way to visit my grandmother. Hours later we were playing internet travel agent to book a whirlwind trip to Montreal to watch France and Italy in the World Cup Final. Three years ago today, at Ferguson…
Going On Safari On The Going-To-The-Sun Road
[twitter]When you start researching an African safari, the term “Big Five” often crops up. The “Big 5” refers to the African: lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo. I’ve never heard of anyone going on safari in the Rocky Mountains, but our trip over Glacier National Park‘s Going To The Sun Road amounted to one in which we managed to bag The “Big 3”. Mountain…
On Vacation? Why Not Go For A Run?
[twitter]Do you run on vacation? If not, you need to – pronto. Wherever your next vacation is, have a poke around the interwebs and see if there’s a 5k, 10k, or some other fun event you can take part in while you’re on the road. My racing with Team Diabetes has taken me all over the planet. I’ve run races in Iceland, Brazil, and Easter…
Team Diabetes Iceland Is A Go
[twitter]It’s on. With more than $9 500 raised for Team Diabetes Iceland, I’m over my fund raising goals for the half marathon in Reykjavik this August. There are a few facets to being a Team Diabetes member. The first is the fundraising. Each international trip brings with it a requirement to raise at least $6 100 to cover the hard costs of the trip and…