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Thanksgiving in Calgary and Waterton Lakes Park

During this period of confinement we decided to take a risk and celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister Marlene, Haig and her sons Chad and Brede. The following day we planned to go to Waterton Lakes Park for a little sight seeing.

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October 11, 2020. Thanksgiving in Calgary.

Haig and Marlene and the two of us decided to take a couple of days to vacation in Waterton Lakes but first we joined them for thanksgiving dinner prepared by our nephews Chad and Brede. Sadly, I have no photos of the dinner. Chad’s hobby is salt water aquaria and he has several. He also sells extra growth in coral and the foundation rocks that he acclimates so other aquarium builders can use them directly. Here are some photos from his display tank.

The blue colour of the fish is real!

Chad is also a collector of themed Lego projects. This is a photo of him with his Millennium Falcon model.

He also has a room full of other LEGO models from the Star Wars series. Here are a few others:

Brede is a pilot with Morning Star, an airline that transports cargo. It has been a growing business since the pandemic shutdown so they are very busy and adding more flights and airplanes. He just returned from Houston where he went through flight training for a another aircraft design. Brede in on the left in this photo in the flight simulator.

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October 12, 2020 Waterton Park.

It has been decades since we were last in Waterton Park and Haig had only been there once this summer to the golf when there was so much smoke in the air that you couldn’t see across the lake. We were only slightly luckier as we drove through alternating sun and heavy rain. On the trip south we travelled from large scale prairie grain farming with irrigation in many places. 

This is also windmill country and there were large fields of them in a number of different areas that we drove through.

Through the rolling foothills where cattle ranching is the primary industry. 

When we were close to the mountains we encountered broken clouds with blue sky interrupted by rain showers. 

On the way down we began to search restaurant sites to find a place for lunch. There were about 20 restaurants listed but most were closed for the season. We began to think that we were going to have to go back to Cardston to get something to eat. 

We arrived in Waterton in the rain and suddenly understood how close to the townsite the fire of 2017 came. This is a photo of the burned out hillside adjacent to the town. 

We had reserved rooms at the Waterton Glacier Suites Hotel and we stopped by to query the manager about the food choices in Waterton. He told us that there was a lunch restaurant called Vimy’s Lounge and Grill that was open. For dinner the little restaurant in their lobby was what he recommended and it opened at 5:00, but we needed reservations because it was always sold out. The chef previously worked in a new restaurant in Vancouver that was ranked in the top three new restaurants.  Gordon Ramesay (Hell’s Kitchen) ate one of his dishes and immediately recruited him to work in Milan where he would teach him authentic Italian cooking. Seven months later he returned to Canada and eventually settled down in Waterton Lakes. During the summer he is the executive chef for three restaurants in Waterton. In the off season he is the chef for a little 18 seat restaurant called the  Red Rock Trattoria in the lobby of the hotel we were staying in. We reserved for dinner. 

After booking dinner, we decided to drive up the valley to Cameron Lake since it was raining and windy and not ideal for doing any hiking. We reached the snow line at Cameron Lake where everything above us was snow covered.

What was striking was that the entire valley from Cameron Lake to the town site was completely burned out during the fire.

The rooms at the Waterton Glacier Suites hotel were very spacious and the ones we chose were labelled “Romantic Room 209 and 210”! We surmised that it was because of the two person Jacuzzi tub in the room. They had sliding windows between the bathroom and the tub so you could step into the bathroom directly from the tub. 

The Red Rock Trattoria offered up some amazing Italian dishes for our dinner. 

Two of us had the Salmon Tagliatlle Vongole and it was amazing. 

The pasta had many vegetables and capers and bacon and clams as a garnish. We also ordered cheese bread as an appetizer -- and we ordered dessert. It was a great way to end the day as we reflected on the experience we felt very fortunate to drive into a small town and discover a restaurant with a world class chef. 

After dinner we had a chance to talk to the chef and celebrate the interesting variety on his menu. 

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End of our 2020 Thanksgiving weekend in Calgary and Waterton Park.

This was the view out the window when we awoke in Calgary the day of our return to Sherwood Park. 

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January 7, 2020 Start of our trip to Puerto Vallarta

We are in the Peurto Vallarta region for a week staying with friends who have a condominium in Nuevo Vallarta. 

Flying in, the surrounding countryside is primarily agricultural land and one of the popular fruits grown here is watermelons. We see them by the truckload being transported or sold along the highway.

Mexico is also experiencing a growth spurt and there is construction going on everywhere. As you can see in this photo, development is also encroaching into the farm land surrounding the city. 

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January 8, Nuevo Vallarta

Our friends Rick and Mel recently purchased a condominium in Nuevo Vallarta and we were invited for a visit, so here we are. Their condo is located on Paseo de los Cocoteras which is the main road located along the beach. 

They like the location because their condo has a large green space with a pool and each of the buildings contain only one suite per floor so there are windows and balconies all around. 

Rick and Mel have planned an intensive week that also includes a great deal of walking so we should be able to work off some of the food we will be enjoying at the many restaurants they would like us to experience. Today we are going out to a popular Italian restaurant that is within walking distance. 

Other plans include a tour to San Sebastian del Oeste, a village about 2 hours  inland that was established in 1605. Another tour will take us to the Vallarta Botanical Gardens, one of the top ten gardens in North America. 

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January 9, Sunset at the beach.

Today’s plan is to view the sunset from the terrace atop a hotel across the street. It is a perfect place to enjoy margaritas as we watch the changes in the horizon as the sun sets. 

The red sky is apparently unusual and we can’t help but wonder whether it is because of all the fires in Australia. 

I took a series of photos so we could appreciate the dazzling colours as the sun drops quickly below the horizon. 

The previous night there were more clouds and the colours were spread higher above the horizon but even today the sunset was spectacular. 

And some more photos:

They also had a reservation for us at a restaurant below that we adjourned to after the sunset. 

And the view from our table. 

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January 10, San Sebastian Tour

tWe booked a tour from Nuevo Vallarta to San Sebastian with a well spoken driver that knew the area. By this time we were very aware of the dropping temperatures at home and the palm trees dotting the boulevards here help us to appreciate where we are. 

Somewhere, out in the middle of nowhere, no village or town around, we were taken to this bakery for refreshments and snacks. 

The couple that operate the bakery have a diverse variety of snack baked goods like beef or sausage wrapped in bread, or my favourite, cabbage, cheese and onions inside a very tasty bun. 

You can see one variety that has just come out of the oven and, below, some going into our mouths.

We asked about a loaf of bread and found out that she custom bakes bread so, after choosing the appropriate sized pan we were told that we could pick it up on the way back. Sigh, another stop, more great snacks to come.

Just across the Puente Progreso bridge from the bakery is a small craft distillery where the owner makes tequila. We had to stop and reflect on the majesty of this bridge. Designed by Mexican engineers it is a stunning addition to the landscape as it spans a gorge that is over 130 m (430′) deep. It is a stunning sight when viewed from the roadway that winds up above it. 

The bakery is at the far right of the photo above and the distillery just off the left side of the photo. It is surrounded with what I would call rough country but dotted throughout are young blue agave plants that you can barely see in this photo.

We learned that there is a three step process for making tequila, as there is for any other liquor, I suppose. The first is to hack off all the leaves from the plant leaving a central core that looks a bit like a pineapple. 

These are put into a preheated, very hot, wood fired kiln that the owner called a Mexican igloo, and the doors are immediately sealed to keep out all oxygen. The heat and lack of oxygen distills the syrup out of the piñas.  

Once the juice has been separated from the piñas it is put into fermentation vats to which yeast has been added. After the fermentation period the liquid is distilled twice. First in this still:

And then the final distillation is in this one:

The owner provided tastes of the six products he distills. Some are lower alcohol and flavoured and he suggests that they be used to enhance the taste of salad dressings or to pour over ice cream. The full strength is the smoothest tequila that I have ever tasted so we bought some of each. 

His presentation was interrupted by a crowing rooster that apparently didn’t like  all the visitors. 

After these stops we were off to San Sebastian. 

As in Europe, small towns from the 1600s are not built for cars and certainly not buses. Just beyond this sign is a coffee plantation, our third stop on this tour, and beyond that there is a narrow bridge that you have to cross to get into the  village. 

To be abundantly clear to all the bus and truck traffic, they have installed bollards on each side of the entrance to the bridge that provide just enough clearance to allow cars and small vans to pass. Navigating the streets, even in the small van that we had was at times uncertain. In some cases it was necessary to back around to get pointed in the right direction. This street is wide enough in places for a vehicle to pass one that is stopped. 

We had hoped to see some ancient architecture but it turns out that there was a redesign of the central area in the late 1800s so it looks much like other newer towns. It is one of the towns that has been given the “Magical” designation which may have been one of the reasons for the refurbishing of the main plaza. This is the central plaza with a quiosco (kiosk) that is used for musical performances when there are events in the plaza. 

We saw some arroyos on the trip but this one had a pedestrian bridge so only the cars had to ford the stream after a rainfall.

Every village has a church and in most cases it is the most extravagantly decorated building in the village. From the inside this one is no exception.  From the outside it looks a bit weathered.

We stopped at the coffee plantation and had some samples. We liked the coffee, but we also purchase Mexican when we are at home so, no surprises. 

They also had a family of macaws that didn’t seem like part of the usual decor for a coffee plantation but they did attract a lot of attention from travellers.

Intermixed with the coffee plants were other fruit trees and when we were there the grapefruit and avocados were ripe. 

We headed home. One of the features of many highways in Mexico is the cobble surface. Although they are being paved over in some places, they still go for miles across the country and most streets in costal cities are still cobbled. I took this photo as we were heading back to Nuevo Vallarta.

Our driver brought a cooler packed with soft drinks and beer -- all half size bottles so we had a variety of refreshments on demand. The wee Corona's suited both Rick and I on the return trip.  

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Tour of Vallarta Botanical Gardens.

The Vallarta Botanical Gardens are located about 45 km away from where we are staying to the south of Puerto Vallarta. Our driver took us around the downtown and through a tunnel, then back down to the ocean on the South side of town before heading down the coast.  

Something we don’t see in Canada but is quite common in this region is unfinished buildings that seem to be occupied. This one in downtown Puerto Vallarta looks like it has been occupied for years and there seems to have been a plan to build it taller at some time in the past. 

We have often seen sites where there are concrete pillars with lengths of re-bar soaring into the sky but no apparent development taking place. 

Once south of Puerto Vallarta the road winds along the coast before heading into the mountains. 

The winding road takes us up into a jungle that is reminiscent of a rain forest. The first view of the gardens from some distance doesn’t reveal much of what is there. 

Once inside it is a different story. There is a vanilla plantation that is near the entrance that we hiked through first. The vanilla vines will climb on anything using the sticky fingers you can see in this photo. 

They also seem to grow best in deep shade. The vanilla plantation is essentially a bunch of fence posts interspersed among the jungle vegetation. They are kept low for access to the flowers because the flowers are pollinated by hand. The number of pollinated flowers is also restricted so the beans will grow large. One of the items that Judy likes to bring back for friends is bottles of Mexican vanilla. We discovered a huge range in prices. We purchased 500 ml bottles for just over 70 pesos ($5) at a grocery store that has a tourism section. At the Botanical Gardens they were selling their vanilla in 50 ml bottles for 365 pesos. At that price 500 ml would have cost us 730 pesos or about $50 cdn. Clearly a fund raiser for the gardens. 

The terrain is very rugged with trails climbing up and down the sides of the gulleys that are the common characteristic for the area. We had to pick our way between and around trees to get through the jungle areas. 

Very far down the hill from the vanilla plantation is a river that flows through the property. It also has a series of waterfalls so the sound is quite pleasant and there are many large rocks to climb over to try to get a photo. I was not successful. 

Once down there you still have to get back up to the pavillion. By this time we were looking forward to lunch. We didn’t count the stairs but our pulse rate went up to 104 bpm by the time we reached the top. 

We found that most of the vegetation here was unusual and some of the flowering trees were massive. 

There is a small area that is not steeply inclined and that is where all the buildings are. 

The succulents garden is in the building on the right. 

In the central building they have the usual gift shop and on the upper level a very nice restaurant called the Hacienda do Oro, where we had lunch. They offer a small glass of hibiscus tea and some spiced cucumbers for appetizers. 

It was our first experience with the tea and so we had to have more served with a stick of cane sugar and a bamboo straw -- and who could turn down a Coke in a bottle.  

Just outside the restaurant they have a variety of water features. This one has some of the largest lily pads that we had seen. 

They advertise that they also cater to weddings and other parties and they have a small chapel available.

The chapel is surrounded by an International Peace Garden similar to those established in another 36 countries. 

The garden grows a wide variety of local orchids and they even have a lab that cultures endangered species and raises them for sale elsewhere. This is a photo of one of the conservatories that house the orchids. 

And many cacti in bloom.

We did see a few birds as well. This one just outside the restaurant. 

And there were many parrots screaming in the jungle. We did get a photo of this Military Macaw. 

There were many hummingbirds. One that I tried to get a photo of was also in one of there promotional brochures so I borrowed the photo with credits for this travelog. 

Another water feature.

This is the last major sightseeing location on this trip. After this we plan to spend some time in the Nuevo Vallarta area doing some hikes and exploring other restaurants. 

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January  14, 2020 Leaving Nuevo Vallarta

We had a checklist of  restaurants to get through while we are here and last night we had dinner with some friends that we know also from Alberta who winter here. The restaurant was Mr. Ribs which offers a basic rib dinner with potatoes and coleslaw for a very reasonable price. Here we all are.

In the walking around we have seen some things that seem risky to us but are apparently normal for the municipal workers. In one location they were adding or diverting a sewer line and at the end of the day they left with this 3 m deep hole right alongside the sidewalk. You really have to watch where you are walking here.

Today, before we head to the airport we spent some time on the beach at a restaurant appropriately called Coco Beach. It was another beautiful sunny day.

The meal of choice here for our friends is fish tacos and beer.

The temperature here is about 30 C and the temperature in Edmonton was about -30 C when our flight left a half an hour late because of de-icing. It is comforting to know the flight is off the ground and over the US at this moment.

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January 16, 2018 Start of Huntington Beach Vacation

We are in Huntington Beach for 10 days to visit with friends and to see some of the sights. 

In order to make the pickup as simple as possible for Bev and Arnie we chose John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana as our destination. We had one stop at SeaTac airport before heading for Santa Ana.

On the way down we were able to see some of the huge volcanic mountains in Washington and Oregon. 

Both of us enjoy the change in climate. We are staying in a house just off the Huntington Beach that is well suited to accommodating guests. Four bedrooms, five baths, a pool and a spa. 

They have a beautiful garden and the Bird of Paradise and Hibiscus are now in bloom. 

One of the realities in this climate is the ever present risk of termites. Sometimes the only way to prevent home destruction is to tent the house and fill it with toxic gas. This is a photo of a home nearby that is being tented. 

On the day of our arrival we went to the Huntington Beach market. They close main street from the pier in for about three blocks and the street is filled with marketers of all kinds and the fruit and vegetables look so extremely fresh. 

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January 17 - Christ Cathedral Tour.

Today we are doing a tour of what used to be the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, not far from Huntington Beach. 

The church, founded by Robert Schuller, was part of the Reformed Church of America. He started small and soon developed a strong following. He conducted services originally in a drive in Theatre, speaking from the roof of the concession building. The sound system was used to pipe the message to the cars. 

In 1961 a drive in church was added so congregants could listen in their cars or in the cathedral. 

The following photo shows Rev. Schuller preaching from the balcony of the church. In the photo above, the balcony can be seen as the white horizontal bar near the right side of the cathedral.

Ultimately transforming his drive in ministry into a megachurch. He was also a televangelist that broadcast the “Hour of Power” across the US for two decades. 

This is a file photo of him preaching in the Crystal Cathedral that was dedicated in 1980. The following photo is an interior view of the cathedral. 

Touted as a visionary alternative to air conditioning at the time where air could enter at the bottom and exit at the top. A chimney effect. It was a failure because it could not keep wildlife out.

Eventually the crowds stopped coming, a recession struck and the church declared bankruptcy. It sat empty for years and in 2011 the 37 acre campus was purchased by the Diocese of Orange. This is a graphic of all the buildings on the campus. The Family Life Centre now houses an elementary Catholic school. The tower of hope provides counselling services and the kitchen in the family lounge is used to prepare meals for the homeless.  One of the Catholic congregations now meets in the original church here now called the Arboretum and the Crystal church meets in the building that previously housed the catholic congregation.

While we were here we had hoped to have a meal at the White House Resturant where the owner, Bruno Serato, also prepares 1000 meals a day for the homeless in the area. He has made more than a million meals so far. Sadly, the restaurant recently burned down and Bruno has moved over to the kitchen at the family lounge at the Christ Cathedral complex to continue his mission of food. 

Believing that the renovations and transformation into a Catholic church were finished we went to see if we could hear an organ recital before we left. This was not to be as the crystal cathedral is still undergoing massive renovations. 

The large door in the photo above is gone and all the windows that could be opened for ventilation are also gone. 

There was substantial damage to the interior and the most severe damage was to the organ. It was removed early on and some was refurbished here, some in Europe. The restoration is now complete and it is ready to be installed once the other renovations are complete. 

This is a photo of what we found when we arrived. New glass throughout, but construction barricades around the entire cathedral.

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January 18 - Transforming the Crystal Cathedral.

This part of the story is about our tour and the role the Catholic Church is playing in the redevelopment of the Crystal Cathedral campus. 

The newest building on the campus is the Ministries building. Here we met one of the tour guides that volunteer to tell the story of the transformation by the catholic church. A retired teacher she was captivating to listen to as she showed us how the Catholic Church was adapting the campus to its use. 

There are many components of a Catholic church that had to be incorporated into this cathedral. Their pews need kneeling benches and a specific type of doors is required as well as a Catholic cross. The Catholic cross will have to be suspended because of he high ceiling and lack of a back wall. This is what they are planning. Note the organ in the background. 

Also covering the entire interior are adjustable panels called quadrafoils that serve multiple purposes. Computer controlled, they are able to work with the air conditioning to make the most efficient use of the cooling system. They are mounted on the interior of the scaffolding that supports the windows hiding much of the hardware look that was one of the distractions in the original design. 

There will also be a small chapel, located below the main sanctuary, in which they will have the temple that is used to store the Eucharist (transubstantiated bread and wine). The Bishop had the temple for the Eucharist commissioned in Europe and the paintings on all four sides are finished in enameled brass. The art work is modern, but in the style of that used in medieval churches.

There is also a baptismal area that is separate from the main sanctuary.

The church is also constructing an Our Lady of La Vang Shrine, a Vietnamese chapel that will be available for wedding and other ceremonies. This is the proposed design. 

This will be the evening look that they are hoping for once the Christ Cathedral is opened again late in 2018.

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January 19 - Statuary and Unique Donations, Crystal Cathedral.

This church is no different from any other and depends on donations for its existence and to do the beneficial work in the community. The donations needed to construct this huge campus is beyond my comprehension. One donation I could get my head around was the women’s washroom. A woman approached Schuller and said: “Here’s a million dollars, build us a nice washroom”.This is the result: 

The toilets are black, like the other fixtures. The entire interior is finished in walnut. This is the infant changing area. 

The entire front of the washroom is glass and this is the view of the interior walls. 

The Welcoming Center was the last major building constructed on the site and it cost $55 million. By comparison, the entire campus was purchased by the catholic church for $57.5 million, Crystal Cathedral and all. The interior of the Welcoming Center is a multipurpose space with the names of donors filling two walls. 

The back wall is all glass with engravings on small plaques as you can see in the photo below. 

Schuller understood that his church had to be impressive in the grandest way. Throughout the grounds are bronze statues of significant biblical events. This represents Moses with the ten commandments. 

The stones that Moses is standing on were imported from Mt. Sinai and there is a bush nearby that can be made to look like it is on fire. The Welcoming Center is in the background. 

Another is of the Holy Family. It is surrounded by plaques in the sidewalks that were also donated to the church. 

One of the major controversies about the transition to the Catholic Church emerged when they decided to remove all the sidewalk plaques, some shown in the photo above, some of which were deteriorating. The original remedy was to put photographs of each one on the church website, but since then the church has had a change of heart and is now replicating all the plaques in stainless steel and putting them in a reflecting garden on the site. This is a photo of the proposed design. 

This reflecting pool is adjacent to the original church and next to the tower. It too has a bronze statue of a woman on the surface.

I have allocated three pages to this site but it is truly an impressive complex. It is very extravagant in many ways, but it was built with donations, not taxpayer money. There are many cathedrals in Europe that are as extravagant, but this one is also modern in design. 

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January 20 - Exploring Huntington Beach.

Our day starts as they all did on our European vacation with breakfast. Thanks to Bev’s yeomen duty planning menus and shopping we always have a variety of choices for breakfast. One thing that is constant is the delicious smoothies that we enjoy every morning.

Her ingredients are diverse. Many fruits - both fresh and frozen, yogurt, agave syrup and fruit juices.

Very delicious whether it is served with bacon and egg sandwiches or bagels with cream cheese.

After our tour of the Christ Cathedral, Bev and Arnie took us to a delightful restaurant in Crystal Cove on Laguna Beach, appropriately called the Beachcomber Restaurant. It is in a State park.  

We had to wind our way down a hillside and through this tunnel to get to the restaurant.

We hiked the beach looking for tidal pools with invertebrates and ate outdoors with the ocean in the background. To the left you can see some small cottages, shacks really, that were the beach homes for Hollywood’s rich and famous. 

My choice for lunch was a seared Ahi Tuna burger. It was more of a knife and fork meal than a burger. 

We did a walk along the beach and saw surfers everywhere. 

When we arrived back at the house we noticed this flyer coming in for a landing just across the road at the back. 

After disconnecting his chute all that remained of his aircraft was the motor on his back. 

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January 21 - Wetlands.

Across the street from where we are staying is a nature area called the Bolsa Chica Wetlands and State Park. This is an evening photo from the back yard.  

The wetlands have undergone many transformations over time. In 1899 the gun club persuaded the municipality to install a weir to stop the wetlands from flooding from the ocean, in order to make it a fresh water hunting area. The result was that the deep lagoons filled with sediment. Later, when oil was discovered the oil companies used this area for horizontal drilling under the ocean and it was filled with roads and donkey pumps. Some portions still have active pumping today.

Today large areas have been recovered, the weir has been removed, sand has been excavated from the basins and tidal waters flow in and out of the area. Many of the roadways have been removed and there are bridges over the ponds that are teeming with fish and birds.

We spotted cormorants,

Herons,

Snowy egrets,

A number of different species of ducks,

Storks, here with a number of other species,

but the most entertainment was provided by pelicans who were fishing right in front of us.

There seemed to be an abundance of fish as they were constantly doing loops,  diving into the pond, munching and then taking off to troll for more fish.

Later we went out to a restaurant called Ruby’s at the end of the pier. 

We encountered this guy sitting with the fishermen hoping to mooch a fish or two, which he did. 

On the edge of the wetlands behind the house where we are staying there have been large crews out planting tiny plants all along the ridge above the wetlands. 

Some are protected by netting, others just have flags marking their location. 

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January 22 - Travelling the beach by bike.

Our primary form of exercise is travelling the long stretches of “boardwalk” along the beach.

There are some locations where these ground squirrels are trying to retain a colony in opposition to the desires of Huntington Beach. 

On one trip we discovered these guys setting up hammocks. You can tell that there are a shortage of palm trees that are properly spaced. 

There are still operating oil platforms in the ocean, but the field is rapidly running out of oil. The oil companies are also consolidating their wells in order to minimize the environmental and visual impact.

You can see, in the distance through the haze, the hangar that was used to store Howard Hughes Spruce Goose aircraft. Famous for having been flown once by Hughes himself before being permanently stored. I don’t know what connection Hughes would have had to the oil industry in this area.