Caving . . .

Today we explored the Rat's Nest Cave in Canmore. Turns out there are a form of Rat in the caves -- but not the NYC long tailed freaky kind, so I quickly forgave Katie for misleading me into this adventure!

There were 7 of us, including the guide. We met at 9am in Canmore and drove the 10 minutes to the trail head. It's a 20 minute climb to the cave entrance where we got on our climbing harnesses, knee pads, overalls and helmets with lights.

The fun starts as soon as you enter the cave section and the guide makes it very clear to mimic her moves exactly or you may get stuck. Some of the spaces are very tight. So tight that you have to turn your head side ways so your helmet fits thru.

There is a 60 foot rappel into a dark cavern. Katie has some experience and volunteered to go first. But quickly regretted it when she was at the bottom by herself (in the pitch black, when you turned off your head lamp) and the group above started talking about cave monsters..hee-hee!

There was also a very cool section called the laundry chute -- picture a scene from Goonies! "Hey you guuuyys!!" Very very fun, but the tightest fit of the day - where you take a leap of faith and squeeze yourself down a 4 foot drop while maneuvering your legs near the bottom so you can be on your ass for the 'chute' part of the tunnel -- gravity takes over and you come out with your guide tied in to stop you from going too far. Good Fun!

You descend about 130 feet under ground to the grotto. The water takes 3 months to filter through the rock from the surface -- so really we were seeing the June rain -- kinda cool. Lots of geological formations and a creek that actually connects to the Bow River back in Calgary. While in this deepest part our group spent some time in complete darkness -- thank goodness our lights worked, cause we've never experienced darkness like that before. And you'd never find your way back out!

The climb up takes you through some new sections of the cave system - you don't use the ropes to get back up, you just crawl thru the caves. We exited the caves at about 2pm and headed to Canmore for some lunch.

We'd totally recommend the experience for people not afraid of heights, the dark, tight spaces and don't mind getting dirty! We bought a disposable camera & the photos are being developed. But here are some others who shared the experience. We will post ours when they are ready!

Fore!

We went golfing this weekend. Katie has been taking lessons for work (gotta love Sales People in the Oil & Gas Industry, right!?!) So we thought we'd hit a course and put the skills in play. Scott has only been on the course once this year (yes, also for a work function!) And with all the biking we've done, we were looking forward to doing some of the other things we enjoy.

We played at Buffalo Run - a basic Par 3 type course -- owned and operated by one of the Native Tribes in Alberta. It's very reasonable to play ($) and perfect for our skill level. Part of playing on Reserve Land is your ability to expect the unexpected. So here's some of the things we observed and overheard while playing...

They were hosting a Tournament Function -- their 'catering company' was a little well known Chicken Franchise -- KFC. Nice.

Things to be heard: "Don't steal my chicken." "Auntie, how many times do you go to bingo? We go 5 times a week." and "Are you still eating, you're gonna get fat...er."

We golfed with an Asian couple who were completely understanding of Katie's new golf situation and actually gave a few pointers which were helpful. We even had a few ROR moments during the game!

Our scores were nothing to remember - but the fun in the sun (wicked weather!) and laughs were not to be forgotten. As for our next adventure -- we are taking an Intro to Caving Lesson from the University this weekend - sounds like a blast and Scott is being very brave considering we are exploring the Rat's Nest Cave system under Grotto Mountain near Canmore! Alberta is a Rat-Free Province, right?!

Catch-up!

What's going on?! Wow lots going on in our lives right now - so we haven't been good with keep the blog up-to-date. Here's a catch-up:

We played in the Rob Vanderweil Memorial ball tournament last weekend. It's always a great time, but the weather can be tricky. We were fortunate to only have rain on Friday night -- and good weather the rest of the weekend. Our team was not very good -- the focus was on fun, so we took on a variety of players with equally varying skills! In the end we did win a game in the round robin play - but lost our first playoff.

Saturday night we went to a concert --4 bands for $40 -- by far the best valued concert we've seen this year. We really liked Faber Drive & Simple Plan. * Oh! Katie had a total fascination with the keyboard player of Metro Station -- she does a WICKED impression of his dance moves while playing. A must see, be sure to ask her next time you see her!!

Katie is away this week for training in Portland. It will be nice to have her back home tonight!

We are biking with Adam & Roxcie this weekend -- the mountains already have so much snow on them -- but we'll try Moose Packers Trail one more time before the season ends. We are also gonna hook-up with friends who just had a baby.

Thanks for checking in!

Welcome to September...

Now that the kids are back to school and everyone is back to work, Scott and I are motivated to ride our bikes to work more than ever...simply to miss the crazy traffic we see from September through to June. I found some great images that show you how we are dressed when riding to work in given temperatures. Since our summer was rather cool we didn't often get to ride to work in the tanktop shown for riding in weather above 60 F (15.5 C). To be honest we spent most of our summer riding in the 50 F (10 C) outfit.

A little frustrating not doubt, but not nearly as frustrating as heading out the door this morning, the 1st of September, in an outfit somewhere in between the next 2 pictures!!!

The temperature this morning was advertised by the Weather Network as 2 C (35 F), but I don't believe it for a second since there was frost, thick frost I might add, on all the vehicles we passed. We headed out the door in winter weight tights (with a wind barrier on the front panel of the legs), long sleeved jerseys, a light fleece jacket, and a windbreaker...oh, and don't forget the toque, winter gloves and booties (wind proof, fleece lined shoe covers)!

So with that I say... "Welcome to September"!!!!