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Though we live in Canada we often spend our winter vacations getting away from the cold and snow. This year (for obvious reasons) RobO requested a few days in Canmore for his birthday. It’s pretty easy to find joy in the snow when we lucked out with above zero temperatures and sunshiny views.

On the first day we got up early to head to Lake Louise to skate on the lake without the crowds. Mother Nature must have been laughing at us when we arrived to more than a foot of fresh snow, making for impossible skating conditions. No problem for these Olsons – we strapped on our snowshoes and enjoyed an untouched powder route.

We chased the sunshine to Lake Minnewanka and checked the lake skate off the bucket list with unparalleled views and only a handful of other people.

We rounded out the day with a Banff coffee stop and pizza in bed.

Day 2 started off with blue skies. We enjoyed a winter hike at the Nordic Centre and walk along the river. We definitely earned our afternoon massages. Then an evening skate helped us earn our nightcap wine!

We woke up on Rob’s birthday to another pow-day, this time with a bonus bluebird sky. We headed into Kananaskis for an epic snowshoe to Troll Falls.

It was a winter wonderland adventure. It reminds us how lucky we are to live in this great country. Looks like we’ll have a Canadian summer adventure, so that will likely be our next blog.

I think this is the first time in a decade that DawnO was actually home during her birthday. It usually falls on or around August long weekend which means we tend to be in another country jumping out of airplanes, or touring Russian cities. For obvious reasons, we are limited in our travel options. In lieu of going somewhere exotic, DawnO decided to check something off her ever growing bucket list. To complete this task she looked no further than our own South Saskatchewan River.

We had heard that there are the largest fresh water fish living in our river which can live to be 160 years old and can grow to be over 100lbs. Once DawnO heard these creatures were in our river, she decided she needed to get a picture holding one of these prehistoric giants. I have a friend that takes people out to catch (and release) these monsters so we booked it. After two postponements due to weather, we were finally able to cast off on one of the most beautiful autumn days this year.

Leading up to the trip DawnO kept saying that she didn’t want to do any work, she only wanted to get the picture. I realized that meant that I was more than likely the sucker that was going to do the hard work. To my surprise, when the line got a bite, she jumped right in to reel in a 21lb monster!

The largest catch of the day went to our friend Marnie, who landed a 42lb dinosaur.

A few days later, we continued our new trend of local travel and headed to Saskatchewan to enjoy a few days at the Moose Jaw Spa.

We enjoyed soaking in the mineral pool, our massages, and exploring the historic downtown area. On our way back to the city we took a minor detour to Shaunavon SK, where my parents grew up. We got to visit with my Grandpa Jack who is the only relative I have left in town.

After our visit we were off to Harvest Eatery, hands down one of the best restaurants in western Canada. Even if you don’t have relatives in Shaunavon, it is worth the trip for this restaurant. I highly recommend anything they make.

Well that must be it. There’s no way we could find more to do around our little corner of the world… right? Wrong. DawnO had a couple more tricks up her sleeve. She planned a date day which included a corn maze in Brooks, Alberta, and a stop at a new distillery in Rolling Hills, Alberta.

It has been a pretty eventful week. ‘Relaction’ at its finest. I challenge you to discover places a little closer to home. You might be surprised what you find.

With a few vacation days to burn and a recommendation to stay within the province we decided to check off a couple of bucket list items in the Cochrane/Canmore area.

We started with a brief stop in Calgary to get some errands done. Nothing exciting, but it’s worth noting that the Apple store is leading the way with their COVID response. Anyone who says that people won’t go somewhere if there are mandatory symptom checks and mask usage should have a look at the lineup of people at the Apple stores.

I’ve always wanted to stay in a tiny house (well, tinier than our little condo) and I found the perfect Air BnB in Cochrane. If you’re looking for a cozy getaway with incredible breakfasts, check it out Hereabouts B&B.

I feel like I need to mention the breakfasts again in case you skimmed that last part. We had 2 choices each morning which accommodated our dietary needs, plus fresh garden produce and things like homemade ketchup. Wow.

We spent 1 day hiking Ha Ling Peak, which has been on my list for a while. It’s a lot of uphill on a well groomed track, then a scramble to the top. The views at the knife edge peak are a bit dizzy-making. When RobO arrived (after a lot of swearing, which he thought was only happening inside his head until I pointed out that I could hear it) he looked over the edge and said, “nope”.

We were lucky to have a wind free period of time before a rain cloud blew in, lowering the temperature by at least 10 degrees and making us feel a bit nervous with our footing.

The way down was slippery but uneventful and we celebrated with a treat on the empty Main Street of Canmore.

The next day RobO had a visit with an old friend in Calgary while I headed back to Canmore, this time to hike the East End of Rundle with my friend Lyndsey. It was torrentially raining in Calgary and Cochrane, but we lucked out with mostly clear skies. It was cool to get views of Ha Ling from its neighbour.

RobO and I pampered our weary legs at The Cave sauna in Cochrane, where we had 5 different types of saunas and 2 hours to try them all.

Top off the holiday with some tennis, Hamilton viewing, delicious takeaway suppers, port wine and it makes a pretty perfect Olson getaway.

Today marks the official day 14 of quarantine for us, which gives us our ‘get out of jail free’ card. Except that it doesn’t for me. Last weekend when I had a mild runny nose I called my work health nurse and my time in self isolation was extended to 16 days. I can just picture tomorrow… RobO driving down the road with all of the windows open and the wind blowing his hair while I sit in our tiny house. At least he’ll be able to buy us some chocolate, which has been sorely lacking from our pantry.

We had a good past few days of isolation, as the selfies will show:

Day 12’s ‘selfie’ is a special one. We were challenged by Richelle and Doug Thomas to a dance competition. And we delivered. It was a fun activity to break up the morning. Click on the link to check it out.

I’ve also had a chance to do some online art classes through the website Skillshare. One that I highly recommend is called Drawing as Self Discovery: 5 Ways to Start.

Might get one more blog out of this time… the DawnO self isolation alone selfies. Get ready for the single tear shot.

This is definitely not a normal blog for us. We are on a 14 day self isolation following our return to Canada, but we have decided to document our experience both for our own memories and for entertainment for others.

We have decided to do a ‘daily selfie’ to document our experience.

So far so good in the Olson house, but we’ll see how the daily selfies progress.

Some OT friends and I have developed a ‘Guide to Wellness While on Self Isolation’. The purpose is to help those in self isolation, so share it with your friends and contacts.