Canmore on the Lazy Side

December 29 2015

Sometimes a vacation isn’t about the location, the length, who you’re going with, or what you are doing when you get there. And once in a while absolutely nothing matters except one thing and one thing only—what’s for lunch.

For this group of friends, food is often the drive behind most decisions, so when hitting Canmore for a few days to relax with a 10 week old, some friends, and a whole list of fuck all to do—hit the town and grab preserves.

A stroll down 8th st. early in the morning led to a couple pairs of utilitarian boots from Shoes T’Boot, and a round of impressive package perusing at Moutain Mercato—coffee was obviously involved as well.

London Tea Company nails the L T shapes in it's packaging.

Image of beautiful packaging on Moutain Mercato shelves.

Image of Lakrids licorice packaging on Moutain Mercato shelves.

This is also the hero image on this page. I simply didn't take enough photos.

Package design can be deligthful

Mrs. Weinstein’s Toffee is just one of many well branded products at Mountain Mercato. It really was a delightful experience perusing the shelves of this compact and bustling little sandwich and coffee/merchant shop.

Everything from Lakrids liquorice to London Tea Company, incredible color and design made the entire store a pleasure to waste some time in. The ladies grabbed coffees, but I spent some time taking some photos, and enjoying the shelves.

I’m such a fucking hipster.

It wasn’t cold out, but it was still nice to sit and warm up in Mountain Mercato while the ladies had their coffees.

When you go out with a newborn, everyone—everyone—talks to you. Quinn is a champ and handles the newborn fame with a nap and a feeding. Rinse and repeat. This kid is perfect for adventures.

Canmore because you are worth it

Buy some of the fancy stuff from the hipster stores and make that popcorn the best damn popcorn it can be. You’re worth it. Hit Evoolution and get some of that truffle oil as well. Get it on there too. It’s all about a balance. Be super cheap with big portions so you can enjoy the smaller finer portions.

How to shop on vacation

We bought a game and a couple girls bought boots. Necessary purchases though.This isn’t the “Buy boots to buy something” group. Allison desperately needed a pair of boots to get to and from work. Winter has held off in downtown Edmonton this long, but it won’t forever.

You have caused great dishonour to the ancient craft of pyro...

We also bought a card game called Hanabi. It’s a unique game in that everyone playing is playing together against the cards, not each other. You also can’t see your own cards, so you must rely on your teammates to communicate what your cards are, using very few allowed clues.

The game is great, but likely something you want to play with the same group of people on a semi-regular basis. If you want to do well that is.

Sign showing people going the easy way on the trail.

Light Hiking in Canmore

An out of town guest from Manitoba joined our group this weekend, and being her first time in the mountains, we needed to at least go for a walk at some point. So we managed to get out of the condo and did a quick loop of the Grassi Lakes Trail.

Coming from the cities, neither Edmonton or Calgary area parties had seen a lot of snow this season. Canmore was abundant already. A lot of early snow fell in both Jasper and Banff National parks early this season.

Ski hills opened with a lot of snow, and walking the Grassi Lakes Trail cemented just home much snow there was. In town it was kind of bonkers as well, but it seemed like every foot of elevation we went up, the snow was a couple inches deeper.

Hikers with the mountain focused in the background.

I really should have brought some lights and did a fun little photo shoot with the girls, but I’m lazy and didn’t. I tried to capture the mountains in the background, but being in the shaded trees ruined any chance of capturing both without a reflector or flash of some sort.

In the first 10 weeks of her life, Quinn hasn't done a whole lot of laying around. Laying around while hiking, driving across the country, riding horses, and likely doing half the chores on the acreage. She's quite accomplished for a 10 week old.

It was a lovely day, on a lovely little walk around the Grassi Lakes Trail. It wasn’t busy being a Friday, but there were a few snow shoers and the little guy you see above.

Quinn was a dream on the walk not making a peep and likely passed out the whole time. Seriously. The best kid ever.

Baby Quinn

Did you think I would forget about you baby Quinn? Fat chance. Welcome to the rest of your life of having a camera in your face. Watching. Capturing. Documenting every step. Every fall. I apologize in advance.

Quinn crying for one of the very few times all weekend.

Last but not least. We’ll have a documentation of Quinn. A great little photo album of the wee one growing up.

Who’s in?

I’ll be annoying as all hell shooting and wanting to do shit to shoot, but it’ll be fun.

Quinn pretending to cry, but not really crying.