Canmore, Alberta, in Canada, has been our home for about six weeks, from early September to mid October 2023. Canmore is a town of about 15,000 people just outside the boundary of Banff National Park and about 50 miles west of Calgary. Surrounded by tall, steep mountains, every direction you look is stunningly beautiful. We both agree that it is the most beautiful place we have ever visited. Our house is in a great location — about a ten minute walk from the downtown area, with many restaurants and tourist shops, and down the block from our house is the Bow River Trail. Within less than a five minute walk we can be surrounded by beautiful mountain and river scenery. We have enjoyed walks along the Bow River Trail almost every day we have been here. Click on the first photo in each block to view larger images in a slideshow.
There are at least two herd of elk that wander around Canmore. We see them every few days. We have seen them along the Bow River Trail and in front yards around town, where they like to munch on the lawns. One day at dusk we saw an entire herd on the soccer field across the street from our house. They are huge, spectacular creatures and we keep our distance, as it is mating season and the bull elk can be very aggressive. In addition to the elk, Charlie spotted a black bear right on the outskirts of downtown. It was a small bear, not much bigger than a large dog, and it was minding its business, paying no attention to the people around.
The town of Banff is about a 20 minute drive to the west of Canmore, within the park boundary. We visited it a couple of times to explore the old town. There is a small but pleasant botanical garden on the grounds of the Banff National Park Administration Building.
Andy and Heather came to visit for a week in late September. When we picked them up in Calgary we spent a few hours at Studio Bell before heading up to Canmore. Studio Bell is home to the National Music Centre and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. We learned that many famous musicians were Canadian, and we caught up on some of our Canadian favorites, such as k.d. lang. We both were struck by the broad influence of Randy Bachman on Canadian rock music and rock music in general. Bachman was a founding member of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. We also discovered the Women are Persons! Monument in Olympic Park in Calgary.
Andy and Heather enjoyed their time in Alberta and they both said they would like to come back sometime and spend more time. We took several great hikes while they were here and explored lots of beautiful scenery.
One of the joys of spending early autumn in Canada is seeing the advent of fall color. When we arrived in early September everything was green, but as the weeks went on we saw more and more spectacular fall color, mostly yellow from the aspen trees.
