Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas in the Rockies

Lara and Leslie, Christmas Day - Tunnel Mountain Lookout, Banff National Park

This year, Christmas came and went with the speed of a Kenworth cruising the Trans Canada Highway. It was a high speed blur, with time spent with the family, friends and mostly in the Great Outdoors. The day before Christmas, Keith and I had an enjoyable day in the city spent with my family. The late evening drive brought us back to our home in Banff for a good night's sleep.

On Christmas day, we got up early and headed out to Sunshine Village for a ski tour. Stu, Anna, Keith and myself enjoyed a clear morning, a dramatic sky and some good company. The tour itself turned out to be brief: Stu broke his binding on the first and only run of the day. It was all good and we consoled ourselves with a thermos full of Irish Coffee.

We returned to town just in time for the arrival of our friend Lara from Ottawa. We lounged in the sunny spot in the kitchen for a visit and headed out for an afternoon walk up Tunnel Mountain. It was a warm Christmas Day, probably the warmest day we've had in the last 6 weeks - and it was great to see lots of people on the trail. Lara was jumping with joy despite her long day of travelling!

Yay for Banff!!


Stu and Anna hosted us for dinner this year, that boy sure can eat. I blame it on his ex-British-Military background and time spent in the presence of lots of manly men. Eat lots, while you have the opportunity!


The day after Christmas brought us flatulence and another day at Sunshine Meadows. Again, the sky was extra dramatic with black clouds, beams of sunshine, shadows and snow. It was a beautiful day to be outside.

The Monarch Reigns Supreme!

Sunshine Meadows and The Monarch


Light Meets Dark


...and that wraps up Christmas weekend. I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing and leisurely weekend of quality time with family, friends and the great outdoors!

14 comments:

  1. Christmas was uber quick for us too! Glad you had a good one. Here's to Hogmanay in a few days.

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  2. What a beautiful Christmas weekend. Glad you enjoyed it!

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  3. I envy your snow. At least I can run dry trails around Denver. But I'm driving to Leadville to play in their snow.

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  4. Totally cracking up (cuz' I know what you mean!): "The day after Christmas brought us flatulence..."

    Hehehe, I swear I must be a 3rd grader at heart still :-)

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  5. Hi Paige, I was just wondering if anyone was paying attention out there! Yup...running or skiing on Boxing Day is ALL about the farts.

    Hi Kaz! Hogmanay? That's the Scottish tradition of drinking too much at New Year's? Oh yeah, we've got that tradition here in Canada as well.

    Hi Danni! Happy Ho-Ho! Hope you and Tedly are enjoyin'. Your butt is going to be bullet-proof with all the marching up hills you've been doing. Happy training for the Su.

    Thanks, Meghan! Hope you enjoyed yours. Life is a Vacation!

    Howdy JeffO - driving to play in the snow? Now that's funny. You ever tried that Nordic Centre not far from Leadville by the ski hill? My photos are deceiving: our snow pack is atrocious right now. There's just no base to it and the snow is sugar. Danger. But more than that, there's not really enough snow to make turns - all the hazards underneath aren't buried enough. Pray for snow! If it's going to be winter dammit, we might as well have lots of it.

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  6. Wishing you a Happy New Year as you poot along the trails!

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  7. Happy New Year Leslie! Looking forward to reading your blogs for another year!

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