Sunday, January 15, 2012

I'm Home! I'm Home!

Travel.  Holiday.  Vacation.  I've had friends return from lengthy trips, only to be befuddled, depressed and unable to deal with the realities of their "real world".  In our case, the opposite is true.  Keith and I are literally overflowing with love, for this place that we call home.

Keith loves Banff!!

We've spent the last month adjusting back to our world, our reality, our home that is Banff.  We've always know that the life we have here is special, but it only takes 3 months away to make us even more appreciative of that fact.
The Neighbours are Good.

Since we've arrived home, we've been spending an aweful lot of time outside enjoying our special place.  We're connected to this place and these mountains.  It nurtures our soul to spend time outside in this place.  We've been running around the woods, we've been skiing, we've been strolling, we've been smelling and breathing and taking it all in with fresh eyes.
Last Week - strolling on the Bow River - Fairholme Range in the background.

This week - enjoying a birthday run.

Do I look happy?  That's because I am.  My latest pose seems to find me declaring out loud I'm Queen of the World!!  This place does that to me.  It makes me whoop out loud joyfully a lot. 

On the running front, I sure am enjoying myself running around the woods again - my backyard rocks.  It's the time of year that I spend the most time on my local trails.  In winter, your options are more limited - so I tend to spend a lot of time on the same trails.  Tunnel Mountain, Fenland Trail, the Spray River Trail, the Bow River/Hoodoos, Marsh Loop and Sulphur Mountain are all part of the fun.  My favorite winter trail is something I call the "backyard loop" which is a rather amazing 30 minute loop through the woods behind my house.  It's got a killer runnable hill, it's sheltered from the wind and it's so pretty.  I seldom see anyone on it.  Today, I saw fresh coyote tracks in the fluffy fresh powder and eventually, was treated to a vocal sing-a-long of the yipping critters.  Yip!  Yip!  Not everyone gets to experience that in their day to day lives.

Enjoying the Spray River Valley - on today's run.
Tunnel Mountain Cliffs with Cascade Mountain in the background
Backside of Tunnel Mountain - enjoying the view of Mount Rundle
Babbling non-sensically on my Birthday Run

So, you get the picture.  We're unequivocably stoked to be back in Banff running around in the woods.  I just want to shout it out loud:

I'm Home!  I'm Home!

8 comments:

Moogy said...

I know exactly what you mean but where I live in Onterrible is nothing like where y'all live.
I work on a two-month on, two-month off sailing rotation and when I get home, I quite appreciate the little things so much more...especially that first run, which is going to be Jan 23rd.
Live is Good...

Danni said...

Yay!

Paige said...

Welcome home, Leslie and Keith!!

Helen said...

Thank goodness she's home and posting again. I need a regular Banff snow fix!!! Just love this run up Tunnel Mountain. Soooooooooo bbeeaauuttiiffuullllllllllll and web cam says it's still snowing!!!! Way to go!!!

Leslie said...

Hi Moogy!
...and then you can shout out loud...
EARTH BENEITH MY FEEEEEEET!! WHOOOOOP!

Yo Danni, the Susitna Queen. You should come up and train here this week! It's -33C.

Hello speedy-speedster, Paige! I vote you "Most Improved" award of the Year. HOLY CRAP GIRL!!

Hi Helen! I've been putting in lots of quality time on Tunnel. It's the only place in town where I can get random strangers cheering me on! I'm glad I can accommodate with you winter fix. :)

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean about loving just being home now that we are living in Kimberley. Every morning is another chance to go play in the mountains...glad your back and happy as a lark :)
Naomi

Barry said...

Welcome back. Tough to beat Banff which also will benefit from your return. Happy Birthday.

Amy said...

You are very lucky to be positive and happy with the town you live in. I went through a rough path when I had to get back from my trip to Argentina. I had decided to rent an apartment in buenos aires that was nice and cozy and the country had made a great impression on me so when I got back, I felt that everything was falling apart.
They key to me is having a lovely home where you feel comfotable and eagger to get back to.
Amy