The hotel has a wonderful continental breakfast, We hated to pass that up in favor of a $5 fee for the Stampede breakfast at the Rally – although both were equally superb.
Opening Ceremonies began at 8am with introduction of the Regional, and District directors, plus the minister of tourism, a Goldwing co-rider! The Calgary chapter has favored the verterans for their charity work and we were informed what an important work this is, with many young verterans who have great needs in today’s world.
Several Rides were available, some guided and some not. Eight bikes headed out for Elbow Falls in the Kananaskis with Graham as our impromptu guide. First stop was Priddis for gas. What a quaint little village. Nice homes here too.
We continued to follow along the hwy that leads to Bragg Creek, but we turned off for Elbow Falls instead.
A beautiful little surprise waited us. The site is complete with trails, walkways and picnic areas.
There were even limited bike trails and Ted got out his mountain bike for a quick spin. The water tumbling down the elbow Falls is a gorgeous shade of turquoise. The paved trails run along the river and many folks were eating their lunch there today.
From there, we continued on 762 south and took a detour for Moose Mountain. Signs were posted to look our for moose, but we didn’t see any today. We did see three stop lights, due to the road falling away, probably due to the abundance of rain lately. Beyond those three, were several lesser “bumps” that were starting to crack & shift. Nice bumps for the co-riders!
One thing that has never happened to any of us, was a shop check by the local RCMP and highway patrol. We immediately thought we were speeding, but it turned out they were conducting a check for license, registration & insurance today. We had nice little chats with the offers, (some were taking our picture) and we offered to take them for a spin on the Wings later!
We carried on, looking for a spot to eat. Travelling through Turner Valley, we didn’t stop but kept going onto Black Diamond where we found plenty of eateries in a quaint little town, served up for tourists. Most of us ate in the bakery where we were served deli sandwiches, then a few went next door to the soda shoppe for ice cream or malts. It was all done up to reflect the fifties. Candy, costumes and even saddle shoes were available for sale. Too funny.
The campers in our Goldwing gang are all staying at the Black Diamond campsite, where Ted & I dropped in to see the tent trailers. Quite a lovely campsite right by the bridge with lots of trees and very observant management!! The whole group returned to Calgary to the hotel for bike washing, naps, shopping, etc. Are we having FUN yet????
