Day 181: The end

The end has come with a literal rather than metaphorical bang, as something exploded in downtown Canmore a couple of days ago. I thought I'd caused to door to our house to bang, but the house shaking, the echoes round the mountain and plume of smoke proved otherwise. We were showered with the paper debris ten minutes later, and socual media showed pictures of an impressive aftermath. Thankfully no one was seriously injured.

The second bang was Charlie reverse headbutting me and making my nose crunch. Just what I wanted before a flight.

Unfortunately we did not complete our four peak challenge. Grotto turned out to be a nine hour slog, leaving me physically and mentally like jelly. A woman had fallen to her death in the previous week, and despite my husband's assurances that we were always on the path, the huge bruise on my right bum cheek, a ripped pair of shorts and sewing machine legs suggested my experience was not the joyous romp we had planned.

Eeor (East end of Rundle) seemed much more promising, with half the height gain of only 750m. So we set off with a spring in our step to be beset by thunder and lightning: nature's version of get the hell offa my land. We shot down in half the time, having only been 500m from the official platform for success, if not the true summit. We had our first hearth fire since I nearly killed us all with smoke, and managed to burn most of our receipts.

More promising have been my climbing lessons. The local wall is home to several top bouldering and climbing champions, and despite my star struck awe at their spider like ability, and my lack thereof, I have managed to improve a bit. I have learned about foot position, not clinging on and burning out my arms, and a clever balance thing which works when climbing with no hands. I also managed my first proper knee drop (or drop knee?), and caught my husband when he fell from a non existent hold. No way I could have done it as even if I could have made a magical balancing move of feet and hands on the same hold, the next one was more than a full stretch away, so needed a leap of faith onto a tiny hand hold and no feet. That's 5.12 I guess.

So as I sit on our front deck with a pile of cases, I am thinking about all the funny things I'll miss. The noisy heating and washing machine, intermittent internet and squeaky bed are not top of my list, but the beautiful view, precocious animals, and beautiful weather are. I'll miss the people too. We had started to make friends and feel a little bit at home.

Maybe it will be home, someday.

Day 155: Potty training and hiking

Suddenly time has sped up and we have less than a month left. So many things I still want to see and do. There are four main peaks around Canmore, and I want to climb all four before we leave.

Lady Macdonald is the impressive peak which dominates the vista from our deck. She definitely won't be the first of the four.

We started with a trip to Grassi lakes, which after a pretty steep climb, were stunning. Overshadowed by Ha Ling, one of the actual peaks, they are a real tourist atraction. We met several groups of walkers, a nun, two volunteers studying a bear (which we saw through their telescope), and watched a small child pitch forward head first into the lake, in a comedy fashion.

Obviously we were allowed to laugh, as parents who had suffered already that day. Charlie has decided she would like to not wear nappies some of the time, but is not entirely on board with potty training. Last week I found her straining in the front room, completely naked from the waist down, so in true positive parenting fashion, swept her up with a cry of; "let's use the potty!" as she left a trail of large rabbit sized droppings in her wake. All whilst trying to maintain the isn't this all perfectly normal toilet etiquette.

I managed to install her on the potty before returning to the scene of the crime and started gathering the debris. At which point, she shouted she was done, and as she had finshed, needed wiping and her three chocolate stars (we are using the bribery route). I abandoned the mission in order to help her, only to be interrupted by a shout from the front room, by my mother-in-law of; "there's another one here!" Unsurprisingly, my rather terse retort, through gritted teeth, was that Charlie was my first priority, rather polite for the circmstances, I feel.

Still, we have battled on, the morning of Grassi Lake expedition, we had two positive potty experiences (5 stars, despite my husband's disappointment that his meditation time is now disturbed with shrieks of pleasure at bodily functions, a running commentary and comparisons). So I decide to allow the trip with no nappy.

We arrived, played by the reservoir and picnicked with no disasters. However, as the tourist loos are little more than toilet bowls over holes in the ground, my fear of dropping her in lead me to suggest she could squat in the woods. Her answer was no. Unfortunately, my wordy attempts to persuade her were rather too effective, and she did it there and then, filling her wellies to overflowing.

The next hikes will definitely be adult affairs I feel.