We decided that the best way to explore a city is to ride a bike. After inquiring at the park office about bike trails we loaded up the Jeep, found a car wash and then the bike trail head. The Bow River Bike Trail follows the Bow River (duh!) which is really full right now. They had huge snowfalls in the mountains this winter and it is now melting off with the help of large amounts of rain. (I'm thinking this is happening all across the mid-west.) I found it interesting that the other river that runs through Calgary is called The Elbow River. The city of Calgary is very outdoors orientated. We saw many people on the pathway jogging, walking, biking, & roller blading. It appears that this trail is more than 300 miles long and there were many side trails leading into different parts of the city.
Olympic Village - 1988 Winter Games
We rode about 11 miles to downtown Calgary and arrived right at lunch time. The lunch hour jogging fest was in full swing! After parking the bikes we started our search for lunch. As we were waiting at a stop light, John asked the lady next to us if she could recommend a place. She not only told us all about the downtown area and some places to eat, she walked us to her favorite place. Due to the extremely cold winters, there are elevated walkways all over the city and it is on these levels that most of the cafes, restaurants and fast food joints are located.
We tried a different path on the return trip and cut off some time, hills and distance for a total of 21 miles. It was a really nice afternoon, sunshine and 58°. We will probably be sore tomorrow.
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