SUNDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2026
(Calgary, AB – Canmore, AB)
No great adventure can proceed without supplies, and so today would be a day of stocking up. We had a good night’s sleep, overall. We were asleep by 8pm, and although we both woke up at times, and I read my book for an hour in the middle of the night, I didn’t wake again until 7am, and Andrew woke about 7.30. I made the first of the holiday coffees and we watched it get light through the window.
The coffee was so good that we had another, while we unpacked and repacked the cases, separating our belongings into his and hers. Then it was a good breakfast to set us up for a few hours, before putting everything back in the car and heading to Crossiron Mills. First stop, Columbia. Of course. We spent an hour browsing and choosing, and then put our purchases in the car. The satellite radio still hadn’t kicked in so I emailed and texted Alamo, but only got a confusing response. We decided that we would return to the rental centre to sort it out, but first we needed to purchase bear spray (the blog is not called bear spray and backpacks for nothing).
Bear spray was to be had in the Bass Pro Shops “Sportsman’s Paradise”. We didn’t know what was in store for us. The outside was designed like a mountain lodge. So was the inside. The lobby area had a roaring fire with sofas in front of it, in case you needed a sit down at any point. There was also a sign requiring you to check your guns and bows, just in case you thought you could bring them inside. Once inside, it was a cross between a theme park and a huge store. Hard to do it justice in words. We started off by browsing the boat area, about 20 boats priced from $50k upwards. Then there were the off road ATVs. Then clothing, before going upstairs to hunting bows, rifles, pistols, and all associated equipment and hunting gear. Upstairs also provided a good view of the airplane that hung from the ceiling. There was a huge fishing department, basically every outdoor activity was covered. Even the toilets were labelled ‘bucks’ and ‘does’.
We bought a couple of T-shirt’s and then progressed to customer services where I purchased the bear spray. This is classed as an assault weapon (first time I’ve owned one of those…) and you have to then immediately leave the store, and you’re not allowed to bring it inside.
With purchases complete we drive back to airport to sort out the radio. It turned out that they’re having a fleet wide issue with the satellite service (maybe they haven’t paid the bill?!) so will refund us and compensate us for our inconvenience. Luckily, my phone connects to the car, so we will use music from that. Next stop, Denny’s for lunch, then Safeway for food supplies (chocolate, crisps, protein bars…) and beer, although to purchase alcoholic beer you have to go to the separate liquor store in the car park. We spent as short a period as possible in the very cold beer cave, while Andrew picked some beers to try.
And then we were on our way to Canmore. It was only an hour’s drive, across fairly flat, open grazing land, with occasional horses and cows. The mountains got closer and looked beautiful, even with the sun behind them as we headed west.
We checked in online for this stay as there is no front desk. We’re staying in a one bedroom suite for 3 nights, so we unloaded the car, put the beer in the fridge and relaxed for a short while before putting on warmer clothes (we had been wearing shorts and t-shirts) as the temperature was dropping quickly. We headed out for pizza, via the rooftop hot tub for the view, and the view was definitely worth it, with the last of the sun just catching the peaks of the mountains.
We chose the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company for pizza, based partly on reviews, and partly because it was a 4-minute walk away. (I appreciate that this is currently a food blog, but I promise hiking will start tomorrow). The moon was rising over the Three Sisters (at least, I think they’re the Three Sisters, haven’t totally got my bearings yet). Andrew then spotted a very familiar company logo…somehow it didn’t register with me. I thought what a remarkable coincidence to see a WSP car in Canmore, of all places, although we are a Canadian company and I knew we had a Calgary office. I checked later, and apparently we have an office in Canmore too!
We enjoyed the pizza at Rocky Mountain, and it could become the new equivalent of Zion Pizza & Noodle…we’ll see. We took a little walk around the main town streets afterwards, to get a bit of a feel for the place. Whereas the pizza place has been very busy, the town definitely felt like an off season Sunday night, but there’s a bit of a Moab vibe about it, which is no bad thing.
