Wednesday, January 25, 2017

An Afternoon in Lake Louise

043 Jane & Friend, Lake Louise044 Lake Louise045 Lake Louise046 Lake Louise047 Lake Louise048 Lake Louise049 Paradise Bungalows, Lake Louise

On one of our afternoon trips to Banff in the Summer of 1983, my mother and one of her friends and I went while my dad was at work, and we ended up going further west to the town of Lake Louise, which is located in the same national park as Banff. We were amazed at the beautiful azure color of the lake water, and the lovely setting of the lake between two large mountains. The town was little more than a store, a railroad station and the large hotel beside the lake, but it was absolutely lovely to see. It would have been nice to stay longer, but as it was late in the day, we returned to Calgary.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Redwood Meadows & Banff, Summer of 1983

020 Redwood Meadows021 Redwood Meadows023 Rocky Mountains024 Road to Banff025 Rocky Mountains026 Rocky Mountains027 Mountain Goats028 Lake near Banff029 Banff030 Banff031 Banff032 Administration Building, Banff033 Banff034 Waterfalls, Banff035 Banff036 Banff037 Banff Springs Hotel038 Banff039 Banff040 Banff041 Banff Springs Hotel042 Banff Springs Hotel050 Banff052 Rainbow Over The Esso, Canmore054 Rocky Mountains058 Marv and Me059 Banff Avenue060 Banff061 Me at the Banff Springs Hotel062 Me and Dad at the Hot Springs063 Banff

At least twice during the summer of 1983, we drove 90 kilometers west from Calgary to the resort town of Banff, which was located on National Park land in the Rocky Mountains. During the summer, Banff could be a busy town indeed, with a summer population that was estimated to be double the year-round population. Banff Avenue was the main thoroughfare of town, with a Phil's hamburger place at the edge of town, and then a lot of shops and restaurants in the downtown area, leading to a bridge across the Bow River and the Banff Springs Hotel on the other side. We took plenty of pictures of the old hotel and some of the downtown area, and on one occasion, my Dad and I went for a swim in the hot mineral baths, which are fed by spring water which comes out of a mountain at a considerable temperature. In fact, we were told that the water is so hot that people bathe in the pools year round.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Calgary, Summer of 1983

001 Calgary002 Calgary003 Calgary004 Calgary005 Calgary006 Calgary007 Calgary008 The Stairs009 Calgary010 Toby011 Calgary012 Jane in Calgary013 Tommy McKillip014 Phil & Toby015 Tommy in the Studio at Full Sail. jpg016 Calgary017 Downtown Calgary018 Full Sail Audio019 Calgary in the Distance020 Redwood Meadows021 Redwood Meadows053 Jane & Tommy022 Calgary055 St. Paul's Presbyterian Church056 Trent057 St. Paul's Presbyterian Church

It was, I suppose, the trip of a lifetime. My dad had lost his job in Memphis, and had taken a job with a commercial music firm and studio called Full Sail Audio in a most unlikely place- Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He had been up there for a couple of months as I recall, and when the summer came around, he sent for my mother and me to join him. So we flew from Memphis to Las Vegas, and then to Calgary. It was July, 1983, and the first thing I recall was how downright chilly it was when we arrived. But I soon fell in love with Calgary and its surroundings. Many days I would hang around the studio, getting to know Toby, the golden retriever who was something of a company mascot, and the musicians and employees, including Trent the intern, Tommy McKillip, who was a talented jazz saxophonist as well as a bass player, Phil, whose instrument I forget in the ravages of time. I played on recordings, wrote a commercial jingle for a country radio station, and generally had a ball. This was the summer I fell in love with Donald Fagen. Bands like The Nylons and A Flock Of Seagulls were on the radio, but I was more into jazz. One warm afternoon, Dad took me down to a big festival space in downtown Calgary where Tommy McKillip was playing sax with a jazz band. People were sitting out on the grass, and I recall that Tommy had on an African dashiki, and to 16-year-old me, he was the epitome of cool. When I wasn't at the studio, or hanging around the house we were keeping for a vacationing family, we were driving around the outskirts of Calgary exploring, or heading over to Banff, Lake Louise, Airdrie, or the Summer Village of Chestemere Lake. Money was tight, but occasionally we would go to a place called Phil's for hamburgers that were among the best I had ever eaten. After all, Alberta was cattle country, and beef was plentiful. On one occasion, the people Dad worked for invited us to their house for a dinner party, around a Pacific Salmon steak that was nearly the length of the table. It had been smoked and cooked with bacon, and was amazingly delicious indeed. As the summer moved toward its inevitable end, I found myself hoping that perhaps we could stay in Calgary. Dad had the immigrant status to live and work in Canada indefinitely, and the Canadian government actually paid families a monthly stipend to send their children to public school, or so we were told. I had started a lawn-mowing service, and with my typical knack for over-enthusiasm and excess had named it Southern Alberta Lawncare Systems, rather than just putting signs up saying I would mow yards for cash. I made a fair amount of money at that. But soon Dad decided that Mom and I should return to our house in Bartlett and that I should enroll in school there. I was sad about it, but Dad decided to drive us back rather than flying. The result was adding a number of states to the list of those I had visited, including Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Kansas. We were of course in something of a hurry, but we did stop at Yellowstone National Park and saw Old Faithful. I ended up enrolling at Bartlett High School in August of 1983, and Dad returned to Canada. But by December, he had decided that there were problems on the horizon at Full Sail, and he had returned to Memphis as well.