These Boots Were Made For Traveling

For the entire month of December, my boyfriend, Holden, and I went back and forth trying to decide what to do for New Year’s Eve 2019/2020.

Finally, about 4 days before New Year’s, Holden sent me a message along the lines of “Throwing this out there, we can get a room in Canmore on New Year’s Eve for less than $200. Just a thought.”

So, in classic us fashion, we booked a hotel room for the night and headed out to the mountains for our first NYE together.

I picked Holden up from work at 7:30pm, and we drove straight out to Canmore and checked in to the Holiday Inn. It was a little trippy driving there in the dark – you couldn’t even see the mountains!

Upon arriving at the hotel, we settled back onto the pillows of our queen-sized bed and watched a couple of episodes of The Office (I’d never watched the whole series through, so that was Holden’s project for me!) and had a few drinks.

We then took some fun photos, opened the bottle of Gigglewater Prosecco we’d brought with us, had a glass each, and walked into downtown Canmore around 11:30 to ensure that we’d catch the fireworks at midnight!

We heard the countdown starting as we were walking past the Rose and Crown on our way to Millennium Park, where the fireworks were launched from. We halted to a stop, joined in on the countdown, had our very first New Year’s kiss (!!!), and then carried on our merry way. We found a quiet spot by the river that offered a great reflection of the fireworks, so we stopped there and watched the show.

After cheering for the fireworks and taking a bunch of photos with the sparklers I’d brought, we decided to stop in at one of the local bars’ NYE parties for a beer and/or a shot of tequila before making our way back to the hotel for some more Office, the rest of the bottle of Prosecco, and bedtime.

However, we did not have great luck. First, we tried Hy Five, which Holden had seen on a previous trip to Canmore and wanted to check out, but as soon as we sat down, the bartender announced that they were closing. From there, we tried to go to the Grizzly Paw Brewing Company’s pub, but they had just closed as well! (Seriously, who closes at 12:30am on New Year’s Eve?!)

Then we tried to go to the Drake Pub, which is always a wild time, however it was $25 to get in. I might have been willing to pay that at 9 or 10pm, but at that point we probably would’ve only been there for an hour and $25 was not worth it to me. Lastly, we tried the Rose and Crown, but the cover charge for their party was $20. I would’ve been willing to pay $15 (or less, obviously), but $20 was still too much for me…

And so, spirits hardly dampened, we walked back to the hotel and had a few more drinks with the TV show, order some pizza and ate it in bed, and, at long last, (I’d been up since 5:30 that morning) fell asleep!

On January 1, 2020 (!!!) we slept in a lil, then packed up the car and drove into town. Our first stop was (of course) coffee. We popped into a little stand-alone building that I’d never been to before called Blondie’s. Holden got a flat white and I had this amaaaazing hot cider (I love when you can taste the difference and know that it’s real cider, ya know?). We didn’t get any food there, but they had tons of awesome (and somewhat healthy) looking options.

After that, we tried to go to the ever-popular Rocky Mountain Bagel Company, but both locations were insanely lined up, and I didn’t want a bagel that badly. (However their new location attached to Basecamp Lodge on Bow Valley Trail is adorable, and I would actually love to go back sometime when it’s significantly less busy…) What we’d really wanted to do was go to 514 Poutine, but unfortunately it was closed (can you tell that Holden and I don’t have the best luck with things being open?).

After some back-and-forth (read: a hangry, not-quite-arguing “discussion”), we ended up going for poutine at the Canmore Hotel. I’ve walked and driven by the Canmore Hotel for as long as I can remember, but had never been inside (to be honest, I thought it was still a functional old hotel, but turns out it’s a cool little pub and live music spot with a party hostel upstairs). The poutine was massive and tasty, and I would definitely go back – maybe even in the evening when it turns into a nightclub! There was one lone server working, and he was run off his feet. I’m not sure whether it was a lot busier than expected or if they just couldn’t convince anyone else to work on New Year’s Day, but this poor man was just harassed by some very impatient tables. We tried to be extra easy and nice to him – he was a super chill, funny guy!

From there, we headed over to the Grizzly Paw Brewing Company (a must whenever we’re in Canmore) for a pint and then grabbed another coffee at Beamer’s (which, according to my dad, was the first coffee shop that opened in Canmore) for the hour and ten minute drive back to Calgary.

It ended up being both an amazing New Year’s Eve and Day, and I’m so glad we went on a mini-adventure and spent it in the mountains, instead of consuming way too many overpriced drinks at some overcrowded bar in the city.

 

Now, a month later, I find myself at the end of January, and I can’t believe how quickly 2020 is going by already. The year has been off to a great start. My major New Year’s resolution this year is to start saying “NO” more. I realize that sounds a little silly, and many people’s resolution may be to say “yes” more, to do more. However, I feel as if I say yes to everything always, even when I’m already overwhelmed and shouldn’t or don’t actually want to say yes. I also want to stop explaining and apologizing when I say no.

So far, so good. I’ve spent the past month primarily doing only the things I’ve wanted to do (within reason – I mean, unfortunately, sometimes you can’t avoid doing certain things), I haven’t reached out to make any plans when I’d rather be at home relaxing or crossing things off my “To Do” list, and honestly I feel a lot better, both mentally and physically. Plus, we even got in a quick weekend getaway to Austin, Texas!

But that’s a post for another time…