The first day in Calgary.
Karen and Linda are picking me up at 11 for a caching tour.

Since I woke up early and I have no food or drink at the Airbnb, I decided to take a short walk to look for a shop – or at least some caches. Turns out it’s only caches. The walk itself was interesting though. The neighborhood is a mix: some houses clearly in need of love, others freshly renovated. Overall, it feels more like a lower middle-class area, with a few new developments sprinkled in.

I managed to find 4 caches in nearby parks – a solid start to the day – but no shop. Just when I thought I’d have to wait until later, I spotted a coffee shop two blocks away. Quamaria Yemeni Coffee Shop, opening at 10. Arabic style, and the latte was both very good and very hot. A proper wake-up. Then back to my Airbnb for pickup.

Before heading out, I still needed breakfast. So our first stop was Tim Hortons, where I used the app I had downloaded to get a cheap (and very artificial-tasting) drink, plus a bagel with butter.

Then we drove wesr to the fighter jet/rocket cache art installation. Karen had already logged it but kindly shared the coordinates so Linda and I could add it as well.

From there we continued towards Olds for the scheduled event. First stop: Carstairs, where we tried hard to find a cache but had no luck. So we moved on to Didsbury instead.

Before caching there, we stopped for lunch at JD’s Restaurant & Pizza, a local diner. I had a crispy chicken burger with fries – good portion, fair price. Afterward, we made a stop at Save-On-Foods so I could stock up on groceries. Karen and Linda used the time to grab a few caches nearby. The store was fine, but let’s just say the bread wouldn’t pass as bread in Germany. 😂

Next was Olds, at the Olds Regional Exhibition where the geocaching event was held. At first, my pre-ordered geocoin and two event pathtags were nowhere to be found, but thankfully they sorted it out. The most surprising part? Several people I had never met knew my name – thanks to Karen’s “campaigning” about me coming. 🤣 Everyone was very welcoming, and it felt like a warm gathering.

In the evening, Karen and Linda drove me back to Calgary. At the Airbnb I set everything up for tomorrow: clothes, equipment, chargers – because nothing is worse than caching with a dead phone.