Holiday Shopping With Centro Motel

Have you finished you Christmas shopping yet? Yeah, it's okay. Neither have I. Not to worry, though. Calgary's first and greatest boutique motel is here for you. If there's one thing that Calgary is good for, it's shopping. If you're coming from points near the city, you'll definitely want to drive (which is where a Motel comes in), after all some of the best shopping in Alberta is just a short drive away.

 Merry Christmas from the Internet's current ruler. The Cat Named Tardar Sauce.

The Core

Downtown Calgary's solution to the intermittently horrible Alberta weather. The Core is a group of office buildings connected through +15 and underground walkways. If you're looking for some brand name high end fashion items this is the place to go.

Parking can be a bit of an adventure here. But if you head down on a weekend not only is it cheap, but there are Valets.

Chinook Centre

Chinook Centre is easier to drive into and out of than anything in downtown Calgary. They are missing some of the more high-end stores, but they make up for it by having more Tech stores and a movie theater.

The options for eating are better with Chinook as well. I mean, they have Sushi AND a Yogen Fruz.

Cross Iron Mills

Bigger. Better. Faster. Stronger. This is the Bionic Man of Calgary Malls. I guess, technically it is outside the city limits, but at the rate Calgary is growing that won't last more than another year or so. This place is massive though, so if you're going with a group I suggest the 'Divide and Conquer' shopping strategy.

While it is a little further to drive, it has pretty much everything If you only have time to go to one Shopping Centre, go to this one.

The Centro Motel is Calgary’s first Boutique Motel. Located in the Montgomery neighbourhood, just south of Calgary’s Motel Village. The Centro offers stylish, trendy rooms at competitive prices. For more information on booking, rooms and rates, check out the home page, or Contact Us.

Winter Driving Tips

The Centro Motel is located, along with several other motels, near the Western edge of the city of Calgary right on the Trans-Canada Highway as it enters the city proper. Although, this is a prime location for a motel to be in, it does mean that at this time of year we get to see some truly horrific Winter Driving. In fact, it was the heavy snowfall we received yesterday and the awful, awful driving perpetrated by the citizens of this city that inspired me to write this article. All of you drivers out there, stay safe and don't forget to...

 

Get Winter Tires!

There's no excuses for this one. You can pick up a cheaper pair on websites like Kijiji, or eBay. Installation is inexpensive, and it can make all the difference. Waiting to get them isn't a good excuse either, as Fall is right next to Spring as the worst time of year for slippery roads. Remember, snow and ice is more slippery the closer to 0 Degrees Celsius it is, and most car accidents happen during periods of milder temperatures.

Avoid Cruise Control On Icy Patches!

More drivers should know about this one. There's always some rumour flying around that if your car hits an icy patch while on cruise control it will think you're going up a hill and begin to accelerate, launching your vehicle off the road. Happily, this isn't true at all. The real reasons you should avoid using cruise control in icy road conditions are much less dramatic.

One of your best defences when losing control on wet or icy pavement is to immediately take your foot off the gas. Since you either have to hit a button or tap the brakes to disengage cruise control, you lose some response time. Otherwise, the only reason to avoid it is to help keep you engaged in driving. Having the cruise control on may lull the driver into inattention.

Avoid Sudden Moves

In my opinion, Winter is the only season when you should take the speed limits as gospel. If conditions are bad , and there's a road sign indicating a low speed, it's probably good advice. Once, I was young and driving my car at the time (a 2-door coupe) on a snowy road in the mountains. I took a turn about 20kms faster than I should have, and the only reason I'm still around to type about it today is the time I put in at my AMA class purposely throwing the car into a skid and learning how to control it. Even then, it was a near thing. The moral of the story? Take it slow. Don't accelerate or brake suddenly, and for God's sake slow down BEFORE you take a turn.

Carry An Emergency Kit

According to Transport Canada (a Government Ministry I didn't know existed until I started researching this article) you should have the following items in your car kit.

Keep the following items in your trunk.

• shovel

• sand or kitty litter

• traction mats

• tow chain

• compass

• cloth or roll of paper towels

• warning light or road flares

• extra clothing and footwear

• emergency food pack

• booster cables

• matches and a "survival" candle in a deep can (to warm hands, heat a drink or use as an emergency light)

• fire extinguisher

• extra windshield washer fluid

• fuel line antifreeze

• reflective vest
  
  

Keep the following items inside your vehicle.

• road maps

• ice scraper and brush

• flashlight

• first aid kit

• blanket (special "survival" blankets are best)

The Centro Motel is Calgary’s first Boutique Motel. Located in the Montgomery neighbourhood, just south of Calgary’s Motel Village. The Centro offers stylish, trendy rooms at competitive prices. For more information on booking, rooms and rates, check out the home page, or Contact Us.

Hillhurst/Sunnyside Farmers Market

If you're the type of person who is running an illegal chicken coup in your backyard, but you're sick of not getting any recognition for your achievements in black-market poultry, you're probably pretty excited right about now.

This... this isn't what that is, right? Can someone explain the appeal to me? Please?

From October 3^rd to the 7^th, the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association’s (HSCA) Harvest Market will be running its last farmer's market of the year. Now, if you're wondering what this has to do with illegal chicken coups, just bear with me a minute. This year, you can win an award for the best illegal chicken operation, as well as for the best Guerilla Garden.

It's less armed bands of soldiers, and more just planting stuff wherever you can get away with it.

Anyways, if you have a garden in Calgary, you can send in a photo of it doing it's thing to be eligible to win gift certificates to the River Café, Pages Books and the Sunnyside Garden Centre. There's even a prize for a free one-day rental of a bouncy castle.

The Centro Motel is Calgary’s first Boutique Motel. Located in the Montgomery neighbourhood, just south of Calgary’s Motel Village. The Centro offers stylish, trendy rooms at competitive prices. For more information on booking, rooms and rates, check out the home page, or Contact Us.

The Best Cafe's in Montgomery

Montgomery is often overlooked as a neighbourhood. Sure, in a lot of way it doesn't hold a candle to the more established leisure neighbourhoods in Calgary like Kensington, or Marda Loop. So, it's true that there aren't many cafe's in Montgomery when compared to other areas of Calgary. But, that's not to say that there aren't any good cafes there at all. This is false. There are three.

Lazy Loaf & Kettle

The LLK is kind of like a greasy spoon-type lace, but without the greasy. It's a very laid back cafe that serves top notch comfort food for breakfast, and as their name suggests they brew a mean mug of tea. Overall, it's cozy, clean and well-prepared. The perfect place to kill some time with a good book, or to pretend to be writing a novel on your Macbook (apparently).

Extreme Bean Cafe

It's not that Extreme, don't worry. The coffee here is quite good. Probably better then at the Lazy loaf and Kettle, although I am a pretty picky coffee drinker, so that's not saying all that much. They do have a more fleshed out lunch and dinner menu when compared with the other cafe's on this list, so this would be a surer bet for anyone looking for a god lunch or dinner.

Angel's Cappuccino & Ice Cream

The ultimate in legal highs. Cappuccino and Ice Cream is what I plan on feeding my kids before I drop them off at their Grandparents' place (Give me socks for my birthday 3 years in a row, eh?). At any rate, the ice cream here is delicious, and the combination of it with coffee is utterly fantastic.

The Centro Motel is Calgary’s first Boutique Motel. Located in the Montgomery neighbourhood, just south of Calgary’s Motel Village. The Centro offers stylish, trendy rooms at competitive prices. For more information on booking, rooms and rates, check out the home page, or Contact Us.

Alberta's Newest Provincial Park

A new provincial park is a rare thing. Vast tracts of aren't really just lying around waiting to be re-purposed, especially not if they've been privately owned for a long time. Typically when land of this calibre and proximity to the city becomes avaialable it's rapidly ripped apart and turned into Condo and housing developments in a spectacle reminiscent of a cow being devoured by a school of piranhas. However, that's not what happened last week at all.

In 2006, the Alberta Government purchased over 1,300 acres of land from the Harvie Family, and has spent the last six years developing it into a Provincial park. It already has 25 km of trails, many of which are paved for cycling. The access to this land is located about 35 kilometres from downtown Calgary, basically right next to the town of Cochrane. The land itself is actually pretty spread out, and is shaped kind of like... You know what? Here, take a look for yourself.

 

The terrain is quite varied for such small sampling of the province, and The park preserves and protects some significant natural and cultural features, including examples of endangered ecosystems and rare species, First Nations and early ranching settlements.

Now, keep in mind that, for now at least, this is a day-use only park. There is no overnight camping, no camp fires, and the park is only open during daylight hours. Another thing to keep in mind is the access to water. There is no potable water in this park. Well, none that's been declared potable, at least. So, bring plenty of water bottles, and a filtration system.

For more info you can check out the park's website at http://www.grpf.ca/.

The Centro Motel is Calgary’s first Boutique Motel. Located in the Montgomery neighbourhood, just south of Calgary’s Motel Village. The Centro offers stylish, trendy rooms at competitive prices. For more information on booking, rooms and rates, check out the home page, or Contact Us.