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.

Spring Activities in Montgomery

Due to the incessant rain that has been pelting down on our little Boutique Motel for the last few days I have decided that spring is here. Overall, it's good news. Even though Spring is by far the most horrible time of year here in Calgary, it does mean that Summer is right around the corner. Although it can get pretty soggy here in the Springtime, there's still plenty to do here in Montgomery.

Frisbee

There's plenty of parks here in Montgomery, and now that the ground has some moisture in it the grass is turning green faster than a College Student's tongue on St. Patrick's Day. It's still a little too chilly out for sun-bathing, but it's still nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air. An easy way to get outside and relax while still staying active enough to keep warm is enjoy yourself some Frisbee. Or, of course you can play catch the old-fashioned with a baseball.

Window Shopping

Some people may groan a little bit at this one. I mean, what's so great about window shopping? Well, just like everything else there are good places to do it and bad places to do it. Montgomery is an interesting place to take a stroll through because of all the little boutique shops, cafe's, and hobby shops that dwell down side streets and in tiny little cul-de-sacs. In one cul-de-sac alone I've found a knitting store, an excellent cafe (The Lazy Loaf and Kettle), and a vintage country clothing store. You might still think that's kinda dull, but my sweet plaid shirt and this delicious sandwich I'm eating disagree with you.

Cage Batting Range

This might be kind of a 'guy' thing. But, once you go to a Batting Range once, it's hard not to want go again. The Cage is a few blocks from The Centro Motel, and it's a great place to take a few swings, hang out in the park, play catch, and do some people watching. I've even seen a handful of folks fishing from the river banks here, but that's more of a summer thing, the fish don't really come around until July-ish.

What's The Best RV to Tour Alberta With?

I've talked before about some of the best drives you can go on in Alberta, but now that is Spring, horrible, horrible Spring is around the corner I thought I'd revisit the topic and expand on it. As Calgary's first Boutique Motel, the Centro sees a lot of RV's coming through. However, we also get asked, on occasion, about what the best RV's to rent are. That's a complicated question, and the best answer is to find the RV that works best for your needs. For the purposes of this article, however, I'm going to go with the normal traveller who needs an RV and intends to be on the move with it a lot. That means a Class “C” Motorized RV is the way to go, and there's a few that come out ahead of the rest.

Bigfoot

 

While the company recently went out of business, you can still find a lot of these on the roads. The company closed it's doors after the recession in the United States killed off %90 of their business, but you shouldn't let that deter you. Their RVs are consistently one of the highest scoring in terms of Performance on the Road, Reliability, Safety, Cost of Maintenance and Comfort.

Lazy Daze

Another stellar choice in terms of Reliability and Performance, Lazy Daze units tend to have a bit more focus on Comfort, making them a great choice for longer trips. Check them out at www.lazydaze.com;or read some testimonials here:

- Life with with a lazy daze

Vixen 21 XC

 

This one is a legend. The Vixen 21 XC is powered by a BMW m21 turbo diesel engine. With the combination of a Renault 5-speed manual trans axle, it gets between 30-35 mpg. The suspension is Chevy g20, and the frame is made partly from the same Chevy g20. The body is fiberglass. The engine is mounted in the rear of the vehicle and is mounted backwards, so the engine time belt/water pump is right in the back. For those who don't speak car, it means that the Vixen is great on gas, and the utilities are very conveniently located.

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



The Best Pizza Places in Montgomery

Staying in a Motel, Boutique or otherwise, usually means you're not planning on cooking. Which is good, because here at Centro, we have fridges in our rooms but no kitchenettes.

There's actually quite a few good restaurants nearby, but after driving to Calgary all day most people just want to order in. This is why our staff gets asked about the best, closest pizza places all the time.

There's always the old standards to mention. If you want to play it safe you can order from the nearby Pizza Hut, and there's a Chicago Deep Dish around the corner if you're into massive coronary failure as a dessert. However, one of the best parts of being in a neighbourhood on the cusp of redevelopment is all the independent, Mom-and-Pop kind of small businesses that produce unique and sometimes strange new products. So, if you're looking to try something different, but you want to pointed in the right direction, this is a list you should be interested in.

Pizza Village

4616 Bowness Rd NW, Calgary, AB T3B 0B3, Canada +1 403-531-3365

Advance Pizza

B-4708 16 Ave NW, Calgary, AB T3B 0N1, Canada +1 403-288-3600

Rocco's Pizza

3-5111 Bowness Rd NW, Calgary, AB T3B 4M9, Canada +1 403-247-1110

Pizza 3000

4616 Bowness Road Northwest, Calgary, AB, Canada +1 403-278-3000

Tragically, there isn't too much we can do for online resources here. Because these places are so small, they haven't really gotten on board with the InternetZ. However, I have it on good authority that Pizza 3000 is considered the best of the bunch.

The Centro Motel is Calgary’s first, and most easily reviewed, 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.