Calgary Cottage Country

[Bigtime]

This is the thread to talk about places you go to "get away from the city" on weekends and holidays. We've had some talk in the Calgary thread about the Windermere Valley area and points onward.

[Witty Nickname]

Cottage? Boooo!

Cabins are where it's at... Leave "Cottage Country" to the tools out East.

[freeweed]

I know plenty of people who call them "cabins" in Ontario, and "cottages" in BC, so I don't think this east-west split is as neat as you describe. A lot of people back east actually call them "camps" anyway.

Besides, we should be past such provincial (get it?) attitudes anyway. Some of us actually move from the ancestral homestead every once in a while.

[Bigtime]

<Edited>

[Witty Nickname]

Wow, that's going to be awesome.

[Wooster]

The view in the early spring at the family place out at Lake Windermere:

From 2005


The one on the left:




Also seen here in a pic by SurrealPlaces from across the lake. It's pretty much dead centre in that second row of condos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinca...53933/sizes/l/

[Wooster]

Nice place bigtime. We should meet up for some golf or some waterskiing if we're both up there at the same time.

Greywolf is a fantastic course.

[Witty Nickname]

Ya Ya... I'm just having fun..

The majority of the people I know from out East constantly call them Cottages and are very proud of their "Cottage Country Lifestyle". You hear it in the media, beer commercials and everywhere else. I've never heard camp before, unless you are actually going camping.

I guess my humour didn't register on your scale. Did I need to put more winkies in my text?

Originally Posted by freeweed

I know plenty of people who call them "cabins" in Ontario, and "cottages" in BC, so I don't think this east-west split is as neat as you describe. A lot of people back east actually call them "camps" anyway.

Besides, we should be past such provincial (get it?) attitudes anyway. Some of us actually move from the ancestral homestead every once in a while.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Wooster

Nice place bigtime. We should meet up for some golf or some waterskiing if we're both up there at the same time.

Greywolf is a fantastic course.

Absolutely! I love all the golf out in the valley!

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

Ya Ya... I'm just having fun..

The majority of the people I know from out East constantly call them Cottages and are very proud of their "Cottage Country Lifestyle". You hear it in the media, beer commercials and everywhere else. I've never heard camp before, unless you are actually going camping.

I guess my humour didn't register on your scale. Did I need to put more winkies in my text?

"Camp" is a northwestern Ontario thing. It sounds flippin' ridiculous to me, but whatever.

Our place isn't really a 'cabin', it's more like a townhouse style condo, so we just say we're "heading out to the lake" most of the time.

[polishavenger]

My girlfriends family has a nice place on the beach on the Shuswap which makes for a great summer getaway. Here are some picks of the beach, an aerial of the narrows (for those familiar with the shwap they are where the four arms of the lake come together and about 15 minutes by boat from the cabin), and a couple of sunset shots. Enjoy

[atlas_inc]

We have a place at CopperStone Resort just outside of Canmore.
It's great to have a place 45min. outside of Calgary close.

Many times we even go there overnight in the weekday and drive back in time for work in the AM.

www.copperstoneresort.com

[lubicon]

I'm jealous. Neither my wife's nor my side of the family ever had the money to buy one. Even if they did both her parents and mine moved around enough while we were growing up to make buying in a nice location impractical due to the distances involved.

We have to settle for our 5th wheel, getting out on the occasional weekend and maybe for a week or 2 during the summer. This year I could only take one week vacation and it happened to be the week it pissed rain. Some summer holiday.

Oh well.

Some nice places posted so far. If I had my choice it would be either Kootenay Lake, or if money was no object then the Gulf Islands in BC.

[Ayreonaut]

My mom and her boyfriend just built a place on the North end of the Okanagan, just outside of Vernon. My dad lives between Vernon and the Arrow Lakes. My aunt and uncle have a freaking island in the Gulf Islands. So while I don't really have any one vacation spot, I do have a place to stay pretty much wherever I want to go in BC. It seems like Sicamous, summer or winter, is majority Albertans, and even out at the coast, it seems like half the island retired there from Alberta.

[BFHeadstone]

We are on the Salmon Arm just before Canoe. Great weather in the summer. We timeshare in Fairmont every other year.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Wooster

"Camp" is a northwestern Ontario thing. It sounds flippin' ridiculous to me, but whatever.

Our place isn't really a 'cabin', it's more like a townhouse style condo, so we just say we're "heading out to the lake" most of the time.

Damn, "the lake". That one is insanely common in Ontario too, and it's really funny to hear people refer to it when describing their property that isn't on, or really near, a lake.

"Camp" is pretty common in the NE USA as well. I found in NW Ontario about a 50/50 mix between "cabin" and "cottage" when I lived there. Or, as us po' folk would sometimes be honest, "the trailer".

(This is about all I can contribute as I have no wonderful shots to share, neither of our families ever could afford a second home although I will say the $30,000 condos in Vegas have me tempted)

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Computer rendering of the finished product:

That's not a cabin. That's a freaking McMansion.

Let me guess. It probably has granite counter tops, stainless appliances, heated garage and central vac... and will be used a grand total of 4-6 weeks every year.

[Surrealplaces]

Our place is in Nelson on Kootenay Lake. a beautiful place to spend some time, the downside is that it's a 6-7 hour drive. I've made the drive in 6 hours, but it involves timing the ferry just right. I wish it was the 2 1/2 hour trip to Invermere. Go Jumbo Pass!





What an early morning coffee on the dock looks like



Balfour Golf Course, about 5 minutes away from the place. A great place to play a round.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by h0twired

That's not a cabin. That's a freaking McMansion.

Let me guess. It probably has granite counter tops, stainless appliances, heated garage and central vac... and will be used a grand total of 4-6 weeks every year.

Granite counter tops- check
Stainless appliance/sub-zero fridge- check
Heated garage- check
Central vac- check
Hot tub & Sauna- check
Media room- check
Enough bedrooms for a family of 6 plus exteneded family- check
Used a grand total of 4-6 weeks a year- nope.

My parents will be retiring out there, and dad has an office set up to conduct business from there in the meantime. If they weren't planning on retiring up there we would have just kept the small condo in the Horsetheif lodge.

Yes our family has had some success, but it definitely doesn't come from the kind of attitude that would build something like this to only use it occasionally.

[Jimby]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Granite counter tops- check
Stainless appliance/sub-zero fridge- check
Heated garage- check
Central vac- check
Hot tub & Sauna- check
Media room- check
Enough bedrooms for a family of 6 plus exteneded family- check
Used a grand total of 4-6 weeks a year- nope.

My parents will be retiring out there, and dad has an office set up to conduct business from there in the meantime. If they weren't planning on retiring up there we would have just kept the small condo in the Horsetheif lodge.

Yes our family has had some success, but it definitely doesn't come from the kind of attitude that would build something like this to only use it occasionally.

What a fantastic looking place! I'm sure many happy family memories will be
generated there. Thanks for sharing the pics with us.