There\u2019s something about summer in Calgary that just hits different. After what always feels like the longest winter (and 5 false spring starts later), the minute the lilacs bloom and the patios open, I\u2019m outside. My calendar fills up with everything from baseball games to spontaneous walks for tacos, and while it\u2019s not always perfectly curated, it\u2019s full of the kind of moments that make me love this city even more.<\/p>\n
Here are a few of my favourite ways to spend summer days (and evenings) in and around Calgary:<\/p>\n
This one feels like the unofficial start to summer. The 4th Street Lilac Festival<\/a> is always one of my favourite Sundays of the year. Music in the streets, local vendors, good food, and a chance to bump into everyone<\/em> you know. We make a full day of it with the kids, wandering 4th Street with an iced latte in hand and absolutely no schedule. It\u2019s the perfect mix of city energy and neighbourhood charm.<\/p>\n I know there are a handful of beautiful local greenhouses in Calgary like Greengate<\/a> and Golden Acres<\/a> (and I love those too), but something about wandering through the Canadian Tire<\/a> garden centre with a cart full of herbs and hanging baskets just feels right<\/em>. It\u2019s an annual ritual that brings me joy and bonus points if I can sneak in a solo trip while the kids are out and about. What can I say, it\u2019s a treat when I can take my time perusing the perennials and fill the car without a trunk full of sports gear.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve known me for a while, you know we\u2019re a big ball family. Most evenings and weekends from May \u2018til September are spent at diamonds across the city cheering, sun screening, snack-packing, and somehow always forgetting at least one folding chair. It\u2019s busy, yes, but it\u2019s also one of the most grounding parts of our summer as a family. If you\u2019ve never booked a diamond before or want to learn more about places you can get your crew together, check out the City of Calgary\u2019s website<\/a>. The booking process is a breeze.<\/p>\n Some of my best thinking happens on quiet trails, and luckily for us there\u2019s so many amazing spots just in our backyard here in Calgary. Whether we\u2019re biking through Glenmore<\/a> or Fish Creek<\/a>, or heading out for a quick afternoon hike in Nose Hill<\/a>, I love that we have so many beautiful spaces in<\/em> the city that still feel like a getaway. It\u2019s my favourite way to clear my head, move my body, and make the most of those long daylight hours.<\/p>\n Just over an hour outside of the city limits, cottage weekends in Invermere are a must. When we get the chance to escape to the cottage, I go full reset mode. No alarm clocks or emails, just books, board games, and kids who magically entertain themselves with nothing but a dock and a snack. Those are the weekends that remind me what life\u2019s all about, and it\u2019s always the reset I didn\u2019t realize I needed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whatever summer looks like for you – slow, busy, or a little of both – I hope you find space for the small joys. I\u2019ll be over here watering my garden centre finds, wiping dust off my folding chair, and soaking up every bit of sunshine I can get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s something about summer in Calgary that just hits different. After what always feels like the longest winter (and 5 false spring starts later), the minute the lilacs bloom and the patios open, I\u2019m outside. My calendar fills up with everything from baseball games to spontaneous walks for tacos, and while it\u2019s not always perfectly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":1335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1336,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1334\/revisions\/1336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advisor.wellington-altus.ca\/julieshipleystrickland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Yes, I buy my plants at Canadian Tire\u2014don\u2019t judge<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Baseball and softball, all summer long<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
A touch of adventure within the city limits<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
A little cottage getaway<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n