Up early…Calgary address punched into the GPS. Wide open highway flanked with alternating fields of corn, grain and mustard plants. Deep egg yolk yellow mustard flowers contrasting against a cloudless blue sky.  Breathtaking.

Calgary pops up without warning. We meet Rosemary , our VRBO hostess, who a striking beauty. I can’t take my eyes off her amazing shoes with leather flowers that wrap her ankles. I’m still watching those shoes as she introduces us to the building’s amenities…doorman, pool, gym, bike storage and underground parking.

Up the elevator to her fifth floor home, door opens…drum roll please….we are greeted with a panoramic view …there is a sea of deep green tree tops framed by a wall of glass.  She opens the terrace door to  the soft rumble of the Elbow River.

Directly below us is a courtyard about the size of a football field where dozens of evergreen trees have made their homes in oversized, bleached redwood planters, benches, arbors and a shake roof gazebo. This is our reward for Beaver and Butte….

Paradise found.