Hey guys, I got a Miata as the first car I bought just prior to arriving in Calgary. Yah, not a great choice for the weather here yada yada... get in line with my gf on that opinion. I've never pretended to be very smart about what cars I buy lol
Naturally the first thing I did after getting the car is take it on an epic drive. I didn't have my Supra as planned when I agreed to go on this journey with some guys, including my best friend with his 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 and another guy with a red GT3, a Lamborghini Huracan Performante and an older 996 Carerra 4 cabrio... so Miata was up to bat. I'd spent a grand total of 5 minutes in the car prior to this journey so it was going to be one hell of a shake down.
Weather changes quickly in Calgary and around the mountains, the first 30 minutes of the drive looked like this:
Like... wha??
Naturally heading toward the mountains the scenery is epic, going into Canmore for a breakfast stop and then continuing toward Kimberley, BC:
Stopped in Kimberley for BBQ at a place called The Shed... recommendation -- get the quesidilla if you are here, I didn't get it but my buddy did and I wished I had, it was probably the best quesidilla I'd ever seen/tried.
Speaking of piggies... look at the size comparison between a GT3 and a NC Miata!! Shocking!!!!
.... or a Lamborghini Huracan for that matter...
First night time stop was Nelson at a nice resort on the lake... I've never been there before, but it's quite a nice place! I was surprised by the lovely murals everywhere.
Went to a couple of places here, an Italian restaurant that was actually kind of... high end?! Like this place wouldn't look out of place in Whistler and the food was delish:
Also went to a pizza and beer joint after called Beauties, very cool drink menu on a record in a sleeve:
Morning before leaving in Nelson, little bit of condensation and frost overnight! Not a front plate anywhere in sight ,god bless Alberta hahaha
Highway 6 between Nelson and Vernon is a great driving road as long as nobody gets in front of you which is doable on a weekday if you leave early.. but things get REALLY spicy if you take a turn in Vernon and head to the ferry crossing and continue on that way toward Kelowna... holy fuck the best road I have ever been on in my life... there's one section that is basically a 30 minute long slalom with rises and dips, I was behind the GT3's the entire time basically at redline and taking all the Miata could give me and the car was absolutely in its element, I was able to stick with those guys no matter how hard they went but boy did I have to work for it. Next time we go there, I have to get a dashmount so I can record it. Just an insane road. Watching all those guys drive diagonally onto the ferry while I just flop straight on with my 4x4 height Miata was pretty comical.
In Kelowna pretty much stayed the entire time at El Dorado resort and also went to a lovely winery and watched rich old white people get flown into the winery on a helicopter while we sat like peasants on the patio eating the washout from their helicopter landing. Tried to meet up with underscore, but he had better things to do in Salt Lake City apparently and turned down my offer of a shoulder massage at the lakefront.
On the way back, I was too tired to go the race car route again like they were, so I drove directly back from Kelowna to Calgary... if I hadn't already driven to Calgary twice the week before I would have had the energy but I was done. Miata was flawless the whole time, power is acceptable for what it is... it needs help in the suspension, I think it's a common complaint with NC's that they are a bit wallowy and hard to feel in corners and I totally get that now. I will be upgrading the suspension for sure. i also pretty much cooked my brakes front rotors are now warped, so I ordered upgrades for that too. Will be fun next year for some drives!!
Bonus: I only got called a fag once in Invermere, given the number of redneck places we went to I'm calling that a win lol