Via Byway, My Way.

Calgary, Alberta thoughts:

Man, it sure is flat up here!  The roads are all very very straight, and it is just flat as a pancake.  I could see for miles upon miles far and away as we drove up from the Canadian border.  Which, incidentally, we didn’t pass inspection so easily.  As a matter of fact, we were sequestered into an interrogation room (not really, but it sounds better) where the border agent asked Lisa and I spit-fire questions like we were on a speed round of some gameshow and she wanted to see how easy and ready we were with our answers.  Our extra time at the border station was because I answered “Yes” when the gate guard asked me if I had any firewood.  So, if there is a lesson in all of this, YOU CANNOT BRING FIREWOOD INTO CANADA FROM THE US!  Why?  Cause of Dutch Elm disease.

We made stops at Ft. McCleod, the first western outpost of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police, and also stopped at Lethbridge and Vulcan.  Guess which pictures below are from Vulcan?

Posing with my possee from Vulcan.

This pic is dedicated to you, Ezra and Dan and Tim!

A scale replica of the Starship Enterprise.

Heritage Park’s Hudson’s Bay Company Fort replica.  We spent an entire day at Heritage Park Historical Village, and what a great time we had!  Set on 66 acres, there are more than 150 buildings and 45,000 exhibits that recreate pre-1914 Western Canada.  It is a living history park, where employees are dressed in period clothes and they describe and explain historical aspects of each exhibit or what life was like 100 years ago.  The Calgary weather was very strange during our visit–wet, cold and windy in the morning, then hot, dry and summerlike in the afternoon.

Our stop through town just happened to coincide with the big event that Calgary is known the world for:  The Calgary Stampede, the greatest outdoor show on earth.  This is a 10-day freakin’ HUGE party that happens all around town, but is mostly concentrated at Stampede Park where most of the attractions, midway, agricultural exhibits and, of course, the rodeo is based.  One of the cool things about the city-wide party is that this is the time that corporations give back, in the effect of free breakfasts all around town.  The speciality is the pancake with a piece of bacon in middle…

The Calgary Stampede breakfast of champions!

If goin’ to the Stampede, you gotta getch yur cowboy hat and boots to really get in the spirt of thangs.

How big is the Stampede?  Consider this:  The Texas State Fair attracts about 78,000 daily visitors, while the Stampede has an average of 125,000 people per day.  The day we went had perfect weather and we had our first experience of watching Chuckwagon races and then a spectacular night show, complete with fireworks, laser lights, music, dancing, acrobatics and motorcylce stunts, all on a huge stage that is the most expensive in the world–$6 million.

9 heats of Chuckwagon races–we had no ideas about the rules and the penalty point system, but it was definitely exciting and we’d love to watch it again (tip:  if going to the Stampede, this is a Must-Do!).

The midway–packed with all the standard thrill rides, plus all the fried foods like corn dogs, mini donuts, funnel cakes and more.

Next Stop:  Edmonton (to be continued)

AND:  Happy 30-something birthday to Captain Fury, Mike CanDoIt Rohrig!  He can shoot the 3, but he’ll travel if you let him dribble.  Check out http://www.myspace.com/hoosierdaddyjv for the greatest basketball team never to win a game!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 7:44 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.