Alberta - Calgary

All I have to show for Calgary is a photo of the Stampede's chuck wagon races (borrowed from Enid, also a MLT caravaner) and the picture of our miserable campground. All my other Calgary photos were accidentally erased.

This is Stampede week. It is not easy to find accommodations in one park for 32 rigs. Aside from the general public, we are also competing for space with the WBCCI Yellowhead caravan and a WBCCI Region 10 Calgary rally.

Over the campground fence was a very large puddle which grew greatly one night during the loudest rain and hail storm we have yet experienced in the Airstream. The campground is a few miles outside the Calgary city limits and the water was awful, probably well-based and relying partly on what you see here. All camp sites had sewer hookups, but several times a day a large tanker truck crossed to the other side of the fence and pumped out our sewage from several large gravity-fed tanks.

The Calgary Stampede runs 10 days and attracts the top echelon of rodeo riders. It also features chuck-wagon races, a nightly fireworks spectacle, a Superbowl-half-time-style extravaganza involving a cast of 100s of clean-cut Canadians (are there any others?). and other areas reminiscent of county fairs (animals, carney, rides, exhibits, etc.).

We froze in the stands but had a good time; it did run a bit long. Most rodeo events were won by Americans. The Canadians took the Chuck Wagon races. It had rained earlier so the mud livened things up.

Traffic in-and-out of Calgary is terrible on all days of the week, at least during Stampede. We drove downtown and walked Stephen Avenue, a collection of shops and restaurants in the high-rise district, but many in older buildings, with sidewalk seating. Had a nice lunch with Larry and Kathy at an 1888 (or so claimed) Irish pub. The Glenbow Museum, in the same area, is a gem (we and AAA agree).

The Hudson Bay Company turns out to be US owned these days and looks inside like a Broadway or Macys, with the same sort of goods – sorry, no beaver pelts.

The Calgary Tower rises 626 feet above the street and offers a tremendous observation point on what was a beautifully day (no pictures, all accidently deleted). Two things of note: As we waited for an up elevator, the doors opened and a horse came out. Apparently used in some publicity shots at the top, but it must have been an interesting sight. Also at the top (aside from a lady running a vacuum cleaner) was a small area with a glass floor, allowing you to look between your feet at the pedestrians far, far below. Not easy to do.

The highlight of our Calgary visit was seeing Cousin Tim. He seems to be getting along great and has recently formed a corporation with the intent of opening a school to train others in hypnotherapy techniques. Tim would not let us buy him dinner, and instead took us to Red River, an excellent nearby restaurant that almost turned us away because of the Stampede crowd. Later the three of us posed for a “TentParty Calgary 2008” photo, but it was among the accidentally deleted.