R & R in Calgary...

Oops, pardon my backtracking...I forgot to put this blog in before we ventured onto Jasper!

Everyone needs time to take a break and spend time with friends… and that’s what we did in Calgary. 

Touring, seeing new places and doing new things is all fun and good, but every now and then it’s just nice to sit back with wonderful friends and do - nothing…and that’s what we did.   Talked, drank good wine, ate wonderful food, laughed, played games and enjoyed each other.  

We all met several years ago when we were at the same campground for a month and became fast friends.  Since then we have made it a point to meet up either camping or vacationing together, or at their home in Calgary.  We’ve met most of their family over the years and they’ve made us feel part of it now.  Such a warm feeling…

It was a great respite and good for my ankle, to be off of it, as it seems to be taking it’s time healing.  Old age isn’t for the impatient, that’s for sure! 

We did take one day and go for a jaunt to see The Days of Yore Festival in Didsbury, AB.  A cute little thing with reenactors from Vikings all the way to WWII.  They had mini battles from sword fights to cannons going off at various times.  All across the field were the various encampments set up by century.  Vendors (food and merchandise) were there, of course, as well as crafts etc. for the little ones.  All in all, quite amusing, really.  It was fairly small, as these things go, but so is Didsbury, I’m told, as we had a nice chat with one of the characters during a lunch break.  They have only been doing this festival a couple of years, so kudos to them!

Back on the road, we headed off to get as close to Jasper National Park as we could.  Being the “high season” I knew our chances would be slim getting a camping site in the park, but after many, many phone calls, we were finally able to get one in Valemount BC, about an hour or so outside the park.  We took it!  A couple of one night stays to get there, then through the park to the other side, and then we would be there for four days.  We were looking forward to it! 

Hugs all around to our friends and off we went to more adventures - Canadian style!

Catching up in Arizona,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Fun with Friends!

Spending time with friends is always a highlight along our journey, and visiting Ken and Sherrie in Calgary Canada is no exception.  We met this lovely couple several years ago when we were hanging out in Indio California for a month.  They were parked behind us and quickly became "fun friends".   When it was shared that I had always wanted to see the Calgary Stampede, and their daughter works for it, it was decided that "someday soon" we would make a trip to Canada for a visit!  We did indeed to do that in 2013 and enjoyed it and our visit very much!

Since then we have managed to meet up with our friends in California almost every year, this time, it was our turn to return to Canada to see them again!  Due to some time restrains with family in Washington, we only had a week together, but we managed to fill it with lots of food, fun and laughter...as usual.  ;-)

Ken grew up on a farm, and I put him to the test this time, having him teach us "what was all that growing in those fields?"  So, as we took a drive out to his old farm one day, he stopped at several fields, and we got out and...right into the fields we went!  First up, Canola!  Well, we had learned about Canola on our first trip to Canada, but had never gotten "up close and personal" with it...this time we did!  It's really pretty!  At least this time of the year.  It's flowering now, then it will grow 'seed pods' that will be harvested, and then pressed into oil...and that's what we all use!  Did you know that "Canola" stands for "Canadian Oil"?  Yep.  Next was the Barley field.  This was a surprise, because it was much flatter than I thought it would be...I would have guessed it was "wheat", instead.  Then, he took us to the "Bearded Wheat" field, it was "bumpy" with long strands sticking up (I guess that's the 'beard').  Both were still a bit green yet, so to early for harvesting.  They will turn a nice yellow to tan color and grow about another 6'' to 12'' depending on the rainfall.  This area had acres and acres and acres as far as you could see of these three types of grains.  They switch them around each season to help the soil out.  Ken said that unless the farmers have animals, once they harvest in the late fall, they usually "head south (USA) for the winter, since you can't do much planting in the snow!"  

While we were out visiting the farm lands, we stopped in the tiny town of Torrington to see the "The World Famous Gopher Hole Museum".  What a hoot!  A little house filled with wooden cut-outs (gopher holes) that have stuffed gophers dressed up in various 'vignettes'.  My two favorites, of course, were the "Village Campground" and the "Blacksmith Shop".  I guess every small town has to have something to pull the tourists in.  While we were there, 10 other people came in!  Got to give them an "A" for imagination! 

As a special treat, we all went to the Sky 360 at the Calgary Tower  downtown for dinner.  It's a lovely restaurant that sits one floor below the observation deck of The Tower, a 627' tall free standing structure built in 1967.  At that time, it was the tallest building in Calgary (not any longer tho).  The restaurant revolves slowly around 360 degrees in a hour so that you can see all of Calgary while you dine.  All the tables are next to the floor to ceiling windows.  It was lovely (and the food was wonderful!).  Afterward we went out on the observation deck as well.  Part of it has a glass floor so you can look straight down if you like, pretty cool (not for Sherrie tho!).  The sun doesn't set until almost 10PM in Calgary, so there still was plenty of time to walk around downtown and see some of the lovely sculptures and Olympic Park.  The coolest, I thought was "Wonderland" by Jaume Plensa, a 39' metal/wire female, shaped head in front of one of the most beautiful buildings in Calgary called The Bow.  Very sheik looking. I also liked sitting with some awesome ladies who, in the early 1900's, challenged the British Empire in various ways (1st female Senator, Social activists, Alberta's 1st female Cabinet Minister, Preeminent suffragist, orator and authors).  Pretty impressive, I'd say, I would have loved to have tea with any one of them!

Saddle Dome & Calgary Stampede area; Old & new City Hall buildings; Sherrie & our desserts; standing on the glass floor; Bow building

Olympic Plaza; "Wonderland" by Jaume Plensa; Marie with  Henrietta Muir Edwards; the awesome ladies; "The Family of Man" by Maxwell Cummings

On our last day together, our friends drove us out to Drumheller, which is the heart of the Badlands.  It looks so very different than anything else we'd seen around Alberta.  Gone were all the farmlands and the city, replaced by prairie and a large canyon.  Our first stop was at Horseshoe Canyon.  What a great sight.  The parking lot had very large"klinkers" bordering it that Jack was amazed at because "klinkers" are the waste products after coal has been turned into coke.  They get them in blacksmithing (very small ones, of course)...these were huge! 

From there, we traveled on to The Royal Tyrrell Museum.  This is where the greatest diversity of dinosaur fossils in the world are found.  Divided into three areas, the exhibit features over 90 specimens chosen specifically to supplement the story of life on Earth.  This place was huge!  We could have spent an entire day there and still not encompassed it all.  So much to read and explore.  They even had a palaeontologist on site working on a piece so that you could talk directly with her.  Very nice.  My grandchildren would have LOVED this place!  They probably would still be there.  ha ha

Like all good things, our trip came to an end...this time, but we will meet up again for more adventures! 

...on the road,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Oh Canada! A bit of history...

There is a wonderful park in Calgary called Heritage Park Historical Village.  It’s billed as Canada’s largest living history experience and the park’s attractions and exhibits span Western Canadian history from the 1860s to 1950s.  They have costumed interpreters all along the way, in every building, sharing their knowledge with you.  It’s very much like Colonial Williamsburg VA, in the United States. 

Jack and I had a delightful day there.  The sun was shining and the mosquitoes were not to bothersome!  The park is127 acres, so we didn’t get to every area (an excuse to come for another visit?) but where we did visit we were quite impressed with not only the detail of buildings (most were restored, not reproductions) but that they were also completely furnished right down to clothes in the closets, china on the tables, towels in the bathrooms, etc.  Many of the interpreters were actually experienced in the field they were representing.  The blacksmith had started blacksmithing at age 14 and had done it for many, many years before leaving it.  He had been working at the park in another capacity when they found out he had been a blacksmith, then quickly swooped him over to Flett’s Blacksmith Shop (c1902).  The interpreter at the school house had been a teacher for many years herself, and had even taught in a one-room school house at one time.  Same background with the interpreters at the Synagogue (c1910).  It was great because they brought in that background along with their enthusiasm and it really shown through.  It was very interesting talking with each of them.

We had a nice long chat with the fellow at the Shonts Grain Elevator (c1909).  I have a fondness of them and am forever taking pictures of some of the old ones along the roads, and have often wondered what they look like inside and how they work.  He was great!  He took all the time we wanted to show us every detail of how they have separate bins for different kinds of grains and how they are brought down into the wagons for loading, how their weighed, he even showed us a variety of grains and the “new crop” we’ve seen everywhere in Canada, Canola.  The whole thing was so fascinating.  Jack had just as much fun (as he always does) at Flett’s Blacksmith Shop.  What a great shop, with tons of tools and wonderful instruments.  The interpreter was super to talk with as well, I think they both enjoyed the long conversation (I took a walk along the shops).

The railway area with it’s Roundhouse and Turntable was a treat for us as well.  If you’ve read many of my blogs, you know we have a love of old trains, so it should be no surprise that seeing some early 1900 trains was a treat.  I especially loved seeing a complete caboose in it’s true form.  So many of them have either been converted for other uses or stripped.  This one was as it was, the engineer’s office & break area.  They also had a Jordan Spreader that’s used for plowing snow.  Those are pretty rare. 

I must say, the village was pretty complete, everything from the usual homes, stores, hotel, medical, church, school, fire, train, etc. but also a synagogue, a children’s midway area (Farris wheel, carousel, etc), an Aboriginal encampment, an agricultural area, an 1860s fur trading fort, a natural resource area (mine, well, etc) and Gasoline Alley with antique cars, gas pumps, signs etc. 

So much to see, and so well done!

Jack at his favorite spot!

Inside Montefiore Institute with their treasured early 1900's Torah

Shonts Grain Elevator

Canadian Pacific Rail

Inside the Caboose

Gasoline Alley

...kicking back in Alberta Canada,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/   

Oh Canada! Courageous Calgary...

A flood is a horrible disaster to happen to any town, at any time.  But when it happens to a town that relies heavily on a specific event held once a year, just two weeks away, it’s a huge disaster!  That’s what happened to Calgary Canada this year. 

The Calgary Stampede has been held here for over 100 years.  It’s huge, not just in size, but in tradition, in meaning to the town, to the folks that live here and to the ones who come here year after year.  The flood not only washed away roads, but buildings and electronics as well.  The Saddledome was so filled with water that it will be virtually unusable to use for quite some time.  All the headline entertainment was to be held there. 

What does a city do when faced with such a disaster?  Well, if you are a Calgarian, you pull together and make it happen!  The city itself had it’s hands full just making the city safe and usable again, so it was up to the Stampede people to handle their own situation, and boy did they ever.  Hundreds of volunteers and Stampeded staff worked around the clock for two solid weeks, non-stop and made it happen. 

When we first heard about the flood, we didn’t think the Stampede was going to happen.  It was an event we had planned on attending for months and was not only disappointed, but sad for our friends involved.  We had met Sherrie and Ken earlier this year when we camped out in the California desert and were kindly invited to come stay with them when we told them of our wish to see the Stampede.  Their daughter works for the Stampede and they live not to far from it.  We were thrilled to not only have new friends, but someone to share the experience with, so we made plans to come for our visit to Canada in July.  We kept in close contact and were surprised when they said that the Stampede was going to go on as planned!  The only thing that had to be cancelled was the headline entertainment because they didn’t have another venue large enough to replace the Saddledome, but all else was going on as scheduled.  We were thrilled, but wondered how it would all look.

As we drove into Calgary I kept looking for signs of the flood, but really couldn’t see any.  We arrived at our friend’s on Thursday, and our tickets were for Friday.  Driving into town, we were just amazed at how clean and neat everything was.  I (finally) saw one area that a small bridge was still washed out and hadn’t been repaired yet, but very little else.  It was amazing how much work this city had done to put it all back together!  As the week went by, and as we drove further out of the city, we saw river beds that had receded back and left the debris where the flood had brought it in and our friends told us of their country property that was still in a horrible mess with silt and trees and debris etc that they are working on, and will be for quite awhile, but even with that, it still is so much further along than anything I’ve ever seen in the US.  Canadians don’t mess around, they get right to it and fix it now.  We could learn from that. 

The Stampede itself was WONDERFUL!  Sometimes, as I’m sure you’ve experienced, when you’ve looked forward to something for a long time, then when you actually get to go, your a bit disappointed.  Well, not this time.  When we arrived, we met up with Sherrie & Ken’s daughter, Chantelle, who gave us the VIP treatment (fun to be on the “other side” for a change!) and drove us in her little cart to the Stampede grounds.  Jack had never seen a live rodeo before, so that was first on our agenda for the day!

After taking us to the arena, she then took us up to the Grandstand's Sound Control Room where we got to see what they see and meet some of the crew.  From there we went and stood next to the railing to get the feeling of being “up close and personal” for a bit before we went and took our seats.  The rodeo riders come from all over the US and Canada and are the best of the best and compete for over 2 million dollars in prize money given out that week. 

It was a couple of hours between the rodeo and the chuckwagon races, or “chucks” as they call them.  Canadians seem to abbreviate a lot of words and phrases I found.  Kind of cute.  Anyway, we then went and checked out the rest of the grounds.  It was set up pretty much like any county fair - rides, food, exhibits, etc.  After getting a bite to eat, I wanted to see how Canadian “exhibits” were like.  You know, all the gadgets and stuff that's for sale that “you just can’t live without and have to buy at the fair!”  Well, it had a lot of the “usual”, but it had a lot more “attire” than what we are used to at the San Diego County Fair.  And, being the Stampede, it was all Cowboy!  Hats, belts, belt buckles, boots, leather everything, shirts, and on and on.  Lots and lots of cowboy, other than that, nothing I hadn’t seen before...so, no new gadget for me this year, oh well. 

We visited the First Nation of Treaty 7 Indian Village, complete with beautiful tipis and PowWow dancers in full regalia.  The Native Americans compete with each other on their tipis as well as their dancing.  It was really something to see.

Back at the Grandstands to catch the “Chucks” and what a sight!  I was a little disappointed that they had “downsized” the wagons, due to safety reason, a few years ago, but it was still fun to watch.  After the races they put on the most spectacular stage show I have ever seen - ever!  It will be very hard to describe, so you will have to go to my Flickr account and just take a look at the pictures...but what I can say is that hundreds of talented young guys & gals danced, sang, and did acrobatics.  They had all kinds of lights, floating mechanical horses, a piano that floated down from the sky, same with some cages with singers, flames bursting from the top of the stage, beautiful fireworks, and "KISS"! 

All I can say is WOW!  We were so blown away by it all, and to think, two weeks earlier, all of that same area was under water...

Washed out bridge

Inside the Grandstand Sound Control Room

Calf Roping

Cowboy hats, all sizes all kinds!

  First Nation Tipis

Chuckwagon race

Grandstand Show

 Happy friends!

...kicking back in Alberta Canada,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/