Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Wednesday - We find Anne and Brian's house without trouble, and after a brief stop to unpack and have cold lemonade we take the rental car back to the airport (1475 km covered, and it doesn't look very white any more!) and visit Joan and Ron (Anne's parents). We haven't seen them since we were here for their Golden Wedding Celebrations 9 years ago. They're still very lively though less mobile nowadays (not surprising, at 86 and 89!) and catch up over tea and cream cake. A short visit, as we'll see them again on Sunday, then home for delicious barbecued steaks and a TV preview of the Stampede events we will see tomorrow.
Thursday - Today dawns cooler, and we head to the shopping mall for the traditional stampede breakfast. You just join the queue for pancakes, sausage and orange juice - and all free! (They do this at a couple of city venues every day of the 10-day programme). Loads of people there - and free entertainment as well, from a country band, then a really good junior marching band. Lots of children dancing to the country music, with their cowboy/cowgirl hats and boots on, very cute.
We reach the stampede ground by train and it's really busy (we find out later it's a Thursday record crowd in the 100-year stampede history - 142,000!!). There's a huge fairground, an exhibition hall with retail, art gallery etc, a million food outlets and an Indian village as well as the main events. Afternoon is Rodeo time and we're up in the stands, out of the sun thankfully. We see bull-riding, bare-back riding (both of which last only 8 secs - but it's a long 8 secs!) with 'bull fighters' who distract the bull if the rider falls off, and outriders to do the same with the riders. Then steer-wrestling, calf-roping, and barrel racing - a sprint/obstacle course on horseback, and the only ladies' event. It all looks very skilful and incredibly dangerous. After that a break to eat, a walk round the exhibitions and back to the arena for chuckwagon racing, which is really exciting and very noisy: 4 wagons per race with 4 horses each and a couple of outriders - round a set of obstacles then hell for leather round the track. Breathless and breathtaking! We watched 3 races, luckily missing a bad accident in the fourth, and then home to pack again.
Friday - This morning the four of us drive to Canmore to catch a helicopter to Assiniboine Lodge, 7000 feet up in the Rockies. It's our first ever helicopter trip and it's brilliant! Only 6 passengers so we all get a good view but especially Pauline who sits beside the pilot. Amazing views, and we seem to pass so close to the mountains. Can't believe it only lasted 8 minutes. The Lodge is all wooden cabins, basic but comfortable - communal shower block and outside toilets but the setting is fabulous, looking across a lake to Mt Assiniboine the highest peak in the area. We hike over to Sunburst Lake - more beautiful views and an ice-cold paddle then back for dinner. There's 30 of us in all, mostly Canadian, and a really lively and friendly crowd. Just before bed, we get some great sunset photos before a thunderstorm sets in.
Saturday - Today Claude and Andre lead a guided walk from the lodge. After Claude's entertaining 'bear safety talk' (how to avoid them, how not to annoy them, and finally how to fight back or play dead - though by then really it's all over for you, he said). We climbed through some beautiful flower meadows to a point where the party divided: ours headed to the first ridge then across to Wonder Pass while the others headed for the skyline and what Claude described as a little slide down a scree slope, nothing too difficult. We walked on enjoying the views and a couple of 'snow-slide' descents which got us a bit wet but were great fun. Then at our lunch stop we spotted the other group on the skyline ridge as they reached their 'little slide down'. From where we sat it looked frighteningly long and almost vertical! We watched them traverse the first part of the slope and then regroup; then across and finally straight down the shale slope with a lot of shouting and squealing. Glad it wasn't us! We carried on to the pass and followed a fast flowing stream, partly still under an ice shelf and on past Og and Magog lakes where it began to rain, and finally back to the lodge for a welcome sauna and shower. Sally, the Australian chef, cooked up some fantastic beef tenderloin for dinner and we all slept well that night.
Sunday - Pack quickly and then head out to a viewpoint - The Niblet - for another walk. It's just Pauline, Anne and I this time - Brian is resting a sore ankle. We get some great reflection photos in a small lake then head up a steep climb for great views over Sunburst Lake and Cerulean Lake. The mountains are shrouded in mist and the rain begins again. The helicopters begin the pick-ups: we four, plus Gerry and Janet, are due to be last out, and Claude calls us to the pad but no helicopter appears! Eventually we're sent back to the lodge, cold and wet, as they've been grounded at Mt Shark due to poor visibility. An anxious wait for a couple of hours then we head out again. The pilots split the party,so Pauline and I, along with Sally the Chef, watch the others take off. Another anxious 15 mins until we hear our ship coming in. It's an amazing trip in the mist and cloud, mountain partly visible through the clouds. I'm in the front this time with a head-set on, and hear a message that the others have diverted up to Banff and back along the river: I ask the pilot about our course, and he said it depends what he can see out the windscreen! In the end we take a higher, but more direct route and reach Canmore soon after the others. Phew!!
On the way back to Calgary we visit Anne's brother Doug, wife Janet and daughter Hailey at Bragg Creek, a very attractive little town about 30 miles out of Calgary. Janet has laid on a really nice buffet meal: we meet up with Joan and Ron again here and have a really good evening. And then back to Calgary to empty all the bags, hanging most of the contents up to dry after the bags got soaked waiting for the helicopter!
Monday - A welcome rest day, brunch instead of breakfast, a bit of tidying up, then a drive around some interesting older parts of the city, some great viewpoints, and a walk by the rapids on the Bow River in Pearce Estate Park. In the evening we have dinner at The River Cafe in a beautiful downtown setting.
Tuesday - The final day. We spent the morning packing and exchanging photos with Anne and Brian, then meet up with Joan and Ron for a farewell lunch at The Deane House, an old colonial house now part of Fort Calgary Museum. And that's it! We're finishing this in the Departure Lounge waiting for the long flight home. See you all soon!
- comments