Calgary Stampede

Day 3-6 we spend at the Calgary Stampede. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! It’s like a huge carnival/fair with a first class rodeo. On our way in, we could not resist getting our picture taken with these cowgirl chaps.

As we made our way through the art building, I found these unique sugar art and cake decorating.
The huge wall picture is a lot of small pictures of horses to make one big horse picture. Where do people get these ideas????

They had the normal carnival rides, but I don’t think I ever saw a ride like this. Check out the springs on the left that propel this ride!

No fair is complete without a dog show. The Calgary Stampede has the “Super Dogs” and they were SUPER!

The cutest part of the show was the “Musical Mats” which is played just like musical chairs, but they use mats and the dogs have to find a mat & lay on it when the music stops. When a dog loses, they send him off and another dog runs out to take one of the mats away to get ready for the next round. It was so cute!

Then it was on to the rodeo. We found a one-man show as we were making our way through the crowd.

I liked the way they post the scores.
They had bucking broncos

Roping calves

Bull riding

My favorite was the kids roping a pony and trying to ride him

Actually I had many favorites. You can never forget the team of Clydesdales

And my “all time” favorite was the chuck wagon race
We were lucky that one of the days into Calgary on our tour bus, the driver used to be an outrider in the chuck wagon race so we felt special to get first hand information.

We had a great buffet dinner in the clubhouse. Bobby enjoyed the desserts the best. Yes, he ate them all!

Ending the evening with the grandstand show. What a fabulous show! It was just as good as any show in DisneyWorld complete with great fireworks.























The highlight was the motorcross racers. Yes, that is a racer upside down!

Calgary Canada

We began the Calgary Stampede Rally as tailgunners for Adventure Caravan with an orientation and WONDERFUL Wild West Welcome Dinner. It was really good because we had 103 people and we didn’t have to cook! The campground brought some entertainment in and they brought dessert, Tim Horton doughnuts. THEY WERE SOOOO GOOD.

Day 2 we started our tour bright and early by boarding our luxury bus and heading for Calgary Tower Observation Deck. Inside the lobby we found a dinosaur eating a hat. We heard they have hat eating contests during the Stampede, but we didn’t think dinosaurs took part!

Once at the top, what a spectacular view! The tower is one continuous pour of concrete. There is a section where you can stand on glass & look down.
A few of us (including me) felt a little more secure “sitting” on the glass as opposed to standing. Marcia and I decided to lay down head-to-head.

Next we were off to get some FREE flapjacks and bacon near Rope Square.
This was our favorite place for flapjacks. The cute girl on the bottom right is from Peru. She brought us our “plates” and asked us to please not break them. (I found out they were napkins.)

After enjoying the festivities at Rope Square and Olympic Plaza, we moseyed on over to the Glenbow Museum to explore the wonders of Western Canadian history.

Prior to 1942 a small Japanese community worked in farming and coal-mining. They were forced by the Canadian Government into internment camps, losing their homes and businesses, but eventually settled permanently and formed a Buddhist Church. Pictured below is a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Shrine. Isn’t it beautiful.

I also found the Mahachakra Vajrapani interesting. It is one of the holy protectors of the holy city, Lhasa in Tibet. These joined figures are called Yab-Yum figures. It represents the union of wisdom and compassion which is necessary for enlightenment. This piece is made of copper with gilt, paint, turquoise and coral insets. It is one of the largest gilt copper sculptures to survive outside Tibet.
Before we were finished at the museum, a parade came down the street, so I ran out and snapped some photos.

Then it was off to Olympic Park where we had a lunch as we watched the kids who were in some type of bicycle jump camp. Boy were they having fun. Then off for our guided tour Olympic Park. We were unable to ride down the iced Luge Track because when the athletes are training for the Olympics, it is closed to the public, but we were able to tour it.
Included in our Olympic Park tour was the “Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton”

the ski jump tower (where they also have a zipline),

and the Hall of Fame Museum.

What a fabulous day.

Fifth Wheel

Bill and I have been busy getting the truck and trailer ready, as well as packing, for our 2009 Adventure Caravan trips; Lewis and Clark Expedition, Calgary Stampede, and Grand Circle Tour.

THIS is our Fifth Wheel, where we will be living for the next 5 months.

Here is the living room and kitchen

This is our bedroom