Day 7 - Cow Town is Called Cow Town for a Reason

OK. So we arrived in Calgary yesterday after a too long day, but it seems to have been worth it. As we said before, reaching Calgary was always a landmark for us with this trip. It would signify reaching 'the West', it would reunite us with some great friends, and it would mean the beginning of a different type of vacation - one not so much about km driven in a day, and instead about experiences. And all of that is true. We had a great night sleep last night, and we will be sleeping in the same place tonight! What a concept. Suffice it to say, we've all taken a collective deep breath and are looking forward to what's to come.

Now our time in Calgary was always going to be about spending time with our dear friends Lindsay and Matt. We wanted to see the city, but visiting with these two was much more important to us. That being said, Calgary seems to me like a nouveau rich kid who just moved to your town - it's full of money,  and can't be ignored. Calgary certainly has a big personality, but to be fair, we arrived 2 days before Stampede - which is sort of like arriving at the North Pole on Dec 23rd. The place is nuts - the energy in the city is palpable, and the recent events (with the swollen Bow and Elbow Rivers) has done nothing to diminish the fervour. You can't ignore Stampede festivities, partially because it's everywhere you look, and partially because it's all anyone is talking about. 

Anyway, we've had a great time in the city. Lindsay and Matt have been wonderful hosts. 

This afternoon Lindsay took us on a tour of some of her favourite spots, which just do happen to be our new favourite spots - including Kensignton (calm down Torontonians, Calgary can have one too), the Farmer's market (amazing!) and the down town core including the amazing 4th Ave underpass - 'quatro'.

 To be honest, it all looked pretty much the same to me, but that's probably because there were the same requisite pine boards, hay bales, and cowboy paraphernalia all over all of them. This city and its people have been through a lot recently, and they deserve to celebrate. Stampede will certainly be epic this year, and I'm glad I'm getting my family out of town before bedlam hits.

One thing of note is how much our little man is changing over the course of the trip. We are pretty certain that our fairly sedentary baby will be crawling by the time we return home in late July. He is getting VERY close, pulling himself around, rolling over - no matter how much I discourage it, there seems to be no stopping him. <sigh> The other development has to do with his temperament. He actually let Lindsay hold him for stretches of time - and he didn't even mind it. Now some of that must be blamed on Lindsay's natural way and ear-to-ear smile, but he is changing daily, and this one (unlike the ambulatory one) we welcome.

At the end of the night we almost got to experience some of the Stampeding first hand - we were heading down to the Stampede grounds for the Thursday night 'early bird, sneak a peak' evening (Stampede opens at 8:00 Friday morning) - but the weather started to whip up something fierce, and the parents took over and cancelled the plan. To be honest, I wasn't too disappointed with this change of plans as I had been feeling ill all day. Thinking I was coming down with a cold, I was relieved to learn that I was likely just experiencing another of Calgary's many charms - the extreme dryness. The sore throat I felt wasn't an oncoming cold, it was just the dry mountain air sucking every scrap of moisture from my body!

In sum, we had a great day in Calgary. The most important part - visiting with Linds and Matt, we did plenty of - we'll have to come back for Stampede another time. The city has a great energy, but Matt and Linds have more visitors arriving tomorrow, and the mountains are calling to us. Tomorrow we have a great day planned - up early for breakfast with our friends (maybe a famous Stampede breakfast), and them we're off to Banff, Lake Louise, Glacier Nat'l Park and a nit of camping at Canyon Hot Springs campground right in the middle of the Rockies. To say we're excited would be a drastic understatement. 

TOTAL FUEL FILL UP: 3

DAILY WILDLIFE: Ground Hogs, lots of them. They're much smaller and cuter out here.