My friend Audrey was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and have us stay with her for a few days. She has two adorable Boxers that we were both very happy to meet. After a good night's sleep, we took the C-train downtown. We got off at the first station and started walking aimlessly, and soon stumbled upon the Stampede parade.
At the end of the street was the Olympic Plaza and City Hall. We took touristy pictures in front of city hall:
As we continued meandering along the streets of downtown, we ran into a part of the Stampede parade that had Mexican cowboys (charros):
We went to the base of the Calgary Tower but decided not to go up, and continued towards what is now known as 'The Core' (thanx Tara!). The Core consists of downtown shopping centres such as TD Square, Scotia Center and Banker's Hall. Nothing much had changed other than the Devonian Gardens, which used to be a lush tropical rain forest type of area on the top floor of a shopping centre, and which is now just a walkway with a few trees here and there. Perhaps my childhood memories are skewed, but I remember it being so much nicer!
Another disappointment was Eau Claire Market, which used to be the only market in Calgary (that I knew of anyway), and housed all kinds of funky stores. Now it looks like a run-down, has-been mall. Not so nice.
We then walked around Prince's Island. We had dinner at Joey's with Audrey, which was very fun! All that in one day!
On Saturday, we drove to Banff with good friends and went to the wedding ceremony. The entire bridal party was stunning! As soon as Tara walked in, I got all choked up. She was more beautiful than ever, and her dress was just perfect! The priest was great and I enjoyed all of his anecdotes during the homily.
After the ceremony, a few friends and I went to Boston Pizza for a snack and a drink. We then changed for the reception and made our way to the beautiful Banff Springs Hotel (if you've never seen it, it's worth clicking on the link). The food was amazing, the speeches made me cry, the dancing and catching up with friends was awesome. All in all, I'd say it was a perfect wedding!
We weren't finished partying when the wedding finished, so we went out to Aurora's and played some pool. We then went for a late-night meal at McDonald's and found a secret VIP room, which made everyone laugh.
On Sunday, we woke up fairly early considering our late night and went for breakfast at Phil's with a bunch of friends. We also ran into an old high school friend, which made the whole trip feel even more like a high school reunion. It's so great to catch up with old friends.
We drove back to Calgary with good friends once again (really, who would want to be stuck in a car with bad people? we choose our friends wisely, haha!). Though we were tired, we met up with Paul's cousin and drove down 17th avenue and then went for coffee in Kensington.
That night we went to my friend's new boyfriend's house near Okotoks (South of Calgary). He has 4 acres of land with an amazing view of the mountains, on which he has built the coolest loft! We enjoyed ourselves and ate some of the best burgers I've ever had!
Monday started with breakfast at a cute little cafe on MacLeod trail called London Fog. I really can't recommend it enough, if you are in Calgary, you should go check it out. The owners are just too sweet! We then walked over to Heritage Park and enjoyed the historical aspects as well as the cute animals:
We then had a late lunch at Rush, where Paul's cousin works. Oh my goodness, the food was delicious! A lot of you know I have a soft spot for carbonara, and this one was so yummy! Later that evening, we had pizza and beer with friends. It was once again, so nice to catch up with old friends. They are all so awesome and loving and I'm sad we don't live closer to each other. Thank goodness for technology!
On Monday, Ashley picked us up and we went to meet Tara and Rich's dog. He is a huge Mastiff and is just like the friendly giant. He has the cutest face and is so sweet. I joked that with our three dogs I could easily teach my Kindergarten students the words big (Mastiff - Tara's Feo), medium (Golden Lab - our Taco) and small (Chihuahua - Ashley's Louie). We then went to visit my old house - the one I grew up in. The trees have grown so much! I was hoping to go in, but no one was there to open the door. It was still nice to see it and think of all of the memories that were made there.
We then went to the Stampede. If you haven't heard about it, it's a big deal (in Calgary). Seriously though, it's a ton of fun! We went to the BMO centre where you can buy all kinds of different things (we actually bough the magic mesh which sucks - don't buy it! ours fell off 15 minutes after we installed it). We ate corn dogs, walked around the grounds, ate mini donuts, watched the hypnotist, went to the Big 4 where I worked when I was 15 years old and had some pizza, walked around the midway, went to the Agriculture tent and ran into another high school friend, went to a random horse event and then went to the Casino to rest our legs (and get some cool air). We had tickets to the Chuckwagon races and to the Grandstand show but standing room only, partly because we bought them at the last minute and partly because we are cheap. The Chuckwagon races were cool, I was glad Paul got to see some 'real' Stampede action! The show was awesome. I really loved the involvement of many Native American dances throughout the show. The dancing and singing by the Young Canadians was good, as per usual. Paul Brandt was really good, though I didn't really know many of his songs. The one song that really got to me was Alberta Bound.
This whole trip made me realize that no matter what happens in my life, a part of me will always be Calgarian/Albertan/cowgirl. My husband really enjoyed the motorcycles, there were many incredible acrobats (some were even from Cirque du Soleil) and of course, the fireworks at the end of the show were impressive.
The flight home was an adventure as an unruly passenger got kicked off the plane! We were sitting fairly close so we saw and heard how it all went down. Basically, after the safety instructions he refused to put his seat up and was sitting with his feet all over the place (in the aisle and in the other passenger's space), so the flight attendant asked him oh-so-nicely three times to sit properly for safety reasons and he was putting up such a fuss that the plane turned around and went back to the airport. The 'sheriff' came to kick him off (I call him the sheriff because during Stampede week basically all of Calgary dresses up in cowboy gear, so this security officer was wearing cowboy boots, jeans and a cowboy hat).
Taco was so happy to see us again it was really cute! Nothing like a dog to make you feel loved! He is so tired from playing with his friends all week, and is super cuddly.
There you have it! That concludes the story of our trip to Calgary. As I said, I loved reminiscing and renewing with old friends, and nurturing that side of me that needs the wide open spaces and mountain air. Calgary continues to grow, there is construction everywhere and I did feel like there was a lot more diversity than ten years ago when I lived there, which to me is a good thing!
I keep wondering: Who would I be if I still lived there?
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