Southern Alberta Canada . . .

Welcome to Calgary Alberta… home of the Calgary Stampede. It is one of the largest rodeos and livestock shows in Northern America, second to the Houston Rodeo. We were able to walk around the Stampede grounds before the event actually started July 4th, to take some pictures and get some shopping in.

We stayed just outside the city, near the site of Olympic Park, where the 1988 Olympics were held. There is an Olympic Hall of Fame, training center, bobsled track and dry luge track. We rode the luge and had a blast cruising down the mountain side at top speed. Since we were so close to the tourist sites: downtown, the river, Heritage Village and Cabela’s (haha), we were able to see a lot during our time there. Downtown has 15 miles of covered walkways between office buildings to give workers an easy way to get to other buildings, shopping centers and restaurants in the snowy wintery days. The river walk has neat shops and restaurants with nice views of the city. 

The Heritage Village is a replication of a turn of the century Canadian settlement, with actual homes, barns and schoolhouses moved from donated family homes to this village. We met a woman in Calgary whose grandfather owned the blacksmith barn and who’s grandmother was apart of the Canadian women’s suffrage movement. There was a Gasoline Alley Museum full of vintage cars, gas tanks and RVs. It was really cool to walk around the village and be transformed back in time.

On our way to Southern Alberta, we stopped in Waterton National Park. We had been here before, but only for the afternoon to have lunch at the Prince of Wales Hotel. This time we stayed at the campground surrounded by prairie dogs, so the cats had a lot to look at and dream about catching. We hiked the Bears Hump trail and actually got to see a black bear at the top. The views of the Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton Lakes and the townsite were unbelievable.

We got to go on a 3 hour horse back ride to see 2 different waterfalls, but boy were we saddle sore. We saw a gorgeous red fox, colorful sunsets and fantastic thunder and lightening show while at the campground. Being able to spend several days in Waterton completed our wonderful time in Canada.