On our last full day in Calgary we did a bit of shopping in the morning, then parked near a C-Train station and in 15 minutes were standing at the gates to the 'Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth'. Much of the Stampede grounds are devoted to the same activities that we have at our CLE but on a much, much larger scale. Amusement rides, games of (little) chance, every kind of food that should never pass your lips, and entertainment of all kinds (Bon Jovi, Kid Rock, Bare Naked Ladies, gold medal figure skaters Moir and Virtue, a host of country artists, Budweiser Clydesdales). But the big show here is the rodeo. On the day of our visit, July 16th, 6 horses had been killed since the start on the 9th and a few groups were voicing their feelings in the media. For the most part Calgarians seem to pull on the cowboy hat, boots and checked shirt and accept it as part of the show. We briefly took in one free event, the cutting horses. I've always loved watching a quarter horse work. They dance around reading every move of the cow and show off their years or training. Everything was good until the cow was being chased and turned by horse and rider and ran out of corral and went slamming into the steel fence. That was enough for Sal and Mel. I could have sat there in that big cool building for hours. My old love of horses came rushing back out of nowhere.
Just an FYI, Jet and Cord from Amazing Race were the marshalls of the parade, a decision that got some attention. One of the amusement rides lost an arm and injured 10 teens after we had left.
Sal and I had steak sandwiches as shown below. She also indulged in deep fried cheese-cake, Mike tried deep fried pickles. There were huge buildings with art contest winners, trade shows and I fully expected to see Slap Chop Vince as there were a dozen of his kin with the aprons, head-mics and smooth deliveries trying to sell everything from no-stick pans to health food.
We were going to wait until 9pm for a free concert but when I converted to Thunder Bay time and realized we wouldn't get home till well after 1 am we decided against it. The drive home is always longer then the drive out and we had to get up at 5am Calgary time to get going. It was good to get back to the kids place, pack up and relax. Mike found out what the losing end of the Dominoes game is like and didn't appreciate the experience at all.
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