The Calgary Stampede

I'm not certain whether the term stampede refers to the rodeo display or the thousands of people that stream through the gates every day of this 10 day event.  Although we have been to the stampede before I can't remember the crowds being so huge.  Thankfully as with most Canadians we have come to know and love the crowds followed the Canadian way and were polite, patient and respectful of others.  There was no pushing or shoving, no stern words or impatient glares, just a willingness to go with the flow.

Incredibly the stampede went ahead less than two weeks after catastrophic floods wreaked havoc on the city of Calgary. Meters of  flood waters covered the entire stampede grounds.  In Calgary, just as we witnessed personally in Brisbane a few years ago,  family, friends and strangers  banded together and worked tirelessly in an effort to bring the city back to a relative state of normalcy in a short period of time.  This year they renamed the stampede caption to "Come Hell or High Water". Unless we had known about the flooding we would not have even guessed that it had even occurred as we walked around the stampede grounds.

The Calgary Stampede is unlike any other event I've ever been to.  Its a combination of rodeo (with the top ten cowboy and cowgirls competing for big $'s), agricultural exhibition, superstar country music performances, gigantic midway and variety musical/acrobatic/gymnastic show (think Australia's Got Talent where everyone is uber talented).  Check the Calgary Stampede website out here.

We went to as many shows and events as we could in the one and a half days that we spent there.  Our first afternoon was spent negotiating crowds then watching the wonderful Trans Alta Grandstand Show.  It was an amalgamation of music, dance, acrobatics, gymnastics and cultural displays rounded off with a brilliant fireworks presentation.  Mel was super impressed with the standard of the show.

The boys were entranced from start to finish (3 hours!!) and did not complain once even though we chose to be in the standing room only section of the arena.

The following day was rodeo day - in the wet.  Yahoo!! What a show.  There's nothing quite like watching bull riding, saddle bronc and calf roping in sloppy, muddy conditions.  I thought a rodeo in dry conditions was tough.  Man this was tougher (and dare I say more entertaining).  The calibre of competition was outstanding which is reflected in the purse they won.  

Our dress of choice to help protect us from the rain.

Boots, hats and buckles  of all styles, sizes and colours were the "uniform" of choice.  I felt a little out of place with my shorts and t-shirt.  Bren fit in really well with his Akubra though!!

Competing in a tractor pull ride.

A fierce competitor in the making!!

After the rodeo we wandered around the grounds looking at displays and watching a few of the shows on offer. Both Seth and Caleb loved visiting an agricultural display geared towards educating children about farming.  Here they were able to pat a cow, crush some whole wheat, plant a few seeds and collect a million brochures.  They were both successful in a competition where they had to answer some questions about physical fitness.  Caleb won a cool frisbee type toy and Seth won a plasma car (a self propelled tricycle!!!)  He was very proud of himself and even lugged it a km or two to our vehicle!!

After a long day our weary feet begged us to return to our campsite so that we could get ready for the next part of our travelling adventure to Banff and Lake Louise.

Athabasca

I still find it absolutely fascinating to see snow scattered over mountain tops during summer.  On the Icefield's parkway from Jasper to Banff  you get to see just that in bucketloads - or glacier loads to be exact.

After visiting Jasper we drove along the Icefield's Parkway and visited Mount Edith Cavell.  We had to drop our TT off at the base of the mountain as the road up to Mt Edith Cavell is very narrow with many switchbacks - definately not suitable for towing a trailer. Once there a short hike up a reasonably steep hill brought us to the incredibly beautiful Angel Glacier.  Go to your thesaurus and look for synonyms for beautiful - that's what this Glacier is.  We were even able to walk down to the base of the mountain where a lake of water has formed from snow melt.

Now I don't want to get on my soap box here but being this close to one of nature's masterpieces and watching it melt before our eyes reinforced the importance of our responsibility to the environment and what we can do now so that our  our children's children can also witness  this beautiful spectacle.  (Coming down from soap box now!!)

We stayed in the most amazing campsite at Wilcox Creek campground a few minutes from the Columbia Icefields.  While it didn't have showers and it got mighty chilly in the evening, the campsite did afford us one of the most spectacular views so far in our road trip.  I don't think Bren and I could get tired of looking out over snow capped mountains while camping.

Here are a few snaps from our drive from Jasper to the Athabasca Glacier.

Some elk calves snuggling down for the night.

Mt Edith Cavell

Angel Glacier 

We were here!! 

A glacier near the Columbia Icefileds

Not a bad view!!!

Athabasca Glacier

Notice the scoring in the rocks?  That's caused by the glacier as it moves.

In the past 13 years the glacier has retreated about 20m.  Turn off those lightbulbs and drive your car less people!!!

Some of the hardy native flowers growing at the foot of the Athabasca glacier.  These little guys only have a short growing period but put on a beautiful show.

Indian Paintbrush

Mountain weather changes rapidly.  5 minutes after this was taken as we were packing up the trailer we faced sleet and hail!!

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Maligne Falls (Maligne is french for evil)

Medicine Lake - this lake drains each year 

Every time we came to a water source the boys would throw rocks in the water !

Maligne Lake

Maligne Lake as a storm threatened

Jasper National Park Campground

A Step Back in Time

If ever you are in the Cariboo up Williams Lake Way make sure that you head up to Barkerville and visit the historical village there.  This was our second time there and it was brilliant.  The buildings are all housed on the original townsite where thousands of men and women from Canada and abroad worked hard in the 1800's to find their fortune in gold.  During peak season workers dress in period costume and many roam the streets talking to guests along the way.

One of the highlights of our visit was participating in a ‘schoolhouse session”. An actor in role as a schoolmaster kept us on our toes as we sat in a classroom from the mid 1800’s.  Mel and I had to don bonnets as apparently our hair would distract the boys from their schoolwork.  The teacher first said a prayer then our hair and nails were inspected for lice and dirt.  We were told to answer questions in full sentences ending our response with ‘Sir” and then not sit down until we were told to do so.  If we didn’t sit tall with our hands crossed we were reprimanded. Thankfully none of us did anything to warrant the use of the cricket bat as a discipline tool!!!!  Part of the lesson required us to practice handwriting on slates and then participate in a spelling test.  I got 100% on my spelling test and after looking a bit smug about it all was told in no uncertain terms “pride cometh before the fall Miss Nichole”.  That took the smile off my face in quick smart time. 

The boys quickly fell into line and sat still, answered questions in the correct manner and I think were mighty relieved that they go to school now rather than in the 1800’s. 

The actor was so good in his role that later on during the day when we saw him walking the streets of Barkerville we all tipped our hats or curtsied to say hello as he passed by!!! The teacher even remembered our names when addressing us in the street a few hours later.

Another highlight was visiting the theatre royal and watching a fantastic musical production called ….. The calibre of the performance was outstanding.  The singing was top class and the overall story that wove the musical pieces together funny and heartwarming at the same time. 

Without doubt though the highlight for the boys  was panning for gold.  An oldtimer named Gary helped the boys pan and they were fortunate enough to find a few small pieces of gold. Gary had a wonderful, patient way with the kids and told them that if they didn’t keep smiling then they probably wouldn’t find the gold.  He told them “if you stop smiling you stop relaxing, if you stop relaxing you get tense and then you won’t find the gold”  I reckon that’s good advise for all of us!!!

Simply wandering the streets, looking through the displays of houses and stores and listening to actors as they played out scenes and converstations from long ago kept us enthralled.  It has a ghost town like feel to it nowadays – especially of an afternoon when most of the visitors have left but it was once a bustling hub.  Commentators in the 1850’s even said of Victoria and Vancouver that they would never amount to anything as they were too far away from Barkerville. 

If you ever come to the Cariboo – get yourself to Barkerville.  Don’t forget to get to the bakery and make sure your nails and hair are clean if you go to school!!!

We experienced a cracking good series of storms in Barkerville our first night.
The storms kept coming for hours but the ever faithful TT held up beautifully.