Banff, Stampede, and Home
Getting a little out of date here. Sorry.
Thursday Matt and I drove out to Banff National Park, a little over an hour outside of Calgary. I had really hoped to see an elk, but it wasn't to be. Still, there was no shortage of impressive sights - Lake Louise gleaming turquoise against the craggy mountains and distant glacier, Moraine Lake more blue than I thought possible, the Crowfoot glacier (one of the toes has receded since it was named), and Peyto Lake and its source glacier viewed from the highest pass in the park.
Friday we joined the cowboys and girls at the Stampede for mini donuts (think of a bigger version of the Berry Donut Van serving bags of miniature hot fresh cinnamon donuts - yum!) and chuckwagon races. Alas, I couldn't find a cowboy hat I liked enough to fork out $30. The races were followed by a kitschy patriotic show featuring the "Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede". It was pretty cool, although a little bizarre to hear Canadians being so overtly patriotic. They usually tend towards more subtle maple leaves on their backpacks or hockey jerseys. The bars afterwards were crazy, but we finally managed to find a beer at the Unicorn Pub. It's still a mystery how a pub founded in 1979 could be Calgary's original pub. It's a young city, but really...
Saturday was a sleep in followed by some pretty good Mexican for lunch, then off to the airport. Quite some tears later I was on the WestJet plane (kind of the Canadian version of Virgin, lots of fun) back to Ottawa. It's a little strange to think that the three and a half day drive could be reversed with a three and a half hour plane ride. Matt's lovely parents picked me up, fed me coffee and alcohol, then let me sleep in on Sunday AND fed me bacon and eggs for breakfast! What legends!
Of course all good things eventually end, and after breakfast I headed back to Ithaca. A very uneventful drive, which may or may not have been punctuated by a trip to the Carousel Mall in Syracuse. And finally I arrived back to Ithaca, to a steamy 30C apartment, some very wilted plants, and the fun of unpacking. Oh, and work tomorrow. Hooray....
Thursday Matt and I drove out to Banff National Park, a little over an hour outside of Calgary. I had really hoped to see an elk, but it wasn't to be. Still, there was no shortage of impressive sights - Lake Louise gleaming turquoise against the craggy mountains and distant glacier, Moraine Lake more blue than I thought possible, the Crowfoot glacier (one of the toes has receded since it was named), and Peyto Lake and its source glacier viewed from the highest pass in the park.
Friday we joined the cowboys and girls at the Stampede for mini donuts (think of a bigger version of the Berry Donut Van serving bags of miniature hot fresh cinnamon donuts - yum!) and chuckwagon races. Alas, I couldn't find a cowboy hat I liked enough to fork out $30. The races were followed by a kitschy patriotic show featuring the "Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede". It was pretty cool, although a little bizarre to hear Canadians being so overtly patriotic. They usually tend towards more subtle maple leaves on their backpacks or hockey jerseys. The bars afterwards were crazy, but we finally managed to find a beer at the Unicorn Pub. It's still a mystery how a pub founded in 1979 could be Calgary's original pub. It's a young city, but really...
Saturday was a sleep in followed by some pretty good Mexican for lunch, then off to the airport. Quite some tears later I was on the WestJet plane (kind of the Canadian version of Virgin, lots of fun) back to Ottawa. It's a little strange to think that the three and a half day drive could be reversed with a three and a half hour plane ride. Matt's lovely parents picked me up, fed me coffee and alcohol, then let me sleep in on Sunday AND fed me bacon and eggs for breakfast! What legends!
Of course all good things eventually end, and after breakfast I headed back to Ithaca. A very uneventful drive, which may or may not have been punctuated by a trip to the Carousel Mall in Syracuse. And finally I arrived back to Ithaca, to a steamy 30C apartment, some very wilted plants, and the fun of unpacking. Oh, and work tomorrow. Hooray....
posted by Julie at
2:11 pm
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