Magicians and Rodeo with a Side of Cheese Curds

Today, we spent the last leg of our trip at the Calgary Stampede, “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.” The Stampede has been around for over 100 years and is a 10 day celebration with the stampede rodeo being the star. It’s clearly a well-beloved and well attended event. It reminded me of our own San Diego Fair, but with a lot more cowboy hats and boots. Yahoo! was the catchphrase of the event which surprised me a little because I figured yeehaw was the most obvious choice. Perhaps, that’s just an American saying. 

 

We arrived around noon and entered the exhibition hall. We decided to attend a magic show that was just beginning at the Stage of Wonder. The show was fun as I always enjoy being wowed by magic tricks. The two magicians performed about 10 different tricks throughout the show. There was a levitating table, multiplying bottle trick, and razor blade swallowing (yikes). Overall, it was a great performance, but not the best I’ve ever seen. 

After the magic show, we explored the food booths for something to snack on. We saw a wide variety of different fair foods, but mini donuts seemed to be the traditional snack for the Calgary Stampede since I saw about a dozen different stands selling them in different flavors. Mom ordered a pretzel, Joe bought smoothie, and I purchased some cheese curds. They were delicious, though I almost lost them to the blowing wind on our way to the rodeo. Luckily, I wrapped them tightly in my arm just in time. 

 The rodeo show was a variety of different competitions from bareback tie-down roping, barrel racing, and bull riding. While I had no idea how any of the games were played or scored, it was enjoyable to see the different competitors show off their unique skills. The crowd consistently cheered for all the different sports and the stadium was very enthusiastic for the entire rodeo. I certainly could not do any of the stunts or activities in the rodeo, but if I had to pick I would try my hand at barrel racing as it seemed the most straightforward. You just ride a horse around the 3 barrels as fast as you can. If I had one critique of the stampede rodeo, it was a bit long for my taste, as it lasted for about 3 hours. But I commend the contestants for their dedication and staff for the hard work putting on the show (especially those working with the bulls). 

 

 

I hope he's got good medical insurance

 

After the rodeo ended, we returned to the exhibition center to browse through the different shops and displays. They had a dry ski jump activity for kids which I thought was pretty cool, but was obviously too big to participate in. There was also a DIY craft bar that mom went to and decorated a Stampede-themed magnet. I saw an item from one of the shops that caught my eye, so I purchased it as a souvenir for one of my friends. After walking through some more of the exhibition hall, we bought some dessert from the food booths. In honor of my good friend and avid cheesecake lover, Muhammad, I ordered a chocolate dipped, pretzel and caramel cheesecake slice on a stick. It was quite yummy, though very messy. Joe ordered a grilled bacon and blueberry jam grilled cheese with cream cheese. Mom ordered some mini donuts to eat in the morning. 

 

This photo is sponsored by Dr. Pepper

After finishing our dessert, we drove to get dinner on the way back to our Airbnb. We ate at Foodyard again as it was close to our Airbnb and had a great variety of meals. I got a teriyaki philly cheesesteak which was pretty good, though I like my sandwich from the previous night better. The rest of the night was spent watching Youtube, doing laundry, and packing for our flights tomorrow morning. Hope it’s a smooth and easy flight. 

 

If you want to read a different perspective of our trip, you can read my mom’s blog here.

Hop on the Banffic School Bus

Today was an early morning as we had to pack up our rental car, say farewell to the lodge, and meet our bus at 7:50 am. We had a full day of visiting more lakes and mountains via the Hop on Banff tour bus. This was a yellow school bus which instantly reminded me of the Magic School Bus (hence my title). Though we did not have Ms. Frizzle as our tour guide, our bus drivers and staff were just as friendly. 

Our first stop was to Johnston Canyon to hike to the Lower Falls. The hike wasn’t too long and it was nice to have a tree shaded path to walk down. There were a few sections where the path narrowed and we would wait for hikers going the opposite direction to pass us before proceeding forward. We made it to the Lower Falls in about 30 minutes. There was an area where you could get closer to the waterfall, but there was a long line to take pictures, so I decided to hike up to the Upper Falls. This portion was longer and slightly steeper than the first hike. I kept checking the time to make sure I had enough time to hike back and meet mom and Joe, so we could make it back to the bus in time. I made it about ⅔ of the way up the trail and saw I was running out of time. There was a smaller waterfall near me that was technically an “upper falls”, so I took a picture and hiked back down to meet mom and Joe. After a quick stop at the gift shop and one blueberry muffin later, we were back on the bus to our next destination.

 

The Lower Falls

The "Upper Falls"

Our bus drove us to the base of Castle Mountain to take a few pictures. While the mountain is impressive, personally, I don’t think it really looks like a castle. Our guide did tell us that for a time, it was named Mount Eisenhower to honor Dwight Eisenhower, who was a WWII general at that time. It was changed back to Castle Mountain in 1979 after decades of public pressure. Sorry Mr. President. 

Does it look like a castle to you?

 Our next stop was to Lake Louise which had a gigantic hotel and resort close to its shores. I don’t want to imagine the price of a lake-facing room or any room at this hotel for that matter. We hiked along the lake for a couple hours, avoiding many puddles along the way. Further down the trail, there was an area right by the water you could get to by hopping along some rocks. We made our way over there and saw the lake from the other side as well as the resort which was much smaller from our current view. I noticed what turned out to be a frozen waterfall in the distance and decided to hike closer to it. It’s kinda crazy to see a frozen waterfall in July even if there is a nearby glacier and you're 1,600 meters in elevation. We headed back to the entrance of the lake and bought some sandwiches for a brief meal before boarding our bus again.

 

Moraine Lake was the next stop on our bus trip and the last lake we visited today. Right next to the lake was a huge rock pile of which the top could be reached via climbing some steps. We made the trek up to the top of the rock pile and enjoyed the view of the lake and the mountain peaks surrounding it. After taking a few pictures of the lake from the top of the rock pile and back at its shore, I looked through the gift shop until it was time to get back on the bus for our final stop.

 

That red speck at the top is my brother Joe

We arrived at the Lake Louise Ski Resort to ride the gondola. All three of us rode a chairlift up to the top of the ski resort. I carefully took my phone out to take a few pictures and held it tight the rest of the way up. The gondola stopped for a minute and our chairlift rocked back and forth for a moment as my grip tightened even more on my phone. We made it to the top and admired the view before riding the ski lift back down. Mom and I chose to ride in an enclosed gondola this time while Joe rode solo in the chairlift again. We could see Lake Louise and its glacier as we descended back down to the ski resort. We hung out in the resort for a little while until our bus pulled up to take us back to our car at the Banff Train Station.

Lake Louise & Victoria Glacier in the distance

Once we came back, we hopped in our car and drove to Calgary. We are staying in another Airbnb for the last two nights of our trip. While it isn’t as nice as the lodge, it suits our needs for the last leg of our trip. We ate dinner at a local restaurant called Foodyard. Joe and I both ordered the TikTok burger, which was a chicken sandwich with a cheesy tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and a syringe of cheese sauce on top. Needless to say it was delicious, but a bit messy. Good thing they gave me disposable gloves with my meal. I also ordered a strawberry lemonade which came in a donut-esque shaped bottle. Afterwards, we went back to our Airbnb and I got ready for bed after doing some laundry. Tomorrow is our last full day in Calgary and we are attending the Calgary Stampede. Yeehaw!

 

Photo credit: my brother Joe

If you want to read a different perspective of our trip, you can read my mom’s blog here.

Museum of Boredom, Sulfur Spring, and Long Lake

Today we spent our day in Banff National Park engaged in a variety of activities. Our first stop was to Lake Minnewanka only to find the parking lots were full. We decided to shift gears and go to the town of Banff for some sightseeing, then return to the lake later in the day. We stopped at the Visitor Center first and then walked over to Banff Park Museum. This was the first museum established in Banff and we asked not to touch any of the display cases since they were some of the original ones. The museum was essentially a giant taxidermy exhibit. While I’m sure it was fascinating to some people, I was not one of them. After briefly looking through all the birds, buffalo, and bears, we departed to our next stop.

We hopped on a bus which took us to Banff’s Cave and Basin. Back in the late 1800s, this cave and basin was explored by some railway workers who then quickly made a claim and started selling access to thermal mineral water. Soon after, the Canadian government reserved 10 square miles and created the first national park in the country. We walked into the cave and the smell of sulfur was unmistakable. I’m not sure how people could stand swimming or bathing in this water, but I suppose they got used to the unique odor. I hiked up to the top of the basin and could see the opening to the cave I was just in. The sulfur smell was still present from there too. I continued to the source of the hot spring which I also learned is slightly radioactive (not to a level of harm). I’d had my fill of the sulfur springs, so I descended back to the entrance to meet mom and Joe. 

We took the bus back to town and had lunch at Melissa’s Missteak. Joe ate a teriyaki burger and mom got some soup. I ordered a simple burger and a ceasar salad. The burger was satisfactory and I have to say I’ve never been given a salad with more dressing than this one, but I’m not complaining. We hopped back on the bus to Lake Minnewanka.

We arrived at the lake and waited for our boat cruise to begin. It started to sprinkle, so I bought ponchos, and then right on cue, it stopped sprinkling. We boarded the boat for our tour around Lake Minnewanka and were on our way. Our guide had a bubbly personality and told us various tidbits and stories about the lake. Some of the facts I learned were that Minnewanka means Water of the Spirits and this is one of the longest and deepest lakes in the Canadian Rockies (21 km long and 142 m deep). When we sailed further onto the lake, we had 10 seconds of silence, and it was refreshing to hear only the sounds of the waves hitting the boat. Afterwards, our guide told us a few more stories about Lake Minnewanka as we returned to shore. There used to be a town where a portion of the lake is now. Basically, a dam was constructed to provide power for a WWII ammunition factory (which never came to fruition), and this was going to raise the water level and submerge the current town. In response, the villagers burned down their homes, so that the construction workers couldn’t use them as they built the dam. Seems kinda spiteful to me considering the Canadian government gave them a generous cash settlement for their homes. After disembarking the boat, we boarded the bus one last time to go back to the town.

We walked through the different gift shops in Banff as I searched for the perfect souvenir for my friend DeRon. I think I looked through about 7 stores before I found the gift that spoke to me. Needless to say, I am well pleased with my friend’s souvenir and look forward to watching him open it. It started raining again when I left the store, good thing I still had that poncho. We got back in our car and started back to the lodge. We spotted some deer crossing the road on our way back which was a pleasant surprise to end our day. Tomorrow is an early rise since we are visiting many lakes via the bus. How many lakes can we see in a day? Tune in to find out.

 

Now there's a great souvenir

If you want to read a different perspective of our trip, you can read my mom’s blog here.