Day 6 - Cowtown

Today was always only ever going to be about one thing... The Calgary Stampede. It's an annual festival that lasts ten days, totally rodeo-based. The city goes Stampede-crazy. Cowboy hats abound. Yeah, I bought one. You feel out of place not wearing one.

I wasn't sure what to expect really.

It started off really early this morning. I'd set the alarm for 7:30am, but prior to that I'd woken up to cheering and sirens. By the time we staggered out of the hotel at about 9:15am and about 30 yards up the street to where the parade was fast approaching, the crowd was already about 6 deep and growing.

The parade lasted for two hours, and consisted of horse riders, marching bands, First Nations groups, random city departments and their floats, and - joy of joys - the Canadian army, along with three armoured vehicles, one of which was a tank (I think it was an M1 Abrams, Carl, I can't be sure). I did quip to Sandra that that was the entire Canadian Army, haha.

I have to say, though, after about an hour and a half of being told to "... one... two.. three... YAHOO!!!!", I was getting a bit weary, and it was with some relief that the end of the parade came. We then walked through town, with thousands of other people, to the Stampede Arena. My goodness it's huge. Acre after acre of rides, amusements, crap food (oh my body is crying out for fish or salad), and live music stalls.

We eventually found the Grandstand Arena, and made our way to our seats. I had to smile; I'd booked those seats in September 2007, working from home so that I would be able to book them as soon as they came available online (note to my boss: those seats were available from 10am Mountain Time, or 5pm GMT, I didn't skive). We'd got front row seats, right in the middle of the auditorium. Couldn't have been any better.

At this point it should be obvious that you have to make a choice. You either say to yourself, "my gosh, this is so cheesy, so tacky, I hate it"... or you say, "yanno what? I'm here, these guys are all loving this up, so I'm gonna love it up too". I decided to go with the latter. So yeah, you have good ole boys all around you, and we had to stand while the American national anthem was sung (it was July 4th, after all), and then remain standing while the Canadian national anthem was sung, and yeah, it brought a lump to my throat.

Then the rodeo started. Now I've only ever seen rodeos on TV, and never really been taken with them. But to see these guys (and girls) for real, doing what they do, fighting these wild horses and these huge bulls, well, it was pretty impressive.

After two hours and more of entertainment it was over, so we came back to the hotel to rest and freshen up. Then we caught the C-train back into the city centre (it's free as long as you don't go past City Hall... I love this country for free stuff), and back to the Grandstand Arena. Our seats this time were one row back from the front, but still impressive for all of that. Again national anthems were sung, and I was okay until a helicopter flew past with a huge Maple Leaf flag dangling from the bottom of it... American and Canadian patriotism seems so clean and simple and pure compared to the battered and cynical and world-weary patriotism we Brits have.

Then followed 9 heats of chuck wagon racing. It's okay for 6 heats, then you start watching the clock. Now this is belittling for the guys doing the racing, because it really is an impressive and dangerous thing. But after 6 heats, it gets a little samey. Sorry, Calgarians, that's just my view.

And then onto the final event of the day, the musical entertainment, with fireworks.

I was expecting something quite cheesy. And yes, in places it was cheesy. But you'd have to be some kinda heard-hearted cynical old fool not to sit back and enjoy that show for what it was.

It was a celebration of everything Canadian. There were stunts, there were acrobats, there were lights and smoke and fireworks, there were dancing girls and dancing guys, there was a comedian, there was more music and dancing and more fireworks... and to end it all there was MORE music and MORE fireworks, more than either Sandra or I have ever seen... jaw-dropping fireworks, incessant, over the top, mind numbing fireworks...

Neither of us had ever seen a show quite like it. It truly was... r-sum.

What a day. We've enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Calgary - Cowtown - has been all I wanted it to be, and then some more on top of that. It's been an amazing adventure so far.

But tomorrow the true adventure begins. This has all been just preparation. 14 days, 1500 miles, an exploration of at least some of Alberta. Some of it deliberately touristy, some of it deliberately un-touristy.

As long as I can get an internet connection in the middle of nowhere, I'll share it with you.

one... two... three... YAHOO!!!