Yahoooo!

 Our last day in Calgary was spent at the Calgary Stampede. We were all pretty tired, so we slept in, I did some laundry and wrote before we headed to downtown Calgary. The Calgary Stampede is the world's largest outdoor rodeo with competitors from around the world. Part of the Calgary Stampede is also a giant fair filled with exhibits, shows, music, food, and a midway of rides.

Due to the traffic downtown, it was about a 45-minute drive to our reserved parking lot. I am so glad that I forked over the big bucks for reserved parking. We were very close to an entrance, and once we made it through the traffic, it was smooth sailing to get into the Stampede.

We looked at the immense schedule and saw that there was a magic show just starting, so after asking for directions, we found Exhibit Hall C in the BMO Centre and found the Magician and the Muse. The room was quite large and could seat far more than were actually in attendance, but it was one of the first shows of the day. It was quite a bit fancier than most fair type shows with lighting and special effects and very fancy costumes. The magician and his wife/assistant were very good and felt like they could have been at Las Vegas.

The rodeo started at 1:30 so we had about 45 minutes to grab a snack and find the GMC Stadium and our seats.  I had a Parmesan pretzel, Joe got a smoothie, and David had cheese curds. It was pretty standard fair food and tied us over until the rodeo was over.

The rodeo was similar to a large sporting event except everyone was wearing a cowboy hat. There were seven different events: Barrel Racing, Bareback, Tie-Down Roping, Saddle Bronc, Steer Wrestling, Breakaway Roping, and Bull Riding. The rodeo lasted 3-4 hours, and there were assorted crowd activities in between the events. It was a fun event, but honestly, we were at a loss when it came to how the competitors received their scores. 

After the rodeo, we went back into the BMO Centre to look at all of the exhibits and vendors. I even did a little DIY craft. By then, it was after 6:00 pm, and we decided we would eat dinner away from the Stampede. So we headed back toward our lodging and got dinner. The night before when we arrived in Calgary, we ate at an eatery nearby called Foodyard Mashup so we decided to return for another meal. Foodyard Mashup is a mix of Indian, Greek, Mexican, and Asian food. The boys had an interesting meal called a Tik Tok Burger which was a chicken breast dipped in tomato cheese sauce with melted mozzarella cheese. The interesting part was that it came with a syringe of additional melted cheese that was sticking out of the bun.

It was an early morning as we had flights to catch. The boys flew home to San Diego and I caught a flight to Lincoln via Denver. As anyone who knows me and my travel troubles can attest, I can assure you that, true to form, my flights had their stressful moments, but I made it to Lincoln and will be here for the rest of this week until I fly to Houston for a school training and conference.

With the first leg of my 3-city extravaganza in the books, I will have some time to focus on my family and work, but this past week has been a break from the current divisiveness of the United States. We relaxed in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and enjoyed the hospitality of the Canadian people. Thank you, Canada! It was just what I needed.