Day 35 - Calgary Stampede

After the chuckwagon races they bring in a huge stage and put on a tremendous stage show with over 350 singers & dancers, acrobats, trick motorcycle riders and more fireworks than we have ever seen in our lives. It's all simply unbelievable and wonderful. The whole evening lasted from 8 until 12:30 and was worth every minute of it.

Day 35 - Calgary Stampede

The evening show starts at 8 with the Chuckwagon races. There are 9 races with 4 chuckwagons in each race around a mile and 1/4 track. Each race is extremely exciting and these guys can win some pretty big money over the 10 day event. It's hard to visualize the race from this starting picture but it's the best I can do. The audience is about 35,000.

Day 35 - Calgary Stampede

First of all, the Stampede is far bigger than we had thought. Imagine your normal State Fair and then double it. It's simply huge! There's everything you would expect from a fair, plus many bars with live music and, of course, the rodeo and stage show. The Budweiser clydesdales are here for the entire show and you can get up close and personal with them. Is it a surprise that Bud is the official beer of the Stampede?. We loved it all!

Day 35 - Calgary Stampede Pancake Breakfasts

The Stampede lasts from July 4th to July 13th, with a kickoff on July 3rd and it seems to be a celebration every single day. There is always a FREE pancake breakfast somewhere and most have entertainment to go along with breakfast. It's all a lot of fun but not very good on the waistline. This one was in the parking lot of a grocery store near where we're staying. We've been to a couple and have already eaten more pancakes this week than we have in the last 10 years.

Day 34 - Calgary Stampede Parade

WOW, what fun and what a show! This is the largest parade we've ever seen and it was great fun. We were there at 6:30am for the 9:00am start. The parade then lasted over 3 hours. There were many marching bands from all over Canada and the US. There were over 1500 horses in the parade, including the Budweiser Clydesdale's (shown). We heard there were over 300,000 people watching the parade and over 2000 volunteers. Some locals go to the parade every year and even sit in the same location. We had front row seats, in our own chairs, and thought the whole thing was fantastic. The Calgary Stampede has now officially started!

Day 33 - Calgary, Alberta

Spent a very leisurely day today, not doing much at all. We did go to the Canadian Olympics Center, which was the location of the 1988 winter Olympics. It was interesting, if you're into that sort of thing. You've got to be crazy to jump off of one of these things without a parachute! The picture doesn't do the jumps justice. The big one is 90 metres (that's almost 300 feet). Scary!

Day 32 - Cochrane Wall Mural

This mural is made of of over 166 separate tiles, each drawn by a different artist. Each tile is a picture by itself but when put together they makeup the larger picture. Its really unbelievable the way they did it but it looks great. If you can, open the picture and then zoom in on some of the tiles to better understand the efforts it must have taken to coordinate this. The mural is located in the Cochrane City Hall.

Day 32 - Cochrane, Alberta

We've settled in to this very nice RV park in Cochrane for our Calgary Stampede stay. The Stampede starts on Friday, July 4th, with a big parade in downtown Calgary. It's supposed to be a tremendous parade and we're looking foward to it.

Day 31, Canmore, Alberta

Just "roughing it" on our last night in Canmore while we're waiting for the fireworks display at 11pm. A beautiful place and a wonderful stay! Notice that we are flying both the American and Canadian flags. Must be patriotic!

Day 31 - July 1st, Canada Day - Banff, Alberta

Canada Day is much similar to our Independence Day. Pancake breakfast, displays and entertainment in the park, fireworks at night (not until 11pm here because that’s when it gets dark). This is a picture of me, just before the Mounties took me away for being an American in Canada on Canada Day (Just kidding). They were very nice guys. This holiday is the first day of rain we have had since we left. We're hoping it clears up before the fireworks tonight.

Day 30 - Lake Louise - Banff Provential Park, Alberta

Lake Louise is absolutely beautiful! This picture doesn’t really do it justice but it’s the best one I took. The lake is very touristy with people from all over the world wanting to see it and hike it’s shores. At the end where I took the picture is the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise hotel. What a beautiful site to wake up to in the morning if you were staying there.

Day 30 - Columbia Icefields - Jasper Provential Park, Alberta

The Columbia Icefields are huge, covering over 200 square miles. It consists of a number of different glaciers. This picture shows one small glacier, called Athabasca. This is the most visited glacier in the world. To get some idea of it’s size, notice the people in the lower right walking to and on the glacier. Also notice the bus in the middle left. Remember, this is one of the smaller glaciers in the field. To see the balance of the Icefields you would have to go by helicopter.

Day 30 - Weeping Wall - Banff Provential Park, Alberta

We love waterfalls! This stop (also on the Icefields Parkway, gave us the opportunity to see many waterfalls at one time. It’s called “The Weeping Wall” because many of the waterfalls seem to come right out of the rocks. It was beautiful!

Day 30 - Icefields Parkway - Banff Provential Park, Alberta

They say the Icefields Parkway is often called the most scenic highway in the world. If they’re wrong, they can’t be wrong by much. The Icefields are about 125 miles from where we’re staying and we spent the day going their and back. The views along the way were nothing less than spectacular. I particularly liked the one shown here because of the water and the mountains together.

Day 29 - Silvertip Golf Course - Canmore, Alberta

They say, “surrounded by 360 degrees of spectacular mountain views, Silvertip Golf Course is a world-class 18-hole championship golf course, which provides a magical golfing experience. I agree! The rating for the back tees is a horrific 74.6/146! My tees were 69.9/140 and I was able to shoot an 87. Janie played 68.8/133 and shot 104. Our tee time was at 4:30pm and we got done at 9:00pm. It was a wonderful time of the day to play. It doesn’t get dark until around 10:30

Day 28 - Kananakis, Alberta, Canada

Today we went about 40 miles from Canmore to what they call Kananakis Country. We had a picnic by a beautiful lake and then went into the little village. This is a beautiful area. Very rustic. We spent the day walking in the woods and just enjoying the day. The scenery is beautiful in all directions, just like everything up here.

Day 27 - Canmore, Alberta, Canada

Three Sisters Mountain overlooks Canmore and is really pretty to see every day. The peaks are called Big Sister, Middle Sister and Little Sister. A waitress told us they are also called Faith, Hope and Charity but we can't find that in any of the literature. Still very beautiful!

Day 26 - Banff Springs Hotel

While in Banff we visited the Banff Springs Hotel. It's a very beautiful old hotel nestled in trees with fantastic views of the mountains, a river and the Banff Springs golf course.

Day 26 - Banff, Alberta, Canada

Today we went to the Banff area and just drove around looking at the scenery. I could post 50 pictures like this one and each is better than the last. The area is simply gorgeous! We also went into the city of Banff (very touristy) but fun to just walk the streets.

Day 25 - Canmore, Alberta, Canada

We're now in Canmore, Alberta (Banff) and have settled in for an eight day stay. The mountains are beautiful but not as tall as those in Colorado. There seem to be many more but smaller. In any case, we're enjoying every minute of them.