November 3, 2017

On westward….. Calgary

Another early morning rise, to make it to Calgary to drop off our trailer so we could take it to the car dealership …AGAIN…. Since the A/C quit…. Even though… we just spent an ungodly amount in Winnipeg to have everything fixed… We make do with whatever gets thrown our way as we’re on an adventure….cup half full right!?

So we head our separate ways, my husband hitches a ride with a coworker to get to the Calgary office, and the kids and I head to!?!?!?….. somewhere indoors. Having been in the searing heat for a few days, I figured heading indoors for a day would allow the kids an escape from the elements while having some fun.

Telus Spark

kids excited for entry into Science Museum — Calgary’s Telus Spark

Our dealership shuttle takes the kids and I to Telus Spark, the science center of Calgary! Lucky for us, it’s one of the museums to which our local Ontario Science Center membership has reciprocal access and we get to have fun… for free!… errr… well…. as part of our Ontario membership …but I digress…

The kids and I had a fun filled day learning about the science of Energy – seeing as we’re in oil country and all…, technology and the parks, and of course, the kiddie area….. what science center would be complete with a giant room where little kids can just go nuts with all sorts of interactive fun!

Kiddie area

We started in the kiddie area to which the kids seemed to be fitted with a homing beacon for the playstructure. Similar to the one at Royal Tyrell Museum, the play structure was a massive jungle gym for lack of a better term… Kids were ‘stuck’ there for close to an hour! And me?!?…. well.. seeing as it was a Telus sponsored museum. I got caught up on my emails and figuring out more details to our travels through the awesome WIFI on-site. As we have travelled across the country often in rural settings, it was so nice having a strong cell signal and wifi to boot!

Lunch

I can’t say I’ve come across a more appetizing cafeteria in a museum as I had at Telus Spark. Called the Social Eatery, the cafeteria is a stylized space offering freshly prepared food options, it was a delight! And best of all, for me… it was like a little slice of heaven!?.. why you ask…

I mean where else can you find about 15 sauces ready for you to slather all over your freshly prepared meals!?!?… c’mon if that isn’t sauce nirvana than what is….

Parks Canada at Museum

We were treated to an information show by Parks Canada talking about how technology and nature mix in Banff National Park. We got to meet Lois the tree who learned along with the audience how technology enables park staff to track wolf packs in Banff National Park and understand more about their behaviour. Technology also allowed the careful monitoring of animal crossings, that were constructed over and under the highway, to make sure it didn’t interfere with nature too much.

We seemed to have the luck of the draw and came to the museum on the one day a month it closes early…. so at 4 pm, we headed on out to meet up with my husband… and what better way than public transit… c’mon kids… let’s head onto another adventure… (or get lost with mummy…)

CAL-transit

I figured I could have Uber’d…. but with the kids in tow and energy still high from the science centre, we walked to the CTrain Zoo station. A few minutes into the walk, all the tricks started coming out of the bag as the interest in the adventure started waning and the heat was starting to get overwhelming for the kids. A quick stop at the ticket vending machine and we had a couple of minutes to spare before our 202 train would arrive to take us the few stops to our connecting bus. We made it just in time to get off the train and run to catch our connecting bus and lo and behold… 5 minutes later we made it to my husband’s office. Phew… and not a minute too soon… the kids needed water bottles refilled and a blast of a/c!

Our adventure on transit continued the next day with the Calgary Stampede. We drove to McMahon Stadium and parked at the lot for $4 for the day and hopped on the CTrain to get to the Stampede. It allowed us to get a glimpse into the city as well as we passed through many different neighbourhoods. Quick and efficient, we were at the stampede in no time!

Stampede

Calgary’s Signature Event… Cowboys, carnival food, rodeo, midway rides and more!… We arrived mid morning and got the day underway with a few midway rides for the little ones before the rodeo started. Thrills successfully met, we moved onto the Rodeo. Starting at 1:15pm, unfortunately, our seats were about 3 rows short of the shade. For the next hour, the kids mantra was… ‘the shade is almost here, we will be cool soon…’ Lunch, cool drinks and entertainment. Bareback riding, barrel races, junior steer riding, bull riding… it was all there.

One poor cowboy had a mishap leading the entire audience to simultaneously gasp. To which the skilled announcer quickly worked his charm to quell the crowd. Once the cowboy was safely off to the hospital and crowd reassured that he was ok… the rodeo continued, afterall, “the show must go on”.

The rodeo finished off with the best part! The junior wild pony race. Three kids each would chase a wild pony. One kid tried to hold on to the rope around the animal while the other two would assist each other so that one could successfully mount the animal. Needless to say, chaos ensued, little kids being dragged around by a tiny horse was fun for all!… participants included!