Contiki day 9 - Calgary Stampede

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OMG!!! What a day. It is the reason I chose this tour and worth every minute of it. We were planning to get the train in but our driver ended up offering to give us a lift. We got dropped into town about 8:30 or 9:00 and stampede atmosphere was everywhere. As we walked through the streets of Calgary we saw Native Americans on horse back, cow and horse mascots walking around, and of course every man and his dog was dressed in at the very least a cowboy hat and jeans. Calgary stampede = FREE PANCAKE BREAKFAST! Score! We all got a bit of food and ten music started and so did square dancing. Yes- dancing in the street. They took turns grabbing us from the street and dancing around. OMG it was funny as to watch and great fun to participate in.

James and Michael disappeared and then came back wearing spider man masks. Why - because they could. They were so proud of their purchases. Did not quite fit in with the western theme but they still got plenty of use out of their purchase throughout the day.

After all that we walked to the Stampede show ground. The place was massive, full of rides and animals, bars, games etc. We looked around for a while until the rodeo started and then went to that. We got some food. I had a stampede dog which was basically a hot dog which was brown n spicey and left me with stomach pains and on overall bla feeling after.

The rodeo went for around 3-4 hours and had broncs, roping, bull riding, barreling, pretty much everything you would expect from a rodeo. The cow and bulls were crazy as and riders were champions from all over the world. It was ended with kids which was hilarious. There were in teams of 4 with small horses or ponies and they had to catch the horse and then one of the team would be thrown up onto the bareback and then the horse would buck. Only one team actually got up but was bucked of in a second. Another young girl got caught in the rope and dragged across the arena. The clown was pretty good too.

After that we had a few hours until the afternoon and night entertainment. Chris, Aaron and Brent came with me and I met up with Jamie and Dan from our Aussie trip. Unfortunately I lost them after only about half an hour and went with the boys to meet up with some others and have a drink.

I can't remember what time the afternoon entertainment started but it was kicked off by chuck wagon racing. It was pretty weird. We had no idea what was going on but asked and someone explained it to us. Basically there's the wagon with horses and then about 3 horses being ridden in a team. The team riding the horses start on the ground, pick something up, throw it onto the wagon and then jump on their horses and they all race around.

Rules are:
* A chuckwagon race will consist of two to four wagons, with two to four outriders per wagon.
* An individual chuckwagon race is referred to as a heat.
* Each wagon will start on the right side of its starting barrel, with the hub of the real wheels in line with any part of the barrel closest to the racetrack (Bottom barrel).
* A gun or horn (Klaxon) is used as a starting signal for a chuckwagon race.
* When a race has been started, outriders must load the stove and the tent poles into the back of the wagon.
* Each wagon must cut a figure 8 pattern around their respective barrels only.
* Outriders must cut a figure 8 pattern around their respective barrels only.
* Chuckwagons and outriders then run around the racetrack in a counter clockwise direction.
* A chuckwagon’s running time will be determined when the nose of its first horse crosses the finish line.
* Each outrider must finish within 150 feet of its wagon or they will be determined late.
* A chuckwagon’s total time will be determined by adding its running time to any penalties it may have incurred during the course of the race.

After that the night entertainment started. It was amazing. Even if you hate the rodeo and all of that there was something for everyone at the finale. They would have dancers while motor bikes are jumping over them and fireworks going on in the background. The favourite was a bag pipe guy. He was a comedian and could play anything, Metalica, Nirvana whatever it was awesome. So much was happening it was incredible.

The Stampede ended about midnight and we had a train back to hotel and then it was off to bed. It was an incredible day. Totally amazing. It was James stampede he loved it. Kept saying it was the best day of his life. I would love to go back one day.

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