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Today is the day the Stampede starts, 10 days of horses, cowboy hats and YEE HA-ing!!
We were told if you want good seats for the parade you need to get down there early. So we woke early and walked to the C-Train, the trains were packed, we had to wait for the second train because we couldn't fit in the first. We made it onto the train with squished standing room only and arrived downtown. Downtown was also very busy and it was hard to find good seats as some people had been waiting nearly all night to keep their seats. We found an area where most people were sitting down and there was a step to stand on so we could get a good view. We got down to the parade at 7.45 but it didn’t start till 8.30. Once the parade started there were some great floats, heaps of horses, all different types and lots of marching bands that seemed to stretch on as far as you could see, there was also an army tank in the parade with the troops showing off how well it could do doughnuts. It took the parade 3 hours from start
to finish to pass us. It was a long time standing in one spot but was worth it.
After the parade we found somewhere to sit and wait out the crowd, the platforms for the C-Train were overflowing and everyone was heading to the Stampede Grounds and so were we. When the crowds had disbursed a bit we started walking to the Stampede Grounds, on our way we came across the parade still doing the loop, it would have been a long day for the people in the parade.
We got to the Stampede Grounds and made our way through the entry and then Whoa, there were food stalls, sideshows and rides everywhere, we tried out a couple of the sideshows and a steak sandwich from a place that looked so good, but wasn’t what we expected, it was hot shaved beef in a bun with canned mushrooms and onion, more like a beef roll then a steak sandwich. Shane was not impressed seeming he was hungering for a thick steak. The food here is giving us a bit of grief; it’s never what you expect it to be.
Amanda was on the hunt for a souvenir
goodie bag so we quickly found where they were. They were definitely filled with goodies, it cost $16, but with a $100 value. This is why we went today; Amanda didn’t want to miss out on her souvenir bag. Our tickets for the rodeo are for next week so we will be back to really go for it.
We explored the grounds and found a tent where they were holding the Wold Championship Horse Shoeing Competition, they had 10 seconds to look at a horses hoof, not allowed to measure it, not allowed to touch it then they were given 25 minutes to make a shoe that would fit, and it was not a normal shoe it was a special type shaped like a heart and supposedly very hard to make. We enjoyed watching that and there was a New Zealander in the competition. But we didn’t have time to see how he placed as we had an appointment for a place to rent.
When we were ready to leave the Stampede, just in time, a huge thunderstorm came over and it bucketed down, so we got saturated, one thing here is the day looks perfect, then you
see some clouds and then a thunderstorm comes in, it only last about 20 minute and you are back to a perfect sunny day.
The weather is getting hotter and they reckon that it will get even hotter over Stampede week so it should be awesome….
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Amy, Phil, Ella & Ryan
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Hi guys, Looks like you are having a great time so far. I'm really enjoying reading your blog and seeing all your photos. Keep em coming :)