Stampede!

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15 Jul 2016: I have skipped some short travel days and a few others in which we did comparatively little (He divided the dirty laundry in to two piles before taking them to the laundromat). On travel days, we usually eat out. If we've been on a long drive, we don't do too much the next day. There is more work for me to do given Jeanne's limitations although she has been more active since we left Lethbridge.

Due to a scheduling error, we arrived in Calgary (Cochrane, actually) a day too soon so we had to scramble to find lodgings for the night and then had to move again the next day.

Today is the first of two days at the "Stampede". It has been raining every day since we got to Canada, as if the weather is trying to compensate for the lack or moisture in Arizona. We have seats pretty close to the action so there is no cover overhead. We have rain jackets and ponchos so we'll see how wet we will get. It starts at 1315 and we'll spend the whole day and evening looking at exhibits and shops after the rodeo.

Well, it was raining pretty hard when we arrived. We had pretty good rain gear but no rain pants so by the time we walked from the ($CA 25.00) parking lot we were soaked from the knees down.

We looked at some livestock exhibits. The horses were magnificent. There were Clydsedales, Belgian, Percheron, Arabian and others. There were numerous events and demonstrations and we hope to see some more tomorrow. The evening show starts at 1945 followed by fireworks.

Our seats today were on the first level, without overhead cover and it was raining hard. When I found our seats, there were about 12 steps to climb which was beyond Jeanne's ability to negotiate so we went to the hospitality desk to see if they could help us out. Wow. Did they ever. They fixed us up with a pair of tickets on the clubhouse level, high above the action, covered, enclosed, heated, with meal service available. It was wonderful and they were so nice about it too. We ordered sandwiches and there was a rather long wait. Our server apologized and shortly one of the cooks asked if we had ordered hamburgers to which we replied no, we ordered Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Another chef appeared a little later and we gave the same response. Then our waitress appeared to see if we had gotten our order. It turns out she called in 2 orders of hamburgers, not Philly Cheesesteaks. She was so apologetic. She even dropped the price to that of the burgers and came back about four more times to apologize. I told her not to worry about it, the sandwiches were real good and that's what we'll remember. We were so glad to get such good treatment to accommodate Jeanne's physical limitation that the food mix up didn't really matter. We think Canadians are wonderful!

The rodeo was great. It has been awhile since either of us have attended one. I noticed they now refer to calf roping as a tie down event and steer wrestling was called something equally benign. Perhaps it makes it more appealing to animal lovers if one omits any mention of animals in the events. For all you animal loving rodeo fans out there, just omit any reference to animals in the events and nobody will complain. The arena was very muddy and it was awful to see riders and stock covered in mud. Fortunately, it'll all wash off.

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Comments

[Catherine L Lambson]

Should Have Hidden
Now I know for sure I should have hidden somewhere in your luggage so I could be on this adventure with you. I don't know if I told you or not, but I grew up on a cattle ranch, learned to rope, barrel race and rode a few bucking horses. When I was a teen I competed for the title of Rodeo Queen and did a lot of barrel racing on the rodeo circuit. My son is a roper and used to ride broncs and bulls...now he concentrates on roping. Too old for the other. I so enjoy your adventures. Thank you for sharing.

[AZ2AKandBAK]

Stampede!
Wow. I grew up in Chicago. The Park District maintained bridle paths around the parks next to Lake Michigan for equestrians. I rode a horse once @13 but knew nothing about riding. Yesterday I was thinking about all the different experiences one can have in this life. I thought it's too bad we experience so few things in mortality. There are so many things we could do. We are limited by time and circumstances of birth. Then I thought if there was such a thing as parallel universes, why couldn't we develop parallel lives? I really appreciate those who work the land and stock. I also admire the First Nation's people who lived off the land and hunted the Buffalo, Bison. They say the Creator made grass for the Buffalo and that He made the Buffalo for Man. What a life that must've been. Thanks so much for your comments. I'll keep on blogging.