BANFF AND CALGARY - July 2017
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| Radium Hot Springs entrance to Kootenay National Park |
On Monday we said goodbye to Windermere to drive 100Km
through the stunning Rockies from Radium Hot Springs in the Kootenay National Park to Castle Mountain in the Banff National Park. We were amused to see some big horn sheep grazing on
the side of the road as we started. It was an overcast and cooler day so good
for travelling. Had been quite a hot 35C in Windermere the day before. The
entrance to the highway at Radium Hot Springs was through an impressive gorge
which had been blasted through the rock. You can get an idea of the height of
it in adjacent photo, where it dwarfs one of the big semi-trailer trucks There
were many stunning views of jagged snow covered mountain peaks, clear streams and
tree covered slopes. As we drove across the Rockies we could see all the dead
trees on each side of the road in one area which had been gutted by a forest
fire several years ago.
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| Tree lined hills on highway |
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| Castle Mountain |
The recent fires in British Columbia have been a major
concern. With over 200 fires at one stage and 14,000 people evacuated from
their homes, the province has been in a State of Emergency since 5 July and it
has just been extended for the third time to 1 Sept. Very difficult for the
fire crews to deal with in hot conditions with winds fanning them. The smoke
from a big fire near Princeton (which we had driven through) had closed the
highway and was drifting over to Calgary, in Alberta, when we were there. We
were very fortunate that our travels and stays in BC preceded all this drama,
and we were fully able to appreciate the beauty of this very scenic province.
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| Craggy Rockies |
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| Banff Springs Hotel |
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| Hotel with mountains behind it |
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| Reg and Sherry |
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| Pat and Paul |
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| Mountain from which stone hewn for hotel building |
At Castle Rock we headed south on Hwy 1, the main Trans-Canada Highway
to Banff, which is a truly awesome mountain village. It is within the Banff
National Park, with the skyline dominated by the peaks of Mt Rundle and Mt
Cascade. At 1400 metres above sea level skiing is popular in winter and hiking, camping, and playing golf of an adjacent golf course in summer. Nearby attractions are hot mineral
springs in a cave which has an outdoor mineral pool, and the Bow Falls which is
a major waterfall a short distance from the hotel.
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| Banff Hotel lobby |
Banff Springs Hotel has to be seen to be believed. In the late 1800s
William Van Horne, General Manager
of the Canadian Pacific Railway, saw the tourism potential of the
Canadian West. To enhance traffic on the railway Van Horne envisaged a series
of lavish resort hotels along the railway line through the Rocky and Selkirk
Mountains. The first wooden hotel at Banff was completed in 1888, but
unfortunately burnt to the ground in a fire in 1926. It was rebuilt larger
using rock from an adjacent mountain, and now boasts an astonishing 764 guest
rooms and suites. We walked through the impressive foyers, dining area, and
historical photo display. All very interesting.
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| View of lobby from stairs |
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| Sweeping staircase |
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| Sherry and Paul viewing historic photos |
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| Dining area |
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| View of valley, river & Rockies from hotel deck |
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| View from deck |
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| Facade Banff Hotel |
 Sherry got Paul to pose beside this bear as she
said it would probably be the only one he saw in Canada! |
 Paul admiring bear sculpture
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| Bow River, Banff |
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| Three Sisters at Canmore |
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| Downtown Banff |
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Three Sisters at Canmore
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From there we stopped for lunch at Tim Hortons in Canmore, from where we
had a great view of the Three Sisters, a trio of peaks in the Rockies. They
soar 2, 936metres above sea level and are named Faith, Hope and Charity (or Big
Sister, Middle Sister and Little Sister). Very impressive.
We arrived in Calgary late afternoon that day.
There was a big thunderstorm there on Monday evening which flooded the Stampede Grounds and necessitated the cancellation of the evening's events. Still light rain on Tuesday morning, but cleared by early afternoon, which worked well for us as we were to attend the rodeo events from 1pm on. We went early and viewed the displays, all the side shows, and the astonishing array of food on offer. Reg wryly commented that if it could be put on a stick, someone would be frying it! We did try corn dogs, similar to our hot dogs, but with a thicker, lighter coating. We liked them. We even saw a booth selling Deep Fried Coffee. Go figure that! We couldn’t.
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| Canada Day colours on Stampede stilt walkers |
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Stunning horse sculptures
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| Clydesdales |
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| Display of skilful horsemanship (by women) |
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| 100 musicians of Calgary Stampede Band |
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| Sherry's great action photos show the drama |
When our friends suggested that we time our Canadian trip to coincide
with a visit to the Calgary Stampede, we had some reservations as rodeo events
we had attended in the past were country ones in Central Otago, where the
horses delighted in bucking off the farm workers trying to stay on top!
However, the rodeo events at the Calgary Stampede were very well
organised, and the cowboys very experienced and tenacious. The riders climbed
on to the back of the horses in pens, gave a nod when they were ready to go,
and the horse or bull exploded out on to the arena, bucking and twisting in its
attempt to dislodge the rider. The cowboys could hold on with only one hand and
needed to stay on for a minimum of eight seconds.
Doesn’t sound very long, but
those horses and bulls bucked and turned many times and most times these
experienced cowboys managed to last the distance before a horn sounded and
outriders helped the cowboy to dismount. Scoring was out of 100 – 50 for the
cowboy and 50 for the horse or bull. The highest score we saw was 90.5.
Sometimes the outriders needed to lasso a horse or bull to lead it in to the
holding pen. Sherry got some amazing action photos which you can see here.
Women competed in barrel races – like a slalom, and rode their horses
very well.
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| Cowgirl barrel racing |
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3 generations of First Nation family
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At the end some of the First Nation men competed in a very fast bareback
relay race.
Bareback riding relay
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| Intense focus |
On the Tuesday Reg and Sherry picked us up to visit the Heritage Park Historical Village which is a historical park, on 127 acres of parkland on the banks of the Glenmore Reservoir, along the city's southwestern edge.
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| "Main Street" |
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| Heritage house |
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| Wonderful displays in shops |
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| Clydesdales taking people for ride around park |
This was an interesting place with beautifully
manicured grounds and period attractions. It is a well planned village with
friendly knowledgeable staff. All activities were included in a reasonable
entrance price. We learnt all about steam trains and that included
having a ride on one, farm animals where you can watch the pigs wallow in mud,
old style houses where they actually bake goodies, sell sweets, books, soaps
etc, There is also an amusement fair with a Ferris wheel, bumper cars and more. Horses pull a cart with its passengers around the park. We had a trip on the paddle boat which took us
for a sail around the reservoir - absolutely glorious on a hot day to get a
lovely cool breeze, with good views of the city.
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| About to go for lake tour on paddle boat |
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| View of Calgary skyline |
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| Sherry and Reg enjoying cruise |
Gasoline Alley Museum is steeped in automotive
tradition and nostalgia, this venue transporting us back to a revolutionary era
in western Canada’s history. We were captivated by the stunning vintage
vehicles, antique gas pumps and colourful automotive memorabilia. . You can see
some in the photos. The truck below is still working removing the rubbish barrels from around the park.
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| Big moose |
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| Elk sculpture |
Before we went back to our hotel Reg and Sherry
took us on a detour out of town to view one of the strangest geological
formations on earth – the Okotoks Glacial Erratic. Erratic refers to material
moved by geologic forces. Big Rock is a 16,500-tonne
boulder that lies on the otherwise flat, relatively featureless, surface of the
Canadian Prairies in Alberta. It was transported there on top of a glacier from
400Km away at Jasper during the Ice Age 12,000 years ago. It is huge and of a
very unusual composition. Fascinating to see. Three of the other most
interesting geological formations on earth are the Moeraki Boulders, Pancake
Rocks and Blowholes, and the Twelve Apostles off the coast of Victoria.
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| Okotoks Glacial Erratic |
On Thursday we went back to the Calgary
Stampede, this time to watch the chuck wagon races, stage show and fireworks in
the evening. Sherry had chosen our seats when bookings first opened last year,
so we were in a great spot in the middle of the grandstand only a few rows up,
so prime viewing vantage point.
We spent that afternoon there also, to take in some other shows. The
Western Art is defined as art that is visually identifiable depicting themes of
western prairie/ mountain culture, lifestyle, heritage, and characters, The art
is diverse in medium and subject including, but not limited to the following:
ranching, landscapes, rodeo, agriculture, First Nations, florals, portraits,
architecture and wildlife. Some stunning paintings and sculptures.
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| Heritage wagon |
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| Horse paintings |
Someone we had spoken to had suggested that an Adrenaline Rush
motorcross show was well worth seeing. We wondered about the wisdom of this
when we were offered ear plugs as we went in!! Loud music, amazing lighting
displays, and the feats performed on motorbikes were mind blowing. They roared
up one ramp, sailed across a 23 metre gap, and landed on another ramp, while
doing back flips and other gravity defying feats. The blurs you can see in these photos are the riders sailing across the gap on their bikes!
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Assorted dogs and handlers at Dog Show
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The Dog Show which we went to after that was positively tame, thank goodness! About eight dogs with their handlers obeyed commands to walk on their back legs, catch Frisbees in mid-air, dive across a pool, and skip! All of the dogs had come from shelters or SPCA places, and looked devoted to their handlers.
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Dog balancing on handler's feet!
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 So on to the evening show. Chuckwagon racing is
a team event, led by a driver who commands a team of four horses pulling
the chuckwagon, and is
supported by two outriders, each racing individual
thoroughbred horses that follow the chuckwagon.
The Chuck Wagons first do a circuit of barrels in the arena, and then
belt around the track, the first one completing the circuit in 1min.10 seconds.
Thrilling stuff. There were several heats.
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| Clydesdales doing circuit of arena |
A stage was then pulled on to the arena and set up for an amazing show
of dancing, singing, a trapeze artist, girls balancing on bikes, and the 100
member Stampede Band. It was hosted by popular singer and recording artist Jann Arden. A truly spectacular show, followed by an awesome
fireworks display. An incredible audio and visual treat. Certainly something very special to watch.
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| Setting up stage for evening show |
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| Lighting effects with band performing |
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| Trapeze artist above flames on bike |
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| A delicate balancing act |
Spectacular fireworks
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| The whole cast on stage for finale |
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| Spectacular aerial display |
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| Enjoyed meeting Sue & Bill at Okotoks |
On our last morning in Calgary we met up with a lovely couple, Sue and Bill, from Florida.
Karen had been speaking with them about their forthcoming trip to NZ in February, which Latitude South was arranging. Sue mentioned that in the meantime, they were planning a trip to Canada. Karen said that was a coincidence - so were her parents! This is a very small world, as we were going to be in the same area in July, so we arranged to meet, and had a lovely time together. We look forward to seeing them here in Nelson in February
