Let us introduce our visitors who have flown in to meet us for some fun touring in Canada. This is Denisa's two sisters, Debra and Connie, and their mother, Betty. They are glad to get out of the 90+ degree heat of Oklahoma, so they are quite fond of high temperatures in the low 70's as we walk around downtown Calgary. We're posed here in front of the password for the Calgary Stampede, which is going on in this city right now. But we'll be back for that in a couple days.
Their flights were delayed, so our original plan of touring Heritage Park has changed to a walking tour of Stephen Avenue. It's a downtown street that has turned into a trendy pedestrian walkway. We are all enamored by the huge hanging baskets of begonias that look too perfect to be real.
We hit all the high points of downtown. That would include Calgary Tower. We didn't pay the $20 fee to ride the elevator to the top for the great views. On the news we heard that the elevator got stuck, prompting a rescue that same day.
We also walked through the Olympic Plaza. Mark and Betty are at the center of the plaza where medal presentations were made during the 1988 winter olympics hosted in Calgary.
The guy at the information center suggested a stop at the brand new public library. The trendy architecture and the bobbing statues out front were interesting.
But this group's favorite downtown stop was the kettle corn popcorn stand. They made us such a good deal that we bought two of the large bags. That should keep us in popcorn for the next four days.
Parking is quite expensive downtown, so we wanted to make good use of the two hours that cost us $24. We tried to stretch it for a walk to Peace Bridge over the Bow River.
The bridge makes for a good photo stop. But we didn't allow enough time for all of us to walk back to the parking garage before our two hours expired.
So you won't find Mark in any of these pictures because he is running back to the car and then will pick us up at the bridge. He's such a fine gentleman!
After our quick tour of downtown Calgary, we made the 40 minute drive back to our home base in Cochrane, Alberta. We've talked to quite a few Canadians in the last few days. Everyone who finds out that we are staying in Cochrane gets a dreamy look in their eyes before they whisper--Mackay's Ice Cream. So of course we had to go there (more than once) during their visit. Between the four of us, we ordered flavors like Maple Bacon, Barnyard Trash, Avocado, Milk Chocolate Almond, and Black Forest. The lines are long and the prices are high, but still people flock to Cochrane for this ice cream.
While our guests are staying at a hotel, we're camped at the Bow River Edge campground. True to its name, it is situated right beside the Bow River with a nice walking trail.
Our next door neighbor is a saw mill. So we see long trucks delivering fresh logs, and watch the stacks of finished lumber growing. It smells a bit like fresh wood mulch as we drive by. We like our neighborhood!
We took our weary travelers back to their hotel. They got up very early to catch their flight, and we're getting up very early again in the morning for more adventures in Canada.
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