Calgary Stampede

On friday Lorri and I travelled to Calgary to attend the Sugarland concert at the Saddledome. Our concert ticket also included an entry to the Stampede grounds. I haven't been to the Stampede since I was a child. We arrived a little early so we could get something to eat before the concert. Our choices were unlimited. Large hot dogs, polish dogs, elephant ears, deep fried oreos, deep fried cheese, deep fried onions, (lots of deep fried stuff) corn dogs, candied apples, chicken on a stick, pizza on a stick (lots of things on sticks). We settled for pizza and jugo juices.

We then realized we were over-dressed. The appropriate attire for the stampede was obviously cowboy boots, booty shorts or mini skirts and cowboy hats (even better with flashing lights!)

The concert was great. Sugarland is a country duo consisting of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush. They performed for about 1 1/2 hours and we really enjoyed it. There was about 9000 people in attendance and they played songs from their new album "Incredible Machine" such as Stuck Like Glue, Tonight, etc., as well as some of their previous hits (Baby Girl, Something More, Stay, All I Want To Do, and more.) They were opened by Casey James of American Idol fame.

After the concert, we walked the midway for a bit and then toured the exhibits. We realized we didn't leave ourselves enough time to see everything. Next year...

Canada Day

Last Fall I had the thought that, before Angie and Dylan leave Ottawa, we should spend Canada day on Parliament Hill. I mean, as a Canadian, there couldn't be anything more patriotic. So we booked our tickets and waited for the day to come.

Then I heard another couple had the same idea - Will and Kate. Great, I thought, now we'll never get anywhere near Parliament Hill because of all the Royal watchers. In fact when I looked at our schedule and compared it to Will and Kate's, I discovered that we were scheduled to arrive at the Ottawa airport on Thursday June 30th at the same time. I had visions of getting trapped at the airport.

Luckily when we arrived in Ottawa, the situation was calm. Angie and Dylan picked us up and we went back to their apartment and then off to the Civilization museum for some fun displays.

The next day, Canada Day, we awoke early, dressed in our red and white, and headed across the street (literally) to Jacques Carter park to begin our Canada Day celebrations.

This was one Park's Canada's beavers that was in the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

We looked at the displays and then decided to see if we could get near Parliament Hill. We walked across the Alexandra bridge, through Major's Hill Park (which had more displays and activities) and we made it across the Rideau canal to almost the East Block building. But after that point, the the police had blocked the entry to Parliament Hill because there were too many people. I read later that the crowd was probably near 300,000. So we turned around, walked back to the east side of the Chateau Laurier Hotel and waited on the street for the royal couple to come by (we waited about 1/2 hour).

The royal couple in a landau. Amazing RCMP horses!

We then went back to Major's Hill park and watched the program from the "jumbo tron".

Will gave a speach.

Catherine watched, and then the snowbirds flew over.

We enjoyed the activities, purchased a huge polish dog from a street vendor (delicious) and hung out until the amazing fireworks that evening.

Okay, so maybe the royals didn't spoil my fun as much as I thought they would...and it was kinda cool to see them (did I admit that?).