howdy folks =)
i loved the comments about the cowboy hats so today, i’m treating y’all to a picture of me being as alluring as possible in cowgear. hey, it was so boring waiting for transit sometimes so we just started taking pictures. whatdaya think – do i look alluring enough to pick up a cowboy? (the answer, apparently, is no.)
c’mon, there’s more to read….
sunday started off with a bang at the calgary marathon. yes, that is a shotgun the m.c. is holding and he shot it to signal the start of the race. i recapped the race earlier this week. in short, it was a good race. maybe i should have sprinted the last stretch and beat my time from two weeks before. =P
i arranged for my sister to find me immediately after the race and we head back to the hotel so i could shower, pack, and clean up with 10 minutes to spare until check out time. for the rest of the day, we were backpacking around the city and the amount of gear wasn’t little.
we head back to the city center to visit the calgary tower. (halifax needs a lookout tower!) not only does the calgary tower have a glass floor but a glass wall – wild. it was a wonder to take in the view, from downtown to the hills beyond downtown. the bow river winds through the city, and from that high above, we could appreciate the neighbourhoods nestled in trees. that is a fascinating aspect of calgary that it doesn’t come off like a big city… kinda like halifax, and that is heart-warming.
after a mediocre lunch at calgary tower tops grill (couldn’t resist passing up eating that high up), we chased down dalhousie. you see, we quickly realized that one of the light rapid transit (lrt) lines is the dalhousie/somerset-bridlewood and so we rode to the end of the line just to snap a picture of dalhousie station. dalhousie being the alma mater for both of us, we are such dweebs.
we are greater dweebs because we visited the university of calgary and spent over two hours wandering around the campus on a self-guided half-a-tour. initially, i was anxious that the campus and excursion would be a letdown but it was fabulous – not regretting it at all. the (mcewan) student center was awesome with the extensive food court and mall on the lower level. oh oh oh, there was a campus cove, an arcade that brought back a flood of memories of uw. the mirrors on the ceiling was also different… makes the space look larger. ;) finally we found the olympic oval and it was wonderful refuge from the heat. since we were there for a while already, we left before finding the medical (for me!) or law (for k!) building. =( nonetheless, the campus – though too far removed from the city to walk – was darling with ample greenery and quads. it is nearly idyllic and received two thumbs up for picturesque campuses.
next we went to another darling neighbourhood in calgary, eau claire. it is nestled behind the downtown core and bounded by the bow river. it’s like stepping into a quaint area away from the dust and noise of the city. in eau claire market, there was a ben & jerry’s… those calgarians are so spoiled! we had dinner (more carbs! not that i count them.) at the old spaghetti factory. it has been a while since i ate there (in toronto) so it was refreshing and comfortable to go to a no-frills, old-folky restaurant where for 9.95 we got soup or salad, a generous plate of pasta, coffee or tea, and ice cream. =D and as an added bonus, i got a definitive answer to my height….
i was really sad when it came time to leave with calgary when we were just getting in touch with it. i took random canadiana pictures as a sweet reminder of being on that side of the rockies. then (sniff) it was time to wind up the fabulous trip and i took some pictures as we left the terminal.
whew, you might say and i’m honestly a little tired of non-stop descriptive blog entries. look out for the meaty, poignant stuff next week! ;)
Very cute hat!! Are there a lot of cowboys in Canada?
oh no, there aren’t many cowboys in canada. however, for a week in july, people in calgary really celebrate cowboy/rodeo culture and this weeklong stampede draws a million visitors from the rest of the country, the states, and further every year.
There’s a lot of cowboys in my state but not my city. We celebrate cowboy/rodeo culture each year in February.
You look great in that pic!