over the next few days, as i organize and upload the pictures (425 over three days!), i will divulge in gruesome detail the proceedings of each day of the trip.

for a tantalizing kick-off, at right, i found another ball on stephen avenue to sit on….

in addition, on the flight back home, i wrote out some keywords for my impressions as follows….

• young². coming from one of the oldest cities in the country (halifax), i can definitely feel the difference in calgary. while halifax is a university-driven city with a wonderfully historic feel, calgary is young and all about unfettered growth. it is a city for twenty- and 30-somethings, which is incidentally where i would slot in. it is an olympic city. think : thousands of lithe, powerful athletes wandering about back in ’88, as the city was on the cusp of becoming the place to be. i think the rivalry between calgary with (capital city) edmonton is perfectly healthy and fascinating.
• canadiana. i might get some flack from vancouverites for this one, but it felt as if we had returned to canada for a three-day tour just by crossing to the other side of the rockies. there were more canadian flags about. it might be a little difficult to separate the stampede currently going on from the city itself.
• eli. i’m quite amiss to have looked around and seen a number of eligible-looking men in calgary. that means if they are in calgary, they are not in vancouver…. if i’m in the market for one down-to-earth fishie, the waters in calgary pond appear more dense with them than the vancouver pond. =(
• community. weird, huh? that i do appreciate visiting a more “diverse” city that reminded me of home. what, you might say – isn’t vancouver very multicultural?! yes, but it’s become a bit off-balance over the years…. aside from a reasonable chinese community present (there is a chinatown), two other minorities that had a sizable presence in calgary were the indian community and the native indian community.
• hot. about two years ago, i was read an maclean’s article about hot cities in canada and calgary is tops. with over 11,000 people relocating there last year, i feel a twinge that wants to be where the action is. it was also hot for the three days, with each day perfectly sunny and mid- to high-20s (80s for the americans) and not humid… ahhh bliss.
• swept away. there is a definite possibility that i am impressionable and totally restless so when it seems like it’s really, really cool elsewhere (the grass is greener…), that i’m being swept away by marketing and other people’s enthusiasm.
• mountains + trees + water. i’m not really a nature-loving girl who adores camping and hiking and such but i really do appreciate the balance of the natural elements that surround calgary. the rockies are visible to the west, many of the city neighbourhoods are nestled amongst trees, and the bow river runs through the city. (i suffered more mosquito attacks there and we never left the city. ugh.)
• definitely maybe. so, based on a beautifully sunny three days to a city all-new to me, i’ve formed a preliminary impression that i wouldn’t rule out in the least moving to the city, which i think is a lovely conclusion to reach.

On this day..

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