Our journey across the border went better than we thought. We were prepared with our passports, Daisy’s Rabies Documents, Registration for truck and camper, and PCS orders. We have read and heard (from the Alberta Visitor’s Center at Glacier National Forest) horror stories about crossing the border with a camper. We even threw out our fresh fruit and vegetables, and cheese and dairy (because the Visitor’s Center guide told us to) without needing to. The Border Guard asked us about firearms, asked where we were headed and for how long, and then came the dreaded question, “how much alcohol do you have?” Oh NO, we still have 5 cases of wine under the bed. We told the truth and then added that we were on military PCS orders on our way to Florida by way of the great country of Canada (OK, we didn’t say that “great country of Canada” part). And he passed us through just like that!
The drive to Calgary was really boring. It was like driving through the wheat fields of Kansas again. We ate our sandwiches sitting in the truck at a turn out’s because they don’t believe in rest areas. Thank God we had a camper so we could relieve ourselves. Curt says there were plenty of little towns to stop and get a “washroom” break, that is what they call it in Canada.
But what really drove Curt crazy was the low speed limits on the highway. Most of the way was 80-100 km / hr. Do you remember your teacher telling you that you had to learn metric because the US would be going to it soon…I’m still waiting. For those of you who didn’t memorize your metric system in grade school 70-100 km is 40-60 mi/hour, slow going for a highway.
We got a tour of Calgary, thanks to the GPS who took us through the town during rush hour. Curt did great making the turns through the city because GPS thought it would be better to go on side streets instead of highways. The campground sits on a hill right next to WinSport. The training ground for the Olympic ski jumpers. In 1988 during the Winter Olympics this park was the primary venue for ski jumping, bobsleighing and luge. In the summer, they use the downhill trails for mountain biking. You put your bike on the chair lift up to the top of the mountain and then ride down the mountain. Curt and I tried this…NOT!
We don’t really like our RV spot as it is on a hill, so no place to set up the grill and the picnic table is at a 33 degree angle (per Curt) I think it is more like 45 degrees. But Daisy doesn’t mind as long as she can find a spot of sun to lay in, she is happy. Although the dogs here are not friendly; she got attacked by some pug looking dog our first morning walk. He went right for her throat. I think I was more upset than she was. We reported them to the front office, but we haven’t back there to find out if they were still there. And the dog next door also doesn’t like her. She has such a great disposition; she always thinks everyone is friendly.
Our first day in Calgary, we drove downtown and discovered the town. First thing we did was visit the ATM to get some Canadian money. We talked with the Campground Store Clerk and asked for the best way to get downtown. He suggested the train, but we decided to drive instead. We did get a lesson on the Canadian “Loonie” or dollar. They don’t have dollar bills here, they instead use loonies and two dollar coins…oh and no pennies–round everything to the 5 cent. I think that I like that, pennies are useless anyway.
So Calgary is a city of about 1.1 million people and sits 3,440 feet elevation. It was established in 1875 as a North West Mounted Police fort. Also we noticed there were a lot of people of Asian origin and learned that back in the early 1900s the Chinese were recruited to build the railroads. We missed the Calgary Stampede by 5 days. It is a time when the locals relive the days of chuck wagons and lasso’s.
So we headed to Prince Island Park, a city park right in the middle of town. There were several performers, but mostly folks walking through on their lunch break. The parking situation reminded me of Seattle. The first place we pulled into park wanted $25 for 3 hours. We decided to find street parking that was $9 for 2 hours. We set our timer and off we went.
Kensington Village was a quaint neighborhood with stores, bars and restaurants. We had to stop here for obvious reasons. Mom, Dad and Aunt Mary all grew up in Kensington in Philly. It was just a little different from Philly.
Selfie, and as Curt pointed out, I had to get the crane in the picture. We have noticed that most likely due to the long winters, summer is probably the only time they can get any construction done. There was construction everywhere, including road construction.
Finally remembered the Selfie Stick to take this picture of the Calgary skyline in the background. We were on one of the bridges over the Bow River, which runs through the town similar to Spokane River through Spokane. No big waterfalls, however. 
Canada is celebrating its sesquicentennial—Happy 150th Birthday!!
We walked up the road to Stephen Avenue Walk, where the street is blocked off and it is a walking mall, lined with shopping, outdoor cafés, and street vendors. There was a comic Con going on in town so it made for some interesting people watching while we ate lunch at an Irish Pub.
Like I said we only had 2 hours for all of this activity, so we had to hoof it back to the car before our time expired. We certainly did not want a Canadian parking ticket keeping us from gaining entry to the Country later on during our trip! We got back to the car and tried to find a parking spot closer to the Calgary Tower. We’ve been to the Seattle Tower, the San Antonio Tower, and the Seoul Tower (South Korea) so we wanted to make a trek to the top of this one, but with street parking ending at 330 pm, lot parking was over $15 an hour, and the clock ticking at 220, we decided it wasn’t worth the stress or the money. Instead we headed home and found a cute wine bar…of course.
Unfortunately, there was only the view of the cars zooming down the highway, but we made the best of it–great conversation and time to plan our next day’s adventure.
The next day was Canada Day, July 1, Canada’s Independence Day. We decided to avoid the crowds and have a quiet day. It was great to sleep in and relax. What better day to do laundry! We drove to a local laundromat and spent a fortune to wash our 3 weeks of dirty clothes…don’t judge, it is not a task we enjoy. It rained for a few hours in the afternoon, but cleared up in time for the fireworks. As I said, our campsite gave us a great view of 3 different fireworks displays across the western part of the city. We got to bed right after that as a visit to Banff National Park was on the docket for tomorrow.