Day 10: Stampede day!

July 15:  Left in good time and headed through to the Hoodoo Trail to Drumheller.  Eventually found some hoodoos but not the canyon-like ones I was looking for!  Lyndsey climbed up the rock for the view but I didn’t think my Mephistos would give a very good grip. Plus the world’s largest dinosaur.  (Although, if it doesn’t actually have a dinosaur skeleton, does it really count as a dinosaur??)  Made it to Calgary around 1 and went to stay with my cousin Bob and his wife Doreen.  After a nice lunch we headed to the Stampede.  A native Albertan and I’d never been to the Stampede.
It was truly a multi-sensory experience, with all the smells of the various food stalls (deep-fried Oreos, anyone?), the bright colours of the Native dancers’ costumes, the thundering hooves of the horses in the chuckwagon races.  Difficult to capture.  The grandstand show, for which my cousin gave Lyndsey and I their wonderful seats because they’d already seen the show, was beyond fabulous.  The Stampede show is mainly performed by the Young Canadians and Junior Young Canadians, about 165 kids between 5 and 18.  From the website:
The Young Canadians School of Performing Arts is an engaging opportunity to train in dance, voice, and performance, by a professional faculty. Training is provided by a diverse team of specialists who foster technical development, artistic creation, and performance excellence.

The show was a highly professional show of variety acts including choral and solo singing, acrobatics and aerial acrobatics, and dance. It also included acts by adults such as a highwire act on flaming wire, ballet and a salute to famous Canadian artists no longer with us, such as Leonard Cohen, Hugh McLennan, Emily Carr, Toller Cranston, and so on.  Jann Arden hosted with a delightful combination of her usual self-deprecating humour and a few of her own hits.  It was a spectacle of light, fire, water, a whole lot of talent and a finale including fireworks.  It was a moving celebration of Canada and Canadians.  A late and wonderful night.

Badlands with hoodoos


Gotta love the flags!


Several of these overhead at one point -- amazing

Welcome to the Stampede






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