DAY-03 Return to Calgary

Day-03: Saturday, September 5, 2015

Starting Location: Delta Lodge at Kananaskis, AB

Ending Location: Fairmont Palliser Hotel, Calgary, AB

More rain transitioning to a light snow this morning as we awoke. The mountain tops have a white covering but it's too hot down on the plain, probably 35F this morning.


After breakfast we packed our bags and made ready for our return to Calgary. The trip took about an hour again passing the many fields where the hay has been cut and rolled and is ready for pick-up. En-route we stopped by the Olympic Village. There wasn't much to do as most of the place was shutdown preparing for winter activities I suppose. You can get a good view of the ski jumps and the bobsled/luge track that is apparently well known in the winter sports arena, apparently a place for winter Olympic teams to practice.

We continued in to town and arrived in front of our hotel, the Fairmont Palliser on 9th Avenue, passing by the Calgary tower.

We couldn't get close to hotel entrance as cars, taxis and limos were parked three deep in front of the lobby, practically blocking the street. After circling and calling for parking directions (hands-free using the car's Bluetooth system) we found the garage and worked our way into the hotel lobby for check-in.

Turns out that the mini-traffic jam was the result of some mega-wedding taking place in the hotel; our timing was perfect, the bride, groom and the hundreds of attendees were meandering around the lobby. So let's hear a few "oohs and aahs" for the wedding party. As we were dressed very casually I'm just hoping we don't show-up in any of their photos.

Anyway we checked in ,went to our room and after a few minutes headed out for an afternoon of discovery. For those who don't know, Sheila had a Great Uncle who lived in the Calgary area and worked as a cowboy in the early 1900's. Rumor has it he also participated in the events of the traditional Calgary Stampede. So our mission was to visit the Glenbow Museum and seek out cowboy stuff and perhaps be lucky enough to find a picture of Uncle Bert Potter (no relation to Harry).

Well we found ancient oil wagons and horse sculptures and even an old push/pull/turn hockey game. I actually had one of these but mine was the cheap model, the players only turned, no push/pull or electric score board.

...and then, there it was a picture of two cowboys of the 1920s or so; could it be? Is there any resemblance? Do either of them look to be a Red Sox fan?

So you decide, is one of these gentlemen the illusive Uncle Bert? We may never know for sure but I'm thinking the guy on the left just might be ...

We followed our museum visit with a stop at the Marriott's Starbucks where Sheila was able to use her iPhone Starbucks app; yes they also take money, charge cards, whatever but there's something special about using the app, it must seem like you're getting something for free.

This is the drink I DID NOT get!

No big dinner tonight, we settled in to our room and I did a little Helium work, some home work and worked on the blog postings.

Heard from Jan & Pete and Diane & Greg today, they're prepping for the final push into Calgary. Diane & Greg are in Seattle and ready to fly while we're expecting to hear Jan's & Pete's arrival before actually seeing them as they'll likely still be wearing "bear bells" a necessity where they've been in Glacier.  It's now about midnight here in Calgary so only a few minutes from now the alarm bells will be ringing on Dowdy Lane, awakening Pat & Jack for their early AM departure.

So that's it, tomorrow the rendezvous begins.