July 19 - Calgary

We got into Calgary, Alberta the day after what is probably the world’s biggest and best know rodeo and much more, the Calgary Stampede, closed its 10-day run.  Jim had looked this up during our early trip-planning stages, but we were initially going to use a different route.  Ardith wasn’t disappointed that we missed it, but Jim had a bit of a twinge of not being able to see a tiny bit of it.  We drove by the grounds, but barely found a place that was photo-worthy.

The Canadian Pacific Railway has its headquarters in Calgary and its tracks run parallel to the city’s main street just 2 blocks away from it.  We saw a train filled with the beautiful canola grain passing under us.

Nearly all our time in Calgary was spent at the Glenbow Museum.  When we approached it, we thought we were at the right building since there was interesting concrete on its exterior.

When we opened the door marked for the museum, we were a bit doubtful.  It opened into the lobby of a big office building, but we looked across the lobby and found the museum entrance.  The interior had a spectacular staircase spanning its 4 floors.

We started on the top floor and worked our way down.  The mineral collection urged us to start there.  Jim’s second favorite place in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum is its mineral hall and this collection was nearly as good.  Proportionately, the Glenbow had more samples of the mineral Smithsonite on display than the Smithsonian.  They also had a sample of the world’s oldest rock – nearly 4 billion years old – from Canada’s Northwest Territories.

They also had a nice collection of fluorescent rocks that glowed when the lighting changed from incandescent to ultra-violet.

They also had several samples of ammolite, one of the rarest gemstones.  It is formed in fossils of ammonites, extinct sea creatures.  Most of the world’s known ammolite has been found in Alberta.

They had a temporary exhibit on West Africa.  There were many exhibits spanning several cultures, but Jim was a tiny bit disappointed because there was nothing from Senegal or The Gambia, the two places in West Africa he has visited.  Those countries were on the map at the start of the exhibit.

The next exhibit area featured native peoples of Western Canada.  Jim was intrigued by the fact that tipi cover designs were, in effect, copyrighted by tradition.  A father might grant his design to one of his children, who might make some modifications to it.

We were surprised at how well we liked the military history section.  They focused on single topics such as body protection and showed how that was carried out across various cultures and times, including medieval Europe, Samauri Japan, native Americans and modern Canadian Forces.

Similar treatments were done for musical instruments, swords, knives, firearms, troop formations, women combatants and the spiritual aspects of warfare.

Our favorite part of the museum was the exhibit called “Mavericks – an incorrigible history of Alberta”.  It tells the stories of over 40 far-sighted, risk taking individuals who shaped life in Alberta.  Some of the folks depicted were the inventor of blasting techniques used in mining, the head of the first RCMP (mountie) troop in the area, a great barnstorming pilot,a farm equipment pioneer,  the first Native in the Calgary Stampede (who was the first person to successfully ride the legendary horse Cyclone),  a family of photographers, and a woman responsible for recruiting women into Canadian Women’s Army Corp during World War II. 

The descriptions of these people and their acts were not hero worshiping, but told how their life paths evolved into making a difference.  Many of the subjects included statements of First Nations perspective into the particular issue or act involved.

We struggled a bit to find an independent restaurant. Our first two attempts were closed (it was Monday), but we found a rib’s place called Big T’s.  The place had a western decor and played blues music.  It was filled with locals (we got the last table) who appeared to all big eaters.  We saw a bunch of huge platters go by.  When we first glanced at the menu, Ardith said she might like a full rack of ribs that was on special.  Jim convinced her to split the order.  It came with mashed potatoes, cole slaw and baked beans.  Jim added a salad with sun dried tomatoes, asparagus, figs and lettuce.  That was plenty for us, while leaving room for us to split the last piece of their special dessert – white truffle cake.