As you could imagine, accommodation in Calgary was all gone weeks ago, so Kim made a call to his cousin, Bradley and his wife Stacy in Airdrie, AB (about 30 minutes from Calgary) and the conversation went a bit like this - "Hey Stacy, it's Kim, I have a couple of Aussies here with me that are heading down to Calgary for a few days, is it okay if they come and crash with you guys for a couple of nights?" Firstly, Kim didn't mention that it was a husband & wife, and that they also had 2 kids coming with them. Still, Stacy didn't hesitate in telling him that it was okay.
We made a slight detour on the way to Airdrie to a town called Drumheller, Alberta which is home to the best Badlands scenery in Canada, the world-famous Royal Tyrrell Museum, and the richest deposits of fossils and dinosaur bones in North America. We went straight to the Tyrrell Museum and spent the next 2.5 hours in awe at the collection of Dinosaurs on display as well as the stories behind each exhibit. It covered off so many different dinosaur eras, it was unbelievable. Jesse, you would have been in heaven.
From Drumheller, we took the relatively short journey on to Airdrie. Imagine Stacy's surprise when the four of us rocked up at her place. She later told us it was a relief, as she was expecting a couple of Aussie party boys to be turning up. So, we got to meet Stacy, Brad and their 2 young boys, Nolan 5 & Justin 3 (pocket dynamos). We were to have a great 3 days with them, and our family has now grown further.
Our first day at the Stampede was very hot - it was about 36C with not much breeze. Therefore Gena and Bluey spent a lot of the day at the indoor activities and displays. As for Riley and Bailey, they got sorted with all day and express passes for the many rides at the midway and went on to spend hour after hour on the rides. They would only come back to re-fuel. There were quite a few highlights throughout the day but by far everyone's favorite thing for the day was the Corral Show, called 'Tails' which a one one hour spectacular describing the 'legend' of how the very first Stampede came to fruition 100 years ago. It was a riveting display of Indian dancing, horse and riding acrobatics, with a well set out story line to go with it.
Close to equaling this show was the performance of the brilliant band 'Recycled Percussion' (who shot to fame on last season's America's Got Talent' series). WOW. Talk about entertainment. In fact, anyone reading this, google them and take a look - you will not be disappointed. They were that good, we actually watched them twice. In between these performances, we got to see a great act from Australia. 'Adam & Selina - Illusionists' also shot to fame on 'Australia's Got Talent' and their show was also brilliant. 13 hours after arriving at the Stampede, we were watching the fireworks that brought about the conclusion of the day. We arrived back at Brad & Stacy's at about 12.30am and by the time we all showered up and chatted with Stacy, we were going to bed at 2.00am.
We had intended for a really early start on day 2, but after the late finish, it was never going to happen. We got to the Stampede at around 11.00am. Bluey went straight to the ticket office to try to get tickets for the days Rodeo at 1.15pm. Gena went to our favorite stage and watched an Indian Ceremonial performance and a Trampoline Performance. Riley and Bailey went to their favorite stand - the Sony PlayStation stand. They were having a daily competition involving a Home Run Derby. Throughout the first 10 days of the Stampede, the record was set at 13 home runs, but if you got 5, you received a pair of PS sunglasses. Both boys hit double figures on their first attempt but also missed the record. A PS t-shirt was on offer for any new records. Riley then had a second attempt, again reaching double figures, but again missing the record. Bailey, on his second attempt was set to blow the stand operators away. He didn't just beat the record - he obliterated it, with an astonishing 25 home runs. They had Bailey stand in front of the massive screen and took photos of him with his record score.
Bluey manged to get Rush seats for the Rodeo and by the time he found everyone, it was time to make our way to the Grandstand for the show. The rodeo was sensational - highlighted by an Aussie winning the second event we watched. What these Cowboys could do on these fired up animals was simply amazing - and with around $2M dollars up for grabs, you can only imagine the intensity. There is a 3 hour session daily at the stampede and was well worth the 1 hour wait that Bluey had to endure to secure tickets.
In the late afternoon, we all went to watch a Hypnotist - Terry Stokes. For anyone that hasn't been to one of these shows - do so, it is hilarious. The stuff he had these people doing was amazing and side splitting funny.
We had no intention of putting in another 13 hour day, so we headed back to Airdrie at around 6.30pm. We had another great night (our last) with Brad, Stacy & boys before heading for Bentley today for a couple of days with Kim's sister, Holly, who we met in Australia in 2010.
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