Day 10 - Horsin' Around in Calgary

Day 10 for the fellas was spent in Calgary enjoying a little down time with their wives.  It was going to be the first day that the group would head over to the Stampede Park grounds.  There is so much to see and do, everyone scattered to find what interested them the most.  

Dark skies threatened a rainy day.  Donning their finest cowboy duds, along with rain gear, they were off.

David and Lori pose at the entrance of the Calgary Stampede Park.

Bonnie and Ron were right behind them!

Jill and Pam shopping at one of the many shops set up on the grounds.

The Stampede Park is a huge facility.  More like state fairgrounds as we know them.  The buildings in the park seem fairly new.  There are lots of fair food vendors, agricultural exhibits, animal exhibits and activities for children.  Sheep shearing contests, vet science exhibits, draft horse pens, pedal tractor pulls for kids, the list goes on and on.  The daily schedule of things to do begins at 8:00 and ends late into the evening.

Everyone eventually met at the Grandstands at 1:15 p.m., the big attraction for our group today was the rodeo.

  

Great seats for the rodeo events.

David and Lori

 

Before the rodeo began the crowd was entertained by free style riders.

These guys did so many aerial stunts it would be impossible to post all of the images.  

There really is something for everyone at the Calgary Stampede.

Rodeo Cowboys fired up the crowd as they harnessed up, and slowly made their way to the stage below.

The rodeo opened with the flag girls speeding around the arena.

This world class band, performed in sharp precision.

Jill and Ron are enjoying the rodeo events.

A bevy of stampede queens, each representing their local rodeo or stampede, were introduced.

A pair of Indian Hoop Dancers colorfully, demonstrated their art.

While bulls or broncs loaded into chutes, flag riders and rodeo bullfighters (clowns) performed.

Light rain showers came and went along with the sunshine.  When the rodeo was over everyone scurried for transportation back to the hotel.  Some hit a local watering hole while others headed back to the hotel for an adult beverage. 

A total of 14 people met for dinner at The Vintage Steakhouse in downtown Calgary.  Are you wondering where the extra two came from?  Mike and Lisa,  friends from Florida, were in the same hotel to attend the Stampede too.  What a small world we live in.

Day 9 - The Girls Arrive in Calgary!

Late afternoon on July 4, the guys had arrived in Calgary.  With the opportunity to have a leisurely morning, they took full advantage of the free time.  Ron and Fred spent the morning chasing down the rental cars.  Stu took his bike to the local Harley Davidson dealer for a 5,000 mile service.  Not being able to stand having filthy motorcycles any longer, Joe and David headed for a wash bay.  The Calgary Stampede officially began at 9:00 a.m., with the Opening Parade.  Mike opted to experience the pageantry that begins the Stampede by heading downtown to see the parade.

Just two weeks ago, part of the downtown district of Calgary was flooded.  This included the area where most of the Stampede activities were to be held.  The Calgary Stampede gives a huge economic boost to the city.  The local government and businesses knew that Come Hell or High Water, the show must go on!  Everyone pulled together, cleaned up all of that mess and they were ready for the business of tourism.

Most of the girls were due to arrive on the same flight around 1:30 p.m.  Pat landed earlier in the morning thanks to creative schedule changes by the airlines.  Ron and Fred were at the airport to pick them all up.

Joe, David, Stu and Mike found a nearby florist.  All six of the men purchased this beautiful arrangement for Bonnie to thank her for the work on this blog.  It was a huge arrangement.  The gift was not necessary, but thank you very much.  I am enjoying them!  In addition to this arrangement, they purchased flowers for their wives too.  Nine days on the road has a way of making a guy miss his best friend.

On the first night of their arrival, the fellas had dinner a block or two away from their hotel at Ric's Grille.

They met this lovely young lady, Carrielyn,  who matched them quip for quip.  (Actually, she probably upped that game by leaps and bounds.  She was extremely witty.)  

Feeling a little jet lagged from the early start to their day, and hungry, the girls were in need of a snack and hydration.  Here they are at the nearby Ric's Grille.  The food is very, very good.  The staff is extremely friendly.  You've met Carrielyn!  

 David, Lori, Pam and Joe had dinner at a Sushi Restaurant then went to Ric's for a special desert - Cappucino Ice Cream with a cookie crust.

 Everyone in Calgary wears cowboy hats during the Stampede.  Boots and hats is where it's at!

Pam is fitting right in.

Ron and Bonnie

Stu and Jill

Everyone was on different schedules this afternoon.  Fred and Pat explored the area on foot.  They stopped at a couple of local establishments for nourishment along the way.  They were both caught in a major thunderstorm and were soaked to the skin.  No photos of Pat, I promised.  

Mike and Pam were missing in action.  We did not run into them last evening.

Following dinner, everybody headed in early for a good night's sleep.  They wanted to be in good form for a busy day tomorrow.

Day 8 - Whitefish, Montana to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 289 Miles Ridden Today. Total From Indianapolis - 2457 miles.

Mike, David, Fred, Ron and Stu before leaving Whitefish, Montana.
Today they will be leaving the United States for Canada.

Lucky for Stu, that Grizzly Bear is made out of fiberglass.

Mike liked the Elk.

 That was the plan.

 Let's hope the guys don't have any problems here!

They are getting closer to Canada!

Arriving at the border.

While going through customs, everything worked out just fine.

Stopping at the Visitor Centre is a must do. (Canadians spell some things differently than we do.)

The adventuresome six rolled up on this bad boy.  They just had to stop and check it out.

David, Joe and Ron just come half way up those huge tires.  All three of the men are 6 feet tall or more.

The Titan 33 - 19 is the biggest truck in the entire world.
That enormous truck can haul 350 tons at a time.  To help put that into perspective, it would take 17 quad-axle dump trucks to haul that much tonnage at one time.

 That yellow crop is Canola.

The scenery is just as beautiful here as it was in the United States.

 The guys could see this storm brewing.  They were heading right into it.  

Two different vehicles stopped and warned them about the heavy hail that was accompanying this nasty weather.  Heeding those warnings the group turned around, headed back and were able to skirt around the storm.  The only thing that they encountered was a little rain.

The Alaskan Adventurers have arrived in Calgary!

Day 7 - Great Falls, Montana to Whitefish, Montana. Distance today - 236 miles. Total from Indianapolis - 2,168 miles.

Shortly after leaving Great Falls, Montana the guys happened upon an area where they saw a large herd of grazing cattle.  Noticing this fellow leading his horse, instead of riding him left the group to wonder, "why?"

They discussed this back and forth over their helmet intercoms.  Nobody had a plausible explanation for this.

It was finally just decided that he was just giving his horse a break.

There are four of these statues, like the one above, at each of the four entrances to the Blackfeet Nation.  The artist that created them used materials that were available to him in the natural environment.   Each statue is made from scraps of automobiles, bits of barbed wire and stones from Holy Family Mission.  Each of the Native American Warriors are considered to be unique.  Each part of the statues and their bases are made from materials that are specific to significant events in Blackfeet history.

Scenery en route to Glacier National Park

At the entrance of Glacier National Park

 

The road in the very lower left hand corner is now hard packed dirt with some gravel on it. 

 This will be good practice for the adventurers travel in parts of Alaska.

That's David resting on that giant rock.

Fred has a bird's eye view of the valley below that stone wall.  Reynolds Mountain is in the background.

They reached the top!

Two Big Horn Sheep were hanging out at Logans Pass.  

Other wildlife viewing opportunities at Logans Pass are Mountain Goats and the occasional Grizzly Bear.

Big Horn Sheep doing some major league shedding.

This Mountain Goat is in a big hurry to be somewhere other than this parking lot.

Joe, Fred and David, half of the group enjoying the scenery and seat break.

Ron stops to check out the snow up on Logans Pass.  

Logans Pass, the highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road  is located on the Continental Divide.  

The elevation here is 6,647 feet above sea level.  The area receives over 100 feet of snow per year!

The Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed in the winter.  The annual snowfall makes travel dangerous then.

Flags flying at Logans Pass were at hoisted to just half staff, in honor of the 19 fire fighters that lost their lives battling the Arizona wildfires.

       

The man on the right that Stu is posing with , is from California. They met this guy at Logans Pass.

 He is touring around solo on his motorcycle.  Mike thought it was a good idea for the two to stand side by side in order to compare mustaches.

The gentleman was very gracious with Mike's request and allowed the guys to make their comparisons.

After he departed their company, Stu explained that this man was sporting a beardstache.

 A mustache can only be grown from the upper lip.   Stu is correct, I looked it up.

This red and black vehicle is a 17 person limousine.  The vehicle was built in 1937 by the Ford Motor Company.   Between the years of 1999 and 2001, Ford brought each vehicle back to their plant in order to re-build each vehicle.  The national park owns a small fleet of these unique limos.

A close up, offering a better view of this 1937 limousine.

Ron getting a big bear hug at the Visitor's Center at Logans Pass.

 Pray Lake and Sinopah Mountain in the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park

Those pockets of snow are actually glaciers.

One of many waterfalls within Glacier National Park.

These photographs just don't do justice to the beauty of the area.

 David and Joe working their way up the mountain. 

Simply majestic.