On Friday, we had a packed day. We slept in a little bit and after Nana made us some poached eggs, toast and ham, we set off to go visit Grandpa. By the time we got there, he was already seated at his lunch table. We visited with him until they served him his lunch. He was wearing a cowboy shirt and his cowboy hat (and of course his cowboy boots and he almost looked like a little child sitting there in his wheelchair. We took a picture together, and Grandpa hid his newspaper under the table so that he didn’t look like someone “who is always reading the newspaper”. The funny thing is that he is a man who is always reading the newspaper. As we were leaving he shook Andre’s hand and told me “This man’s my friend now, so you’d better take good care of him for me.” We then left, and I did what everyone told me I’d do but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t do: I bawled my eyes out. It was conceivably the last time I will ever see my grandpa. I’m glad he was able to meet Andre.
After we left Grandpa’s home, Andre and I went to Tony Roma’s. They don’t have them in Ottawa, I don’t think so we wanted to try something that was different. They had some pretty cheap lunch specials and Andre was able to have his Rib Tips that he’s been dreaming about ever since Montana’s took them off the menu. They were as good as he remembers, but he likes Montana’s apple butter sauce better. Although strangely, the BBQ sauce that we have in our fridge right now is actually Tony Roma’s brand and Andre loves it.
After lunch, we went to Heritage Park. This is a place that is set up like a prairie town from the early 1900’s. There are little stores and there is also a car museum for old gas pumps and cars. It was really interesting but very expensive. The admission was $20, and that didn’t include any of the rides or the steam train ride around the park. Needless to say, we didn’t spend the extra money to do any of the extra things. While we were there, we got downpoured on for about 10 minutes so we took shelter in the Baron’s Snooker hall. They actually had a place with our name on it! After the downpour was over, it was beautiful and sunny. That seems to be common here. Short downpours, and then beautiful weather.
When we were in the old post office, a girl dressed in an old Sherlock Holmesy kind of outfit had a magnifying glass and asked Andre if he was stealing any mail… I told him he should have whipped out his badge and asked HER if she was stealing any mail, but he was too modest for that.
We bought some bread from the old time bakery to give to my Auntie Dayle as a hostess gift. She got married at Heritage Park so I know she’ll like it.
When we were done Heritage Park, we were supposed to go to the Calgary Stampede with my friend Cristin, but she bailed on us after we had already purchased our tickets. We went anyway, and we spent a lot of time in the Indian Village where they were having a Powwow dance competition. I loved watching the intricate outfits that the dancers had. We stopped for dinner at the bannock stand, and had bannock hamburgers. They were delicious! Bannock is a native bread made from flour and water. Usually it’s roasted over a fire, but this place deep fries it, so it’s similar to a Beaver Tail when it’s done (but not sweet). They put yummy gravy on the burger too, so it was very flavourful. We toured around the stampede, but didn’t go into any of the exhibitions that required extra money (a theme in our trip). I have never seen so many cowboy hats, plaid and boots in my life! Everywhere you go in Calgary, you will encounter a cowboy/girl, not just at the stampede. Little kids run around in oversized boots and hats. It’s very cute. We took in a couple of rounds of bingo, and then we left to visit Cristin at her house. It was nice to catch up with her. We didn’t get home until pretty late.
We’ve been on the road for a week now, 2 weeks to go!
Indian Village at the Stampede
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