Hi Everyone,
Sorry I have not added this post earlier in the week but we needed to get photos put on a disc so I could add them to this blog!
O.k so we spent two WONDERFUL days in Calgary and had a lot of fun going to the Stampede!!!
Zara, Harriet and Ffion you guys would have loved it!!!
There were so many horses and sooooooo many cowboys EVERYWHERE!!!!
The atmosphere was electric and was HUMMING and busy we just got taken along for the ride too! You may notice that we even got into the theme by all wearing cowboy hats! Shane and I even took it a little further by both wearing cowboy boots and big belt buckles - yeah we wanted to go the whole hog, why not, when in Rome..............
The Stampede is not just about the horse events there are also concerts performed by country singers, there is a carnival and there is also a huge indoor market where anything and everything can be bought!! There are also arts and crafts to see that people have made and display! Just AMAZING!
On the first evening we got to see a welcoming ceremony and then it was straight into the Chuck Wagon races - now this was AWESOME! The riders each have a wagon which has 4 - 6 horses pulling it. The horses have to race around the barrels then race around the track - they have to go really fast - which of course they did - and try to be the first horse and wagon over the finish line! Man it was so exciting! We had never seen anything like it and it was so much fun! All four of us were cheering the riders on it was GREAT! Zara have you and your family ever done Chuck Wagon racing with any of your horses?
Between the heats the track had to be raked and prepared for the next wagon riders. To do this they used John Deere tractors - I took photos of the tractors especially for you Harry and Daniel Brown, I thought you might like to see them!
Also during the break they had a horse and cart ride - Zara and Harriet I thought you would love to see this - I wanted to have a ride in the cart too but there was already too many people!
After the races we got to see the Grandstand Show - WOW, this was FANTASTIC! The show went on for over 2 hours with singing and dancing. There were lots and lots of dancers - some of them were even young children - Jack you would have loved all the dances they did and all of the beautiful costumes everyone wore - lots of sparkly ones!!! In the show there were acrobats doing tricks! There were also motorbike stunts and throughout the show there were fireworks being let off all the time - it was AWESOME!
After the show we stayed at the stampede and played a few of the carnival games and listened to some of the country music being played. We then went into town and happened to come across a small local bar where we ordered pizza and listened to the locals sing karaoke - not as good as the Cloverlea Ngaire and John - but still fun!
We were all very excited about returning to the Stampede the following day!
Check out the next blog for day 2 ................................................
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