I took a long time off to raise kids. About 12 years ago, I started working as a lunch supervisor at my kids' school, in kindergarten. One hour a day. It actually paid more than minimum wage (no longer). It wasn't much, about $50/week. Then, about 7 years ago, I started working as a supply (substitute) teacher again. At some point, I started putting 5% of all my earnings into a vacation fund. It built slowly over the years and the plan was to do a family trip once all the kids were out of post secondary education. I had originally hoped to take everyone to my parents' time-share, across the road from Walt Disney World, but the recent election and political unrest in the States made it undesirable. We thought about a cruise, but the kids didn't have passports.
Rob has always mentioned he wanted to go to the Calgary Stampede, and to see the mountains. I went to Calgary and area, including a day in Banff, on a band trip in 1989. Megan has gotten really into Western culture and she was on board. Lucy was excited too. Hugh doesn't say much.
I decided to go for the start of the Stampede, primarily because air fare was cheaper. I booked flights for July 3 and July 9. We decided to start with the Calgary Stampede, which "officially" starts on the first Friday of July (July 4 this year). You actually can go to the Stampede grounds starting on the Wednesday. We would watch the kick off parade, and then walk over to the grounds and get free admission until 1pm. Then we'd go on Saturday to see the evening Grandstand show, which includes admission to the grounds for the day. Sunday we left open. Then Monday, we'd head out early for Canmore/Banff, but it took awhile to finalize the details. We'd go straight from there on Wednesday, to the airport.
Megan had recently moved to Thunder Bay, so she would fly home the day before. There weren't any flights from TB to Calgary, except for really early in the day (and what would she do?) or very late (and she'd miss whatever we did during the day). To get back home, there was a flight 45min before ours that went direct to TB, so that was great!
Finding Air BnBs was a challenge. All I knew was where the Stampede Grounds were, and that we might go to the zoo, and we were going to Banff, so I started looking close to downtown, then further out on the west sides. I thought I had found a good one in the NW but it disappeared. Eventually, we landed on a house in what seemed a very new neighbourhood in the SE section. For Canmore, it was an even bigger struggle. There are a lot of places available, but the girls didn't want to share a bed, Hugh wanted an actual room, and Rob didn't want underground parking. I I finally found one that had a room with 2 single beds, and two other rooms. Most places only had 2 bedrooms, or double/queen beds. It did have underground parking but it said a normal SUV would fit. It was also in a great location but didn't have air conditioning.
As far as the actual activities we did, I'll give the planning info with the specific posts.
If you are going to the Stampede, my advice, is to stay somewhere along the C Train routes, particularly the south part of the red line. The outer ends of either line is also probably good, but I don't know the parking. If you can afford it, being within walking distance would also be good, but I don't think there's a lot available because of the downtown, and the rivers.
If you're going to Banff, and have a car, consider staying in Canmore or Harvey Flats, or even Field or Golden, BC. Otherwise, stay in Banff.
The Calgary airport is great. There are lots of food options, car rentals were easy, and the staff are actually pleasant.
One more note--I'm not a professional travel blogger. There are some that are great at writing about Banff, so I recommend seeking them out.
No comments:
Post a Comment