Calgary Cobb's Adventure Park and Rainbows

 Day 4 (Sunday July 6) was our last day in Calgary. I hadn't scheduled anything because for the week before we left, the weather looked iffy and the girls didn't know if they wanted more time at the Stampede. There was a free pancake breakfast and entry this morning, but they didn't want to stand in line for soggy pancakes (I have NO idea if they were soggy!). I had strongly considered a float trip through Lazy Day Raft Rentals, but with iffy weather (strong chance of thunderstorms), we opted not to.  I had emailed the business with questions before we left for Calgary, and they were absolutely wonderful. While I can't speak for the actual rafting, their emails make me recommend them.  Another activity we considered was the hill go carts at Olympic Park but Lucy was adamantly against that.

Earlier in the trip, Lucy got an ad to "see the capybaras in Calgary!".  She is a capybara aficionado! It was for this place called Cobbs Adventure Park. So we decided we'd do that in the afternoon and have a lazy morning, doing laundry with a dryer that seemed to have a mind of its own. 

After lunch we headed out. It was nice to be going in a different direction for once LOL. It wasn't too far, and it was an easy drive there. I had bought tickets on line and that saved me some money! I also added the capybara meet and great for Lucy, so that added a bit. All total, it was about $125 for our admissions and another $25 for the capybaras.

interesting art

we thought it was a humongous sculpture until we got around the front of it

It was actually a vehicle as well!

First up was a wallaby. We learned that they have shorter front legs than a kangaroo and are generally a fair bit smaller.

More art. Sadly, this topiary sheep had lost his ear!

The wallaroo was a little too far to see, but here's its facts.

The first area we went into was small animals, such as Cyrano the anteater.

We saw him a few times throughout the afternoon, so I'll just put all his photos here.

Apparently he's a rowdy little guy, about a year old I think. He's like a toddler. He wanted to explore everywhere.

I asked if it was normal for their claws to be curved inwards like that, and apparently it is. It looked uncomfortable to walk like that but it probably makes for better climbing.

The small animal section had pens but most of the animals were free roaming or in separate enclosures.

This little guy is, I think, an Asiatic brush tailed porcupine. Adorable in a way. Quite small.

There were quite a few rabbits in large rabbit houses. We were told that all the rabbits were rescues or rehomed. Lucy lived with a housemate that had a rabbit for awhile, so we always enjoy seeing them.

This one looked a lot like Lucy's housemate's rabbit. Many funny stories with that rabbit, Auggie.

Then we went into the wallaby and kangaroo section.

See how he's resting on those front legs? That's a kangaroo. When you see the wallabies and kangaroos together, they are really easy to tell apart, but if you just saw a wallaby, you might have to look closer.

See how happy Megan looks! The kids LOVED this visit. 

They had several albino wallabies. They looked like the light bothered them--they are nocturnal.

At one point a kangaroo got up and started hopping away and everyone was ooohing and awwwing and a little scared. They are big dudes!

I loved how they just look so casual, chillaxing in the dust.

Me when I go out of the grocery store and need to wait for my glasses to darken LOL.

There's a joey in there!

I followed here around for a bit, hoping for a sneak peek. Eventually she laid down and I took some videos. Joey made a quick appearance...like a bald jellybean. Really not much to see.

The next section over is the larger animals--goats, sheeps, alpaca.

We saw the sign (below) for the babydoll but this was the first sheep we met. I impressed Megan with my ability to name it as a Suffolk (confirmed later by an info board). My aunt and uncle had a Suffolk sheep farm and I spent a lot of time there!

This is the Babydoll!

Lucy didn't want to get too close in case she got spit on LOL

Someone needs a new barber and a new dentist LOL.

I think someone needs a new pool!

Rob had ditched us, but there was a handy bench in the yard.

As we were leaving this area, a staff member came out with a baby wallaby.

He let Megan hold it for a few minutes, even though that's supposed to be an extra paid ticket.

It was surprising how soft the wallabies were.

This stately fellow was strutting around the enclosures. 

He seemed rather annoyed that no one was paying attention to him but if you tried to, he turned away.

There was a little sloth house but this was all we could see.

We had seen the capybara already, but Lucy wanted to wait until near the end of our visit.

These pictures were from another person's experience

You've given some food--cucumbers? but since it was late in the afternoon, they weren't really hungry.

Best day ever, according to Lucy.

The animal area is about half of the Adventure Park. The other half is the "adventure" section, which really is geared for younger kids. Thankfully, we are all young at heart and still had plenty of fun in this part.

Next to the animal show stage area were posts with Dad jokes on them. A couple had stopped to read this one, and the woman didn't get it. She had to say it a few times to figure it out. Another reason why musical literacy is so important!!

Megan is in her Western era so she was thrilled to try this. Really, she would have preferred real calves, but what's a city girl to do?

It's a good thing these weren't real calves because I noticed when editing, that she had her right foot in the middle of the rope coil on the ground. This is how amateurs get their legs ripped off, as it tightens around the foot and they're being dragged by a wild calf. Rookie mistake!

Of course, Rob had to get into it. His first shot was a dud, but his second shot yielded him a calf.

Slide race!

Gaga ball is a popular game during gym class, but this version would be amazing to have outside at schools!

There was an ax throwing section. When we went to family summer camp, Hugh did really amazing at archery and axe throwing (I think the axe throwing was at Conor Prairie in Indiana). This was challenging because each target was in different condition and it was hard to get the axe to actually stick in.

Lucy, forever the prankster LOL. She looks so sweet and harmless, but she has always had a mischievous streak in her!  Ask her about how she got scolded by the bus driver in Niagara Falls, or how the post office in Orangeville had to hide their counter bell...

One of the girls had seen that this is the hard "game" at a midway. The staff told them they were a bit too big, but since there weren't any kids waiting, they could try. It took them a couple tries but they figured out how to stay on and reach the top.

There was also a snack bar that smelled really good, an ice cream stand, a reservable party area, tractor ride and pedal go karts (and a few other things for young kids). It was a fun afternoon, and in the end, we only got a few sprinkles of rain. It is a pretty sunny area though, so be prepared for that. We kept forgetting hats!

We went back to the Air BnB to do more laundry, pack, and have dinner.  That was a lot of fun (not!) to cook with limited pans. We had bought some frozen Chinese dinners. I had a frying pan going, disposable roasting pans in the oven, one of the other meals we had came in a firm foil pan so I had saved it and used it too. The oven did not seem to work very well. I started using the air fryer too, but could only do small batches. So it was a multi course dinner LOL. We also had ice cream to eat up!

After dinner, Rob and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood. 

Interesting architecture--modern Craftsman? 

We were almost back and it started to rain lightly. He decided he wanted to walk down the back lane, past our house, and then it started to pour. Of course, I hadn't taken the umbrella!

Then we went to Sobey's because we wanted a Styrofoam cooler for our trip the next day. It was getting to be late evening, and Canadian Tire was closed, so we tried Sobey's. We had almost given up but saw them behind the cashiers on the outside wall (inside, but against the wall to the outside).  When we came out, and I turned and noticed this:

Wowza! It spanned the entire sky, and was SO incredibly bright!

Everywhere we stopped on our way back, there were people stopping to photograph it. I've never seen a rainbow SO bright!

This was the view from the back of our house. I made the kids get up to see it as it was starting to fade.

Then Lucy asked to go to an Albertan liquor store--and there was one right by the Sobey's LOL.

There were a few cool looking things we don't have in Ontario, but given that we were travelling carry on only, we were really limited. We did pick up some drinks for the rest of the evening and next day.

And that's a wrap on our stay in Calgary! We were planning to leave pretty early the next morning for Banff!