Poutine and Taffy
The weather is looking a bit average today, so Sue and I jump in the car and go and pick up her Mum to go to Nanton, a nearby town. It’s a quaint little place with the original wheat towers where the farmers used to bring the grain to be collected. It now hosts a plethora of antique stores. We stop at the old café for lunch and I decide it’s time to try something new, so have poutine, which hails from Montreal. It is basically chips with gravy and curds, but often the curds are replaced with cheese. It’s not bad, although I probably wouldn’t order it again.
While we browse the stores, it starts pouring, so we console ourselves by dropping in to the candy store. Another new experience for me – salt water taffy. It comes in bite size pieces and is a chewy candy that is made with salt water, sugar and no doubt artificial flavours. It’s very odd as it’s kind of sweet but salty at the same time.
The drive back through the prairie is beautiful as the dark blue-grey sky sets of the green grass and fluorescent yellow canola fields. We drop Sue’s Mum off and go back to the supermarket as I’ve offered to cook dinner. I’m excited about cooking as it’s the first time I’ve cooked in a month and a half. We feast on leftover salad, lasagna and garlic bread.
After dinner, I drag Sue off to her first ceroc dance class. It’s in a beautiful old barn that has been made into a community centre. Unfortunately, because of the rain and school holidays, there are not many people there – the teacher, the guy who owns the franchise, one couple, and Sue and I. It’s still fun to be dancing “my” style again. They don’t do an intermediate class, but we chat and play around with some moves and they offer us free passes for next week. Obviously that’s not going to work for me, but Sue says she’ll use them.
Eating Elk
Today we drive to Banff, a lovely alpine town in the Rocky Mountains, within the World Heritage wilderness area. The drive is scenic as we head across the prairie into the mountains. We park by a river that has a grey-green tinge to it and sets of the mountain backdrop perfectly. We walk into town for lunch and I’m amazed by a) the number of tourists roaming the streets and b) how cold it is. There is still snow on top of some of the mountains.
For lunch I try an Elk Burger. It’s a toss up between elk and bison, but Sue is going to cook bison tomorrow night. The elk has a distinctive taste. As mince it is packed quite tightly and is slightly dry, so I add piles of mayonnaise to make it work.
After lunch, we stop in to the chocolate shop to buy “Bear Claws”, chocolate mounds with a chewy caramel centre and cashews on top, positioned to look like the nails on a bear’s paw. We show restraint and save these for the evening. We walk around some of the trails and spot elk wandering in the forest, which makes me feel guilty for eating it. Some of the females have young ones with them and the males have furry-looking antlers. They look like a cross between a reindeer and a moose. We walk up to the Banff Springs Hotel, which looks a lot like a German castle sitting on the side of the hill and is made of dark grey stone. The building is quite imposing, but the views are spectacular, with the river running to the mountains.
On the way down, we come across a field with a colony of gophers or maybe they're prairie dogs. I don't know. I’ve never seen either before. They are about the size of a small squirrel, but more rodent-like, and sit on their hind legs by the holes they’ve dug in the paddock, scampering forward every now and then to feed on the grass. They are cheeky looking things and quite social with each other. They’re used to being fed and will come and sniff your hand if you hold it out to them.
We walk another trail to Bow Falls, which is also the launch spot for rafting. I’m sure the rafting would be fun, but it’s way too cold to be near chilly spring water. The falls don’t quite compete with Niagara, but have a better backdrop.
The Bear Claws are our gift to Chantal, another Hokkaido friend, who has invited us to dinner. She lives in one of the ‘new communities’. These remind me of Dubai – they are on the outskirts of the city and are built in lots. I don’t think they are all done by the same developer, so they don’t all look alike like the Springs, but they have a similar feel. Chantal and her husband Kevin have two kids, so this kind of place works for them as it is a friendly community in a rural setting. We spend the evening catching up and laughing over our shared experiences from Hokkaido.
The Big Show
We are off to the Calgary Stampede for the day and I’m excited. It’s a beautiful day as we walk down the hill to the stampede grounds. We stop at the livestock sheds and look at the horses, Texas Longhorn bulls and sheep, then through the ‘critters’ area, which includes llamas and alpaca. There is also a young Bison, right under a poster advertising ‘Bison BBQ week’. See him and eat him. Nice.
We watch the Stampede Showriders do their thing, then wander along Midway, which is the carnival part, with sideshow games and rides. We have a disgustingly unhealthy lunch of corndogs, which are basically Dagwood Dogs – frankfurters on a stick, dipped in fried corn batter, with tomato sauce. To make it worse, we follow up with a bag of mini-donuts with cinnamon sugar as we watch the high dive show. We consider going to the rodeo, but it is an extra $45 and Sue has already shouted tickets for the evening show. Then clouds roll over, the temperature drops, and the rain sets in. We wait for a break in the rain and dash back to Sue’s to change into warmer clothing.
Rugged up, but with the sun back out, we head back to the Stampede grounds and go straight to the Indian Village. Here the First Nation tribes have set up teepees, some of which are open to the public, and they are holding a native dance competition. The dancers are mostly teens and younger and they are amazing. They are dressed in bright colours, with feathers and beads, and perform several different styles of dance to the sound of drums. The different tribes beat out different patterns in rotation and the dancers have to time their dance to the rhythm and finish on the right beat to score maximum points. This is not easy, as a lot of the drum groups try to trick them by sounding a heavy beat, pausing, then continuing. After some time, it starts gently spitting again, so we moved closer to the undercover dance floor. Two minutes later, it starts hammering down with hail. The dance floor becomes a lot smaller as everyone crowds under shelter. After a ten-minute pummeling leaving a layer of hail, it turns to heavy rain, then stops again. Summer in Canada.
Back at the house, Sue cooks bison steaks for dinner. The are tender and juicy, a lot like beef. We add another layer or two (I’m now wearing jeans, a jumper, a pashmina and a waterproof winter jacket) and head back to the Stampede for the Grandstand Show.
We find our seats and the evening starts with Chuckwagon races. Teams of four horses drag a covered wagon round the racetrack. At the start, the four outriders load the wagon with two long tent poles and a heavy barrel. The wagon then maneuvers in a figure of eight around two marker barrels and onto the track and the outriders jump onto horses and follow – they have to be within 150 metres of the wagon at the finish. It’s fast paced and fun and extremely dirty as the track is muddy after all the rain.
There’s a short break after the races while they drag in a massive mobile stage and set up for the Big Show. Parts of the show are great, parts not so great. Parts are modelled on Cirque de Soleil, and are brilliant, but other parts are a bit like a teen rock eisteddford.
After the show, we stop in to Nashville North briefly as we have scored VIP passes through one of Sue’s friends. This is the pub tent, with live music. We soon realise most of the people inside have been here for many hours and are somewhat worse for wear, so we have one drink and head home. More than a decade after I first heard of it, I've now been to the Calgary Stampede. List, check.
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