Calgary

When I scheduled our Rocky Mountaineer trip, it was pure coincidence that it ended just before the start of the Calgary Stampede, Canada’s biggest rodeo. Calgary International was the nearest airport to Banff National Park, so we would need to fly out from there. My initial thought was to get the heck out of Calgary before the crowds arrived. But then I realized that I’d never been to a rodeo before, and fate was putting one in my path, so why was I trying to avoid it? We would stay in Calgary a couple of nights and go to the Stampede.

From Banff, we rode FlixBus again, this time knowing not to expect any signage. I took a few more photos of the Canadian Rockies as we drove eastward toward Calgary, a city in the space where the foothills meet the prairie.

I wish he'd just get a hat already

Stampede traffic re-routed to a drop-off point outside of Downtown. The Uber driver picked us up in a white Toyota Rav4 (there seemed to be a lot of these in Calgary), and we were at our hotel by mid-afternoon. Most people in the hotel lobby wore hats and boots, which we would soon find was the case all over the city.

ChatGPT recommended a few nearby restaurants, and I picked the one with the most interesting name, Ten Foot Henry. It had a fun vibe and a “vegetable-anchored menu.” We loved it so much that we went back for dinner again the following day!

The reason for the restaurant's name

tomatoes

herbs, whipped feta, sidewalk sourdough toast

roasted carrots

almondine, pickled slaw, berbere, pecan dukkah

red prawns

roasted corn, cashew salsa macha, aguacate

butterscotch pudding

salted caramel, sponge toffee

After dinner, it was time for the Calgary Stampede Evening Show. It was the Fourth of July, but we didn’t expect to celebrate it in Canada. Well, there were plenty of fireworks at the Calgary Stampede Evening Show.

The next day, we returned to Stampede Park, and I saw my first rodeo! It was all very exciting, and a lot of fun. To read more about our Calgary Stampede experience, see Part 1 (the Evening Show) and Part 2 (the Rodeo).

After the rodeo, we returned to Ten Foot Henry for dinner. The food was excellent again, and we had more of our new favorite beer, a local brew. This time, we sat at the bar, where things were really hopping and the bartender worked nonstop.

Calgary is a big city (population 1.3 million) and surely had much to offer. But after the Stampede and Ten Foot Henry, we were ready to move on.