YA HOO! Calgary Stampede Rodeo, Chuck wagon races and Night show!

On Tuesday we woke up a little later on in the morning than expected! We took a lot longer to get ready because all week we had been going from National Park to National Park so we never really had a good reason to get dolled up until this day! At 11 or so we headed towards Calgary, Alberta! As we pulled near the stampede we found a great parking spot behind a little restaurant called "Villa Maria's". We decided to eat there and it was the best decision of the day by far! The food there was probably just as good or better than the home made Italian food we had in Italy! It was simply delicious and we were all in shock that it was that good, we were glad that we had the best meals of the trip in Calgary!

After eating we stomped on down to the stampede right in time for the Rodeo! Downtown Calgary was decked out with everything western themed, to attract tourist I guess! Wooden planks spelling out phrases like, "YEE HA and YA HOO and HOWDY were all over town, It was a sight to see for sure. As you walked into the Stampede you passed tons of carnival games and rides and foods you usually see at the fairs in North Carolina; fried candy bars, pizza on a stick and anything your mind can think of. We eventually got to the main stadium and took pictures with the Mounties!

We then found our seats which held a great view of the riding ring. This rodeo was HUGE and way more popular than the one in Montana, I guess it's because the location in a big city and the tradition of this stampede. All the locals compare Calgary to the Dallas of Texas, and we could see why! At the Rodeo The horses were beautiful that paraded in with the "Rodeo Royalty" and the bucking bulls and broncos didn't disappoint us and kept us on the edge of our seats through out the night.

The surprising part of the Rodeo was the only person we saw get hurt was a cowgirl that was barrel racing! Her horse lost footing coming across the end finish line and sent her tumbling off the side into the dirt; the Paramedics had to assist her out of the ring but she was okay.

After the Rodeo was over My Dad got his boots shined and wondered off while my sister Mom and I wondered around and hung out for a while. Austin found an inside of a cowgirl hat that someone had written, "QUEEN OF G.S." on. She wore it around the fair for 10 minutes waving to everyone, getting confused glances and making my Mom and I hysterically laugh!

After a while Austin and I headed back to the van so I could change boots before the other 2 hour show we had at 8 o clock, I made the mistake of wearing high heel boots to the Stampede and my feet were aching like they had never before, so Austin traded with me to walk to the van to retrieve the back-up boots I had packed in the car.


After relieving my feet we were back on the way to the Stampede once again this time for the Chuck wagon races! Wow. Intense doesn't even begin to describe these races. There were 9 heats of 4 wagons with two drivers and four thoroughbreds on each wagon. The wagons display a sponsor or logo on each and the bridals and reigns (for all of you who don't speak horses the things around their faces and neck) on the horses color coordinate for each wagon; that's how my family and I communicated who we thought would win for each race.

 At the beginning of each race the horses are aligned before a barrel and when the gun sounds they have to go around the barrel and then off to the race track. The horses sometimes got tangled up in the reigns and at one point one horse was so caught up it took a group of 12 men to untangle it! Heat after heat I never got used to the extremity of the power of the rumbling hooves and the screams of the crowd and drivers. It was awesome!

After the Chuck Wagon Races they brought out a color guard and the stampede Royalty, the Rodeo Queen Princess and Indian Princess and also some military men and a woman to sing their national anthem, "Oh Canada!"

During Oh Canada a Helicopter flew over the Arena waving the Canadian flag!

After the National Anthem they started to set up the stage for the night show. This was something you would not expect at the Calgary Stampede. The stage was huge and was brought out by massive tractor trailers, and the set was unusual and beautiful! I wish I could show pictures but just in the nick of time my camera died!  The show started and it was like broadway meets Avatar meets Rodeo. It was hard to describe but unforgettable! During one of the opening acts black horses came out of the stage and one didn't have a bridle or halter on at all, it followed it's trainer around while she sang and danced! They were trained so well. At one point during the show the performers were hoisted in the air 40 feet above the audience and were shooting confetti out of cannons and dancing and singing; It was incredible and crazy! The show was awesome, but we left earlier due to the pouring rain.


All in all it was a great experience and I hope we go again sometime as a family, maybe even make it a tradition to go to the Stampede! The only thing is next time we're flying!

-ACJ

Banff, Canada Here We Are!!!!

Our first day in the Rocky Mountain National Park started out with a bang- shopping in downtown Bannf.

After we had a delicious lunch Dad took us on a scenic route through the Park. We drove around for about an hour an a half and after everyone had there lunchtime naps we decided to go on a gondola tour.  At most ski resorts gondolas are ski lifts that they use during the off-season to take tourists up.

After waiting in line for an hour we embarked on the picturesque undertaking.  As you can see the views were well worth the wait.

Once we got to the top the man attending advised us that the even better views were awaiting us if we got off and he was right.  We even saw a lone bighorn sheep, and he loved mom b/c she was making these awful calling noises to him.

The way down on the gondola kind of stunk b/c our camera stopped working; pleading error 99 we had no way of understanding the depth of its damage. Everything played out though b/c Dad just bought Anne-Christian a camera of her own!!!

Our second day in Canada consisted of seeing the renowned Lake Louise. Overtaken by about 600 tourists, us included, it was hard to hike around or even venture elsewhere, Even though we didn’t really have very long to soak in its beauty, the magnificence of transient aquamarine water against such grandiose and powerful peaks is hard to disclaim. 

After we had lunch in downtown Lake Louise Greg took us on another scenic drive that lasted for another hour and a half and proved unfruitful in finding the tea room trail- sorry favorite Aunt Kitty :(((

Anne-Chrisitian and I made friendship bracelets as we traversed the Bow River Parkway via mini van though, and we made one for you!!

When we did find a cool trail to go on it took an arm and a leg to convince mom to join us. The idea of hiking 3 miles didn’t really appeal to her but thankfully she did it anyways!!  Johnston Cavern was our hiking trail and it gave breathtaking views because it was alongside a miraculous river: abounding with all its’ might in some places and then taking a slow but steady break in others. The Canyon was formed from 8000 years of erosion and even as we took our hike the creek continued to carve and deepen the chasm  below us!!!

I have to say that I think my mom’s favorite part was the ground squirrel that followed her all the way down the mountain. We all new she had a thing with squirrels but this one took that love to another level. 

St. Mary Montana and Glacier National Park!

So sorry that we haven’t been blogging the past few days! Our Internet was extremely slow at our campground in St. Mary, MT.

To catch you all up on our last two days in Emigrant Montana, we not only went on the best rafting trip possible, but we also did some big time shopping in downtown Bozeman!! Ford Smith, Vernon's son, is a rafting guide at Pigs Fly, and talked Christian into joining me on a rafting trip down the Yellowstone Rive. I had my first big rafting trip with my Aunt Jackie in Wyoming and fell in love, but Anne-Christian was quite scared b/c it was so unknown and new for her. Ford assured her though that 1. There would be no waterfalls and 2. That the oil spill was down river. Although no-one fell out it was still very exciting b/c we had people from all over the world on our boat, and the views were just breathtaking. AC and I were on the right side in the middle of the boat.

Heading out from Emigrant we drove just north a few hours to a campground a few miles away from the St. Mary entrance to Glacier National park. The first night we stayed our RV was ROCKED all night due to the 65 mph winds! We were so shaken in our RV that we had to put the extension to the RV back in, making our pull out bed go in as well; Austin had to sleep on the chair and I on the couch. Mom the next morning said that she was woken up and scared like us but instead of getting up to join us she decided that if she had to die she’d go in her sleep, so she went back to bed! The 2^nd night my dad was sweet and let my Mom sister and I share the master bed! Haha thanks again Dad!

 Glacier National Park has SO MUCH snow that there is globs of frozen white still layering not only the mountains but the roads as well, causing the park to be closed on many roads including the route from the East entrance to the West, making our visit to Glacier shorter than expected with a lot less to see.  

We managed to find a beautiful and easy trail to hike on our day to explore Glacier called St. Mary falls trail. As we hiked down, the first family we passed informed us there had been a bear spotting on the trail and to make plenty of noise and even sing to inform the bear of our presence and hopefully scare it away! Of course when we’re told to make noise and to sing my family does it! My mom and sister burst out in "Home on the Range" to be joined by my Dad and myself a little later into the song. We got tired of that song so Shania Twain was our next tune of choice. My Mom of course kept singing after we all had stopped; we all were scared the bear might come after us just to shut her up…Haha!

About a half mile down the trail there was the beautiful waterfall, St. Mary Falls, which creates St. Mary Lake, an extremely gorgeous lake that has the coolest color water, a deep aqua and blue-teal combination. My family concluded that the color had to be from the melting glacier. We took pictures and headed back up the trail to the van and spotted a doe in the woods!

After, we got lunch at a very interesting hotel! It was a German themed hotel and restaurant and it reminded Austin and I of a ski lodge since it was cold enough this day to be one! 

We headed on our way this time to explore the Park from a different entrance, with no luck seeing any more animals. But just as we were becoming tired and discouraged my Dad pulled over (for the 8^th time) to search the mountain-side for any animals with his binoculars. “OH THERE! THERE’S A GRIZZLY BEAR!” Hesitant at first to take him seriously I grabbed the other pair of binoculars and gasped as I saw a gargantuan honey colored grizzly bear standing up on all hind fours! After passing Mom the binoculars she pointed out that the bear had 2 cubs with her! It was a great way to end the journey Greg had taken us on…ALL DAY. 

We are now in Canada! Such a beautiful country, eh ya’ll? 

Later until tomorrow!

 ACJ/TLC/AJJ 

DAY 5- Gardner and Yellowstone Park

Today the family decided to pack up the van and drive about 30 miles from our quaint ranch in Emigrant, Mt to Gardener/Yellowstone National Park for shopping and of course beautiful nature sight seeing. It was a late start to the day when my Dad, Greg, who usually is early to rise by the latest 7:30 got up at 10 am! My mom was so surprised to find him still in bed so late she checked to see if he was still breathing! Haha. We were all up and getting ready by 11 and my Dad devised a plan for us to all go shopping in Gardner. As we got into the car Greg proposed his idea about going to Yellowstone National Park. "If were going to be in Gardener we may as well go!" He announced in his matter of fact tone. None of us girls were crazy about his idea. My mom didn't want to go because, like Austin, they had been there before and had seen it all already. I wasn't sure how to feel about going because I had heard it wasn't too exciting but then again I had never been so I wanted to see for myself. Although we had both opposing and agreeing opinions we had decided to go. We pulled into the little town of Gardener and before doing anything we got lunch. The restaurant was cute and was a place you could only find in Montana, a statue of a cowboy on a bucking bull outside.  After lunch we drove to the little shops before the entrance to the Park and shopped around. 

Austin was engulfed into a store that fit her well. It was an old Native American shop that smelt of incense and wood. The containers filled with nick-knacks, beaded bracelets and dream catchers. There were also knives engraved and painted with horses and beautiful swirls of colors and masks depicting Native American faces, some with red tears streaking down their faces and others with war paint. The store was a unique shop to say the least. 

After about an hour or walking around buying things and window shopping once again we piled into the van, this time to go to YellowStone National Park. We drove in and saw some beautiful post card like scenes. After a couple of miles we spotted our first wild life encounter of the day; we saw 6 or 7 Elk lounging in the grass and drinking water from the stream. After our tourist like pulling over to take pictures we got back on the way on our journey. 

We headed down the road and passed some beautiful nature that I forgot exisited amounst all the developments, McDondals and shopping malls of todays modern world. It was incredible! 

We were starting to get to some great spots to see the Park so my Dad had an idea about my Mom and sister opening their doors in the van so they could see better. Literaly 2 minutes after opening their doors a park ranger speedily walks up to my window. "Hello!" He chirped. "Hi!" we all said. "You can not do that!" Huh? I thought, that's weird its just opening doors. "Please pull over there." he said pointing to the side of the road near other parked cars. My Dad didn't quite understand that he meant pull over to talk to him, he understood that he was saying to pull over if we wanted to open the doors in the back seats. After my Dad continued to drive down the road I said, "Dad, he said to pull over." My Dad was confused but pulled over anyway and got out of the Van. Speed walking once again Mr. Ranger John came over. "Sir I asked you to pull over way back there!" He said in a stern voice. Long story short he slapped my Dad on the wrist and put his name on the "short list" for having the doors open. My mom spoke up during the silence and dropped my Aunt Jackie's name and how she was related to us (who is in charge of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming) into the conversation, and of course he knew who she was. We got back into the van laughing at the situation and my Dad swearing the only reason he bothered to pull us over was to check Austin and I out. Haha, I don't think that's true but who really knows. 

Ranger John, or Ranger Rick as my Dad called him.

We rode and got out to sight see for another hour and a half and had some funny laughs along the way. As much as my family argues we do know how to make each other laugh, that's what keeps us sane in my opinion. That was pretty much the end to our adventure today; tomorrow hopefully holds some more! -ACJ

DAY 4- RODEO TIME- YEAHHAAWWW

After driving through South Dakota and Wyoming we reached the beautiful Emigrant, Montana aka Big Sky. This will be our home for the next three days, and I couldn't be happier!!

As soon as we got in we put on our cowgirl boots and headed to the Smith house. The Smiths are an awesome family who we have been friends with for years. The dad, Vernon Smith, is an actual horse whisperer and they live on an exquisite ranch with over 50 horses and numerous other animals. They had us over for a hearty dinner before we made our way to the Rodeo, which is the biggest thing happening in Livingston all year!!

The Rodeo was awesome and it was surreal to be so close to bucking bulls and stir crazy stallions. Anne-Christian and I went with our new friends, Vern's kids, Austin( my only other friend that is a girl with the name Austin) and Ford, and their friends Dylan, Terry, Mary, Jack, and Eric. I think being with kids our age made it 100% better b/c as cool as it was to watch, the fact that they somewhat tortured the stallions and bulls was a little disheartening.

Like any good Rodeo the person sitting next to me threw up, we got rained on, I fell down the stairs, and to put the cherry on the ice-cream I dropped my phone in the Porta Potty and actually reached down and pulled it out. Wading through human feces with my hands definitely scarred me for life, and the best part is that my phone doesn't even work yet :(

Day 3- 1000 miles in no time at all

Day 3 has been very quiet and calm. My dad decided that in order to make Montana in time we would have to drive 1000 miles, and he did just that.  By a late 12 AM we found ourselves in a Walmart in Rapid City, South Dakota, setting up camp.

My mom drove for the first time today and actually did a great job!!! It was my dad who caused us to have a bird casualty not her!!

Day 2: Indiana

I am happy to say that through thick and thin we have made it safely to Crawfordsville, Indiana. We are currently at an awesome KOA Kampground, but before I go into more details about our current situation I should give you some background info on how we got here exactly.

We set out from out home in Summerfield, NC and not even 10 minutes from the house the fridge was opened and the milk, tomatoes, and meat products flew in every direction. Once set to a "safe" location another turn and they proceeded to scatter everywhere again. We learned early on that you needed to stay seated and keep your hands to yourself to survive with the RV's turbulence.

It took us a long 5 hours to get to the beautiful, constantly under construction, cousin loving state of West Virginia. We didn't really have a place to stay planned out so we parked at the only convenient free place around: WALMART. Too tired to extend the pull out bed Anne-Christian slept on the floor and I slept as close as possible to her seeing that it was 1:30 AM and it was a tad bit sketchy/scary.

Dad awoke at an early 6:30 AM and we made our way onward through Kentucky. As his co-pilot Kentucky definitely was a blessing because its' gorgeous horse farms intrigued my interests enough to keep me awake. We were making great time until a nice gentleman pulled up beside us and told us that a strap had broken on the van that we were pulling behind us.  It took us three hours to fix it, but thankfully it was even fixable at all!

Too tired to drive much more mom called around to RV camps and we found an awesome one in Indiana.  We just had an delicious grilled dinner of chicken, zucchini, and balsamic tomatoes, and now we are about to watch The Kings Speech on the tv outside!!!