We took our first Tauck tour, the Best of the Canadian Rockies, in 2009.  We arrived early so we could explore Calgary and chose a tour date that would allow us to be in town for the Calgary Stampede.  The Canadian Pacific Railway has its headquarters in Calgary.  It is also known for the hotels it established to promote ridership on their passenger trains.  We stayed at two of these, Chateau Lake Louise and Banff Springs Hotel, during this trip.

Walking around Calgary, we came across several statues, collectively called The Family of Man.  I have included pictures of two of the statues I especially liked.  The second has an interesting story.  The woman is holding a placard that says “Women are Persons.”  The British North America Act of 1867 said men were “always” persons and sometimes women were persons.  In 1916, Emily Murphy became the first woman police magistrate in the British Empire, but her authority was challenged.  Later, she wanted to be the first female senator in Canada, but three prime ministers refused to seat her because she was not a person.  Murphy was one of the “Famous Five,” women who sought to change the law enabling women to be considered qualified persons to serve in the Senate.  Initially losing, they won the case on appeal.

We also went to Calgary Tower.  The Calgary Tower was completed in 1967, and is over 600 feet tall.  It weighs almost 11,000 tons – 60% of which is underground.  The observation deck allows for a 360 degree view of Calgary.  A natural gas cauldron was added in 1987 in honor of the Winter Olympics which were held in Calgary in 1988.  A glass floor, measuring about 36 feet long and 4 1/2 feet wide, was added in 2005 allowing visitors to look directly down to the street.  In the second picture, you can see this area jutting out from the rest of the observation deck.  The next picture shows this from inside the tower.  And of course, like so many before me, I stood there and took a picture looking at the street that included my foot.  The last picture is one of the views of Calgary we saw from the Tower.

As I mentioned at the beginning, we were in Calgary during the Calgary Stampede.  This is an annual event and lasts about ten days.  The Calgary Stampede is like a large festival featuring rodeo events, exhibitions, music, and amusement rides.  The first picture is of the Calgary Stampede grounds taken from the Calgary Tower.  The whole city is enthused about the Stampede.  Front windows in stores, restaurants, banks and businesses are decorated for the Stampede.  First Nations people have participated in the Calvary Stampede for over 100 years.  A “teepee- village” is a chance to learn about their history and culture.  They also participated in parades and the beginning of events such as the Chuckwagon Races.  We decided to attend the Chuckwagon Races, something I had never heard of prior to reading about the Calgary Stampede.  They are described like this in Wikipedia:

Chuckwagon racing is a team event, led by a driver who commands a team of horses pulling the chuckwagon, and is supported by two or four outriders, each racing individual thoroughbred horses that follow the chuckwagon. Each race typically involves three or four teams, and begins with the outriders “breaking camp,” by tossing two tent poles (with four outriders only) and a barrel representing a camp stove into the back of their wagon before mounting their horses and following the wagons as they complete a figure eight around two barrels before circling a race track.

Tickets for the Chuckwagon Races are in high demand – looking back, I found we purchased ours in early December (our trip was in July).

Our tour group met the next day and we traveled to Kananaskis for the night.  Kananaskis is at the foot of the Rocky Mountains making for a beautiful drive.  These are some of the pictures from the area.