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Calgary, Alberta - Day 1Jul 12, 2007
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Steep, winding TC#1 leaving Golden, B.C.
Massive bridge under construction leaving Golden, B.C.
Rocky Mountains near Banff
DAY 1
Today, we had our first bit of 'driving' excitement. Leaving Golden, B.C. we were headed down a 2 lane fairly steep, straight grade when two baby mountain goats suddenly ran out on to the road about 100 yards in front us. There was no way I had anytime to even think about stopping. Paulette and I were both absolutely positive we were going to hit both of the goats! Luckily, there was nothing in the lane to my left so I was able to brake, swerve to try and miss the lead goat and just hope for the best. Amazingly, our truck and 5th wheel went right between the two of them missing each by no more than a foot I'm sure. We looked back in the mirrors and saw that both had made it safely to the other side of the highway.
A very scary couple of moments for us - not to mention the goats! A couple of minutes later, a woman drove up along side of us, honked and gave us the 'thumbs-up' to indicate she saw what had happened and that the baby mountain goats were o.k.
After that, it was a, thankfully, non-eventful drive all the way into Calgary. We arrived at the Whispering Spruce campground just north of Calgary at 4:30pm. It's not much of a campground - just a big field, no trees, dirt/gravel, bumpy roads and very, very noisy. We are right between Alberta Highway #2 and a railroad line. Just for good measure, we are also on the flight path of the Calgary International Airport. So, we are just calling this place 'Trains, Planes and Automobiles' - a very noisy place, but you do kind of get used to it.
Just for good measure, as I went to hook-up the sewer, I discovered it was completely blocked up. I told the owners about it and they promised to have it looked at and fixed first thing in the morning. It turns out it wasn't just our site that was plugged up, but the whole row we were in. And, it just happened about 15 minutes before we arrived!
Erin and Rhett came to our campsite for dinner and afterwards we drove over to see their new condo in southwest Calgary. It is brand new, one of three condominiums in the development - very high end and is really beautiful inside and out! Everything about it is first class. It is situated in an area called Discovery Ridge in southwest Calgary. There are lots of wooded areas nearby with pathways for walks and hiking.
DAY 2
The campsite owners finally got the sewer hook-up unplugged about 11:30am this morning, although I did have to go at 10:00am and ask them about it again. They don't seem all that interested here and it sure doesn't make me want to come back to this place. We were thinking about staying an extra day here in Calgary, but we've changed our minds and are going to leave on Sunday morning as originally planned.
Maggie arrived from Victoria this morning via WestJet. Erin picked her up at the airport and brought her out to our campsite. Paulette, Erin and Maggie soon took off to go shopping while I stayed behind to look after Mo and Molly - so, I had a nice relaxing day just sitting in the shade, reading and taking the dogs for a few walks. It's still very hot here - over 30C!
After everyone got back, Rhett came over, we barbequed hamburgers and just stayed around the campsite for the evening. No one seems to be too interested in going to the Stampede grounds and that's fine with me! It's just too hot for that as far as Paulette and I are concerned. Neither of us are really into the Stampede thing anyway.
We had the usual assortment of highway noise and trains during the night, but at least it cooled down a bit and we were able to sleep without the a/c on last night. Talking to some of the campsite neighbours it appears that none of them are very impressed with the Whispering Spruce RV Park - I know we won't be back here that's for sure. We're already looking forward to moving on to the next location on our trip and leaving this dump behind.
DAY 3
Got up this morning and actually saw a few clouds in the sky for the first time in a week. A few drops of rain fell but the clouds quickly vanished and we were back to hot, hot, hot again.
We spent the morning driving around some of the new neighbourhoods in Calgary - they seem to be everywhere!! Thousands of houses springing up in areas they call "New Communities". In the afternoon, Paulette, Erin and Maggie went to see the big IKEA store while I went back to the RV Park with Mo and Molly!
Erin, Maggie and Rhett decided to go and check out the Stampede in the evening, but Paulette and I opted to stay at our campsite and start packing up and putting everything away so we can get a nice early start for our trip to tomorrow's destination - the Ponderosa RV Park in Swift Current, SK. We've pretty much had it with Whispering Spruce - the sooner we can get out of here the better!
When we got back to our campsite, Paul, Marleen, Brent and Helen came over for a visit as they are staying just a few sites down from us. They've been in Calgary since Monday and have been going to the Stampede quite a bit.
