Day 25 – Sunday, July 7
It was a gorgeous day today – 22o (that’s Celsius—see if you can figure out Fahrenheit) It’s the first day we haven’t had a threat of rain—it was all blue skies, puffy clouds and nice breeze.
We’re beginning to remember how many weeks we’ve been gone by the number of churches we’ve attended for Sunday mass, (the number of pill-minders to be refilled is also a good reminder of how long we’ve been gone!) Today we went to our third church--St. Pius X which was just a few blocks away from our “camp”. Instead of prayer cards and hymnals, they projected the words to the songs and prayers on the wall—kind of different. The "choir” was complete with bongos, and rhinestone studded blue jeans. We expected to hear Yahoo instead of Amen. They even had a Stampede breakfast after mass—the Stampede is infectious here!
We attended 2 events at Stampede Park today…what a show! We had no idea what we were in for. First, the Chuckwagon races…
Each team has four horses and the ones used in these races are retired thorobred racing horses—quite accomplished. The teams do a figure 8 around barrels, and then a lap around the track. We’re used to 4-wide race cars in a turn, but it was pretty exciting to see 4 chuckwagons maneuvering through turn 1! A new track record was set today too! It was fast and furious and action-packed! Many of these wagon drivers were former athletes (hockey, football, etc.) They are vying for over $1million in prize money!
The Clydesdales showed up too. It’s amazing these animals each weigh about 2,000 lbs
Then, we wrapped up the evening with the Stampede Extravaganza, and what an extravaganza it was!! A Super Bowl halftime show pales in comparison to what we saw tonight. It was filled with spectacular acts that brought gasps and shouts of excitement. There were people and pianos flying through the air over the crowd, along with dancers, acrobats, singers, violin players, etc. etc.
Even KISS showed up for a surprise performance.
The stage was an engineering accomplishment in itself, accompanied by a fantastic light show.
The evening concluded with a spectacular fireworks finale, unlike anything we’ve ever seen. It was midnight by the time we got home!
Calgary sure knows how to throw a party!
1 comment:
Here's a tip to help "translate" the Celsius to Fahrenheit temperatures:
Just remember this little poem:
30 is Hot
20 is Nice
10 is Cold
0 is Ice
Also ...if you remember that a Liter is "a quart and a gulp", you'll find it a little easer to calculate your fuel consumption.
Hope you find these tips helpful ... they worked for my 7th grade science students ;-)
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