Calgary Stampede Day One 2013

Rope Square, Calgary, AL at 7:30 am, they are giving away pancakes & bacon.  This may be a day of surprises.  We are scheduled to see the rodeo show of The Calgary Stampede.

All around us we see evidence of the huge flood 3 weeks ago.  Much as ‘Boston Proud’ rallied the folks in that town a few months ago, the term Hell or High Water will long be remembered here.  The water at its zenith  reached to the 10th row of seating in the coliseum !  I have no i-net as I write this, I suggest that you Google <Calgary Flood 2013>.

On day 2 of 7 they have sold out of these shirts {$10 of the $20 cost goes to red Cross Flood relief.  While we were walking around after the 1st performance serendipity pops up!  I notice  a fellow pushing a cart that I'm sure hold garments in the the clothing store.  There are about 12 cases of 72 shirts/case, time to get aggressive so I call Anne-Marie over.

 

 

This wasn’t pretty, be happy there is no sound.  The only thing I can compare it to is a feeding frenzy of sharks!  Did she get our 2 shirts?  Does a bear poop n the woods?

 

 

 

Note:  I have just lost the apostrophe/quotes key on my key board, hope you can live with it as my buddy Ray is about 2,000 miles East of us. 

We arrived at the fair ground rather early in the morning, Anne-Marie headed directly to the mini-donut supplier.  She called them Fat in a Bag, they were sinfully delicious.

Each performance opens with an opening ceremony.  We went to 3 performances the opening was different for each.  One common thread was they thanked the local emergency services and the crowd went wild.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chuck Wagon Racing 101 for Beginners.

Each heat has 4 teams.  Each team consists of a wagon with 4 horses, these are typically retired race horses that are eager to run.  Each team also has 2 out riders that help stage the team for the start, they must than mount their horses and finish within 150 Ft of their team..

As seen below, at the start the teams make a J-turn around a barrel, enter the race track and gallop 2/3 abrest around the 1/2 mile track.

         Staged                                                         The Start                                                  Around the barrels {riders on horseback}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              The 3rd Turn                               In the stretch!

The Finish ( 1 minute, 12 seconds) and The Crowd goes Wild!