A Final Walk Around

A few last shots from downtown Calgary.

There was a professional photographer taking pictures of the iconic gnome of Travelocity, the travel booking web site. We first saw him up on the observation deck, shooting the gnome against the skyline. Here he is again at the ticket desk on the ground, where he was kind enough to let me use his Pocket Wizard and lighting rig. We also spotted him and his assistant on top of an office building across the street. For a while they had the doll on the top of the wall, where I was certain it would fall 20 or 30 stories and kill someone.

7th Avenue downtown is the center of Calgary's excellent light rail system, the C Train. Otherwise, it's a bit spotty. A shop owner made a comment on the impending arrival of QE II's great grandchild. The train itself carries amusing advertising for Dos Equis Mexican beer.

Finally, another office tower goes up, with parody fine art at street level.

I have many more images from the Stampede I've just started to edit.  STL DPB will feature the Native Canadian area for the next couple of days.

Last Day In Calgary

Home by late tonight. We had an afternoon free in Calgary yesterday so we did what most of the tourists do, ride up the Calgary Tower. It's not quite as high as the St. Louis Arch (we win) but provides a sweeping view of the city. Who wants to go for a really high dive?

Downtown is definitely bigger and more modern than STL but the architecture is undistinguished. It compares unfavorably with some U.S. cities with a number of newish high rise buildings - Chicago and Seattle come to mind. Still, considering that it's a step and a half from the tundra, it's vibrant.

After we came down from the tower we walked around downtown. Some interesting images of that tomorrow. Still more i have not edited.                 

Rodeo

You might want to click this for background music while you read this post.

One of the not-to-be-missed events at the Calgary Stampede is the afternoon rodeo. First time for me. I'm not well acquainted with horses in general. The last time I sat astride one was when I was 5 and my mother had my picture taken on a pony. I've ridden a camel more recently. Anyway, it was a terrific show, even if I had no appreciation for the finer points.

There are lots more rodeo pictures on my hard drive. (There are a lot more pictures of everything.) We're in Banff now,in the spectacular Canadian Rockies. Supposed to be rainy today but it might make for some moody, atmospheric shots.                           

It's Yahoo!, Not Yee Haw!

Greetings from Calgary, Alberta, where it's still Friday. Our first few days here at the Calgary Stampede have been fascinating and exhausting. I hit a personal best or worst on Thursday, taking 2,123 photos, although many were repeated shots of the same subject, trying to get exposure and composition just right.

There were so many exciting things to see that I can only touch the surface in this post. That's me and Mrs. C in the top pic, doing the hi, kids, pose. Below, several shots from the ceremonies of the Canadian indigenous peoples. Farther down, two young women promoting a local radio station snack on the famous Canadian delicacy, chocolate covered bacon on a stick.

By the way, at least half of the people around here are wearing cowboy hats. It's no more unusual than baseball fans wearing a Cardinals hat at Busch Stadium. And we were instructed that the proper etiquette is to cheer someone on by shouting yahoo! The expression yee haw is for those, um, Texans.

So much more to come.