Day 18 Calgary

After studying some options of what to see in Calgary, we decided to go to the Heritage theme park. It was on the opposite side of town but we have experience in locating sites in faraway cities so we started on our journey. We took the shuttle to the airport, the 300 bus to the city, the light rail through the centre of town to a changeover station, another light rail to Heritage stop and a shuttle bus to the park. We saw both old and new parts of the city and the total cost for the return trip was $8.50 each. The transport system is very easy to use even for those who have trouble walking, like me.

Heritage Park is the largest living history experience in Canada. It is a real –life, interactive story of life in western Canada from the 1860s to the 1950s. It was built on land which was originally owned by a pioneer farmer, Sam Livingston. He settled here in 1877 and his homestead is still part of the park.  We walked down a street which was representative of town streets from the time period. We saw the inside of old houses with people dressed in period costumes who told us about life in those times. We were amazed when we entered the classroom because the wooden desks and inkwells were exactly the same as the ones we had used until Grade 7 ourselves (1965/66). There were slates like the ones we had used in Infants School and the wall maps and hand writing guides were very similar as well.

There were dray rides with Clydesdales struggling in the heat to pull the people around. There were more horses in the paddocks belonging to the farms and there were shady parks with bench seats for parents to sit on to watch their children play. It was a great place for families. There were log cottages and wooden ones which housed the bakery, the post office, a printing establishment and the 3 railroad stations. We rode the railroad and marvelled at the age of the train: 120 years old carriages, 129 year old carriage and a 1944 steam engine.  The carriages had been part of the Canadian Pacific Railway. We also went on the paddle steamer (S.S. Moyie) for a trip around Glenmore Reservoir which is the water supply for Calgary. We saw dragon boat races and lots of sailing boats and kayaks on the water. Our last stop was at Gasoline Alley which housed the private collection of vintage cars of a local identity. There were old fords, model T ford, Reo speed wagon, a marmon, a buick, an oldsmobile, very early 1910-1920 american cars, original garage signs and a wide range of gas pumps all beautifully restored.

Next year is the 50^th anniversary of the park’s opening but they had lots of celebrations there today. There were 6 weddings being held there today so as we left there were bridal parties and guests arriving. In April this year there were massive floods in Calgary and most of the CBD went under so the wedding venues cancelled all bookings from April until November this year and lots of brides had to find new wedding venues. They were being married in the church, the printing house,  the homestead and gasoline alley today. The last bride was going to walk down the aisle in between old petrol bowsers and beautiful vintage cars…at least it would be an unusual wedding.

As we were leaving, Neil talked to an MX5 driver who was parked at the entrance waiting for his wife to appear. He was the one and only owner of his 1996 NA blue MX5. He bought it new when he retired as a toy to enjoy but he is disappointed that none of his sons or grandchildren is interested in it because it is a manual and they want automatics. He has refused offers to sell it. It has done 115,000 kms and it is still on its original tyres. It is only driven 4 months each year because of the cold weather. Neil was wearing his 2010 NatMeet shirt so the fellow was very impressed.

Tomorrow we pick up a hire car and head towards Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise. Bye for now.