Calgary during the summer is a vibrant city that has
tremendous energy. Despite the flooding, the city opted to go forward with
Stampede: Come Hell or High Water. After much debate, we chose to avoid
Stampede and spent a day at Calaway Park with friends instead. Keeping in mind
the ages of the children involved and the need to spend time with friends and
Grandma, this made more sense as Stampede is definitely an all day commitment.
So, after chilling out Thursday in a lovely back garden complete with
trampoline, and developing a bad case of Kitchen Envy, our hosts went golfing
and we went for Breakfast with Grandma at Cadence in Bowness.
This is the strangest part of the Calgary/ Fort McMurray
2013 flood for me. I realize that so many areas have been devastated by
flooding, especially High River. The issue is that in many of the flooded
communities, the outward cleanup makes things look fine, when they are not.
High humidity leads to mold and so many of the hardest hit areas will not have
flood insurance. If you are constructed on a known flood plain, there is no
help for you. Yet, when driving through Bowness, where you know people have
lost everything, there is not one shred of evidence available on the main strip
to see that they need help. It was disconcerting, yet flood relief signs in
business windows are everywhere. The community is strongly supporting their
community by donating proceeds from sales to the relief effort, and so we ate
breakfast at Cadence. Not only was it fabulous and a great place to meet up
with Grandma, it felt right.
After breakfast and shoe shopping at the thrift store WIN
where the girls came out with lots of shoes and I came out with shell shocked
eyes having discovered that my eldest has a ladies size 5 foot, we drove out
West to Calaway Park. We had never been there before and once the girls
realized it was an amusement park, we were sunk. Admission was paid and off we
went.
It was a quieter day for Calaway Park thanks to Stampede.
Through-out the day, we went on rides that drove, bumper cars, the log ride and
spun, dropped and gamed to our hearts content. Picnics were eaten and mini-golf
played. The lines were short and the coffee delicious. I will say that this
place is better for the older kids as they are rigid with their height and age
restrictions, but nevertheless, it was a fabulous day out.
After that, it was just enough time to have
dinner in the backyard oasis and pack up for the next adventure. Idaho.
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