OUR TRIP TO CALGARY AB

Albert - Wild Rose Country

City of Calgary, Alberta

Karen and I spent a week in Calgary. We wanted to see how Geoff and Janna were doing, where they lived, worked, and what life is like in Calgary.

We flew in from Hamilton ON with Westjet on Oct 09, 07 and arrived in Calgary at 9:30 Alberta Time.

The weather was great all week and we had a super time.

The Bow River runs through Calgary
It originates in the Rockies

We explored the countryside,
which is absolutely beautiful.

We took a trip to Banff and Lake Louise.

The Rockies are awesome.

You can see them from Calgary and

they seem to be very closeby.

It takes about an hour to get there.

Rockies, taken from BC

Lake Louise

We also took a side trip to Edmonton with Geoff and Janna. It is about a three hour drive from Calgary. The purpose was to see the West Edmonton Mall. This is a great place, especially if you have children. You can go swimming, skating, bowling, golfing, or go to the amusement section with many rollercoasters, or just spend your money in restaurants and eatery's and go shopping in as many as 1000 stores. Here are some pics.

Fountain Display lined

with Palm trees and bridges.

Rollercoaster

with Geoff and Janna

in front seat.

Huge Waterpark

with Waves,

Waterslides,

Beach area

Skating Rink


Deep Sea Adventure

with large Bridge,

Pirate Ship,
and bumper boats

There are different streets in the mall:

Chinatown, Bourbon Street,
West & East Main Street,
And the picture is of Europa Boulevard

.........and there are Flamingos in the Mall

Karen and I enjoyed our stay in Calgary

and our time with Geoff & Janna

They showed us around, went for walks,

enjoyed the spectacular views of Calgary and

the Rockies. We enjoyed a few restaurants dinners,

as well as the dinners at their home.

They have a neat place and very centrally located.

Following are some pics from our stay.

Geoff's Birthday Celebration

Janna getting ready for

another week of teaching.

Another view point in G/J's home

Geoff on the phone with

his brother in Florida

Mother is being lazy

Geoff BQing on back deck

Karen in Janna's kitchen

Another great meal

The first thing, we noticed when we arrived in Calgary is that the people are very friendly and very courteous on the road. It is rare that someone is on your tail pushing or trying to go faster than the traffic. When there are lane changes due to construction, the traffic flows right through, alternating cars from each lane without trying to sneak in or preventing someone else to go ahead. It is a real neat experience, especially when you are not used to that kind of courtousy on the road in Ontario.

The other thing we noticed, especially after coming back to Ontario, is that the air is very dry. The temp was the same in Calgary as back at home the day we came back. In Calgary we felt warm and at home we had to turn the heat on because of the dampness.

Everywhere we went in Calgary, as well as in Edmonton, there are "Help Wanted" signs on every store, or place of business. All kinds of jobs available: managers, ass. managers, store clerks, welders, millwrights, truck drivers, machinists, fork lift operators, etc, etc. Several stores had signs of reduced days or hours, because of staff shortages. Some stores were even closed due to lack of staff.

It is definately a nice place to visit and live. We will go back again sometime!