Calgary - Day 1

We left Drumheller around 10:30, after a nice breakfast of local cinnamon rolls. Yum! Luckily the drive was short because dad's truck is still having problems keeping coolant. We stopped once in a little town called Biesecker and then headed west on HWY 267 through Airdrie and across HWY 2. We arrived at our campground a little before noon. The park is nice with several thoughtful touches but it is also in the middle of the prairie. Not a lot of wind protection but beautiful sunsets and great conveinence factor (Gas station, C-store, ligquor store and RV parts store on site).

After settling in we headed for the #1 attraction the boys were dying to try - the Olympic Park. I had read about some of the activties at the park and the kids were jazzed to try the Euro Bungee Trampoline and some of the other activities on the mountian. Unfortunately, when we got there we learned that several of the activities were not in session or closed for the day, including the Bungee. Big bummer. To be honest, I was incredibly underwhelmed by the park - the attractions that sounded so cool on the webpage turned out to be weak versions of the discriptions. The athletes are training in the luge so it was closed (pre-Olympic year after all) and the ski jump tower was closed, as well.

After muddling around for a while Steve decided to do the Z-Ball which is a giant clear plastic ball that you strap yourself inside of and go tumbling down the hill. We had fun watchng him but I was glad to be on land.

The boys eventually warmed to the idea of doing some activities, including rock climbing wall and spider climber. We ended up having fun but we ready to move on a lot earlier than I had planned. Steve reminds me that perhaps my expectations were too high but the bottom line is that I expected Olympic proportion events and it just wasn't about that.

We then headed downtown to visit the Calgary Tower, which was cool but like most revolving buildings in major metropolitans, a lot of money for an elevator ride. We got some great views of the city and Colby had fun playing on the glass floor.

We walked around downtown Calgary for a bit and saw some sights then headed out to what we thought was nice western boots store. That turned out to be a little bit of a dud but thankfully next door was a Go-Kart park. We were all in a little bit of a funk after a slightly disappointing day and when Steve suggested the Go-Karts the day suddenly turned around. We all donned helmets and mom dukes it out with dad while Steve rode with Colby and I drove Grady. Talk about a blast! We had 10 minutes on the course and it wasn't enough. It was great. We came home and had a campfire then went to bed.