Friday, July 4, 2014

stampede

My parents weren't exactly good on researching before any family vacation. And when I say 'parents' I mean my father who owned the car, did all the driving and made all the decisions.
So, when I was about ten, a Triptik was ordered from CAA and we did the first half of the cross country tour and headed out west (the following year we went down east). What I remember most of that trip was the unending heat, in a car with no air conditioning.

And arriving in Calgary on the first weekend of the Stampede.

Somehow we managed to find a campground where we could park the trailer, though it took an awful lot of driving in circles and not asking for directions from my father and pleadings from my mother.
In the end, we drove into Calgary to see the 'sights' and find a restaurant. The place was almost deserted. Probably everyone was at Stampede Park. For some reason that has always been beyond me, my father was never interested in such fun cultural events. Since he 'owned the car and drove the car', seeing anything of the Stampede was not much of an option. The next day we hightailed it out of there to Banff.

The Calgary Stampede has been a tradition of one of the world's greatest outdoor rodeos for 102 years and today was the opening day parade.
Happy 4th of July to my American friends

PostcardFriendshipFriday

9 comments:

  1. I hope you had some fun at Banff.

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    1. being in the mountains were definitely a favourite!

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  2. I wonder if your dad was related to mine lol.

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    1. he was a man of little imagination. if it wasn't a) his idea or b) of any interest to him, then forget it.

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  3. Let's not go there...I am too old! But, now you can make and have your own fun because YOU OWN THE CAR!!!...:)JP

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    1. yep, I do. maybe that is why I am always going on detours and NEVER go straight from A to B!

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  4. That's funny to me that your father "owned" the car since all marital assets are technically joint property.

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    1. well, this was in the 60s, and it would have been a moot point as my mother never learned to drive. I remember he used to come home with a 'new' car that none of us knew he was buying.

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  5. My Daddy drove the car, too--though we ended up camping in marvelous places like Mt. Hood, Clear Lake, and other amazing vistas. My Mom never learned to drive either! lol But those were the times, I think. I remember gas at 30cents a gallon, and retread tires, with pieces of the tires slapping a rhythm on the road until they finally broke off. lol What bright colors on that postcard! LOVE the postcard, and thank you for sharing your memories.

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