Alberta, Canada, 2011, Part Two of Two - Tourist information and my own stories

White water rafting sounds fun right? Well, it would be but when we arrived at the river, and

the very fast moving rapid river may I say, I was not filled with excitement but more of dread, lets face it, if you fall in, how on earth do you stop yourself from going with the flow and not drowning - it really did look like a washing machine cycle. I was given a life jacket to prevent me from sinking lol and off we went. We had one instructor guiding the water raft at the rear and one instructor guiding the side of the raft, the rest of us were bouncing ducks...how on earth is this fun! The Instructor was deliberately trying to get the lads to fall in, and they were loving it. Me, I was crying inside with fear, wanting to hang on to dear life lol There was no way in this world I was going to fall in, I think I lost a few fingers nails, as I was holding on to the raft so tightly! Once done, never again but at least I could say I did it!

Calgary stampede (July 2011) I had never been before so we all took the day off to experience this event, and it really did not disappoint. Calgary itself is a gorgeous city but I still could not get over the fact that the people were wearing Cowboy hats, I really thought these were only worn by Americans for example in Dallas or Nashville but not in Canada, I was wrong, goes to show I need to learn more about history of countries. Calgary is such a warm, welcoming city and I was really impressed at how clean it was too. So, the stampede surprised me even more so because the parade was full of Scottish attire, different tartans, Scottish clan flags and bag pipes being played in the background non-stop. This was for a few good hours, and I could not understand the link between Scotland and Calgary??? Talking to the locals, I wanted to find out the history as I am a history buff. One woman informed me that the tartan colours were not representing Scotland but the certain colours of this tartan (see photo of tartan attached) represented parts of Calgary city such as the colour red linked into Calgary stampede teams, blue represented rivers of Calgary, yellow represented wheat-fields, grey represented the Rocky mountains, black represented gas and oil industry and white represented Calgary's pride - all this information can be found in the Scottish tartan register too under the weblink https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=477

Thus, this certain tartan did not represent Scotland but the colours of this specific tartan did represent Calgary which is why most of the participants in the parade wore it. (picture taken from https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=477 )

Another gentlemen informed me that the reason there was a large Scottish influence was due to the amount of Scottish settlers that came to Canada throughout the years, have had a massive impact on Canada for example, did you know that certain parts of Canada are named after Scottish explorers or Scottish locations, such as the ski resort of Banff is named after the Banff in Aberdeenshire and Calgary is named after a Scottish beach hence the Scottish influence within the stampede. (information also taken from wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Canadians. )

The sound of the bagpipes, the Scottish dancing, the drums sounding and the various Cowboy routines made this stampede fascinating to watch and has given me one of the best memories one could ask for. There is of course more history to this stampede and here is a link for this, should you be interested in visiting the Calgary stampede, I highly recommend! https://www.calgarystampede.com/stampede?_ga=2.8387829.630052128.1634006485-274810380.1634006475

Lake Louise in Alberta, has to be one of the worlds most spectacular lakes ever, and the hotel which is called Fairmont chateau is treasure gold, it looks like a fairy tale castle - the coffee and cake shop are literally amazing, extremely glamorous and luxurious. (You would need to do the walks around the lake just to burn off the calories from the delicious cakes you ate in the coffee shop). Also you should reserve as you may have to queue up for long hours just to get a seat. The views, the walks, the colours of the lake - bright blue, the rocks for rock climbing or abseiling, the forest paths, all of it are magical, and a must visit if you go to Alberta. You truly have to experience this lake. You can kayak on it and I did see some small boats, it is a very large lake that you can walk around, does take a while but I promise you, that you will not be disappointed. Information about Lake Louise can be found here: https://www.banfflakelouise.com/lake-louise

Banff, what a town, never heard of it before but I soon found out it was the home of the Rocky mountains and the skiing slopes do not disappoint - there are a number of ski slopes ranging for all different abilities and are worth checking. The town itself has plenty of shops, restaurants, bars, hotels where the local deer would come to our window and check us out, surreal to be so close to these stunning wild animals, overall a gorgeous town. Easy to drive around, and pretty safe too. (https://www.banff.ca/ )

I loved this town and its neighbour Canmore, which is also another ski resort, with waterfalls to visit. It is also the home of the indigenous nation called Metis, and we were advised not to enter certain parts of Canmore out of respect for this indigenous group, the last thing they would most likely want, are nosy tourists. But we did pass their settlements, and they do appear to live in a humble way filled with their traditions and culture. Secretly, I wished I could visit them, they certainly could teach me a few things about spirituality and life values. (https://canmore.ca/residents/about-canmore)

Overall, Alberta is worth a visit, and there are plenty of places you can stay, hire a car and explore the spectacular lakes, mountains and of course the lovely city of Calgary. I cannot emphasise just how gorgeous and breathtaking this part of Canada is and I highly recommend it. You can walk the main roads, and go from lake to lake, mountain to mountain and simply take it all in. Really cannot recommend Alberta enough!!!! Photos will be attached soon, currently away from my photo booth, travelling another wonderful country - Thailand.

Thanks for reading this information blog which was in two parts, and I hope they have inspired you to go to Alberta.

with love Toni xxx