The city of Calgary and the end of the Alaska Tour
After a few months out on the road in some beautiful yet unpopulated places, the Eco Womb Tour arrived in the big city of Calgary for a week and discovered some cool places within the big city.
When we arrived, it was Leo’s 6th birthday. He wanted to go to a playground with some friends he had met in Jasper so we headed to nearby Ralph Klein Park, out on the outskirts of the suburbs.
The well-designed playground at Ralph Klein Park.
It was a very interesting place, with a zipline and a sandbox full of building materials. The kids had a lot of fun on the structures for a couple hours.
Whole fam out for dinner together!
Once we were done there, we drove into the city and stopped a a pizza place called Avatara. I am not exaggerating when I say they had some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. Crust was delectable, the toppings were fresh and funky, and the service was excellent. We visited it twice more before we left the city.
We were in Calgary to get some stuff taken care of, so that took up most of our time. The replacement part that we had been waiting on was impossible to ship, so we decided to get it in Bozeman. We did some work with the engine, hoping we could fix the overheating issues that had been plaguing us for months.
At the Spark with two little fireballs!
When we needed a break, we headed into the city for more fun. Just across the river from downtown lay TELUS Spark, a science-based children’s museum that was full of cool exhibits. There were exhibts on Calgary’s weather and energy sources, which i found quite interesting. Alberta is oil country, the “Texas of Canada”, and most of the energy exhibits were focused on that. Of course, being a of alternative energy for years, I was hoping to see more solutions that involved renewable energy.
There was a very big play area outside, with perhaps the tallest slide I had ever seen! Everyone loved climbing up the ropes to the top, me included.
Mama Bear having fun with her kiddos!
After we were done at Spark, we went into downtown Calgary, which was very modern, with lots of glass and grey stone. The Bow river flows right through the center of town, and the banks of the river are lined with parkland and bike paths. There was a island located in the middle of the river that we took a nice walk on. The island seemed to be the home of black squirrels, which i had seen only a few times before, as they are extremely rare.
Finger Cuff Bridge.
We ended up at this bridge, which reminded me of those finger cuffs where you put your fingers in and then they get stuck (I know you know what I’m talking about). It was both pedestrian and bike-friendly, and traffic moved along quickly. We noted that Calgary seemed to be a very bike-friendly place in general, with abundant bike lanes and dedicated paths with speed limits and stop signs. It was like a mini-road system.
Calgary’s fancy downtown area.
Downtown Calgary seemed nice, with all the lights and tall buildings, but we were looking for another vibe. So we drove a few miles south to 17th, which was in the older part of Calgary and filled with restaurants, cute little boutiques and hidden gems of places like HG Vintage and Purr.
The cat at Purr
We ate a yummy dinner of grass-fed burgers and fries at Clive Burger, a hole-in-the-wall joint sandwiched between shops.
Dop mural outside HG Vintage!
After a full week in Calgary, with the weather worsening, we packed up and drove south, out of Canada and back to the continental USA. Just before we left, Canada said its goodbyes by blasting us with a twenty-minute blizzard, complete with 100-kph winds. That was crazy!
With our Alaska Tour complete, we were unsure of what was next, but we knew we would find the next place soon.
The family that travels together, stays together.
This has been really fun. To document our journey, to Alaska and back, was actually very useful. I wish I had started doing this long before this trip. Since we have returned, I’m going to be taking a little break from writing this blog. I’m not gone forever, but I need to focus on my own path forward.
Bye y’all!