Calgary Stamped 2010...Tick!
The introduction to the festivities began with the famous Stampede Pub Crawl. As the event was sold out I was quite glad to have 'lady random' on my side which had me meet a lovely local girl two days prior. Her Birthday party happened to occupy one of the busses and my Calgarian host was unable to attend due to unforseen work commitments which left one ticket available! Massive score!
I was a little surprised when I learned the day began at 12 noon and was well aware there was to be some early tap outs. I, however, was not one of them. My exploits took me right through until 3am the following morning, making it my biggest single party effort on record!! So that was my first gigantic tick for the country fest 2010. I must also note I met some very fun and entertaining people during the day foremost of which was the Birthday Girl, Tiff, who's drunken bus chants became increasingly unrecognisable as the night progressed!!
The next major experience was the actual Rodeo on the Stampede grounds. Have I been to a rodeo now? Yes. Was it the biggest rodeo show on planet earth? Yes. Whatever, no big deal... It's also worth noting that golf ball hail stones, fringes of cyclones and buckets of big fat rain were in abundance during my stay in Calgary. But having the weather god on my side was very comforting and I enjoyed the sunshine the day of the rodeo. My favourite was the main event: the Bull Riding. TV coverage does not do justice to the size and intensity of these beasts. There was also horseback rodeo, calf roping and wrestling and the ladies event, the barrel ride. Tick.
The visit to the Stampede grounds was topped of at night by a visit to the renowned party tent 'Nashville North' which allegedly houses up to 3000 people per night! It was quite an impressive sight, complete with full size stage, live bands and staggering acoustics. Tick.
Calgary Stamped 2010...Tick!
