Thanks to all, but there's still a bit of Calgary to do.
Lets call this post "A few odd things".
First, the famous 'Calgary Stampede' Its sort of a western Royal Easter Show, but with the addition of the Chuck Wagon Races. Yee-ha! A chuck (small covered) wagon, with 4 in hand, plus 4 outriders take off from a central point, go round the circuit, then finish in a sprint. The year I went, there was a thunder storm just prior, so things got a bit muddy ... The RH pic is actually the start and the LH pic the gallop to the finish.
Then, at the end of the day, they tow the stage in front of the grand stand and we all have a good 'ol western show
Now Canadians are great on the great outdoors. They have a lot of it. And they have a lot of wildlife. And they like to hunt it & fish it.
Bass Pro I think is a US chain of very large stores dedicated to killing animals, by any means possible :shock:. Now I don't mind people hunting and I enjoy a fish myself, but I must say this store, on the outskirts of Calgary must be one of the most bizarre shops I have ever entered. The store itself is huge and you enter under an arch of 'racks' (genuine, I think) and throughout the store are any number of stuffed bears, elk, caribou, deer, you name it!
Truly a temple of hunt'n, fish'n and shoot'n in general. Theres an archery range, about 50m of gun racks, a 'cutlery' area (its not for setting the table ... more your Crocodile Dundee : "Now THAT's a knife" type of thing). More fishing gear than you could ever need and of course camo everything ... Boats, ATVs, canoes, all under one roof.
And of course its just the place to pick up a bottle of coon urine or packet of doe droppings. Can't get those down at Wal-Mart
Now ... just a couple of cases of beer, and we're set!