Calgary stampede - Howdy and yee-haw!

After taking the bus from Edmonton to Calgary (yep, still traveling without a rental car, it's more effort, but cheaper and it works), I checked into my Airbnb. Great room and great hosts, but in the middle of nowhere!! It was the first time I was really annoyed about only relying on public transport. Oh well, that's how it is. Renting a car wouldn't have been an option for the Calgary Stampede anyway.

I really wanted to visit the Stampede, it's the biggest rodeo in the world! And I also wanted to meet up with Katy, Marion's girlfriend. So let's go! Everyone is walking around in cowboy boots and cowboy hats! Sorry, but that's not my thing☺️. When we arrived at the grounds, Katy and I walked around the Stampede and realized that it's mostly like Oktoberfest, so expensive unhealthy food and thousands of arcade games and rides. Nothing special, really. But probably a blast for all the country folks😉. But like I said, mostly! There's a lot of live music and, the main event, the largest rodeo tournament in the world! But on that evening, we just strolled around, had a few beers and something to eat. Then we took the night bus back, including a 25-minute walk😂

The next day, I met up with Katy for breakfast (at 1😂) in a cool diner. Not a chain restaurant for once, quite rare👍 However, the rodeo finals already started at 1:30, so I was already pretty late. But I really wanted to see it, so off I went. Took me a while to figure out that it wasn't sold out yet. Expensive, but didn't think long about it. So I bought a standing ticket and got in there. And what I saw was very impressive👍 It was the finals for bull riding, bull wrestling, bareback, and saddle bronco, the actual riding on a wild horse. DAMN! Awesome! I made a few videos, but I don't know if I can share them here. I'll try. By the way, Death Cab for Cutie played in the evening, cool concert! The weather in Calgary was mixed as well, but I still checked out the city a bit. This day was definitely another highlight of my trip!