Calgary, ALBERTA

4/25/09 -- We plan to spend at least part of a day in Calgary. It looks like there are a number of outstanding things to see (such as Historic Park and the Canadian Olympic Center), however the most interesting parts of these places don't open until May 16th. We will let you know if we find any "don't miss" sites in Calgary while we are there!

5/5/09 -- We visited both the Canada Olympic Centre AND Fort Calgary. Both were excellent places to visit with families.



I was surprised to find that the Olympic Centre was free to wander as you wanted. (The Museum and Hall of Fame had a fee---so we didn't bother with that part.) Because our family enjoys watching "Cool Running" about the Jamaican Bob Sled Team which competed here in 1988, we especially enjoyed getting a close up view of the bob sleigh track.

Randy and Jakob explored much of the entire length of the track. After exploring the bottom portion including the finish line area, Jakob and Anna played on a fun playground. I stayed there longer with Anna while Jakob wandered off with Dad.





Fort Calgary was one of the better history museums we have been to---excellent hands-on activities for kids. We really needed more time---so the kids could have done more playing at various points, and so that Randy and I could have looked through the "scrapbooks" filled with photos and journal quotes in the many areas of this museum.




Calgary is definitely an interesting city, although we HATE the urban sprawl, and how close all the houses are to each other. There are enough things we didn't have time for (or were here at the wrong season) that we will have to plan a longer stay some other time.

Fort Calgary (Calgary AB)

Fort Calgary is an old Canadian Royal Mounted Police posting. It is a fun-for-all place with a fair amount of facts. There is a treasure hunt for kids and the treasure hunt also has some small prizes. You have to go into every area to find some of the things.

A "Must-See" for the family!





[PS--kids had BETTER behave or moms can put them in "jail"!!]

Fort Calgary (Calgary AB)

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BEST thing: being able to dress up! There were different mountie uniforms. And you could "ride" in a trolley. And you could dress up in old clothes to be a driver or a fancy lady in an old car.



WORST thing: we didn't have enough time to play pool [billiards] or play with the trains or play the old games in the backyard place.

for FAMILIES: do the treasure hunt. You pick out a card or two. They you have to look for that thing somewhere. Look real carefully--some are tricky! Then tell the person at the desk where you found it. You will get a small prize!

Canada Olympic Park (Calgary AB)

BEST: Seeing a real bobsled track, even though there was no-one on it.

WORST: Being there in between the seasons and not being able to do any of the activities.