Yahoo!

The first thing we do at the Calgary Stampede is buy cowboy hats - all of us! It really gets you in a mood and the place is alive with people and music. There are deep fried Oreos and chocolate bars, bison burgers, Cokes with your name on it, huge, wild rides at $40 per person, live music and more. We have tickets for the rodeo which is amazing. The RCMP musical ride involved 33 horses with riders who do amazing moves like Wagon Wheels, Cloverleaf, Carousels, Revolving Doors and more. There is a family with a young son who has a front row seat from the "Make A Wish" project. The whole thing is very moving. Our seats are amazing and the show lasts 3 hours - bucking broncos, lasso contests, drum corps bands, pony races, and so much more. In Canada we learn that the proper response to cheer the contestants on is "Yahoo" not "Yee Ha". Our American friends use the latter and apparently we Canadians like to be different! There are some young folks from Saskatchewan in front of us and they explain some of the rules for the bronco and lasso challenges. It makes you proud to be Canadian at this event and we feel like we are westerners by the end of the day - Przemek was born in Edmonton so he is one already. Yahoo!