Calgary Stampede - "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth"

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to go to the Calgary Stampede! For those who don't know what the Calgary Stampede is... "The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing and First Nations exhibitions."

I have always heard how amazing the Stampede is, and I have always wanted to experience it for myself. Finally this year while we were up in Canada we went as a family! It also happened to be my Mom's 50th birthday, so it was a fun day of celebration! We started off the morning singing Happy Birthday to my mom, and surprising her with a little movie of photos and music of her life. She is an amazing woman and did an incredible job raising six children. She should be incredibly proud of 50 years well spent. Of course her children are a bunch of weirdos, but I think for the most part we are pretty great too.

I know the picture is blurry, but I had to share it. Right when we walked into the kitchen and saw my mom me, my dad, and two of my brothers started jumping up and down around my mom hugging her singing happy birthday. This is the kind of stuff I love about my family. We are totally random, but at least it is never boring!

I was most excited to see the world famous rodeo! Me, my brother, and his wife Sharley went to go watch the rodeo while the other's went on rides and saw different shows etc. What can I say about the rodeo? Well, watching world champions compete against each other sure makes for an exciting show! I have seen smaller rodeos in the past, but nothing ever like this. I always thought that the Bull Riding would be my favorite, I mean, they do save it for last right? But I would have to say the best for me were the Bucking Broncos! Talk about a show!

 

 Us after the Rodeo!

We spent the rest of the afternoon eating fair food (THE BEST!), and strolling through the biggest expo I have ever been to! It was ginormous and full of a ton of random stuff you don't really need but always want to buy when you are there. We also walked around the agriculture area and got to see a bunch of different animals. I even got to stick my hand in a "cow" and feel what a baby cow feels like...

 I may, or may not have eaten a crap ton of these.

 

Justin had bought us all tickets to the chuckwagon racing and just as we were getting to the show, it started to down pour. We had outdoors seating mind you! We may have all been a little grumpy at first, but eventually decided we better just make the most of it. So while drenched we started making bets on different chuckwagons to win. The drivers for the chuckwagons were covered in mud, I don't know how they could see the race track, so I guess they had it worse then us!

The rain stopped just in time for the big show they do at the end of the Stampede and chuckwagon racing. Now my sister had gone on and on about this show and just how great it was. It wasn't that I didn't believe her, but I figured it would just be like most shows. Nothing can really compare! It was better then any concert I have been to, better then any Vegas Show! They pulled out ALL the stops for this production! You can't really describe it, you just have to SEE it. The show was so good that we all pretty much forgot about how cold we were. We were out of our seats in no time and watched the whole thing right at the stage. One of my favorite acts were these Chinese acrobats.

At one point during their routine the woman up top was doing the splits standing on one leg with the other straight up and the second woman was doing the splits with one foot on the first woman's foot and the other leg straight up. And if that wasn't enough... she was on pointed toe on the light bulb. Amazing.

And if the amazing acts, singing, and dancing galore wasn't enough... it ended with a HUGE firework show! One of the biggest I have ever seen (sorry Disneyland)... it was incredible!

I now know why the Calgary Stampede is considered a World Known Rodeo and Fair... because I would have to agree, it was is by far "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth"!