Canada Road Trip Day 9 (Calgary, Alberta)

The drive from from Whitefish to Calgary was frankly a boring one. It was amazing what a stark contrast there was between the towering mountains and thick forest in Montana and the treeless, rolling hills of the Canadian farmlands. The change in terrain came almost right at the Canadian border, and continued all the way to Calgary, with the mountains just jagged purple teeth on the horizon.

Our hotel is awesome, we got a suite on the 28th floor of the International Hotel (though it's technically the 27th floor as that there is no 13th floor because even in the year 2012 people still believe in magic). The nicest feature of the International is it's close proximity to Calgary's Chinatown. There's nothing like high quality ethnic foods right out your back door.
We ate at Harbour City Restaurant where I had the best Palace Chicken ever. Lots of sorano peppers that brought lots of heat but didn't overwhelm the flavor of the dish, paired against a not-overly-sweet sweet and sour sauce which is hard to find. Simply delicious. Ursa ordered the shrimp and mixed vegetables which was excellent as well.

This morning we got a chance to explore around Calgary on foot, and made our way down toward historic Fort Calgary. As we were walking down there we began to notice how few restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops were available on the streets, but what we learned was that it's not that they were not there, it was that their storefronts were all inside the various high rises not out on street level. When we got there, we found that the park around Fort Calgary was preparing for X Fest which will be taking place tomorrow. After we got past all of that mess, we finally made it to Fort Calgary, which is a museum to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police built from what was formerly the RCMP's barracks. It was a wonderful tribute to Canada's famous Mounties, but it was also a reminder of just how young of a city Calgary really is. Fort Calgary was founded in 1875, a scant 137 years ago. 

We did manage to do some more city exploring downtown before heading back to the room to relax. We were considering going out to see a play, Evil Dead the Musical, yes you heard me right, Evil friggin Dead! But unfortunately we were both pretty tired and to be completely frank, there was a Boise State game on that I just couldn't draw myself away from; what can I say, my thirst for culture and experience does know some bounds. (By the way, Boise State lost the game 13-17, so in retrospect I guess that we should have gone to the play).