Calgary

April 19th, I headed to Calgary for the planned visit with my Nephew. I had a leisurely morning as the drive to Calgary wasn't very far from Ft. MacLeod. As I was hooking up getting ready to leave, I noticed the electrical cord that operates the trailer lights was a bit loose, where it connects to the trailer. I recalled a few days earlier the end of it had gotten a bit stuck between the end of the truck and the tail gate, but I didn't think any damage had been done. It wasn't serious, but I don't like putting off repairs. I asked the campground owner about repair places nearby. They had a couple of suggestions, but as it was near lunchtime the mechanics were all taking an hour off. Instead of waiting there until after lunch time, I arranged to go to a place a bit up the road. I called and set up an appointment for later in the day. They were able to fix it, while I spent some time in the library a few doors down the street. Pulling out of there I was thinking I would now be late for my planned dinner with friends that evening.

I had reserved a pull-through site at Mountain View Farm Campground and RV Park on the east side of Calgary in advance. During my contact with them they had not mentioned that their water and sewer connections were not working at each site yet; since the winter. When I arrived there was still quite a bit of snow and ice on most of the sites, which meant some slipping and sliding while setting up the trailer. Centrally located water and sewer services were available. My stay was to be 4 nights, so I could manage with filling up on arrival and dumping on departure. That was O.K., but a bit of a shock given they didn't notify me in advance and they weren't offering any discount for the inconvenience. I was aware the campground was, surprisingly, open year round, so I had though to myself that maybe they had built things in a special way in order for them to function during their bitterly cold winters, I guess I was wrong. The situation may have been exacerbated by a subliminal conflict between me and their proud German heritage. (In the middle of the summer I'm sure it would have been a bit more enjoyable place.)

By the time I filled my tank, I was running later, but given their flexibility, I was still able to visit with a friend from Hamilton's sister,who is also into RVing, and her husband that evening for dinner. We had a nice dinner, and I was able to catch up on my laundry while there.

Friday afternoon I drove the truck to a shopping mall on the outskirts of Calgary, not too far from the campground and took the rapid transit system downtown. I visited the Glenbow museum 

Tribute to the Humboldt Broncos after their deadly bus crash.

to see their display of first nations artifacts and mineral collection as well as other shows that were on at the time, and wondered around downtown a bit, 

Public Art - Wonderland Sculpture in front of Bow Building

Calgary Tower

prior to meeting up with my nephew at Trolley 5, a brew pub, when he was done work. They had lots of hockey games on their TV screens and the place was hopping with the after work crowd. The weather was quite mild and the outdoor patios were open. They had an interesting overhead conveyor system to transport growlers and howlers from the restaurant upstairs to the brewpub downstairs for refilling. We had seven months of catching up to do. The beer, the food and the service was quite good. I found my way back to the truck and campground quite easily even though it was dark out.

I found a spot for Dim Sum, in the suburbs Saturday morning and spent some time at a local library. Late Saturday afternoon we met at the Rose & Crown, an English Pub to watch a basketball game and have dinner. This time I drove the truck into town. 

Sunday I spent most of the day relaxing. In the evening we had dinner at Minas, a Brazilian Steak house. I hadn't been to one in quiet a while and he had never been, so it was fun. One of the highlights of the night was that wine by the bottle was half price, so be indulged in a nice bottle of Brazilian red, which complemented the grilled meats very nicely. I tried chicken heart for the first time, it tasted like liver to me. Other than meeting for these meals he was too busy with work and other things to do anything touristy with me, and his apartment was too messy to show me. 

I regret that we didn't take any selfies