On our first full day of vacation, we planned it as relaxed as possible. By "we planned," I mean that when we thought of reserving our entrance to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the only remaining time was 15:00. It is hard to feel stressed when your only real commitment for the day is in mid-afternoon. Nevertheless, we did plan brunch (really, it’s breakfast for us) at noon and decided to explore Calgary a little before heading out for the day.
Walking and driving through Calgary's streets let us discover the city's impressive street art. It reminded us a little of Christchurch in New Zealand. Christchurch uses street art to hide the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. At the moment, we’re not sure what Calgary is trying to pull off. Nevertheless, it looks good.
Breakfast consisted of more traditional brunch fare. Egg Benedict for Karine and me was a classic with sausage and bacon. I added a side of kale and mushrooms to have some vegetables in me. Yesterday’s ramen might have been tasty, but it was low on greens and fibre. I also knew that we would eat at a steakhouse for dinner. Again, not the land of vegetables and, as it would turn out, a mistake.
Thinking of our meals in the city, I can’t help but wonder if the prairies, with all the cows they are growing, might have forgotten about planting vegetables. In any case, vegetables, up to this point, are an extra needed for all orders.
Driving to the badlands gave us a chance to drive through a small portion of the prairies before we headed out to the mountains tomorrow. The first thing I want to say is that someone has been lying! I’ve been told the prairies are flat. I’ve been told you can see to the horizon every way you look. It’s all lies. Granted, we’re far from peaks here. If I were biking it, I would likely be complaining about always being on a low-grade hill. It’s beautiful. Just not flat.
The highlight of the day has to be the Royal Tyrrell Museum (no link with the Tyrell family in Game of Thrones, I’ve checked). The quality of the fossils they show is incredible. The star of the show has to be Black Beauty (no relation to the horse, as far as I could tell), a complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton! There’s so much to see, and the ratio of original fossils to casting is heavily in favour of the originals. Also, the museum's location in the badlands gave us a chance to see and appreciate this unique geological phenomenon and the landscapes it creates. Overall, a superb place to visit.
The day ended with dinner at a steakhouse. Being in Alberta, we figured we should have something they grow locally. Steak seemed to be appropriate. The mistake we made was not researching in advance. On a Sunday night and with no notice, the options were truly limited. We ended up in what we realized, too late, was inside the Calgary Tower (hello, touristy restaurant) and an American chain with, you’ve guessed it, American steak. The steak was OK —the execution was good —but we could have been in any American city, and it would have made no difference—so much for locally grown.
The walk home was more than welcome after the huge dinner (Americans don’t make small portions, our waiter told us). Tomorrow we will make our way to the Rockies!