2018 Calgary Road Trip: Day 4

Today's Ice Cream - at Heritage Park

Day Four

Miles: 60

Calgary Attractions: 3

Weather: Perfect

Memories:

Danny: The terrifying Ferris Wheel ride, the train, caterpillar ride and the candy shop.

Grace: The Science Museum, the Blacksmith Shop

Therese: The bunny with the long ears, the pandas

Gordon: Apple Maps driving us in circles

We went to bed last night to temperatures in the 90s. When we woke up a sweet 60 degree breeze was wafting through the window. The perfect sleeping weather meant we left a little later then we planned. But at least we left with a plan and a cooler full of lunch.

We started at Heritage Park (https://www.heritagepark.ca). This is Canada’s largest living history museum. We convinced the kids that this would be a good place to start since the other two things on our list: the Science Museum and Zoo were places similar to attractions close to home. The park was a wonderful way to experience history first hand. It was divided into different themes all connected by a totally legit coal train. 

Riding the train to our first destination

All of the activities that are performed on the property are done just as they were 100 years ago. For example, the cook in the kitchen on the farm cooks a meal for 10 farmhands every day. She cooks on the original stove in enameled containers and also washes up the old fashioned way with water heated on the stove. The blacksmiths forge the horseshoes worn by the horses on the property.

We started out in the recreation of a small town complete with scary dentist, pharmacy, general store and of course a candy store. It reminded me of the Streets of Old Milwaukee in the Milwaukee Museum except that we could actually go into the buildings. We especially enjoyed the schoolhouse and blacksmith’s shop. 

After touring the town we headed to the old timey midway. All the rides were built in the early 1900s and everything was free. Fearless Danny and I rode the Ferris Wheel and suddenly Danny wasn’t so fearless. We also rode on the swings and a really cool ride called the Caterpillar. It was a circular rollercoaster type thing with a green canopy which came up and completely covered the ride. It was so cool we all rode it twice. 

Ferris Wheel

Riding the Caterpillar

The view from the Ferris Wheel. You can see Grace eating candy and Gordon on his phone.

From the midway we took the train to the settlement grounds were we played games passed down by the Blackfeet Tribe which were thousands of years old. We also toured some old wooden homes and the fort. Finally we took a quick walk through the farm and headed back to our starting point. We had an excellent lunch in the old time cafe. Our timing was perfect to get a booth with a curtain which could be pulled for privacy. I guess people at the turn of the 20th century like their privacy.

By this time we had just a few hours before the Science Museum and Zoo would close, but we were on a mission to check al the boxes so we headed out to destination number 2.

Happily our Minneapolis memberships provide reciprocity for both the Science Museum and Zoo in Calgary so spending an hour at each isn’t quite as frivolous as it might seem,

We’ve explored every nook and cranny of the Minnesota Science Museum. It’s always fun to find another museum in a new city and have a look around. We didn’t have much time so we split up according to interest. Danny enjoyed the huge outdoor “brainnaseum” which was a huge playground to climb and explore along with a cool maze made out of plywood and old doors. Grace tackled the inside of the museum. One of the coolest things we looked at were the exhibits demonstrating the many interesting facets of the human mind. For example, the exhibit contained a driving fountain in a toilet. The toilet was completely clean and never used. We were challenged to observe our reactions to the idea of actually drinking from it. I was reminded of Uncle Chuck’s story about getting water from the commode for his bossy older brother.

The exhibit on weather had a time-lapse camera which the user could scroll back day by day to see the different weather patterns. I scrolled back to the last clear day in Calgary before the wildfire haze set in.

After exactly an hour at the Science Museum we had 15 minutes to walk to the zoo across two parking lots and a field. The zoo closes at 6:00 but no one is allowed to enter after 5:00 pm. We needed to get to the zoo because of the special Panda exhibit on loan first to Montreal and now Calgary for 10 years total before heading back to China. Danny especially had his heart set on seeing pandas.

We got to the zoo in the nick of time and hustled over to see the Pandas. Even with our reciprocity, it still cost $60 to get into the zoo.  For all the grief I gave Danny about his desire to see the pandas, I have to admit: they were pretty cool. So even after spending a chunk of money for 30 minutes with the Pandas, we needed to purchase some panda souvenirs. 

On our way out of the zoo, we passed through the Dinosaur Exhibit which was also pretty cool even though Dinosaurs aren’t exactly zoo animals.

Finally, it was a 20 minute walk back to the car and off we went to the last night at our AirB&B. The drive home got interesting when our GPS navigator wasn’t aware of roads blocked by construction so it kept turning us around to try again for a road that didn’t exist. (Thanks Apple Maps) To make matters worse it started to rain. Luckily, the new windshield wipers Honda put on my car did the trick and visibility was as good as it could be. Finally after firing up the Waze we were on the right track to home.

We're pretty sure we're in Calgary. The smog makes it hard to tell sometimes. Note the death grip on the steering wheel. Stressful!

We are watching one last movie before getting as much packed as possible for an early departure time tomorrow morning. This is our last night of civilization before 5 nights of camping in the park.

Gasoline Alley also at Heritage Park