Masters of RVing Adventures

Calgary Stampede

Touted as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,” it lived up to its name. If you’ve never made this a bucket list item, maybe you should. Fantastic horsemanship, including indigenous riders, top-name entertainment (Miranda Lambert headlined the night we attended), and fairgrounds on steroids. I finally tasted my first poutine, from a fairground vendor, no less! I’ll give it a second authentic try before leaving Canadian territory.

To give a hint to those traveling after us and perhaps reading this blog, we are staying in Diamond Valley, in Black Diamond, at a campground with quite a few names: Lions Centennial Park, Foothills Lions Club Campground, Foothills Lions Centennial Park Campground. It has quite a few names, due to its connection with the Lions Club. Overall, the park is clean, and the husband/wife management team is very conscientious, wanting to please you and provide you with a very positive experience for the area. We stayed here for two reasons: 1) off the beaten caravan route and 2) the campgrounds closer to the stampede were totally sold out.

The Calgary Stampede runs for 10 days, roughly the first two weeks of July. During this year’s festival, it is expected to attract more than 130,000 out-of-town visitors and have a direct economic impact of $282 million to the local and surrounding economies.

Boarding Timber

Between the 12+ hour day to Banff and the 10+ hour day to the Calgary Stampede, we made the decision to board the doggies locally at Escape to the Country Pet Boarding Retreat. The pups had a fantastic time! Emma, Tony and the Escape Team (Ann, Courtney, Katie, Janelle and Megan) were so accommodating and loving toward our fur babies! We highly recommend this kennel. Upon pick up, we found a Pet Value pet store that has an upscale, in-house dog wash station. For $15 Canadian, Timber received a head-to-tail wash with options of 6 different shampoos, conditioner, and 3 pet spray finishing scents. They supplied towels, dryer, full warm water sprayers and wash tub; and even gave Timber two bags of treats to help get him through the wash session! Pet Value has a number of stores throughout Canada. We will definitely look to see if they have a store at our next location!