Head Tale

Shea and I lived in Calgary for about three and a half years right after she graduated from nursing school.

It was an amazing city to be young in with tons to do – restaurants, bar, attractions.

As we prepare for another return visit (the first time back since Sasha was born), here are my Top 5 Highlights of our time in Calgary:

1. Bow River Float
   A couple we knew organized about a dozen people to rent a huge raft then we spent the afternoon leisurely floating down the Bow River.  It was a perfect day – beautiful weather, swimming in cool rushing water, drinking filter water via one survivalist’s purifier, going past the Folk Fest which was on that day (but unable to stop due to security patrolling the river) and, best of all, river patrol didn’t stop check us until *after* our cooler was empty!  I think part of the reason we only did it once is because it felt like it would never be that good again.
2. Calgary Flames 2004 Stanley Cup Final Run
   A team with one superstar player (Iginla), one superstar goalie (Kiprusoff) and a bunch of scrubs went on a Cinderella-run, knocking off every single Division champion on their way to a narrow loss in the Stanley Cup Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Just amazing to be part of the growing energy with each game and series won.  And living only a few blocks from “The Red Mile” (a strip of bars and restaurants), joining hundreds (and eventually thousands) streaming out of our buildings onto the Red Mile after every game.
3. The Bronto
   Soon after we arrived, when my parents came to visit, my cousin who is a Calgary Firefighter, arranged to take Shea and myself, my parents and his dad up in “The Bronto”, a bucket truck that (I think) was new to the Fire Department at the time and lifted occupants 50 meters into the sky!  (It was a different time – we were safely harnessed in but I wonder if any firefighter could get permission to take civilians up like this today?)
4. Will Ferguson
   I got to meet a lot of famous writers during my ten years in the Canadian book industry (and even managed to use my connections to get Margaret Atwood to put a special inscription in a book I gave to my brother-in-law at an evening when she was only signing her name.) But one of the best known writers I met was also one of the nicest – Will Ferguson is the kind of guy who would make sure to personally drop off an Australian edition of one of his books so you’d have a unique door prize at an event, get on stage on short notice at a “Freedom to Read” Event when a scheduled writer couldn’t make it and blast “Paperback Writer” by The Beatles before an appearance at WordFest!
5. Hop In Brew
   We had lots of favourite places in Calgary but our ultimate favourite was an amazing little hole-in-the-wall pub that was basically next door to where my office was.  It had craft beer (when that was still fairly rare), a curmudgeonly owner, amazing pizza, not a single TV in the building (even during the Flames’ playoff run mentioned above which I thought was pretty commendable when we even ended up watching a Flames’ playoff game at The Palliser, Calgary’s ritziest hotel, one evening after the Alberta Book Awards ended!