Day 2, Calgary day, 0 miles

This is the 4th time I have visited Calgary airport and I have never visited 'downtown' so thought I would live like a yokel for the day and see what this city has to offer.

The main part of the day was to get supplies for my trip.....sleeping bag...blanket....incase I breakdown or decide to car camp(!).....petrol can incase I miss the last station(!)......snow brush....shovel.... Incase it snows so much i have to dig thto car out(!)....and most importantly to rent a lens for my camera....(Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VR IF-ED) to hopefully help me capture a picture of Yogie bear in Yellowstone national park (and Geoff if he's about - BBC 1 documentary on winter in Yellowstone, Geoff is the resident roof snow clearer)



Yokel experience number 1...... Whilst visiting the camping shop here in
Calgary you can get the usual camping supplies and to my surprise you can pick up a whole array of weapons!!






On closer inspection of the shop they also sold real bullets, not behind a counter or in a glass case but on open show for all to pickup and purchase!!!! Only in North America a....... No, this is not a typo, the a is said after all sentences here. 'that was a good game a' or 'this traffic is bad a!'

Yokel Experience number 2...... Calgary flames v's Columbus blue jackets ice hockey game.... The game was almost a sell out of 26,000 plus it was shown on tv, not bad for a Monday night game.







I have never been to an ice hockey game and didn't know what to expect. Certainly not 3 games of 20 minutes each that last for 1 hour each due to all the stoppages for ad breaks!! Ice hockey revelation number 1... Yes that's right they stop the game every 7 minutes or so in order that the broadcasting company can show some ads!! Only in north America a!!!

The game was actually a good game to watch. The Flames scored 2 really quick goals in the first 10 minutes to go 2-0 up. Now I didn't actually see the goals.... I was always looking about 2 seconds behind where the puck was it was moving so fast, thank god for the replays!!

Then in the 3rd section the blue jackets scored 2, making it 2-2. Ice hockey revelation number 2... You can't draw in ice hockey!! So on we went to a fourth section of 5 minutes where both teams loose 1 player and a sudden death goal wins. The flames scored after about 2 minutes and walked away with 2 points. Had it still been a draw after 5 minutes there would have been a penalty shoot out. Not the best way to end a game.

Other ice hockey revelations...... The home and away fans sit in the same sections, there is not much cheering, games are played all over north america so to see the flames play away you most likely have to fly to another country, you can buy beer throughout the game to a man who walks up and down the stairs and best of all...... Wait for it, my life is compete.......they sell massive pizza slices packed full of cheese that you can take to your seat and eat whilst watching the game...mmmmm only in north america a!!!!!!!