Globe and Mail editor Catherine Dawson March and her daughter rode bikes around Calgary when their Air Canada flight was delayed during the strike.Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail
Like hundreds of thousands of other travellers this past week, my daughter and I were left stranded during the Air Canada strike. Less than 30 minutes after our flight’s official cancellation on Aug. 16, I couldn’t find two seats back to Toronto from Calgary on any airline at any price. The closest I could get was Hamilton – nearly two hours from my home – on a different airline, four days hence and at twice the original ticket cost. The customer service agent said I should consider myself lucky.
Lucky!? But it was an interesting thought. Maybe I could reframe this major inconvenience. I mean, what else could I do? Previously, I’d only passed through Calgary on my way to ski resorts. What would I find in the height of summer?
Where to stay?
First, I booked a room at the Fairmont Palliser, located in the heart of downtown. There was no way I was hanging out near the airport – a 45-minute bus ride away – for four days. The historic hotel had a great location, a pool, a spa and bikes to borrow, all of which could come in handy with our days wide open. Walking into the marble-pillared lobby felt like stepping back into the Gilded Age, and the hotel was hopping with two weddings and a buzzing lobby bar/restaurant. The people-watching was a good distraction; this is obviously where many Calgarians have celebrated for decades, judging by the old photos that line many corridors. Even Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip dropped by in 1993.
Start exploring
Since the weather was fine, the Bow River was a magnet. We cycled breezily along the riverside path, which was busy with pedestrians, scooter traffic and other bike-riders. We stopped to listen to an outdoor country music festival in the East Village, then parked our bicycles at the Confluence parkland, the site of Fort Calgary and the Métis Hunt House. A student docent explained the small log cabin, built in the 1870s, was once part of the Hudson’s Bay Co. trading post. It was a great, tangible nugget of Canadian history and we talked about it as we rode farther along the river. A lot farther.
My daughter wanted to check out an adorable cafe in Fish Creek Provincial Park (part of the Bow Ranch parkland) – 50 kilometres there and back. We needed a way to work off our frustration with being stuck, and the scenery and living-like-a-local feeling made the saddle sores worth it. We skirted all sorts of neighbourhoods and parklands (including thigh-high grasslands and bird-filled wetlands), cycled past highways, a golf course and train tracks, and even rode up a switchback hill to look back at the Calgary skyline.
Cyclists on faster bikes nodded sympathetically at our heavy cruisers but we managed. My only regret was not jumping into the water fully clothed at Harvie Passage, a conduit off the Bow where families float along gentle rapids.
Getting our cowboy on
Alberta Boot, established in 1978, showcases boots of all shapes and colours, denim dresses, horse-print fashions, blinged-out shirts and hats ready for shaping and branding.Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail
On another day, we stumbled upon the Smithbilt hat factory in Inglewood. For two city slickers with a secret crush on Western wear it was a lot of fun. We tried on hats, boots and fringed jackets, and wondered where we could possibly wear them back home. The longer I was in town, the more easily I could convince myself that cowboy boots were essential. When a fellow shopper mistook me for a local, I was thrilled.
On his recommendation, we headed back downtown to Alberta Boot, a local maker established in 1978. We opened the door and stepped into the smell of leather and money. The shop showcased boots of all shapes and colours, denim dresses, horse-print fashions, blinged-out shirts and hats ready for shaping and branding.
Alberta Boot Co. customers often want to customize everything from the leathers, colours, stitch patterns and heel shapes – and some even have their personal branding burned in.Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail
But the best part was the working boot factory visible through a glass wall at the back. Visitors can ask for a quick tour, and that’s how I met master bootmaker Antonio Juarez, who learned the trade from his father and grandfather in Mexico and has worked here for 23 years. The contract to make RCMP boots is steady and he’s always busy around Stampede time, but he’s surprised at how the demand for custom work has skyrocketed.
“In the last two years the customization of the boots has exploded,” Juarez said. “Every boot that we have in the factory now except for one or two racks of stock boots … is specialized.” Customers want to choose their own leathers, colours, stitch patterns and heel shapes, and have their personal branding burned in – with price being no object.
Food, books and fun
The lively patio scene along pedestrian Stephen Avenue drew us back often (Sunday all-day happy hour!), but we were also charmed by the rest of this national historic district, where shops and restaurants fill the onetime banks and low-rise office buildings. The architecture is a gorgeous mix of decorative styles from the Edwardian, Victorian, art deco and beaux-arts eras.
One afternoon we spotted Pho Daddy on 4th Street SW. Its outdoor wrought-iron staircase reminded us of Montreal. Inside, friendly counter staff let us sample the different broths before we ordered enormous steaming bowls of hearty pho. Vietnamese iced coffee was served in an authentic phin drip filter and far surpassed any I’ve ever had. With apologies to the Alberta beef industry, it was one of the best meals of our visit.
Right next door, we spent a delightfully long time browsing the stacks of Shelf Life Books, an independent seller specializing in titles from small publishers and Canadian authors.
I flipped through Shaun Hunter’s Calgary Through the Eyes of Writers, but left it behind. I already knew what I had to bring home from this unexpected holiday in Calgary. We turned back to Alberta Boot’s factory shop. I’d decide when I got there whether to have my boot heel personally branded.
The writer received a media rate for Fairmont Palliser. It did not review or approve the story before publication.
