Couchsurfing in Calgary

Colin and Pam would be our hosts for the next 4 days and nights. Their couch is amazingly comfortable and we could not ask for better people to stay with in all of Calgary. They both worked during the days, but their friend Adam who is also a couchsurfer, was kind enough to entertain us during the day. The first day we went with Adam to Brewsters Brewing Company for lunch. Both Pam and Colin were able to join us for a while on there lunch break. We had a great lunch and the beer was amazing too. I had a few standard beers to start off with, a pale ale and an amber, until I

noticed that someone at another table was drinking a blueberry beer which had actual blueberries floating in it!!! I was sold and proceeded to drink nothing else the rest of the time we were there. Adam and I played a good session of Big Buck Hunter and then came back to Pam and Colin's to do laundry and use the internet. After I took a nap and Katie finished up folding the laundry, we went to Starbucks so I could upload my photos to the blog. That night we felt like some pizza, so Colin and Pam joined us for a late night meal around midnight at this awesome Greek place down the street. The next morning we had planned to go fishing with Adam

on his boat. He had told us the day before that out of the hundreds of times he had gone fishing they had caught a total of 2 fish, so not that our hopes were high, but it would have been a fun day out on the water all the same. Unfortunately, when we woke up the weather had taken a turn for the worst and we were forced to cancel. Instead we went for breakfast with Adam and his friend at Nellies. Once our bellies were full, we headed down to 8th street which was a really fun interesting area. All of the streets were blocked off and people were walking everywhere. Stages

were set up for musicians, break dancers promoting the CFL, and the icing on the cake, the Dairy Queen Blizzard Mobile! We waited in a huge line in order to get our free blizzard, then we watched an African drum band from Burundi wail on some drums for about 45 minutes. The drums weren't completely random and the performance was promoting Afrikadey which

would be taking place this coming weekend. The afternoon still left us looking for things to do indoors, so we decided to see the Body Works exhibit at the Telus Science Museum. Mom and I had seen the same exhibit when it came through Detroit at the DIA, but Katie had never been and since the rain left our options scarce, we

decided to go. It was fun and crazy as ever and I even snagged an illegal picture of a camel that they did the process to. For dinner, Colin brought us home some sausage from his work (he delivers the sausages throughout the city). We had a choice of spicy Italian and chicken and apple. The choice for me was easy and the sausage ranks easily amongst the best I have ever had. That night we went to a bar to play some more Buck Hunter. Colin and Pam didn't get a chance to play last time, so we went again so everyone could play. For a midnight snack, we ordered some "Chicago-style" deep dish pizza from a place right below the condo. I hope that everyone who has ever had Chicago pizza will get a kick out of this picture, but needless to say, Canada could not have gotten the Chicago pizza more wrong. Its not that the pizza was bad, because it wasn't, it just doesn't even come close to real Chicago style. I can't wait for Colin, Pam, and Adam to visit us

in Chicago so we can treat them to the real deal. We had a late night, so this morning we slept in as much as possible. Pam had the day off as well, so after we were all roused, we walked down to the Taste of Calgary and indulged in some fine sampling. Katie and I wanted to take it easy tonight, so we stayed in and watched Canadian Bacon and ordered some Thai food. We want to get an early start in the morning to head over to Banff for a day or two before making our way north. We had a great time surfing with Pam and Colin in Calgary and can't wait to return the favor when they come to Chicago!