Calgary Cowboy Canoe TownPosted in Hit The Road With Raffan on November 01, 2009 by Thelma Thwartbender by Thelma Thwartbender (attorney at law and gourmand)travelling with James Raffan on the National Treasure Tour
 Quite a place, Calgary with a map behind the counter at the Hyatt Hotel that's a dead ringer for the one on the Grand Portage of The Canadian Canoe Museum. Walk away from the desk and look up and there's a familiar shape in the ceiling.  Calgary might be an oil and cowboy town but it is also a canoe town, if the the lobby of the downtown Hyatt Hotel and the reception for the National Treasure Tour by the local paddling community are any indication. Thursday night at Mount Royal University was a resounding success. Enthusiastic crowd. Tony Palmer and the team from Undercurrents and the MRU Ecotourism Program were fabulous hosts (who sold more memberships than any stop so far and every scrap of merchandise we had sent ahead for sale). After 10 days of semi-manic of trotting around with Jimmy on this "Rivers and Mountains" tour, it was time for a bit of a refresher. So as soon as porcinely possible (without totally abandoning my client) I headed straight for the spa at the Hyatt Hotel while Jimmy disappeared with Calgary's own Mr. Canoehead, David Finch. I've just met up with him again this Sunday evening and he was full of stories about a weekend.  Seems the highlight on Friday was nearly becoming a hostage of his own misfortune for the weekend. Friday afternoon, he went to give a museum update to a great friend and supporter of the CCM in a downtown office building. At the end of that meeting, he headed through a door and down a set of stairs to the street. Unfortunately for him, the door at the street was locked and armed—heading out to the street would have meant setting off the fire alarm. Two other doors at ground level were also locked up tight. He ran back up the stairs to check the door where he'd come from. Locked. One beside it? Locked up tighter than a frog's sphincter at fifty fathoms. Two levels. Five doors. Locked, locked, locked, locked, locked. Jimmy's not normally one to panic but apparently after only a very few minutes of being totally trapped he was in a lather from running up and down stairs and pounding on doors. Mercifully, his bleats for help finally brought a bemused if modelesque receptionist to one of the lower doors—who instantly became Jimmy's newest bff before he dashed out the main door of the building for some fresh air like a survivor of some terrible mining disaster. Above: Horse near scene of TGIF near self-inflicted hostage situation. Friday evening, David Finch and his wife Jeannie had organized a dinner party with leaders from the Bow Waters Canoe Club and other paddling interests in town to talk about collaborating with the CCM to get our travelling exhibit out here before too long, perhaps in conjunction with the opening of a new and entirely paddleable new fish ladder or weir on the Bow River, called the "Harvey Passage" which is set for completion in 2011. Jimmy's contribution to the evening was an arrangement of fresh flowers in the Alan Pace ceramic canoe he's been using to gather door prize ballots at each of the venues. But the most important contribution to the evening (besides the delicious dinner provided by the Finches) was the enthusiasm of the Calgary paddling community for finding ways to connect with the Canoe Museum through some kind of joint project here in southern Alberta. Below: Fifteen Calgary area paddlers gather to have a meal and talk about building possible partnerships with the CCM.  Saturday and Sunday? Well Jimmy did a bit of laundry and apparently slept for more than four hours in a row but—hey this is Calgary, the Cowboy-Canoe Town. Lots to do. Saturday was a paddle on the Bow from Bearspaw Dam back to town. And Sunday was a trail ride in the foothills near Turner Valley. Below David Finch in the bow on the Bow River, headed for town. Right: Jimmy hard at work on the banks of the Bow.   Sunday, following David Finch and his gang, Jimmy and "Snip" head for the hills.   Of course, in between river seminars and equine consultations, there was serious scientific studying of the Periodic Table of Beer Styles at the Wild Rose Brew Pub to be done.  Sunday night was dinner with a couple of members of the Calgary band James Dangerous & the C.I.A. who happen to be David and Jeannie Finch's neighbours. Monday, off to Edmonton.
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