West Coast - Day 19

With Calaway Park out of the question, our various contacts in the Calgary area advised us to go to Heritage Park, which is what we did. We arrived at the park around the middle of the morning and made our way into the park. There is a steam train ride, so we went to the station to find out when it would be leaving. There was about a 1/2 hour before it left, so we wandered around the station area and looked at some of the old buildings and a really old steam engine. We then took the train around the park, which was enjoyed by everyone. I was really excited that the train was pulled by a real live steam engine, while everyone else just had a good time watching the scenery go by.

Heritage Park is full of historical buildings and people in historical costumes, so we took some time after the train ride to visit a few of the buildings. By this point, Evan was getting very hungry, so we stopped for lunch in the carnival area, so that we could go on some of the rides after eating. For the first ride, Xander declared that he wanted to go on the kids ferris wheel, even though we stressed that he would have to ride it alone. He made Sandra walk him up to the wheel, but after that he got on and even sat quietly near the top while some other kids were loaded. However, he only made it one revolution before he decided he wanted to get off. I don't think it was fear, but likely the fact that he did not expect it to be a long ride - the kid has a very short attention span. It took a couple of revolutions, but the workers stopped the ride and let him off.

The next ride was the carousel, which the whole family could go on. Evan rode on a horse and even held the reins properly. It was very cute, but unfortunately, I was in front of Sandra, so we did not get a picture of it. After that was The Whip - a bunch of metal cars that would fling around a corner. Xander and I went on that ride, as Evan was too small, and he got very upset that he couldn't go on the ride. Xander loved it though. The final ride was The Caterpillar, a metal train that went in a circle and where the entire train got covered by a cloth cover during the ride, which Sandra and Xander went on.

During the last ride, Evan stayed with me and played with his stroller, which is his absolute most favorite thing to do. After the ride was finished, we wanted to go on the steamboat, so I put Evan in his stroller, in order to make it to the boat in time, but he did not want to go in his stroller. He started screaming and he did not stop until the steamboat ride was over, 30 minutes later. It's fairly aggravating because once he gets worked up, there is no way to stop him, and he is not quiet.

Our next stop was the old roundhouse, where there was a bunch of old railroad equipment, including a car used by the Duke and Duchess of York when they visited Canada, as well as a car used by various Canadian Pacific officials and some Prime Ministers. We then took a horse cart ride through the park, since Evan is a big fan of the animals. The horses were called Splinter and Shredder, and I was the only person in the cart who knew where those names came from - I guess the Turtles aren't as big as they used to be. Evan fell asleep as soon as the cart started moving and stayed asleep when we stopped and I put him in his stroller. While he was sleeping, we grabbed a snack and then took Xander back to the rides so that he could go on them a few more times before we left.

We returned to the hotel, where everyone had a quick nap before Jules arrived for supper. We had a good evening visiting with her and then got the kids into bed. Tomorrow we are getting up early and heading for home.