Kicking off the new year in subzero Calgary, Alberta
My family tries to travel together once a year around the holidays. After Ecuador and Yellowknife failed the trip planning phase, my family and I decided to spend five days in Calgary, Alberta as backup. The more I’m learning about Calgary, the more it makes sense for this city to be considered more than just a pit stop before the Banff National Parks.
I can only speak to traveling with my family, but from what I gather from friends we all agree that it’s not quite a family vacation unless it begins with absolute chaos.
100% genuine chaos
Lessons I learned from our departure from Vancouver to Calgary:
Tell yourself that take-off is 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled time
Rely on local taxi services in places where Uber coverage is scarce
Have your sh*t together when flying with a budget airline
Long story short, Flair Airlines (aka the RyanAir of Canada) closed the baggage drop-off counter on us. My family managed to get through security to the boarding gate within 20 minutes while I rebooked a new ticket with another airline with both check-in luggages. After Flair Airlines was twice delayed, I met my family at the original gate, and everyones spirits were high. By some miracle, we all in Calgary safely, the two flights within 20 minutes of each other. It’s almost as if nothing went awry earlier.
My first impressions of Calgary are that 1) People drive cautiously and 2) Downtown Calgary looks like it belongs in a futuristic, over-digitized video game. The former is obviously a survival method since the temperature regularly drops to -13C/15F during winters here, making black ice as easy to form on the roads as condensation on a glass of iced coffee. The buildings in downtown Calgary are dense, tall, and largely a monochrome of concrete grey. Having been our designated driver for over 18 years, my dad was thrilled to be taking a break in the backseat while I navigate to our hotel for the night, The Dorian.
downtown Calgary filled with public art installations
I booked an early dinner at DOP, an Italian spot that came heavily recommended by K. The small “no Malbec” sign on the front door had my heart immediately. My family of four cozied up at the window seat and proceeded to order grilled bread, white anchovy, meatballs, cavatelli, and tajarin. The rockstars of the menu are the ravioli ( staff recommendation) and the tiramisu (our recommendation). My sister also closed her eyes to pick an amaro for our father and landed on Rucolino, an amaro made from arugula and deliciously citrusy.
My family and I woke up the second morning to check out Calgary Central Library. It’s not hard to fall in love with it, and quickly. It’s easily one of the more well-funded and maintained public libraries I’ve come across. It’s clean, bright, modern, and most of all fun. I wish I had more time there. After leaving, we walked over to the original OEB Breakfast (founded in Calgary and now a national franchise) for a quick brunch.
I really think there’s not enough discussion around how much shopping outlets matter in the immigrant experience. If you are an immigrant or a first generation child, you are likely familiar with braving ginormous shopping outlet with your family, hunting for the best deals for an entire business day while trying to convince them you don’t need to take advantage of every single discount. Personally, I have lost count of how many surprise outlet visits I have been surprised with on family roadtrips. My mother decided on CrossIron Mills, an outlet with over 200 stores 20 minutes to the north of downtown Calgary. I will say that shopping in Calgary was more satisfying since 1) the USD to CAD conversion rates have been helpful 2) Alberta does not take provincial sales tax.
like you’re reading in a refined forest
To close out 2022, we drove out east to Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palenotology. Founded in 1985, the museum hosts one of the largest collection of dinosaurs in the world. Turns out, southern Alberta, specifically the Red Deer Valley, is one of the richest fossil sites in the world due to a glacial flood roughly 18,000 years ago. Drive one more hour east and you’ll arrive at the badlands and hoodoos of Dinosaur Provincial Park. Might be the cherry on top to a roadtrip across Alberta!
There’s no better way to ring in a new year than sitting with family around a table full of steaming dim sum. To work off the streamed pork ribs and shrimp dumpling, we went to Activate Canada. How do I adequately describe this place? It’s an active gaming complex that holds 10 rooms, all with a different theme and several different types of challenges that require players to jump, climb, throw, and dodge their way to level up and earn points. We realized our first mistake looking around and realizing every other group is wearing full athletic wear. By game three, I was sweating in a sweater and the tightest pair of cordoroys. Clearly we had underestimated the physical requirements of this game. Despite wearing the wrong gear, Activate was so much fun and I would 100% go again.
hair ice (yup) in Drumheller, Alberta
The Airbnb we booked offered a complimentary Banff pass. Seeing that pass, my mom could not pass up an opportunity to visit one of her favorite places in the world. So on January 2nd, we all crawled out of bed early for a quick roadtrip. Although Banff is only a 2-hour drive from Calgary, getting there in the winter is still no small feat. I have never clenched the wheel that hard trying to keep the rental SUV steady on the aforementioned black ice.
We arrive at Morraine Lake to find the entrance closed 10km from the lake itself. The snow had collected so thick it was eating our shoes. As we were standing there puzzled, the people in the next car began unloading skis and full snowsport gear in order to ski to the lake. Canada be different. Instead, we drove to Lake Louise (the most famous destination in Banff National Park) and walked across the frozen river, which was mindblowing after just having been there in summer of 2021 when people were paddleboarding and kayaking on the same river against the glaciers in the background. We left around the time the bottom of our feet felt frozen.
Back in Calgary, we stopped by Peter’s Drive-In for burgers and shakes before taking a fat nap. It was our last evening in Calgary so we were absolutely not staying in. I dragged my family to National on 10th, a huge bar with a bowling alley, before going to Ten Foot Henry for a really, really delicious asian-fusion done right dinner.
After saying goodbye to my parents at the airport and dropping our own luggage off at baggage storage, my boyfriend and I went to lunch at Major Tom Bar. Sometimes panoramic/rooftop bars let the views or location compensate for mediocre food, but not at Major Tom. The bar has also won a few awards at some international cocktail competitions (get the Peach Old Fashioned and All the Way Up). Winter is Calgary is pretty grey, so I can imagine how different the view must be in the summer.
By this point, I’m pretty tipsy so we went to a movie theatre (where I took 2 naps during Avatar: Way of Water) and barhopped until we both had to head back to the airport.
I came to Calgary with bare minimum expectations and, honestly, this city really surprised me. Summer seems like a VIBE and a half - there’s the Calgary Stampede and you can reserve rafts to float down the Bow River. I wouldn’t be opposed to coming back in the future, and if I do I will definitely be driving to Banff again.
RESTAURANTS
Ryuko (right next to Activate Canada)
BARS
Gray Bar (ok, THIS. Apparently this retired guy runs this speakeasy bar out of his home??? Reservations are made through Instagram and he gives you a beverage passport once you arrive. We didn’t get a chance to do it but this sounds so interesting to check out.)
ATTRACTIONS
Royal Terrell Museum of Palentology
Studio Bell, National Music Center
Calgary Stampede (annually in July)
