Calgary Zoo

My wife and I have had a string of bad luck with our plans for recent anniversaries and our respective 50th birthdays. Ever the optimist, when a week’s trip to the Okanagan to celebrate her 50th fell through on account of the health of a close friend, we put together a quick three day visit to Calgary because even in tough times you have to find a way to celebrate.

Calgary has quickly become a favourite city for the two of us since moving to Saskatoon. It’s a reasonable 6+ hour drive, we’ve found a favourite hotel, and over a number of visits we’ve found a collection of favourite restaurants and bars to fill a weekend. On top of that list is Native Tongues, where an early meal during their happy hour lets you order the delightfully named “snackarita” that saves you money to buy even more of their amazing tacos. Hands down so far, this is our favourite restaurant in the city.

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The Calgary Zoo was the hook for an extended long-weekend trip that also happened to be our sixth honeymoon. I’m honestly loving that tradition. The corresponding anniversary gift this year would have been wood… I think a trip is better than that. We had planned a large part of one of our Calgary days for the zoo, but Mother Nature had other ideas and the morning’s biblical rains made me wonder if we’d see any animals at all. Seeing a possible break in the weather later in the day, we held off on our visit.

It seems like most of Calgary decided against the zoo and changed their day’s plans because once the clouds cleared mid afternoon, it felt like we had the place mostly to ourselves. How often, without waiting in a line, can you get extended, uninterrupted panda time?