June 10, 2017

BOBSLEDDING in Calgary!

Our 5 year anniversary trip to Canada was packed with adventure.
We explored and hiked all through BANFF, but it didn’t stop there!
When we got back to Calgary to explore for a few days, we wanted
to do something fun there too. TripAdvisor had reached out to let
us know about their new TripAdvisor Attractions that you can
book right from their site! Attractions, tours, & experiences included.
(They bought Viator, a site we used and loved, and now it’s under
TripAdvisor.) So we got to be some of the first to book an adventure
and try it out! I let Chase choose, and before I knew it we were
signed up to go BOBSLEDDING at the Olympic Park in Calgary!We chose this because it was definitely the most unique thing we
could do in Calgary, and something we knew we’d never forget.
It always makes a trip more memorable to do something new
and out of the comfort zone –like our canyoning in Switzerland
or hot air ballooning in Lithuania so we wanted to create a memory!

It was all smooth- we booked weeks ahead, then called to set up our
time the weekend of. All-in-all, it was a great way to book something
because we already turn to TripAdvisor for hotel and food reviews,
so why not do the same for experiences? They guarantee the lowest
price, and you can book all kinds of activities to suit any traveler.
We loved our experience and would never have thought of doing it
without seeing it listed on TripAdvisor Attractions! Here are some pics:
Pulling up to the Olympic Park! We always love to
see Olympic Parks around the world, especially since we
had the Olympics in our hometown Salt Lake City growing up.
Fun fact: this is the track (and actual bobsled) that the famous Jamaican
bobsled team used during their epic run in the Calgary Olympics
(showcased in the best movie Cool Runnings :) Chase was loving that! ^^
We left baby Rea with the cutest staff member and got driven
to the top of the track … I was a little nervous!!
Helmets on and safety video watched …eek!
Here we goooo! ^^^ We had a pilot in the back, and before
we knew it we were FLYING down that track. I did my best to
lean into the curves like they told us, but near the end I closed
my eyes as we went up the side of the wall on one of the turns …
and my head bobbed around and smacked the sides so hard! I
couldn’t believe it and my head was ringing at the bottom. I turned
and told Chase my head had smacked on one turn, and he told me
his head had been smacking back and forth on the sides the entire
ride down! Hahahah I about died laughing! We must have looked
so funny with our heads ping-ponging back and forth, it was rough!
Our pilot told us the Winter Olympians go even faster and on the
ice it’s even more rough…hard to imagine! They are tough athletes.
We survived!!! With slight headaches ;)
We will never watch bobsledding the same again!
The things you do on your trip are the things you remember.
This was just another example that experiences are better than things…we’ll
never forget flying down an Olympic bobsled track together in Canada!
Of course we felt like we deserved a good meal after surviving that craziness…
So we headed back into downtown Calgary and into the East Village
for lunch at one of the best spots ever! Sidewalk Citizen Bakery ^^
A local recommended this spot to us, and we loved it.
There was a huge line, but that just showed us how good it was!
Fresh healthy salad tasters to start while we waited for our food ^^
Their famous sourdough bread was a bonus too!
Their Green Shakshuka was our favorite menu item.
It was the most unique and flavorful, and something they
specialize in! It was based from tomatillos, avocados, and more.
Paired with their fresh-baked homemade pita bread, it was killer.
This common street food is brought to life at this place!!
I had the ham & gruyere quiche, which was so fluffy and divine.
You can’t skip dessert time at this place…
It was a tough choice, but Chase made it for us: