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Alberta & Glacier National Park

Alberta & Glacier National Park

August 28, 2018

Author: Lisa Crockett/Tuesday, August 28, 2018/Categories: Travel News, Newsletters

Yahoo! The all-new 14-Day Alberta and Glacier National Park tour starts off with a real western welcome when the group spends the first five days attending Fantasy’s Calgary Stampede Rally. So don your cowboy hats and boots and get ready to ride!

We join the Rally for the Welcome Dinner and party and follow it up the next day with reserved seats at the World’s Richest Rodeo – the premier attraction of the Calgary Stampede. After watching cowboys and cowgirls do their stuff, we stop for a delicious dinner at the Stampede Grounds Clubhouse. The fun continues on Day 3 when we head downtown. Local cowboys are serving pancakes from chuck wagons around town, but we head to the famous Sky Tower for breakfast. We enjoy 360-degree views of the city and the mountains to the west, and then head to the Glenbow Museum where we learn more about the history of the people and events which shaped this area of the world.

And there’s more! That evening we head back to the Stampede Grounds for the Rangeland Derby Chuck Wagon Races. Excitement prevails as teams of cowboys saddle their horses, load their wagon and race around the track, hoping to cross the finish line together as a team. It’s all followed by the Stampede’s famous Entertainment Extravaganza, ending with a spectacular fireworks and laser show.

We leave Calgary the following day, but we’re not gone long. We’re on a guided motor coach tour to the scenic town of Banff, located in Banff National Park. We have lunch in town, but the real thrills come from the spectacular scenery all along the drive, including a stop at Bow Glacier Falls. Back in Calgary the next day, we head back to the Stampede grounds for more rides, craft shows, entertainment and food before returning to our reserved seats for the rodeo finals. It really is the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth”!

Day 6 dawns, and we leave the Rally behind us and head for Ft. McLeod, Alberta. On the way, we stop at Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump – a rather unique World Heritage Site. Before horses and guns arrived in this part of the world, native people hunted bison by stampeding them over high rock ledges and this site was a prime slaughtering ground. At Ft. McLeod, we watch as the Northwest Mounted Police wearing their scarlet jackets ride their beautiful horses stepping and prancing in time to music. This traditional musical ride has taken place at the Fort for nearly 140 years.

We continue south to Hill Spring, a small Canadian village (population 142 but who’s counting) located close to the U.S./Canada border and our home for the next three nights. We cruise picturesque Waterton Lake, part of Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, the world’s first international peace park. We tour the Remington Carriage Museum, home to the largest collection of horse-drawn vehicles in North America. And our time in Hill Spring culminates at the Great Canadian Barn Dance, where we feast on an incredible Alberta-style buffet dinner, catch a musical performance and dance to our heart’s delight – all in an enormous prairie barn.

Crossing into the United States, our final stop is East Glacier, Montana, located next to the gates of Glacier National Park. Right in the park, there are 762 amazing lakes, 2,865 miles of streams, 175 mountains, 700 hiking trails and a variety of wildlife freely traversing through the Park’s more than one million acres. We experience history by spending a day touring the Park’s wonders aboard one of the iconic Glacier red buses, many of which have been in service since the 1930s and have been providing tours of the Park for more than 100 years. We stop for lunch at the celebrated Glacier Park Lodge, cross over the Hudson Bay Divide, and explore the secret Two Medicine Valley. On the return trip, our bus takes us over the famous Going-to-the-Sun highway.

We’ve got one day left, and Fantasy has left it free for us to further explore Glacier National Park. That evening, it’s our traditional Fantasy Farewell Dinner in one of the most picturesque spots in the world.

Where else can you enjoy the fun and excitement of the Calgary Stampede and then experience the true beauty of Canada’s Rocky Mountains and Glacier National Park in just 14 days? The 2019 Alberta and Glacier National Park tour kicks off in Calgary on July 10, and is for Good Sam members. Come join the fun!


Please note: itinerary subject to change


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