The Life of Brad: July 2013 - Party month in Canada, Stampede, Houseboating

July 2013 is, as always, party month in Calgary and Canada for that matter. It's the month where canadians finally start baring their pasty white skin in hopes of harnessing the sun on a patio with friends. The month is full of opportunity to have a beer and a bbq and of course it all gets started with the Calgary Stampede. This year July came in with a bang and ended with a bang Houseboating on Shuswap Lake in British Colombia.

Although stampede is kind of the equivalent of Vegas or a Bachelor party it's still just good old cowboy fun for the most part. WARNING: Some of the videos may be offensive...to who I don't know, but I'm sure they are.

Here's what I got up to during the 10 day festival.

Day 1 - Ranchman's the oldest of the Party bars and where you will find more real Cowboys and Cowgirls than any of the other bars combined.

Intro to Ranchman's video.

Ranchman's consisting of 3 bars.
Patio, Indoor and Tent at the back.

Cute girl riding her first mechanical bull. I remember my first time, it was little faster than hers...Never again!

Funny Story: On Day 1 I made my way in to the Worley Parsons party after the doors opened to the public in the tent side of Ranchman's. This was the company I used to work for when it was called Colt and is now the company where I am once again looking to get a job this summer. It's a lot bigger now being an international at 60,000 plus employees, but the office I was hoping to find some work is pretty much the same. Unfortunately the people I was hoping to bump in to this night were already gone. However, I did manage to meet a high intaker of beer who offered me a job. See August for more info.

riding without hands!

Day 2 - Cowboys, where you won't find any real Cowboys, but it is the biggest tent/party in town. For me it kills the spirit of stampede as the music has very little country to it and I'm one of only 20% wearing a cowboy hat. What's happened? Must don't care, especially the younger generation who just want to get pissed and go wild. Alright, this is the place.

All about the line ups at Cowboys...

Cattle herding at the front door ($25 entry fee)

Even the VIPs have to wait ($80)

Lines to pee (free). Lots of girls were
happy to queue up in the boys
short line ups. That's Stampede!

Big party

Jerk bouncer didn't want his photo
taken as he had a girlfriend and
this was not her.

Standard Tub Tart (making $600 -1000/ night)

Per slice!

Who is that guy?

That's Cowboy Elvis, that's who

Incredible can opening for a beer shot gun. With his thumb!

Even hipsters don't mind coming
out for stampede

This guy shot gunned too many beers. That's stampede drunk.

Another solidly drunk guy

Day 5 - A vendor party at Ranchman's Downtown and then Wild Horse (a temporary tent just for stampede).

Some of the lovely servers down from Edmonton for
good stampede money.

Phone charging stations. $5, lock
your phone in a safe and 1 hr later.

The mom came to see Trooper
with her 35 yr old son on the right.

Day 7 - Crashing the TSE party (my last company) at the Roadhouse.

Poor smokers. I can't believe they don't revolt! And you they say it's illegal to take your drink in the smoking areas. WTF?

This guy was busy

Sorry for this, but I have to put this interview on. A girl talking about her stampede experience and fake boobs. I think you'll like my reaction.

Mike and Billy having a good time

Apologies to anyone who thought I was classy. It used to be shooter girls just poured an upside down margarita in your mouth while they hoovered over you while standing on the bar. Well now a days it's gone a little farther and of course peer pressure wins again so here you go.

Going for tips!

Day 8 - Rodeo! and some great steaks at Vintage restaurant. Thank you very much for the day Ryan B and Ryan M. Best day of Stampede 2013.

The Lazy S which is an executive area where you can see it all!

High flying motocross pre-show

Ryan M, Ryan B, Me, Jill, BB, Blaire

Calf roping

Bull riding!

At Vintage they give you look of the meats before. Ryan
and I split the 43oz (1220 grams) Ribeye with bone in.

Steak Tartar

Two meals of steak in 5 hours.
Stampede for sure!

I did not go anywhere for Day 9 or 10 as 4 days out was plenty!

Stampede Recommendations - Ranchmans for the spirit and a good time, The Rodeo watched from the Lazy S!

Mid July, Tom, Mike and myself got on the Bow River for a float after the rafting ban was lifted. This was a result of the major flooding that Calgary was subjected to at the end of June. This was the first weekend anyone was allowed on the Bow and the Elbow still wasn't open at this point 3 weeks after the flooding.

We took to the bigger Bow where we got a first look at some of the damage to the banks and the over all routing changes.

incredible destruction

pay attention boys!

safe and successful

Houseboating! What's that you say? At the very end of July I got the invite to join a crew of annual houseboaters who go for one of the biggest boats on the lake and bring out a full band set including Drums and 4 wired mics! How could I say no.

We left for Beautiful British Colombia Thursday afternoon for one night in dock on our floating palace and 2 nights docked on whichever random beaches we liked. I hadn't been houseboating for 10 years and I had forgotten just how great it was to get out of the city, head 5 hours in to the mountains and get to the very warm Shuswap lake. Loaded down with beer and band gear 4 of the 16 of us arrived in Sicamous for the lengthy orientation and loading of the boat. The rest joined through out the night and the stage was set (not till noon the next day) for a good time.

High up in the Rocky Mountains on Hwy 1

I wish this is how prepared we were.

Intro at the Waterways dock.

oh they have a few boats alright

Heading under and through the bridges to the main sections of the Shuswaps

what you got there Brikby?

And now for music. Probably the main reason I came on this trip was for this...

3rd floor, beer, smokes and drum kits

Talk about prepared!

If only Reveen could have opened

Skitmor's crazy pedals brought all
the way from LA!

Nice!

A good spot to listen from

Sorry for the swearing, but it was scary. Jumping with camera off the top level. It felt much longer than the actually video.

3 storey jump!

Taking the camera down the tunnel waterslide.

Fun!

And then just dangerous diving.

Lots of targets to land on

Some other moments

Captain Watermelon

The Sea Store

A busy spot

Man, let's relax

Shuswap Martini (without the beer)

Is it just me or does this seem like the wrong print you
would want on your chair when you're in the woods?
Unless you want hunters firing on your camp fire.