Rainy Nights in Calgary

The subject of this post sounds like a Country and Western song, but it is raining and we have stayed an extra day in Calgary. I wanted to find a replacement for the broken power cord on Morningstar's old Mac Book on which she does her photo editing. Calgary seemed like the best chance of finding a genuine Apple store and we did and they had a replacement cord and she is now back in the photo editing business as I write this. After we found the store we went to the Chinook Center which is the largest shopping mall in the universe or something like that. After wandering around like folks from the country we went on to a food coop for a much needed resupply. Very nice store. Great bakery. Even had a sushi bar. Calgary is experiencing a massive building boom because of the oil sands but seems to be handling it all with remarkable success. It's the second fastest growing city in Canada. The new architecture is stunning and the sense of prosperity is palpable. There are Help Wanted signs on virtually every business. As I struggled with the first urban guerrilla driving since years ago in Seattle, we noticed an absence of parking meters and parking lines painted on the streets. We thought, well that's generous - share the wealth. Wrong. According to the CBC news story "Goodbye Meters, Hello Parking Revolution" it turns out that today was the first day of the new parking system. They have replaced their old parking meters with solar powered stations that accept cash, credit card, or cell phone payments. And the lines are gone because you are charged by the amount of space you use, giving a financial incentive for smaller cars. The city has patented the system and they are already getting inquires from around the world. Very progressive city.

Tomorrow we continue East on Trans-Canada 1.

Bob