August 19, 2008

Hi Everyone,

It feels good to get back to the states, but we have to say, Calgary (Alberta, Canada) is a beautiful city. It is clean, hilly, lots of trees, open spaces, and sprawling (like LA) with a center of tall buildings down town (again, like LA). We went there to attend the Toastmasters International Convention and heard 10 top speeches from around the world, each speaker competing to become the World Champion of Public Speaking 2008. Little did we know that we would be privileged to see and hear the first woman ever in 77 years to win the contest, and also, to see only the second woman ever to be installed as President of Toastmasters International. In addition, the third runner up in the contest was also a woman. It was a very exciting day. There were over 2,000 people at the convention and 1,200 at the evening dinner. (See our picture taken at the dinner to the right.)

We also took a day trip to Banff, about an hour away from Calgary. Once again, we rented a small compact, but Enterprise gave us a Dodge Ram extended cab, which made the drive to Banff more enjoyable. Banff is a beautiful tourist town and we would love to go back there some day. We understand Banff is a great place for honeymooners.

We are now outside of Townsend, Montana. Tomorrow we will move to Billings, Montana to the first/oldest KOA campground on our way to Rapid City, South Dakota on Friday.