Calgary Restaurant Review: Moxie's Downtown

Since we stayed at the Sandman Hotel, we thought we would drop in early for dinner before 6 when there are less people around dinner time.  We ordered 2 sirloin steaks and 2 cheese burgers (if my memories are correct).

The order took more than 45 minutes after ordering to come, partly because we were told that there was "no fries" in the restaurant.  (and later on, fries did come out.  Maybe someone went shopping.)

During the 45 minutes, I realized the chefs and kitchen staff were very very busy because they were preparing for Uber or take out foods, which in this era is an important source of income.

After 45 minutes, the dishes finally came.

However, probably because they were too busy, our 2 steaks were black, overcooked with surface charcoal of 2mm. They were so hard to chew that we cut the surface off to eat, which defeats the entire purpose of paying money for Alberta beef.

My wife was really emotionally upset because this shouldn't be this way, paying money for blackened food which is barely edible.  (I can provide photos if needed.)

These are the hardest steaks I have ever eaten.

My kids' burgers were also blackened and hard and did not taste good.

I mean, the server girl did a wonderful job of cheering us up by providing a "sorry" dessert.  However, we left with an empty feeling because we wanted good Alberta steak, not "dessert".

Canadian Summer Trip: Alberta: Day 7: Downtown Calgary and Home

 Day 7 is our last day in Alberta and we went around downtown before we headed to the airport.

We spent the morning admiring the wall arts (they have several), the statues and the building they have around downtown Calgary.

They have so many unique looking buildings that I was quite surprised.

They have many horse sculptures like this one:

Eagle Wall Art

This has been a great trip overall.  Very eye opening and a great family memory trip.  (Except for the bus breakdown...)  Oh yes, and the airport delays there and back.  

Canadian Summer Trip: Alberta: Day 6 Calgary Zoo

 On Day 6 of our trip, we went to the Calgary Zoo.  I have heard nice things about the zoo, so we were looking forward to going there.  From downtown Calgary, it can be easily reached by train.  It was like only 10 minutes away from where we stayed.

African Hog

The zoo begins and ends with the Penquin area, so I will post the pictures at the end.  We headed to the dinosaur area first.  For the dinosaur fan kids, this zoo will entertain them.

Tiger and Magpie

Funny.  The magpies in Alberta were fearless.  They were not afraid of the tigers, and they will try to grab some crumbs from the tigers.  These Magpies were everywhere in Alberta.  They are like the crows in other cities but cuter (in my opinion...).  I wished that we had magpies here. haha

Monkey in Calgary Zoo

They have a rare bird area and a butterfly area.  We really enjoyed the exotic birds and butterflies!

The zebra liked to smell the Giraffe's butt...

Friendly Zebra in Calgary

Penguin Calgary

Penguins in Calgary Zoo

They have around 6 types of penguins in Calgary Zoo, and they are all so cute!!

My kids spent a long time staring and looking at them, swimming and standing.

Overall, I think it was an awesome zoo.  It was too bad that they had to return the Panda to China.  However, all Pandas have to be returned some day.  The zoo is good enough without them!

Canadian Summer Trip: Alberta: Day 5 Rocky Mountains, Banff and Lake Louise

 On Day 5 of our trip, we went to the Rockies, Banff and Lake Louise.  We took a bus that required reservations in the summer to the Rockies.  The fee is only 10 dollars per person, but there is a note that I would mention at the end.

The bus takes you directly from Calgary downtown to Banff, and it took a little more than 1 hour.

Banff downtown

Banff was busy during the summer despite it was in the middle of the pandemic.  People were eager to get out for domestic travel.  We were on the same boat.  

We took another bus that took us from Banff to Lake Louise.  I haven't been to Lake Louise for 20 years.  The weather was awesome, and it was absolutely beautiful!

Lake Louise

There is a trail for people to walk towards the other end of the lake.  (I never had the chance to do it with tour groups.)  This time, we walked the trail.

Other end of Lake Louise

It takes only 20 minutes to walk to the other end.

Canadian Rockies

The mountains and the surrounding areas are beautiful.  We did not have time to visit other lakes.  We should do that next time.

Canadian Rockies with Snow

On the way back, the bus company's bus broke down and we have to wait for another bus to come.  The cheap bus company probably does not maintain their buses as well.  We waited for the bus to go back to Calgary from 8pm to 10:25pm, and we did not get back to the hotel until almost 1 am at night.

If it weren't for the high cost of rental car, I would have kept my rental car for the entire trip.