What a great answer. I haven't been to Calgary for at least 30 years, but it is on the bucket list...If I live that long.
I sort of have family there. When my Grandmother's family left Russia they came through Vancouver and stopped in Red Deer. Most of the older boys stayed there to farm and ranch but her parents and the younger children moved south to Eastern Washington. I think we went twice in the 50s to visit. I went a few times in the 70s to play and party. I used to spend every 4th of July (and Dominion Day) at Fairmont BC-In the Rockies for sure.
My Dad's uncle owned North's Chuck Wagon (a buffet). Did you know it?
Too neat! We could be related. My grandfather left the Odessa region of Ukraine, though they ended up near Vancouver. My sister actually currently lives in Red Deer.
I do not recall a buffet of that name, but buffet's weren't really my thing.
I left 25 years ago, now. Maybe we bumped into each other the last time you visited!
Schmidt. Both Grandparents were born near the Volga, but in different villages.
It's been a long time since I heard the name North's Chuck Wagon, at least 50 years. In those days a buffet restaurant was a radical, California type of place.