Week ending August 27, 2013

Tuesday we picked up some groceries in Vulcan and then on our way back to the campground explored Champion. 

Wednesday after spending a couple of hours boating on the reservoir,  we noticed that we had a text from Trev from Monday.  Joan walked up the hill from the campground, to get phone reception to respond, but didn't have any luck getting a signal.   So we drove toward Stavely because John had misplaced his sunglasses and after much thought decided they had to be at the Stavely golf course.   We were surprised that we still couldn't get cell service.  Once we got close to Stavely, we realized that we had to reboot the phone (after being out of cell service for a few days, once in a while it can't find  a signal  even though it is available).    After replying to the text, we carried on to the golf course, and sure enough the sunglasses were where we thought they might have been dropped.  As it was a sunny hot day we stopped at the local grocery store for a tropical fruit popsicle called itzakodoozie. 

Thursday we took a walk around the campground, discovered the monument that explained when this dam was built and watched some of the resident birds. 

Friday morning we left for Cochrane. After we got set up and had lunch we went up to the registry office and changed our address on our drivers licences, car registration etc.  Since we will be here for 2 weeks our new licenses should arrive before we leave. In the spring we had rented a UPS mail box, but had not changed our address on everything. The flood in High River has made it imperative, since Trever and family's home is up in the air.

Saturday we did some shopping and then spent a lazy day watching football and the Nascar race. 

Sunday we drove to High River to celebrate Jamie's 13th birthday. All our grandchildren are now teenagers.  We took him shopping and then took the family out for lunch.

Monday was spent doing nothing, a rare occurrence this past week. Tuesday was our annual check-ups.  Joan’s doctor told her that her CT scan results were good, which eliminates one obstacle to get medical insurance to go to Texas for the winter.

Week ending August 19, 2013

Tuesday we moved South. When we left Edmonton we didn't have a destination fixed. We stopped in Bowden and had lunch with John's parents and then headed south as Joan's CT scan is on Aug 15 at the High River hospital. We had to be within an easy drive of the hospital as the scan is booked for 8:30 A.M.  Okotoks campground will reopen on Aug 19th (a few days too late for us), High River campground, our usual spot, is closed, due to flood damage, for the rest of this year and maybe next. Nanton has a small campground with no showers or electricity, so no good for us this trip. We finally ended up at the Virgina Mitchell Campground in Vulcan, a full service park with decent bathrooms.   

 

Wednesday we decided to check out other campgrounds in the area.   As we headed toward Stavely on a secondary road, we came across an old RCAF base in the middle of the fields that was used during WWII as a center for training flight instructors.  It was only only in operation for about a year, but the hangars are still there, although the prairie is slowly reclaiming the runways. 

 

 

Thursday was an early day as we had to shower and leave by 7:30 to get to the High River hospital by 8:30.    After Joan's CT scan we went for breakfast, then went to the RV dealer in High River to pick up some necessities. We then stopped by the campground in High River to see the flood damage.   We are hopeful that the campground will be in operation next year.  The town of High River in general is not in good shape. From the outside the buildings look okay, but the insides are completely emptied and being rebuilt.  All the banks are operating in outlying areas, in temporary locations.  Some that could not get into a building have brought in trailers.  The grocery stores are back in operation and many business are up and running.    A lot of the businesses and restaurants in the downtown core are still being rebuilt.  It was a sad sight.  We went on a walk by the river and in many areas the trail is completely gone.   We wonder if the town will ever be able to recover from such devastation.   The kids tell us that all public schools will be ready for September, but the Catholic schools were very hard hit and will not be ready for the new school year.  The public system is going to help them out by offering them space, but I expect portables classrooms will still be required.  Trev tells us that the banks will not remortgage any houses, and many of his friends have had to just walk away from their houses.  I can see that the banks may own a whole lot of property, that is not worth very much in the very near future.  We visited with the kids Thursday afternoon and then took them out for dinner. John hadn't had pizza for quite a while, so we went to the Boston Pizza, which is in an undamaged area of town.

 

Friday we moved from Vulcan to a little campground we discovered on our Wednesday drive through the countryside in the Vulcan area. This campground has 30 amp power but, no water or other amenties. In fact we discovered we could not get cell phone service at our site.  John walked up the drive to the park entrance and discovered that we could get cell phone service there.  We were able to get satellite signal at our site so will be able to watch the football games and the car race this weekend.

 

Monday was golf day. We left early (9:00 A.M. is early for us) and we headed for Stavely to the self-serve golf course.   After 9 holes, we drove south to Claresholm to pick up some groceries and have lunch.   We are taking advantage of Tim Hortons' wi-fi to post the blog.

Weeks ending Aug 12, 2013

Friday we moved to St. Paul, a whole 37 kms.  We had stopped in at the Iron Horse Trail RV Park when we had gone into St. Paul earlier in the week and made a reservation for the weekend, since it can be problem finding a spot for long weekends.  

 

 

 

 

After setting up we went to the farmers market, got some delicious tomatoes, then stopped at the UFO Landing Pad, AKA visitor information.

  

Saturday, a beautiful sunny day we headed to Fort Victoria, with a stop at Andrew, of Ed Stalmach fame, to view the worlds largest Mallard Duck.  

 

 

 

Fort Victoria was interesting and the guide added educational commentary along the way. The clerks house is the oldest building in Alberta still in its original location. 

 

 

 

Our next stop was Smokey Lake which is noted for its pumpkin festival in October.  

 

 

 

Next was Vilna, our mushroom stop, amazing that every little town had the world's largest "something".

 

 

 

Monday we went to Lac Bellevue  County Park for lunch, another lake advertising a beach. We always believed a beach meant swimming, but not at this county park. It had a beautiful picnic area, lots of sand in a playground area and a large area for boats, but no separate swimming area. Swimming with the motor boats didn't seem like an attractive idea.

 

Tuesday was moving day. Shortly after lunch we arrived at Glowing Embers RV Park at Acheson, just west of Edmonton. 

 

Wednesday we went in and visited with the Ooraikuls who kindly treated us to a terrific lunch at their favorite Chinese restaurant.   On our way back to the campground we stopped and did some shopping.   Nice to get to the Bulk Barn and a few other favorite places that only exist in larger communities.

 

Thursday John and Buncha went out to J.R. Golf course for a round of golf.  Joan stayed home and did some house work.

 

Visiting friends and relatives is our main objective while in Edmonton.  Friday we treated John's Aunt Joan and Uncle Alf to lunch, after which we did a bit of shopping.   We then enjoyed dinner with Sue, Ray and Elizabeth.  Saturday we took our old neighbours George and Fern out for lunch at Red Robin. After lunch and many laughs we went out to Glowing Embers so they could see our trailer. After a good visit we then headed back to their place to pick up our truck and then stopped to do some more shopping on our way home.

 

Sunday was car race day.  Sunday night we endured a tremendous thunderstorm.  One of the most spectacular we have ever had.  Monday morning John reset the satellite dish, so TV was back in operation.  Joan then made some calls to see where we could park starting Tuesday, close enough for us to get to the High River hospital by 8:30  on Thursday morning. Our next location is still undecided.  Stay tuned to next week to find out what happened.

Week ending August 1, 2013

Thursday again was moving day,  as generally this summer we have stayed a week at a time at each campground.  We had a general idea of where we wanted to be, somewhere at a lake in the St. Paul area.  Our first thought was Lac Bellevue, but they could only accommodate us for less than a week, and we would have to move to new sites a couple of times (not an attractive thought) , nor could Stoney Lake.  Finally we got a week at Westcove.  They were very nice and gave us a double site, charging us for one, because we are a bit large to fit in their single sites.   A nice site, but in amongst a lot of poplar trees.   As we began setting up there was a lucky rabbit watching us.  Luckily we were able to get a satellite signal through the playground across the road, although John could have sworn that the dish was pointing right at the corner of the trailer.  After we got set up, we headed to take a look at the lake, but much to our disappointment we discovered it had blue algae, therefore no swimming, no water activity.

Friday we headed to Floatingstone Lake to check out the beach, which looked lovely, but when we saw a couple of kids (maybe around 10  to 12) wading, we discovered that the water in the swimming area at its deepest might have been 2 feet at its deepest.   We sat on the beach suntanning for a while and then headed back to the campground.

Saturday morning we woke up to a tremendous thunderstorm.  The day remained cloudy and showery.  We went for a walk through the campground and then played bowling and golf on our Wii. Of course there was football to watch Saturday evening.  Later in the day we talked to Trev, to find out that they are finally back in their house.

Monday was golf day. We went to Mann Lake golf course. We were the only ones there, but unlike the Big River course this one had an attendant.   After golf we drove into St. Paul for lunch.  On our way back to Westcove we had to stop to let a couple of goats cross the road.  I guess they  were on their way home from the afternoon walk.

Tuesday, on our way to Bonnyville we stopped at a few parks to check out their campgrounds, Franchere Bay Recreational Area, Pelican Point District Park and Moose Lake Provincial Park. The only one that we may return to at another time was Moose Lake Provincial Park.   It had lovely sites, with electricity and a great beach. Today was too cold for us to take advantage of the beach, but it is nice to know it is there.   After wandering down main street of Bonnyville, checking the liquor stores for some watermelon Boxer beer, to no avail, we headed back to our trailer.   We stopped at Glendon on our way home, a funky little town that has Alberta's largest perogy.

We checked and there was no where in town to buy perogies.   We have discovered that in these little towns one can buy liquor, petrol and fireworks, but rarely groceries.   Does that tell you what rural Albertans believe are priorities?

Wednesday we grabbed a pail and headed out on the walking trails that run through the park to pick raspberries. We came to the conclusion that if we relied on our foraging skills to feed ourselves we would likely starve to death.  However we did gather enough raspberries for an afternoon treat.