Our last 2 months in Cochrane has come to a close. We have spent the last 2
months visiting doctors, family and enjoying the walking trails around
Cochrane. Joan had great news from her Oncologist. This year was her final CT
scan and next Sept will be her final visit with him. We no longer have spring
Dr. appointments, which leave us free to travel in April rather than doing our spring appointments. We spent
some days visiting Anthony (our oldest grandson) who is living on his own in
High River to finish high school. The days that were not occupied by various
appointments we spent on the extensive walking trail system that Cochrane has
developed. The one tourist attraction we visited this September was the
Glacier Skywalk close to the Columbia Ice fields. The trip up the parkway
brought back so many memories, reminded us that we really are mountain people
and gave us all sorts of ideas for next summer.
Thanksgiving Monday we headed out to High River, picked up Anthony and then
went to Sue and Trev.’s for Thanksgiving turkey. We had a great dinner and Joan
particularly enjoyed it as she was a guest rather than the cook.
Friday we left Cochrane. Our plan is to cross into the USA just
south of Creston B.C, and head through Washington and Oregon to the west coast
through Portland Oregon.
Our first stop was Arrowwood, Alberta, a very small
town about 70 kms east of High River. We stopped there for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is a town that has suffered tremendously from the flood of 2012 and they
have a small campground, full service for 15.00 a night and as we have a brunch
date with Anthony Saturday morning in High River, it is convenient. We had
visited this town and the area over the August long weekend. At that time the
bridge over the Bow River was still washed out. While watching Global news
Friday morning before leaving Cochrane they announced that the bridge was now open and the
natives where having a blessing ceremony today. We arrived in Arrowwood about
12:30, to find a big celebration going on on main street, and all the
entrances to the RV sites where blocked with vehicles. Fortunately they saw our
predicament and came and moved the trucks so we could get onto a site. As we were getting set up and a lady came over and invited us to the celebration as well as
lunch, all being provided by Scotiabank. What a deal. We met several of the local people. We put our name in
for a draw and John won a vacuum flask. This really is a cool little
place. We find it very interesting that a town too small to have a grocery store
does have a co-op a hardware store, a library and a Scotiabank.
Saturday we drove into High River, picked up Anthony and went
to the Little New York Bistro in Longview for lunch. We took the scenic route
back to High River getting Anthony back in time to go to work.
Sunday we went a
walk around Arrowwood. We walked down every street, and on walkways through
a wetland display. The walk took us about an hour. This is a very little
town.
On Monday after stopping at the Scotiabank to pick up some US cash we went
for a walk on the grid roads just outside of town. Later in the day the
campground hostess came by to get us to look at some trees that
she wanted the town to cut down, but they were giving her arguments. We did agree that they made it difficult to maneuvor through the sites. We also found out that the population of Arrowwood is about 200
people.
Tuesday we took our recycling to the recycling centre, which is only
open 2 days a week, then went to library, which is only open 1/2 days 3 times a week, to update our computers. As you can tell, we are struggling to find things to do.
Rather than cook we had dinner out at The Country Eatery, a very nice little
restaurant and one of the few businesses in Arrowwood.
Wednesday morning we packed up and headed to Fort Steele. The
drive was almost 5 hours, a long drive for us these days. We enjoyed the drive
through snow valley particularly since there was no snow.
Thursday, it had rained a bit overnight, but was just overcast when we got up. We checked for walking trails in the area, and headed to Wasa Lake Provincial Park, which promised an 8 km walk around the lake. The lake was a combination of provincial park areas, and pathways through the town around the lake, which was developed by the local Lions club.
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