Week ending Jul 23, 2015 Longview

Friday  was one of the rainiest days we've had this year. Not really a big deal because we went into Okotoks to get our Costco membership, pick up a bunch of supplies and to stop in to say hi to Sue at work.

 Saturday morning we had beautiful views of the mountains from the campground.

Then we went to watch the Little New York Daze parade.  North of town a few kilometers, a community was built which was called Little Chicago by the infant oil industry in Alberta.   Shortly after that a new community was established where Longview is now.  Because it was a bigger community, they called it Little New York.

We then headed into Calgary where we stopped at a used book store for some travel books to help with our plans for the winter.  Then met all Trev, Sue, Anthony, James Karen and Dominique at Big T's BBQ for dinner. It has been a long time since we had all the family together. The only person missing was Taylor who is spending the summer at Cadet camp in Vernon B.C.

Sunday Karen and Dominique joined us.  We spent most of the day just visiting. They got their new tent set up.  It was a sunny warm day so Joan cooked a roast in the slow cooker outside on the table. After dinner a storm blew in and the rain came down in buckets, but it only lasted for a short period of time. Karen's new tent proved to be water proof.  The rain produced a beautiful rainbow. We noticed that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow must be at the stop sign just by the campground. 

Monday while Karen enjoyed a late sleep, Dominique walked with us down main street. Longview has an interesting little main street, lots of murals painted on walls.

Tuesday we went for a drive down highway 22.  We stopped at the Maycroft Rec Area where we saw a few people fishing in the Oldman River.   As we headed up the river, we saw a doe with a couple of fawns.  We were lucky enough to get a few pictures as they paused at the edge of the trees. 

Our next  stop of interest was the gap, a beautiful canyon that the river has cut through the mountains. 

Then we stopped in at Livingstone Falls and had lunch overlooking the rapids.  The last time we were here, we thought that the first little falls were Livingstone Falls.

This time, Dominique and John went across the top of this slope and found what we expect are the actual Livingstone Falls.

After lunch, we left the forestry road on highway 532 toward the Indian Graves campground.  As we began our descent we encountered a herd of mountain goats.

From highway 22 on the way back to the trailer, we saw a sign that implied a bridge was being sold.

 After supper, we played a few games of Canasta. 

Wednesday Dominique treated us to brunch at the Twin Cities Hotel. They have a great menu, very fresh food, so now we know why their patio is always full, no matter what time of day it is. Around noon Karen and Dominique left for Regina. Shortly after they left we saw a tornado warning on the TV for the area just north of us.  Shortly after, the campground manager came by, as he let everyone in the campground know about the warning.   We could see the clouds behind the hills, but they didn't get this far south.    We spent the afternoon at the library planning for our fall travels. We found out that the tornado had touched down in the Tsu Tina reserve. Fortunately no major damage was done. About 4:00 we headed into High River to pick up Anthony's mail and bike that was at the home he had lived in during his school term. We dropped  Anthony's belonging off with him, discovered everyone at home, as the Anthony and Trev had been sent home from their jobs due to  tornado risk.

Thursday morning we enjoyed the nice weather and spent the day cleaning and vegging around the trailer.