Week ending May 26, 2016 Claresholme to Waterton

On Friday, we didn't do much. It was cool and windy, but by Saturday we decided we needed to go for a walk.   At Home Hardware, we picked up a water tank filler with extension, which should work better than just putting the end of the hose in the water intake.  Then we carried on to the north end of town, to the Buffalo Hills Art Gallery.  Gordon Zahursky has a great selection of bronzes featuring kids and horses, some really good photographs, and paintings.   We had a long chat with him.   He used to be a bull rider until he went legally blind.  He created a lens for his better eye using lenses from binoculars that enabled him to do some sculpting, which he started using wax.  Since then, he had surgery on the better eye.   He opened a gallery just south of Arrowwood, where he had grown up.  Later on, he moved the gallery to a house at 315 55 Ave W in Claresholm.

On our way back to the RV, we walked along the west side of town, with views of the Porcupine Hills.  There was a coyote hunting for mice in the field.   In the evening, watched the NASCAR all-star race.

Trev, Taylor and James came out for lunch and the afternoon on Sunday.    Sue had to work, and Anthony was camping with friends.

Monday was another overcast day.    We headed for Waterton, stopping in Pincher Creek at WM for groceries,  a trailer wash at Sudsy's and lunch at Tim's.  Karen called around 12:30 to see if we planned on a day trip across the border and they should bring their passports. We told her we like to save our US time for the winter.   South of Pincher, we saw a moose and calf cross the highway.  The cow stepped over the barbed wire fence, but the calf struggled a bit getting through the fence.  We couldn't get a focus before we passed them. About 10k further south, a deer crossed ahead of us, then the usual second deer froze in the middle of the road for a sec, and then, fortunately, darted back off the road.   The tops of the mountains are hiding in the clouds, but we can still see above the snow line on some of them.

Waterton Lake from campground

Set up in Waterton, got good satellite. Nice long site, so we checked if Karen could park on our site. No problem, as long as the car isn't on the grass.  Her tent can be either on the grass or gravel.  A few minutes of heating blew the 30 amp fuse at the utility post, so we switched to our 50amp adapter (which only gives us 30 amps anyway through our internal main breaker) but this setup should get us the full 30 amps when we need it. 

Karen and Dominique arrived around 8. We got their tent set up.  They had some of the exercise floor 'jigsaw' panels to put on the floor under the air matresses.  They found this keeps the floor much warmer. They had lots of blankets to keep warm.

Tuesday around noon, we headed to do a hike from the Red Rock Parkway, only to find the Parkway  is still closed for the winter.  We did the Linnette Lake loop.

Then we drove to the Prince of Wales hotel, which is also still closed (it opens on June 3). After viewing the scenery from the top of the hill, we found a little trail that angled down toward the lake coming out at the picnic area below the hotel.  Dominique and John went all the way down and back, while Karen and Joan decided that the views wouldn't get any better after coming part way down.

Village from Prince of Wales

 On the way back through town, we saw a herd of deer, and a couple of mountain sheep.

Wednesday, we walked across the campground to Cameron Falls. 

A herd of mountain sheep crossed the road ahead of us. 

We walked downtown and checked out the gift shops. Dominique picked up a few souvenirs. We stopped at Zum's Eatery where we had a good lunch.  Joan picked up a bear Christmas ornament from the attached gift shop.  We got back to the trailer just in time to beat a thunder shower.


Thursday morning, we drove to Cardston.  On the way we stopped in at Payne Lake Rec Area.  It was a nice little spot, with fishing, but they charge $24/night for pit toilets.

Once in Cardston, we stopped at the Alberta Temple, the first LDS temple built in Canada.

While we were at the Guest Services, another fellow came in.  He was looking for the location of Caldwell, where a Mormon had homesteaded, and created a small town between the Belly River and Fish Creek near Cardston.  Now, according a book he had, there are only a couple of houses left.  We brought in the backroads Alberta Back Road Atlas, but it didn't have Caldwell or the Fish Creek marked.

Then we went to the Remington Carriage Museum.  This is an extremely extensive collection.   After looking at over 250 horse drawn vehicles in the museum, we chatted with one of the two fellows in the Restoration area of the museum.  They keep the science of carriage restoration alive by restoring vehicles that people want done.  Don Remington, a local rancher had created a collection of 50 carriages.  He talked to his local MLA to arrange for the province to create a museum in Cardston, with a condition that it would have a restoration function.  Another 200 vehicles were added to the collection from other museums and collections around the province.   With many of the carriages there are explanations of how they were used, what their specific benefits are for their specific tasks, and archival pictures of them in use.  

This was a good way to spend a drizzly day.

On the way back, we took the long route to Waterton Reservoir Rec Area.  It is similar to Payne Lake in term of facilities, but only $16.  Not sure why the difference.    Along  SR505, we came across a herd of cows being guided by a few cowboys and a dog.

Chief Mountain

Back at Waterton, we saw several buffalo in the paddock.  One of them was kind enough to be close to the road.

 

Week ending May 19, 2016 Cochrane to Claresholm

On Friday, we went into Calgary to pick up our new glasses.  Then we went to Don and Jackie's to catch up, and enjoy coffee and a muffin. 

On Saturday, we went for a loop walk along the Bow, up to main street, then back down River Ave to the bridge and back to the campground.

Sunday, we walked about an hour west, across bridge, back along the river across from the RV park, then returned to watch NASCAR.

On Monday, we walked up the hill across the river to Tim Horton's in Fireside, then back along George Fox Trail to the top of Riversong and down the path along the river.    From the top, we got good views of Banded Peak and the RV Park.

Tuesday, we went shopping and cleaned up.

On Wednesday we headed for Claresholm.  We stopped in Okotoks to talk to Sue, but found out she had the day off.  We picked up some peanuts and Divine Crunch, a hard candy around peanut and chocolate, which was described as a 'party in your mouth'.   John managed to crack a crown on his second piece.  Fortunately, our dentist was working late that afternoon, so we went in and had a new crown by 6:00pm.  We discovered that our Alberta Seniors Blue Cross program does not cover crowns. 

Thursday was a drizzly and occasionally rainy day, so we spent it in the trailer. 

Week ending May 12, 2016 Rocky Mountain House to Cochrane

On Thursday, we found out why we can't find the International Delight cold coffee.   The company replied to our email telling us they been discontinued because there isn't enough market for them in Canada.

On Friday, after talking to Mom and Dad, we did a 'small' loop from Rocky to Nordegg to Ram Falls, then to SR 752 and back to Rocky, checking out a number of recreation areas and random camping areas for future visits to the area.  One of the first stops was Saunders Creek Rec Area, which is at the site of the Saunders Creek Mine Ghost Town. We didn't see much evidence except for the plaques erected by the Saunders Society.  The old town site has camping by donation to the Society, and there is random camping nearby as well.  A bit of steep drive down toward the North Sask, but nothing the truck couldn't handle with the trailer.  Most of the rec areas had at most one or two sites that would provide us with satellite and solar access.  Lots of trees in the area.  We stopped and had lunch above Dry Haven Creek, which was our turn-around point past Nordegg. 

There looked like some good random camping sites at the North Ram junction.  Between there and Ram Falls we encountered a herd of mountain sheep on the road.  A few rams with nice horns, females, and young ones.   

We went into Ram Falls.  There was only one other vehicle there, a young couple from Rimbey.  

On our way south of Ram Falls, we stopped to take a picture of a deer.   While we were doing that, a parks warden stopped to see if we had an issue.  She also made sure that we knew there was a total fire ban in effect, and then turned in ahead of us a bit down the road to make sure some random campers knew about the ban too.  We saw a lot of good random camping sites, some with trailers in them, in the Elk Creek valley close to SR 752.

On Sunday, the weather was cool and drizzly until late afternoon, so we didn't do much.

On Monday, we went to the Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site (for the first time as far as we can remember). It was opening day for the season (finally, we were in the right place at the right time).  Lots of good information on the history of the site, with particular emphasis on the the local tribes that traded at the HBC and NWC posts, and on David Thompson who did a lot of work based from them and worked for both companies, at different times.  We walked the two interpretive loops in the site, a total of 4.0 km.   Apparently there are buffalo in a paddock here, but there were none today. 

Once back in the trailer we watched a deer munching on the leaves on the small trees around the campground.  It was interesting to note that she ate a lot leaves off each tree, but never removed them all, even from the short ones where they were all within her reach.

Tuesday morning, we went for the 10k walk around Crimson Lake. Met a fellow with a chocolate lab fetching a frisbee.  They walk in the area every day.  At the north end of the lake, we saw a group of about 10 canoes, with people learning techniques. 

We walked past the cottages on the west side of the lake.  Quite a mix of sizes and quality.   

On Wednesday, we went to Bow RiversEdge in Cochrane.  This time we selected a back-in site with a nice view of the off-leash dog area between the campground and the river.

Thursday morning it snowed a bit, by 11 it was melted, but still a cool day.  We tried going for a walk in the afternoon, but the combination of damp and wind made it too uncomfortable to go very far. 

Week ending May 5, 2016 Edmonton to Rocky Mountain House

On Friday, while John went golfing with Buncha and Kit at JR Golf, Joan went shopping for a few things.   We all met back at Buncha and Annie's house, then headed to Good Buddy Restaurant in south Edmonton where Buncha and Annie treated us to a very good Chinese meal.   We returned to their place to chat over coffee.

Saturday morning, we got up later than usual.   We sanded and painted stabilizers before watching the Players Championship Curling.  We talked to Karen about her holiday plans and Dominique's preparation for her trip to Italy.

On Sunday morning, we stopped in at Buncha's to pick up John's Redwoods hoody.  Then we joined Ann, Daniel and George at Snow Valley Ski Hill parking lot.  We walked downstream on Whitemud Creek for while, then returned to the parking lot where we had a picnic lunch on the benches at the bottom of the ski hill.   After lunch, we walked upstream on Whitemud creek.  It was quite enjoyable walking through the trees with views of the mallards and teals on the creek from time to time.   We also saw some squirrels and hawks.   On the way back to the trailer, we detoured to Spruce Grove to pick up paint to finish the stabilizers, and some wood filler for some screw holes in the trailer, and a few groceries.

Monday was spent making a couple of supports for the sewer line, and finishing painting the stabilizers.

Tuesday morning, we went for a walk along the Heritage Grove Trail system in Spruce Grove.  It is quite an extensive system of trails throughout the town.   On the way back to the truck we picked up some lottery tickets at a Reddi-Mart.   Then we headed to Jack's Drive In for peanut butter and chocolate milkshakes Joan had seen advertised.  Jack's has been in business since 1961, and has a very eclectic menu.    

Late afternoon, we went to visit with Joan's cousin Dave until his wife Joan came home from work.   Then we all went out for supper.   We returned to their place and had a nice chat before leaving for the trailer around 9:30.   We don't often drive home in the dark.

Wednesday was the end of our stay in Edmonton.  We headed for the Riverview Campground, just across the North Saskatchewan west of Rocky Mountain House.   On the way, we stopped at Calmar Bakery, for a couple of treats, a took a picture of the mural done for the Zirka Ukrainian Performers.

Once we got onto highway 22 near Buck Creek, we stopped at OXXO gas to change drivers, and get cold drinks.  When we arrived at Riverview, the owner led us to a site from which we could get satellite, and he showed us where to point it.  It worked very well.   Once we were set up, we headed into Rocky to find some International Delight cold coffee drinks, but we didn't have any luck checking a couple of grocery stores and a drug store.

Thursday was an overcast drizzly day, so John cleaned the bugs off the front of the trailer while Joan did laundry.   We haven't seen the bear that was in the area.