Discovering Western Canada's Heritage

Banff National Park, Banff

When I was much younger, I'd get up early to watch Sunday Mornings with Charles Kuralt. Specifically, I'd watch the last few minutes of the show when the tv screen came alive with just nature scenes. There'd be no talking, no roll of credits, just a beautiful lake or marsh with the sound of ducks quacking as they flapped their wings and took off. It was heaven. I wanted so badly to be there rather than watching it on tv. Well, this morning we were transported to this world.
The early morning sky woke me up about 4:30. Everything was calm, the sky blue with a great band of orange streaked as far across the horizon as you could see. As the sun began to rose every bird was singing out a unique call, the bullfrogs were croaking and in the distance the coyote were howling. Ned and I got a front row seat just sitting lying in bed, watching and listening to it all. We fell back asleep and when we woke to full sunlight, the prairie dogs were scampering about. This is why I love road trips, it's all about finding my Charles Kuralt moments.
Our big outing for the day was Heritage Park Historical Village. We had about a 2 hour or so drive there and gosh did the skies open up on us. We decided it was a good time to stop at a small coffee shop, get out of the rain and connect via wifi. By the time we arrived at Heritage Village it was early afternoon. Since this is mainly an outdoor recreated village we didn't know if the weather would cooperate. Turns out the sun came out and it even got quite warm.
If you're ever in Calgary I highly recommend making a full day of Heritage Park. It's touted as Canada's largest living history museum. Basically, it's Canada's version of Williamsburg, Va. There are recreated villages spanning Western Canada's History from 1860 to 1910. We walked through an aboriginal village, fur traders settlement, early pioneer settlers homes and a 1910 village. We rode a steam train, were pulled in a wagon by draft horses and even took a paddle boat on Glenmore Reservoir. Each settlement had knowledgable actors telling us about their craft or trade. My favorite was visiting the newspaper shop. We got to see a real linotype in action! Amazing how labor intensive typesetting used to be. 70% of the buildings in the park are actual historic structures that have been moved there. The other 30% are historically accurate reproductions so you really get an authentic experience. The Aboriginal Village had people from the Blackfoot Nation and they sang songs and drummed in their "tipi" as the fire roared inside and the smoke came out on top. (Chirs & Vic, campfire in your teepee next winter!). Ned really enjoyed the wagon driver. He grew up in rural Canada driving draft horse teams and was very knowledgeable about a working village and farm. The real steam engine was a hoot too. They actually fill it with 1800 gallons of water every morning out of the authentic water tower. (Dad, yes they even sold fudge. You would have like it here.) What a fun day!!
We left the village just as rush hour traffic was in full gear so we decided to sit outside, enjoy the great weather and share a dark beer over fish tacos and salmon.
We are just now arriving in Banff National Park. The drive from Calgary into the Canadian Rockies was jaw dropping spectacular! However, the campground leaves a LOT to be desired. It's basically a parking lot. Tomorrow are plan is to explore the park and at least find a decent camping spot. Since it'll be light until at least 11 tonight we're off to explore the town of Banff. First glance it seems like Newer South Lake Tahoe and Jackson Hole combined. At least they have wifi!! Stay tuned!

Alberta the land of riches and tornadoes

Kinbrook Island Provincial Park, Tilley, Canada

Knowing we had a long drive today across the rest of Saskatchewan and into Alberta we tried for an early start. The real story of the day was the dramatic sky. Unlike where we live in Nevada City, which is situated in an evergreen forest, the prairie is wide open. You get a fantastic 360 degree view and can see for miles and miles. Today we saw storms brewing and abating with dramatic colors. By the time we reached Medicine Hat, it was quite warm, perhaps in the 80's and we thought the best way to explore the city was on bike. Medicine Hat has 92 kilometers of paved bike trails. What is so amazing about this is that the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have very few paved roads so these paved bike paths seemed like such a luxury. All the roads in Alberta are in much better condition, with a conspicuous lack of potholes, and there is an abundance of asphalt such as in parking lots and side streets. We really enjoyed biking through the city, along the river and seeing several beautiful stately homes. Medicine Hat also has the distinction of having the world's tallest teepee, for whatever that is worth. While the other provinces seemed to be about making a living and not a lot of emphasis on aesthetics Medicine Hat at least seemed like a town that was working to present itself well. Heck, we even found a health food store and I could load up on Kombucha again!
We left Medicine Hat late in the day and headed for a provincial park, situated on an island lake about 90 minutes east of Calgary. When we pulled in a fellow camper told us of a tornado that had been spotted and was headed our way. Interestingly enough, a few hours earlier Ned had asked should we be concerned about the look of the clouds where we were headed. He said it looked like a tornado in the distance. They definitely had a funnel shape. While we were a bit concerned about the impending storm, we did hop on our bikes to take some great photos of the storm and wild cloud patterns in the distance. The park has a cinder block building that houses a laundry room and showers. Rather than set up camp we decided it was probably more prudent to hang close to that building (and I used the opportunity to get caught up on laundry). Another camper listening to the radio said that the likelihood of a tornado had lessened (from a warning to a watch) so we set up camp and enjoyed the beautiful, but dramatic evening. We saw a rainbow and at 10:00 at night, with still bright skies, the clouds parted and it felt like 7:00 pm. We lied in bed and watched the sky in the distance flash with lightening, but there was no thunder and no rain. Just incredible gusts of wind. It was about 11:00 before the night finally enveloped us. Amazing. I wish I could have put today on a time lapse video and showed what we experienced. Hopefully the pics below give some idea.