Early Sunday morning Lindsay took the bus back to Surrey and we picked up Dave and Danica for a week of RVing and exploring southern Alberta.
When Dave and Kari were growing up we camped and explored around BC, Alberta and many points east. These 1991 memories of climbing Tangle Falls in the winter are part of our family history.
Lindsay is now 19 and Joey 17. They have traveled and explored with us in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan but we didn’t camp during that time. Their family memories are of motels and now some camping in this RV. In 2005 The Enchanted Forest was one of many stops to play and learn.
Now it’s Danica’s (age 8) turn to create family memories as we have explored the Vancouver area, Jasper last summer and now southern Alberta where she lives.
A campfire is central to our family camping.
Alberta’s prosperity is evident around Calgary.
This building under construction is a house that has been in the media. It’s hard to imagine living here; perhaps it will not be occupied full time. There are many monster houses around the Lower Mainland which are rarely occupied.
The oil wells around the city give an indication of the source of the wealth.
The cattle provide the well-known Alberta beef.
In Fort Macleod we setup in Daisy Mae Campground then explored in town until supper – complete with more mosquitoes.
Our first stop was Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. What a fascinating story of imagination, determination and courage to steer thousands of buffalo over a cliff. At the toe of the cliff are slope deposits composed of toppled bedrock, fine wind blown soil and the bones of tens of thousands of buffalo. This is where the wounded animals were killed then everyone helped preserve and utilize every part of the animal.
The displays are very realistic and take you into the life of First Nations people before Europeans changed so much.
Fort Macleod NWMP fort has been re-created and provides a view of the European settlement and law enforcement in what is now Southern Alberta.
A brief Musical Ride is enacted with local youth participating.
Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston was voted the “Best Indoor Attraction in Canada”.
Western Passenger Wagons (stage coaches) were very cramped and bone jarring – not as smooth as the movies depict the passengers inside.
Chuck wagons really were used for cattle drives – not just in the old movies. The back of the chuck (food) box dropped down to become the cook’s worktable.
The camp stove was pulled behind the wagon – thus the chuck wagon races where the outrider throws the stove into the wagon at the start of the race.
In Calgary this oil tank wagon carried 350 gallons of oil products from storage depots to customers.
Sometimes it’s hard to visualize how quickly our world has changed. The wagon is smaller than any vehicle on this highway.
