Overnighter With Amy

I can't believe how fast the time is going! I start work tomorrow at the camp for 2 months, and honestly I think it is going to blow by! I guess it is true what they say, time flys when you're having fun! And boy have I been having fun since I got to Alberta.

Yesterday Amy and I went on a last minute overnighter around southern Alberta. Our first stop was the Frank Slide. This was a really interesting historic site, and just for you here is a little history lesson.  Frank, Alberta was a coal mining town in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. On April 29, 1903, at 4:10 a.m., 90 million tonnes (30 million cubic metres) of limestone crashed from the east face of Turtle Mountain and covered approximately three square kilometres of the valley floor. The slab of rock that broke free was approximately 650 m high, 900 m wide and 150 m thick. It took out houses and rural buildings and killing about 90 people. After the slide the remaining community dug out the railway and the road and left everything else, so all is still buried under the mounds of boulders. It was amazing seeing all the rock where the town used to be. We walked around the path and visited the interpretive centre, where Amy got herself a hot Frank Slide hoodie :). I climbed up some rocks and on the way down ripped half my toe off on a rock :(. It was raining when we got there but very quickly the sun came out and it got hot again. We decided to eat our picnic lunch at the slide before heading out to Lethbridge for the night.

On our way to Lethbridge we passed through Pincher Creek, where they have an actual wind farm. They have big white wind turbines (windmills) everywhere! It was only an hour or so drive up to Lethbridge from Frank Slide and we arrived at our hotel before long. After checking in we decided to check out the visitor information booth for some tips of things to do in Lethbridge. So we go in, and Amy asks the pimply faced kid behind the desk, "So, what is there to do in Lethbridge?" To which he replies, "Oh.....ahh.....(sucks the air through his teeth) well......most everything closes at 6, but umm.......the mall's open." It is never a good sign if the tourist information guy doesn't even think there is anything to do. So Amy started putting the questions to him about the area and we got a map to Indian Battle Park, and Henderson Lake. With map in hand and a few pamphlets we start off for Indian Battle Park, which was conveniently located beside Fort Whoop-Up. Apparently Fort Whoop-Up packs up all the whoop at 6 too so we couldn't go there, but we were able to walk around a bit in the battle park. It is a really nice big park with public picnic spots, a playground, walking paths, and a great view of the very tall train bridge. As soon as we got out of the car we were immediately attacked by swarms mosquitoes big enough to leave teeth marks. We didn't let those stop us! We climbed the stairs for the view of the train bridge and over looking the battle park. It was really nice, the sun was low in the sky and besides the bugs it was such a beautiful evening.

We got in the car and headed to Henderson Lake. To our surprise they were gearing up for the dragon boat festival and there were lots of boats practicing for the next days events. We sat on the grass in the setting sun and watched the rowers stroke to the beat of the drum. After a while we headed back to the hotel for dinner and cocktails. The restaurant was great and had a signature 'rum bar'......hello! We took turns ordering drinks and never ordered the same thing twice, at dinner, and then headed for the hot tub for a while. The hot tub and pool was empty so we had it all to ourselves to relax after a long day of awesome. We had a few cocktails in our room before hitting the hay and resting up for the next day when we were going to Head-smashed-in Buffalo Jump before heading home.

This morning we got up, had a huge delish breakfast and headed out towards Head-smashed-in Buffalo Jump. The drive there seemed liked we were driving down a long road to nowhere, but alas at the end there was a little driveway for the museum. The museum there is beautiful, and really well done. You also gain access to the cliff top look off of the kill site. This site is where the natives would drive herds of buffalo off the cliff and smash their heads in killing them for food for the tribes. This was used for hundreds of years to feed bands of natives. The museum also explains how the natives used every single piece of the buffalo for several uses. We spent about an hour in the interpretive centre and walked around the paths. Then it was time to race back to Calgary for Amy to get ready for her night shift. The Alberta highways put me right to sleep, thank goodness Amy is used to them :).

I got back to the house and packed up my stuff for camp and am ready to embark on this next journey for the summer. I have a busy summer of camp work and adventure ahead, which means good stories for you all!