Monthly Archives: September 2018

Only a few more‎ days to go on this pilgrimage you will be happy to know…

We drive from Lethbridge to Saskatoon. It is raining for the first time on the trip but the sun comes out after Swift Current. There are more and more wheat farms, elevators and terminals as we go. We descend a hill and as we cross a small lake we notice thousands of white dots floating on the lake. There must have been 5000 of them. ‎ These are snow geese on there way south we learn.

Arriving at Marie’s brother Rick’s in Saskatoon is most enjoyable. He and wife Gaylene roll out the red carpet for us. Over a great dinner we catch up and reminisce. Their daughter Angela drops over with her family. We have a great time seeing them again.

The next day we visit Queens House an Oblate Retreat Centre. We tour the facility and marvel at the beautiful chapel and prayer room. We chat with Brendan the Director and then walk down to the S. Saskatchewan. It’s cold but sunny. We have time to visit the Sask Berry Farm and pick up some jam. Then it’s off to tour the Canadian Light Source. It is one of the largest research centres in Canada. The light produced is fast moving electrons that are used in applied health, agriculture, environmental and materials research. E,g, they have found a way of converting A and B blood types to O here.

We finish our great day with Rick and Gaylene at a Greek restaurant.‎ The trees are in their prime colour, there is a snap in the air. This is Saskatchewan in the Fall. We love it.

Dave and Marie

We leave Boise today for Lethbridge, AB. We drive out through a desolate region of Idaho and stop at the ‎Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. It is a vast lava field that is black. Some vegetation has crept back. It’s spooky.

We make good time along the deserted highway and arrive in Butte, MT. It is a small city nestled between steep colourful hills. All the buildings are one story and visible as there is only a tree here and there. We are up and at it first thing in the morning after the best Best Western breakfast yet.

We continue north and cross the Missouri River again in the most beautiful of canyons. The golden hills are dotted with green trees and the majestic Missouri wanders calmly through them lined with trees and green vegetation. Glacier National Park mountains can be seen on our left. Huzzah!!

We cross into Alberta at Sweet Grass. We get pulled in for a random inspection at Canadian Customs. Oh, oh, we are slightly over on our declared wine import allotment…After a few minutes of tense waiting they hand us back our keys and passport‎s and say you are free to go. It pays to be low risk seniors we figure. Phew!

We arrive at Marie’s brother George’s in Lethbridge. Linda cooks us a wonderful meal as we catch up. It is good to be back in Canada. Their lovely condo is situated at the east end of the Lethbridge Viaduct – the largest train bridge structure in the world – over 1.5 km long and 100 m high over the Oldman River. This place used to be called Fort Whoop-Up for the contraband liquor sales to the Blackfoot nation in the 19th century. We whoop it up a bit over a bit of wine and turn in early.

The next day we visit their son Michael for lunch and Brian for dinner. We visit Henderson Lake Park and hike through the “buttefull” Old Man River basin park. Lot’s of laughs and hugs are in order. The it’s on the road again after a great family visit. Thank you George and Linda!

We reach the terminus of our western journey in Boise (boysee), Idaho. Dave’s friend Greg and his wife Brenda live here in the summer. Dave and Greg met in 1974 in Vancouver when they both worked at Ioco Refinery in Port Moody. They became friends and kept in touch ever since. Greg and Brenda live in La Quinta, CA the rest of the year.

The first day we catch up on our lives and reminisce about the good old days. The next day, we tour Boise located on the Boise River. We are further west here than the eastern BC border. Oregon is only 30 min away.

We walk in various parks in Boise. It is a clean, modern city with lot’s of flowers and friendly people. We have a great steakedinner with Rudy their English cocker spaniel calmly looking on.

Did I mention we bought 15 lbs of Idaho russet potatotes. They taste great! On the way in we saw fields and fields of potatoes growing, being harvested into dump trucks and being transported on the highway in huge semi-trailer trucks. There is a place in town we went where you have a choice of 5 or 6 different types of potato to be cooked up as frys. Yum, love those tators!

It’s time to head north to Canada as our road trip west has now ended.‎ Marie and I are having a great time on this pilgrimage trip. From Best Western breakfasts to visiting with friends and relatives. Thanks for traveling with us so far!

Ciau!

‎

(We have just learned of the tornado that‎ hit Ottawa area yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the injured, those whose property was damaged and those still without power. This storm made the weather channel news down here.)

We head west‎ out of Cody and climb up through the Shoshone River canyon. It is a thousand feet down and beautiful. We pass through the Eastern gate of Yellowstone Park. Established in 1872, it is one of the most bucket list places in the world.

We descend through lodgepole pine forests to a Yellowstone Lake. It is huge and reminds Marie of the Newfoundland shore – gravel, driftwood and windy. We soon turn down the Yellowstone River valley. The park gets its name from this river which flows north into the Missouri in Montana. Deposits of elemental sulfur‎ coloured the shore line leading to it being so named by natives many years ago.

We turn into the South RIM drive and stop at Artist’s Point. There are hundreds of cars and people so we know we are in for a treat. We look up river and see some magnificent falls tumbling to the river thousands of feet below. We hike downstream and gaze at the magnificent canyon walls all coloured in yellow, red and golden hews from the seeping water over the years. The river is thousands of feet below us – one of the most beautiful sites we have ever seen. Better than the Grand Canyon in our view!!

Continuing on‎ the road we lament the fact that apart from a few deer, we have not seen much wildlife. Suddenly on our right we spot a wolf 200 yards away. He seems to be eating something, perhaps a rabbit or prairie dog (gopher). Wow. Continuing on we suddenly see a bison walking towards us in the other lane with a procession of cars following! We snap a picture when he passes our window less than 10 feet away!! We stop and see a heard of about 75 and take photos up close. There are some 4300 wild bison (buffalo) foraging in the park we learn.

We stay the night at The Old Faithful Snow Lodge‎. It is a 2 minute walk to Old Faithful Geyser. We hear and see it blow and hiss as do hundreds of others, every 90 mins or so. We are in a huge cauldron, the centre of an ancient volcano. The cauldron cooled and sunk and cracks formed deep into the earth’s crust. Ground water seeps down over hundreds of years and comes in contact with hot rock floating above molten lava. The water superheats and rises. The pressure rise overcomes the weight of the ground water above. The superheated water flashes to steam and blows out the vent. The pressure drops again and the geyser seals until the cycle repeats. What a fantastic glimpse of what is going on in the earth’s crust!

We wander around all the steam holes and marvel at their beauty. There are aquamarine pools of hot boiling water and the gurgling sound is amazing. Listen to Yellowstone.

Stay safe.

Dave and Marie
XOX

Shopping day. We drive to Billings, a city of 110,000. It is a major crude oil pipeline node and we see 3 oil refineries and acres of steel, truck and oil equipment yards coming into town. I am reminded of the 5 years I worked in an oil refinery. I miss it and I don’t. I can’t imagine the technology changes since the 70s.

‎We find Costco and stock up on some food and clothing. They sell wine and beer in the store too. We head SW in our white Tucson and fit in with all the white pick up trucks.

Desolation greets us left and right again. Scrub land with some large hills in the distance. The buttes here have smooth tops indicating glacial smoothing. We cross over the Shoshone River and arrive in Cody, WY – the rodeo capital of the world. This is where Wild Bill Hicock and Buffalo Bill Cody tamed the west and made it famous.

It is a nice town with wide streets and plenty of souvenir and western gear shops. We tour part of the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West museums and pick up some souvenirs.

It feels good to be here in the sunshine.

Dave and Marie

I forgot to mention yesterday that we also stopped at the Crazy Horse monument near Custer. It is a work in progress huge mountain sculpture of the Sioux Chief Crazy Horse who lived much of his short life in these hills. ‎A great segway into today.

We emerged from the east side of the Black Hills heading west into Wyoming. To our left as far as we could see was real desert – a moonscape of flat rolling dry scrub land – no crops – no settlements. The odd oil well could be seen pumping next to a small storage tank. The Bad Lands.

A mountain‎ range could be seen in the distance with some snow cover. We turned to the NW and crossed into Montana. Our destination was the Little Bighorn Battlefield.

This site is where Lt Col George Custer and 250 of his men met their demise in June 1876. The Lakota Chief Sitting Bull had led his people and the Northern Cheyene led by Crazy Horse from their reservation in the Black Hills, to settle here to resume their native way of life. A gold rush in the Black Hills had sparked massive American incursion into the reservation violating the treaty. So the native Americans left in defiance and were ordered back to the reservation by the US government.

George Custer with about 600 cavalry tried to surprise them and was outnumbered‎ by the 1500-2000 Indian warriors here. He made a fatal mistake when he split his forces into 4 smaller groupings trying to surprise the village before the warriors could mount up. Surprise was lost and Custer found himself and his battalion completely surrounded. They were anilated.

We toured the battle site by car‎ and looked at the headstone where he fell. It is sacred ground for sure. There is a headstone marking where each cavalry man had fallen and now more and more where each native warrior had too.

Ironically we had to leave hurriedly when a scheduled power outage shut down things at 4:30. We headed up the road and stayed the night after another great sunny day.

Dave and Marie

(Sitting Bull survived the battle and fled to Canada before returning to be arrested years later. Crazy Horse kept up the fight and was shot in a US prison at age 36 or so‎. George Custer was seen as a hero for the next 50 years or so but gradually this view changed. He is now seen as neither a hero nor a villain.)

The Black Hills are a small mountain range in SW South Dakota that emerge out of the plains. The highest peak is about 7500 ft and not snow covered now. There is a thick cover of pine trees that from a distance makes the hills look black. The Lakota tribe of Plains Indians had their home hear.

The number one attraction is Mt. Rushmore. We make our way there on a “buttefull” day. We get there early and pay the $5 entrance fee. We walk up the central aisle between columns – one for each state with the year they entered the Union. Delaware was first on Dec 7, 1787.

In front of us emerges the iconic structure of the four granite faced presidents created by Gutzon Borglum and his son and completed in 1941. We walk down a small path to get as close as possible. I recognize George Washington and Abe Lincoln for sure. I think Thomas Jefferson is there too and ask a man. Strangely he does not know. I am still unsure about the 4th – turns out it is Theodore Roosevelt. It is a very stunning tribute to these great leaders.

As we leave we notice license plates from virtually every state in the Union. Apart form 1 Ontario plate, we are the only other Canadian plate (Manitoba rental). ‎ The low CDN dollar is no doubt a factor.

We continue our drive and stop at buttefull Lakota Lake. It is surrounded by granite buttes and stocked for fishermen. We take a 45 min hike around the lake in the warm sun and notice some large animal tracks. I bravely assure Marie not to be alarmed, there are no grizzlies around here as far as I know! As we emerge from the path a group of trail riders on horseback lazily emerge from another direction. If we were to ride horses, this would be the place.

We head back through Custer State Park dotted with small lakes, campsites and nice lodges. There is a buffalo herd of some 1300 that roams the range but we do not spot any today. Lot’s of RVS and this is the shoulder season. We explore the small town of Custer named after George Custer the Civil War hero and Indian fighter. Nothing much too exciting here – rock stores, photo stores and antiques.

Satisfied, we head back to our BW suite for a swim and hot tub. Another great day on the Plains.

Dave and Marie

We say our goodbyes for now and wish Kyie and Ashley a relaxing weekend. We head out of Winnipeg on the Pembina Highway. We are quickly surrounded by wheat fields as far as the eye can see. Crossing the border at Emerson is a virtual thing – the wheat fields stretch out endlessly into the flat distance.

We are in the Great Plains of North America. Extending from Mexico and west Texas to Saskatchewan. ‎From the Rocky Mountains in the west almost to the Mississippi River in the east. Agriculture that we see now was unknown to the Plains Indians as there was no water or wood . They were nomads who followed and hunted buffalo on horseback to survive.

The Spanish could not conquer them nor the terrain. The fierce Apaches and Commanches were master horsemen, able to fire a dozen arrows in a minute while clinging to the side of their speeding horse. The Spanish gave up and withdrew in the 18th century. It was not until the invention of the colt six shooter‎ pistol in about 1870 that Americans were able to route the natives at their own game on horseback and enable settlement to proceed, in what was known then as the Great American Desert.

We journey SW across North Dakota. We stop at Oscar-Zero, one of the Ronald Regan era ballistic missile launch sites now mothballed. I go to take some pictures and realize my camera battery is back in Winnipeg still charging. A tour takes an hour so we press on for Bismarck.

Finally a few rolling hills are seen and very much welcomed! We cross the mighty Missouri River about mid-state. Tonight we find a nice motel in Mandan just past Bismarck and enjoy some great chicken and potatoes before‎ nodding off.

On Day 5 we are up and at it and heading SW again. We start to notice a few small ponds and the odd rocky butte. The vistas our stunning‎ with a few trees now dotting the rolling fields. We cross into South Dakota. It is desolate – we drive 100 km with nothing but wheat fields, sunflowers and canola – no services, no houses, the odd barn and grouping of silos.

We stop for lunch at a Conoco gas station – most people wear leather cowboy hats and are in a pickup or on motorcycle‎. It’s windy. We feel a bit out of place. In Rapid City I manage to buy a battery and charger for my camera. Yippee! We continue on to Hill City in the Black Hills area in SW South Dakota and check into a huge Best Western suite room.

Some more chicken and wine and we call it a night.‎ It was a long but great day.

Dave and Maire

We have embarked on another adventure – this time to the great plains out west starting and ending in Winnipeg. Our first day we visited Assiniboine Park and enjoyed seeing some lovely English gardens and walking through a sculpture garden. The sculptures in stone or bronze were by the very talented Leo Mull. Many were of animals and some of people. He was German I believe who settled in Winnipeg to escape Nazi persecution. I have lots of photos but on another camera.

We finally saw Kyle and Ashley when they got home from work. Everything is well with them and baby Morgan is due soon. On Day 2, I picked about 50 lbs of apples from their backyard tree – McIntosh bumper crop – yum!! It was Kyle’s birthday so we celebrated at a Japanese steak house. Food and service were superb. Thank you Ichiban. Sake bomb!

Day 3 we walked from St Boniface around to the Forks. There was an outdoor press conference about‎ the Metis-Fairfax partnership investment to restore the rail line to Churchill. This project represents real tangible reconciliation. A big step forward since the the Metis Nation will control their own future in northern Manitoba.

Marie made some apple sauce. Ashley prepared one of her family’s‎ traditional perogie dinners and Kyle cooked some sausage and played the piano for us after dinner. It was another superb evening in Winnipeg. Tomorrow we hit the road.

Dave and Marie

We had a great summer in Arnprior with many hot and sunny days.  Hope you did too, wherever you are.  Here are a few of our local summer nature highlights:

Great Blue Heron

Neighbourhood Beaver

Swimming Hole

Neighbourhood Deer

Neighbourhood Green Heron

Mississippi River from Pakenham Trail Bridge

On the Trail from Arnprior to Pakenham

Neighbour Des

Cooling Off

Our Hibiscus

Neighbourhood Muskrat

Bird Bath

Madawaska River from Arnprior Trail Bridge

A Sunflower

Neighbourhood Osprey

McNamara Trail Lookout

May God Bless you.