Sunday/Monday - Sept. 5-6 - On our way back from the rodeo, it started raining again, and continued to rain about all night. It got pretty cold, 44 I think. Marilyn's sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Gordie, had driven out from Calgary and were spending the night with them. Collins grilled steaks for all of us, in the rain, and we had a nice visit with them.
Sunday morning, I got the laundry caught up again, and Marilyn fixed biscuits and gravy for the group, then we headed out to Pincher Creek, in the rain. It was pretty nasty, cold, and we noticed the raindrops on our windshield were getting a little slushy. We kept discussing whether or not it was sleeting or snowing, or just raining, but we went up an little bit of a hill, and it was definitely snowing!
We went a little further, and there was ground cover!
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But it didn't last too long and we were back down in the rain. Collins and Marilyn had missed a turn on our Cowboy Trail highway, so they were about 15 minutes behind us. We arranged to meet at the Walmart in Pincher Creek. As we came up on hill, we saw a windmill farm behind the town.
As we turned off Highway 6 into town, there was a nice artistic display of a cowboy herding cattle. This area is known as "where the prairies meet the mountains," and we could see the Rockies in the distance.
We met up with the Brundiges, then drove on through town and to the campground where Judy and Jerry (our hosts in May at Kingsgate and Collins' cousin) were waiting for us. This campground was right on Waterton Dam, but we were the only ones there since the weather had turned so nasty. Jerry and Judy had arrived on Saturday, and Jerry had gone fishing this morning and caught a real nice Northern Pike. We "circled the wagons" to keep the wind out, and Jerry had a campfire going already. Judy's daughter and her family drove out for dinner, which they brought with them, so we had a nice visit with them.
Monday morning was sunny, so we walked down to the lake. One brave family was launching their boat -- they were the only ones on the lake. There was a nice pier here, but only the seagulls were enjoying it.
I scared them away, though.
Collins and Jerry took a rest break, so I walked out on the pier. I really had to watch my step, since the birds had left their impact on it. The mountains behind me, with last night's snow, were really beautiful.
After breakfast, we headed to Cardston, where the Remington Carriage Museum is located. Don Remington donated his collection of 48 carriages to the Province of Alberta under the stipulation that the province would build a building to display them. The Museum has added to the original collection and has about 275 carriages now, most on display here but some at a storage facility in Lethbridge. The Remington Carriage Museum collection of horse drawn vehicles is the largest in North America, and the second largest in the world.
Cardston is also the home of George Woolf, the jockey who rode Sea Biscuit to victory. There is a statute outside the Museum of this, and a wall of photos from Sea Biscuit's races.
We took a guided tour, which was extremely interesting, then walked around on our own afterward and watched the movie.
There was a wide variety of carriages, horse-drawn and horse-less, and several sleighs.
We got to step inside this next one, and the tour guide rocked it so we could see what the ride would have been like.
There is also a tack room here, and when Don Remington passed away his family donated his bridles and tack to the museum.
There is also a workshop here, staffed by 2 men in their 70s, and a volunteer in his 50s, who do restoration work, mostly for individuals. They do some work for the museum, but most of their work is for people who bring in old carriages to be restored for themselves. Collins would like to volunteer some of his time here.
Two of the carriages we thought would be of interest to Cody are the school buses below.
We finished the tour there and stopped in town for lunch, then headed back to camp to move our rigs to Todd's place. Todd (Judy's son) and his family had gone camping for the weekend and were not home yet, but we invaded their territory anyway. Joe and Jerry are relaxing outside Jerry's 5th wheel. You can see that Jerry has removed his artificial leg as he relaxes.
I went out to take some pictures just as Todd pulled into their drive-way.
From his ranch, you can see for miles and miles. His house was built in 1898, and he has cattle, some horses, llama, many dogs, some cats, a goat and one of his kids has a hampster. There may be other critters we haven't met yet.
We had a cook-out with Todd's family -- one of his boys grilled the burgers and hot dogs -- and we actually were able to sit out on the deck to eat. But as soon as the sun went down, we all headed indoors, it gets cold fast out here on the prairie!
We are heading out tomorrow for the national parks, so I don't know if we'll have internet or phone service for a few days.
But we are really looking forward to seeing some bears in these parks!
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