Thursday, August 30, 2012

Summer Vacation - Day 5

This was Wednesday August 8th.  We packed up in the morning and left the Harlech campsite.  We continued down the David Thompson Highway into the front ranges of the Rockies.  Our Austrian relatives Martina and Karl absolutely love the Rockies, despite the fact that they visit the Alps all the time.  We stopped at the Mount Michener viewpoint, and at Windy Point, both along the shores of Abraham Reservoir.  Windy Point was really cool... with wildflowers blooming all over the place.  True to it's name it was windy, and the water level in the reservoir was higher than usual for this time of year.





I even managed to capture a photograph of the elusive Rocky Mountain Sea Lion...


After this stop we continued on a short distance to the Kootenay Plains and the campsite at Two O'Clock Creek.  We settled in here and then decided to go for a hike.  We walked a kilometer or two down the highway to the trailhead for the Siffleur Falls trail.  This was a hike of approx. 3 additional kilometers up the valley of the Siffleur River, to the falls.  The trail starts along the shores of the North Saskatchewan River, which it crosses on a suspension bridge, and then over to the Siffleur valley.  We didn't get very far before a summer thundershower rolled in and put an end to our hike.  We had to take shelter under some trees as the rain came down in sheets and we were pelted with hail.  Karl, being a marathon runner, volunteered to run back to the campsite and get one of the vehicles so that the girls wouldn't have to walk back in the rain.  Annelise in particular was getting quite frightened by the lightning that was flashing all around us, and the heavy thunder.







Fortunately a vehicle driven by a couple of young guys stopped and picked up Karl along the highway and he didn't have to run all the way back to Two O'Clock Creek.  In no time at all he was over at the trail head with  his motorhome and picked us all up.  We were soaked to the skin and cold but it made for quite the adventure.  Within a couple of hours the sky cleared right up and the sun came out again.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Summer Vacation - Day 4

This day was our driving day... we were packing up and leaving the badlands, heading west to the mountains.  The girls had one last chance to play in the playground before rolled out of Dorothy.  I played around with my camera a little and took some detail shots of the Gramma grass.  I'm always intrigued with the way this stuff turns to little combs, and then as summer winds down and it ripens it curls up into little false eyelashes.  As we made our way back up the Red Deer Valley we made a brief stop at the Hoodoos.  We always just rolled past this spot without so much as a second look.  I have stopped here many times in the past, dating back to when I was a young boy.  In recent years steps have been taken to protect the hoodoos and there are now stairways and viewing platforms.  Not quite the same as back in the day when everyone used to climb all over them.  I realized after this stop that this was the first time the girls had really explored here... and they loved it!!  I guess this will become a regular stop for us every time we pass through the area.  This time around, being the height of tourist season, the parking lot was pretty full, with not much room for a truck and trailer.  I waited with the truck, in case I needed to move it, while the girls briefly explored.





We left Drumheller and headed west making a brief stop at the Gopher Hole Museum in beautiful downtown Torrington.  Someone must have had too much time on their hands, creating dozens of little diaramas with stuffed gophers.  What we rednecks call gophers are actually Richardsons Ground Squirrels.  We had never been here before and it was a fun place to stop and well worth the $2 admission.






After this stop we continued west, passing through Olds and on to Sundre, then north to Rocky Mountain House.  After a brief stop for groceries and more beer, we turned west onto the David Thompson Highway.  We made it as far as the Harlech campsite on Shunda Creek where we settled down for the night.  We had to camp in the overflow area as all of the designated campsites were too small for a truck and fifth wheel.  But, by evening the traffic on the adjacent highway settled down and we had a peaceful and quiet night.  Earlier that evening the girls and I took a walk along Shunda Creek.  The three of them picked a bouquet of wildflowers for their Mom, which she transported along with us for the remainder of our trip.





Saturday, August 25, 2012

Summer Vacation - Day 3

This was the Monday of the August Long Weekend.  We packed up at the TL Bar Ranch and headed into Drumheller. Shawn and his kids had to return to Edmonton as Shawn didn't have any time off from his job this week.  So we said our good byes and went our seperate ways.   Martina and Karl really wanted to see the Palcoprep shop.  Frank wasn't around this weekend, but I took everyone over to the shop for a look around.  There have been several projects underway at Palcoprep over the last couple of months.  We just completed fabrication and installation of some life size animal sculptures for the Icefields Center in Jasper National Park.  This included a Grizzly Bear with cub, a Mountain Goat and a Golden Eagle.  The original models and the molds from this project are still in the shop.  We are also working on a cast of the skeleton of a Mosasaur, and a sculpture of a Plesiosaur for a museum in British Columbia.  And the usual collection of fossils, paleo panels and generally interesting stuff is always around to take a peek at...









After leaving the shop, we headed into town to fuel up the vehicles and to pick up a few groceries.  We decided to travel down the valley and spend the night camped at our favorite ghost town... Dorothy.  The heat of the afternoon really wore out Helena and she fell asleep in the back seat of the truck.


After arriving in Dorothy and getting settled in we spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the townsite and all of the old buildings.  This place used to be a lot more interesting to me as a photographer when it was abandoned and run down.  Some of the few remaining locals have taken it upon themselves to preserve and restore the remaining old buildings.  The cabin and the two old churches have already been completely restored.  They are now working on the Community Hall and the School.  There's still a little interesting old junk around, but not nearly what there used to be.  Of course the old playground is always a big hit with the girls and that's been the location for many of my "Playground Ghost" photographs in the past.





Summer Vacation - Day 2

Our Austrian relatives told us that they wanted their visit to Canada to be very relaxed.  As they had already been to Alberta on two previous occasions, they were not so concerned about attempting to "see everything".  Rather, they wanted to not waste a lot of time driving around, instead wanting to slow down and really experience some of the places that they visited.  With that in mind we stayed for two full days at the TL Bar Ranch.  The first day was the trail riding, and the second day was to be a canoe trip down the river.  In the morning, Annelise, Helena and I went out for a short trail ride.  The others were renting two canoes and were going to paddle down the river.  The start of the canoe trip ended up getting delayed a couple of hours so Anna was able to join them after all, while Helena and I stayed behind at the campsite.  We rented two canoes, and everyone was dropped off upstream at Dry Island Buffalo Jump.  Karl, Shawn, Bethany and Garrett were in one canoe, while Martina, Margarit, Hailey and Annelise were in the other.  It took them about three hours to paddle down the river back to the ranch.  Helena and I were waiting for them down on the riverbank when they paddled into sight.




It was another hot day and quite humid.  By late afternoon as the days activities were done, we all just lazed around the campsite and relaxed.  By evening a really nasty looking thunderstorm rolled by.  One really cool looking cloud went right over us, and then the bulk of the storm bypassed us.  We watched the spectacular lightning show and could hear the thunder crashing, but it passed by a few miles to the south and we really didn't get anything in the way of rain.




We sat around the fire for quite a while that evening.  One by one everyone turned in and eventually I found myself alone, watching the fire and enjoying the evening.  I played around a little with my pocket camera and took a few long time exposures of the camping area bathed in moon and star light.  Eventually I turned in and called it a day.  


Friday, August 24, 2012

Summer Vacation - Day 1

We started our vacation at the TL Bar Ranch.  On past visits we had always booked a trail ride, and this time was no exception.  We went on a two hour trail ride into the badlands. This was the first time that Karl had ridden a horse, and I think for Martina as well.  All the girls came along... even Helena in a buddy saddle.  This time around Shawn and his kids decided not to ride and stayed back in the campsite.






After the trail ride, in the heat of the afternoon, we tried to stay cool and just relaxed and visited around the campsite.  In the evening we had a BBQ and tried to put a dent in the local beer supply.  After dark a nearly full moon made a spectacular appearance, rising through a bank of clouds.




After their work was done for the day, all the horses were put out to pasture.  Later that night they wandered over into our campsite.  Just checking us out and seeing if we had any treats for them.  We eventually turned in for the night.  The girls and their Mom decided to try sleeping in the tent, while I retired to our trailer.  In the middle of the night I was awakened by the trailer shaking.  I put on my glasses and looked out into the moonlight to find that the horses had returned to our campsite.  One of them was giving himself a good scratch up against the side mirror of my truck.  I got up, shooed them away and went back to sleep.  About and hour later they returned and woke me up yet again.  This time I went out again, and chased them a little further away.  They finally got the hint and left us alone for the rest of the night.