May Long Weekend

After all the miserable weather we had through the spring, I half expected it to snow on the May Long Weekend.  Instead it was really nice with mostly sunny skies, and mild temperatures.  I packed up my three daughters, and we headed down to East Coulee for the long weekend.  Our trailer was still down there in storage from the winter, and we would stay there, and then bring it home.

Margarit decided to stay at home and try to catch up on some chores around the house.  It is always easier to accomplish something without three girls in the way.

The girls and I headed down on Saturday morning.  We dropped off all of our groceries and stuff at the shop, and put everything in the trailer.  The trailer was still parked inside the shop and we left it there for the weekend.  Then we headed over to the Last Chance Saloon in Wayne for lunch.  It was very busy, and the service very inattentive.  Later in the day we headed back over to East Coulee.  We took a walk around town and checked out all the usual stuff.  The old timber bridge of the Red Deer River has now been barricaded by CP Rail.  Although the structure of the bridge is still fairly sound, the deck has been getting quite rotten and I suppose they are concerned that someone will fall through.  We also walked along the river and admired all the trees that were blooming.

On Sunday, we took a drive out onto the prairie.  We headed over to an old abandoned stone house that I have been to in the past.  I wanted to photograph it again, as well as to show it to the girls.  The nearest road is about half a mile from the house so we parked the truck and set off across the prairie on foot.  Unfortunately, the old creek oxbow that surrounds the house was unusually wet this year, and we weren't able to get right up to it.  But I did make a few photographs from a short distance away.  On the way back to East Coulee we stopped at an old abandoned farm yard and explored a little.  We also noticed what appeared to be a bison rubbing stone.  This was a large glacial eratic out on the prairie.  A deep depression was worn into the ground around it from the animals coming to rub their coats on it.  Some of this was no doubt from cattle that also used the stone for the same purpose.  But the depth of the depression suggests that it was used for a long time, so possibly bison used it as well.

We also stopped at an old country cemetery and checked that out before eventually making our way over to Dorothy.  The ghost town of Dorothy used to be a favorite camping spot of ours.  But, it has now been largely restored, and become more popular.  The girls were quite disappointed with the changes and felt a sense of sadness that it was no longer what we used to enjoy.  After leaving there we headed back to the shop and once there we set up the BBQ and began to prepare dinner.  Our friends Chris and Connie were in the area exploring some old stuff and they stopped by to have dinner with us.  We sat around visiting for quite a while that evening.

On the holiday Monday morning we packed up the trailer and tidied everything up.  Then I hooked it to the truck and we eased it out of the shop.  We headed back home to the city by evening, with the trailer in tow.  We will now have it available to us for weekend trips to other places.