East Coulee

We all arrived back in East Coulee on the afternoon of Friday August 21st.  It was still very hot, but a couple of degrees cooler than it had been earlier in the week.  We set up the trailer in the yard at the shop and settled in to relax.  On Friday evening we joined Frank and Chris and headed over to the Old Grouches Cozy Cafe for dinner.  Their daughter Sabrina works there part time as a waitress.  I first met Frank and Chris and Sabrina back in the late 90's. I stumbled onto Frank's dinosaur digsite while photographing down in Horse Thief Canyon.  Over the years we have become not only very close friends, but also business partners.  At that time Sabrina was a toddler and I distinctly remember being awakened by her one morning when I crashed overnight on their living room floor.  She must have only been about 2 or 3 years old and woke me up by jumping onto my chest, at about 6:00AM, so that we could watch some Disney videos.  Flash forward to now and I think she is like 24 years old...!  Makes me feel my age...!

Hailey had to drive back to Edmonton on Friday evening as she had to work a shift on Saturday.  She had left her car at the shop after meeting me there earlier in the week.  Helena went home with her.  This left Margarit and I a couple of days to be together.  On Saturday we toured around the valley, Margarit hiking and collecting rocks, while I photographed.  We went up the valley from East Coulee and I photographed some hoodoos, some old mine workings, and some old wagons.  Later we headed into town and picked up a few groceries.  Still later that evening we made dinner for ourselves back at the trailer.  Margarit decided to head back home that evening and be with the girls.  I stayed for one extra night... the last night of my third week of vacation.  I hung around the trailer in the evening, had a small fire, and played guitar.  In the morning I packed everything up and moved the trailer into the shop.  We are unsure if we will get it back onto the road this year so for now it is stored away.

After leaving the shop I headed into town and photographed a few of the historic landmark buildings in Drumheller.  This included the Napier Theatre, an auto service garage, and the Waldorf Hotel.  It was still quite warm at 26C, but not nearly what it had been earlier in the week.  After I finished up the photos I fueled the truck and hit the road for home.  It was about 2:30 in the afternoon when I left town and headed back to Edmonton.