Writng-On-Stone Provincial Park

On the morning of June 20th Margarit, Sharon, Arturo and I packed up and checked out of our hotel in Okotoks.  Margarit's knee was feeling a little better, but was still pretty sore.  The weather was terrible, and it poured rain most of the day.  Fortunately this was scheduled to be a travel day, so the weather didn't really impact us.

We headed from Okotoks over to Longview and checked out the film camera store.  We met a really cool

guy named Dave Marshall that ran the store.  He had a small store that sold use film cameras and related supplies.  But he had also constructed a sizeable new space next door and set that up to manufacture darkroom chemistry.  We learned from Dave that Kodak had recently ceased production of all darkroom chemistry.  It was nice to find out that we had a somewhat local source of replacement materials.  Dave also ran an operation spooling large bulk rolls of 35mm film onto canisters.  He had some specialty branded film that he sold under his own name, but he was also providing the service to a number of international film suppliers.  He was not at liberty to let us know who they were.....

After leaving Longview we continued on to Fort McLeod and Lethbridge.  We saw a few things along the way that we hoped to check out on our return trip, with hopefully some better weather.

I had rented us a house in West Lethbridge and we headed over there and unloaded our gear.  The house was in a neighborhood that was a little neglected and run down, and was very unassuming from the exterior.  But the interior of the home was very nicely decorated and fully equipped.  It was a very comfortable space with lots of room.

On the morning of June 21st, the first day of summer, we headed out from Lethbridge for the day.  Margarit's knee was feeling better still.  We headed southeast to Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park.  It was our intention to photograph the ancient petroglyphs in the archaeological preserve.  My attempt at online booking was unsuccessful and it appeared this would not be an option.  But, as it turned out, it was National Indigenous Peoples Day and they were conducting free tours into the site.  The tours were short, as there were a lot of people around.  I spoke to one of the park supervisors and she agreed to allow us a little extra time to attempt to photograph the rock art.  It was all that we could ask on short notice and given the circumstances.

We returned to Lethbridge in the early evening and went out for dinner to a local restaurant called Miro's Bistro.  It came very highly recommended by the hosts of the house we had rented.  It was exceptionally good, and one of the best meals I have had in quite some time.  Margarit and I had braised beef in gorgonzola sauce with spaetzli and fresh vegetables, while Arturo and Sharon had rack of lamb.