Oct 1: Santa Barbara CA

Last night when it got dark I decided to watch some YouTube on my phone and spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching some British game shows and my favorite comedian,  Dave Allen.

Woke up this morning to rain in Sacramento but I'll bet there's NO rain anywhere near home!

Little excitement.   We were stopped 3 miles outside of Salinas until the bomb squad could clear a suspicious package on the platform.  We were held up about an hour and never heard the resolution. 

And, home sweet home. 🎈🎈

Just south of Davis CA, through the window, at 80 mph

Jack London Square in Oakland.  

Heading toward Watsonville 

Elkhorn Slough Preserve

Sept 30: Klamath Falls OR

I woke up this morning to the Columbia River right beside me.   So nice to just look out the window at the beautiful scenery.

The train was two hours late leaving Shelby and got to Portland about an hour and a half late.   So I still had about 3 hours in Portland to kill.   It's a beautiful day but somewhat cooler than yesterday.

There were 4 policemen and a dog walking around the Portland station,  sometimes separately and sometimes in twos.   Seemed to be looking for somebody but I never saw any resolution.

The Coast Starlight was on time.   If all goes as planned should be in Santa Barbara at 6 pm tomorrow.

The Columbia River just after sunrise

Love this building in Portland

The Columbia River as we're leaving Portland

Somewhere in Oregon

Sept 29: Shelby MT

We were off this morning to see Fort Whoop-Up even though we knew it wouldn't be open today.   We still got to see a bit of it as well as Indian Battle Park and a close up view of the trestle bridge.

Lovely and warm again today,  in the low 70's.  Just waiting now for the train to arrive from Chicago.  Tomorrow morning it's Portland Oregon. 

Nestled inside Indian Battle Park where it feels very far away from civilization. 

Part of the wall which surrounds Fort Whoop-Up.

Couldn't resist another stop at Milk River after checking out the Duty Free Shop.

Sept 28: Lethbridge

Up at 5:30 this morning to go with John into Calgary for some eye tests.  Pretty cool outside, the car was covered with frost.  The tests only took 45 minutes but we then walked for 4 hours for the eye drops to wear off!

Unfortunately the clouds came in last night so didn't get to see any of the eclipse.  Still,  got to see many photos online and on TV so that had to do.

Then we were off to Lethbridge for the night.  The weather changed drastically and by 10am coats came off and stayed off all day.   Beautiful day! 

The Chinook Centre, a massive indoor shopping mall which takes up about 3 city blocks. 

One of the many interesting products sold at The Spy Store.

How cool is this?   Up to six people can have their phones charging.   Your credit card locks and unlocks the drawer your phone is in, but it's FREE!

A pub across the street with an excellent menu and where we had dinner. 

Sept 27: High River

First thing this morning we had a lovely visit with my niece Jennifer,  her husband Tony and their children,  Jordan, Haley and Kayla.

We had a lovely drive back, taking a different route.

Club house at Northern Bear Golf Course

Northern Bear Golf Course, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus. 

A great spot for lunch

You bet!

Sept 26: Fort Saskatchewan

Today was a traveling day and we spent most of the day on the road.  We made several stops along the way and we chose the road less traveled so it was a lovely drive through miles of farmland; most of the time with blue skies and sunshine. 

Taken from the back seat of the car at 100 kmh, you can see part of a rainbow way off in the distance. 

We were headed directly for the rain ahead,  went through it for several minutes, then blue skies and sunshine once again.  

Sept 25: High River

John had to work this morning from 5 am to 1:30 so I was supposed to sleep in but,  of course, that didn't happen.   Still I had a lazy morning until 9 when I went for breakfast.

The weather was perfect,  warm with a slight breeze.  I went for a nice long walk and did my step count proud. 

We decided to veg out this afternoon and just take it easy;  laundry and TV.

Tonight they had Night Glow with the balloons in the field lighting up intermittently.   Beautiful.

Tomorrow morning we head north toward Edmonton.

Yah, I  found the Legion!  Brings back many memories. 

One of the trucks in the parking lot belonging to a balloon team.

I also found the RCMP - Royal Canadian Mounted Police Headquarters.

Couldn't resist this photo of a veterinary clinic when I saw the staff working with a horse out back. 

Sept 24: High River

I walked from the hotel this morning to the field where the balloons were.   What an experience to see these lift off and fly away!   Amazing!

More exploration with John and Diane today around High River.  We spent alot of time looking at the areas hardest hit in the flood 2013.

First priority after the flood was to protect the town.   It took about a year and a half and an earthen wall embankment now encircles the town.

We spent a couple of hours looking at homes in various locations on our drive to Calgary where we had dinner with my two nephews and a grand niece and nephew.

The earthen wall embankment that surrounds the town of High River

This is one of about 30 homes in an area that was flooded with 9 feet of water.  All these will be demolished and nobody will rebuild in this area. So devastating.

This is the home of a young Clark Kent in the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeves.

Diane and John

John and David

Sept 23: High River

This morning we visited the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Center, a massive center for the whole family.

The adult hockey rink; there is a smaller hockey rink for children. 

Curling rink of the Highwood Curling Club

This is the Cargill Field House which among many other things houses courts for Pickle Ball with a walking track around the outside. 

Panorama view of Highwood Golf & Country Club, right next door to where John and Diane live. 

Coming into Saskatoon Farm

Looking down on the gardens at Saskatoon Farm,  done now until the spring. 

And all the balloonists have arrived and checked in.   First flights take off at 7:30 tomorrow.  Going to try and see the start of it. 

Sept 22: High River

Off to Nanton this morning where we had three major stops.

Our first stop was at the Museum of Miniatures.  A fascinating journey into the world of miniatures.  The owner and the man who built the displays came by and gave us several stories regarding the displays as well as telling us about the legend of Chief Mountain which ended with an Indian woman throwing herself and her baby off the mountain when her husband was killed.  There was a rock formation on the mountain that looked like a woman holding a baby.  That rock formation collapsed in 1992 but photos can be seen that sure look like that woman and baby! 

One interesting fact was that the tall grass clumps of grass in the exhibits were created with human hair!

From there we went to the Bomber Command Museum of Canada,  an incredible display of WW II information along with a hangar of vintage planes, the most significant being the Lancaster.  With a group of volunteers this Lancaster was physically dragged 30 miles through fields to its new home in Nanton where it was restored and a museum began.  Other vintage planes are also being restored there and one of the employees took us back into the work area which the public doesn't get to see to show us the Mosquito (a wooden plane of WW II vintage) which is being restored.  What a rare treat!

We were amazed at this museum - what a treasure!

Next we visited the Big Sky Garden Railway which is a miniature railroad display.  What a hoot!  The more you looked around, the more details you picked up and model trains of every description were moving around everywhere.

We took a drive to Okotoks where we were able to walk around the Okotoks Erratic, a 16,500 ton boulder created by a glacier melt more than 10,000 years ago.

Our last stop of the day was at St. James Catholic Church in Okotoks, a landmark that can be seen for miles.  This is unlike any Catholic Church I've ever seen.  Beautiful!

Human hair creates the grass

The Mosquito under restoration

Okotoks Erratic

St. James Catholic Church

Sept 21: High River

John and I had a walk around the downtown this morning admiring all the murals and looking at all the evidence of the devastating flood of 2013.  There are still many buildings marked for demolition and evidence of how high the flood waters reached is evident in many places.  John and Diane were evacuated for 10 days but thankfully were on higher ground so didn't suffer any damage.

Still the effects of the flood are major and the town is struggling to get back on its feet.

We dropped into the Museum of the Highwood which shows the history of the area and many artifacts of the old west.

There is a very popular Canadian drama series called Heartland which is actually filmed in High River.  I heard about it on Trip Advisor and the Museum of the Highwood has a room dedicated to this series.  I found it on Netflix and am watching Episode 1 at this moment.

Edward had a ranch here.   He became notorious when he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.

There are markers along the Whoop-Up trail from Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Macleod, Alberta.  This was a trade route controlled by the British company Hudson's Bay Company.

One of many murals on the downtown buildings. 

Maggie's Dinner in downtown High River is an important location in the Heartland series.

Sept 20: High River

We took a tour of some of Lethbridge this morning.   I am always so impressed with the four lane divided streets.   Everything looks so spacious.

We looked at Brewery Gardens which was originally a disposal site for ashes used in the brewery process.   It celebrates the High Level Bridge which is the longest and highest trestle bridge in the world. 

Then we drove to Paradise Canyon to see the golf course,  the beautiful homes and the Oldman River.

We drove north to High River through a series of small towns and just had time for me to check into the hotel before we were off to Calgary to meet my niece and her family. 

I've never seen this machine in a breakfast room. 

Brewery Garden thanking the Oldman River for providing water for 10,000 years

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The High Level Bridge in the distance; the only way to get a photo of the whole thing

Dinner at Moxie's Classic Lounge

I've lucked out.   The Balloon Festival starts on Thursday for 4 days and this hotel is the headquarters, hence one of the balloon baskets in the lobby!