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!

Sept 19: Lethbridge AB

Another half day spent on the train just looking at the scenery before I arrived in Shelby,  Montana.

The plan was to spend the night there before going up to High River the next day.

John and Diane met the train and we went off to have lunch and discuss our options.   While on the train I had been texting back and forth with my niece Angela who lives just east of Edmonton.   She had come south for the weekend hoping to be able to meet up with us.

We decided to drive to Lethbridge (a whole hour and a half drive) and spend the night there and go on to meet up with Angela and family in Calgary tomorrow evening (a whole other hour and a half drive).  The speed limit here and in Montana is 75 mph, a little unnerving to me, but since the highways are basically empty (we never saw more than two cars on the road in both directions at any one time) it was very tolerable. 

On the drive up we stopped at the Milk River Visitor Center and then at the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden in Lethbridge.

Milk River Visitor Center with replica hoodoos in the background

Our dinner at Sisters Pub & Grill

Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden

Crossing the border at Sweet Grass, Montana

Sept 18: Portland OR

Although I brought alot of entertainment along,  today I just watched the scenery.   It was lovely and calming.

We made up the hour we were late overnight and arrived in Portland in time to meet the Empire Builder heading to Chicago.   Tomorrow at 11:30 am I arrive in Shelby, Montana.

Photos below of Lookout Point Lake as we raced by and the train stop in Eugene OR.  They obviously added alot of cars somewhere along the way because it wasn't that big when I got on.   The picture is missing about 8 cars from the back and you can barely make out the front of the train.  

Sept 17: Oakland CA

Las night at Fess Parker's I received a tsunami advisory on my phone; that gave me some pause, scary stuff.   However the water rose about 9 inches when it got to Santa Barbara so no beachfront property for us!

At home waiting impatiently I got a text that the train was 49 minutes late.   The car attendant tells me they have a 3-1/2 hour cushion so barring anything else going wrong,  I should be okay with catching my connection in Portland.

A different experience this time.   They have wine tasting and a movie.   Plus there are three places on the train where sleeping car passengers can eat!   I'm having meals brought to me,  very lazy of me I know. 

Met a lovely couple from Paso travelling for the first time on the train to Wisconsin so we'll be together for the duration.