Thursday, May 15, 2014

Malstrom to Calgary

We left Malstrom AFB about 8:30a, turned North to I-15, soon the freeway gave way to nice highway with little traffic
 However, crossing into Canada was another story!  There were two lanes open to go thru customs.  Each vehicle waits until the one in front has cleared then proceeds to speak to an official.  Lots of questions asked about weapons and booze and ownership of the truck and trailer.  Guess we passed muster, they let us in.
Nice roads, well divided but now the speed limit is in KPH and miles are kilometers.  Since I was driving, Jon reset the Garmin to read in KPH, it's easier to see than the speedometer.  The limit was 110 which translates to roughly 65 MPH. The day was sunny and warm with hardly any clouds.  Good day to travel.  Destination was Bridgeview RV park in Lethbridge.

 After we got set up, we set out to do some sightseeing.  This was a Railroad trestle bridge, couldn't get it all in one pic it was so long.

It goes over the wetlands area and Ft Whoop Up Historical site.  There are also walking trails, picnic grounds and biking trails along Oldman River.

Saw some ducks and geese in the pond, but by the time I zoomed in on them they were gone so I settled for just the pond.  Then I saw these turtles sunning on a log.  Missed getting a photo of a Red Winged Blackbird too, he was just too fast for me!
Ft Whoop Up, named  because Indians traded furs for liquor.  This one is a replica of the original.  Inside was a room devoted to weapons, Jon toured the room, said there were just a lot of old guns, I took his word for it.

Saw this group of White Pelicans resting on a sand bar in Oldman River.  
Here's our site at Bridgeview RV Park.  Nice place, we are on the side for small rigs, the other side of the ditch, beyond the truck, is for the BIG rigs.

Today we headed West toward Calgary with a stop at Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, an historic site. Good roads, nice easy driving.


 Along the way Jon and I went thru Ft Macleod where we saw this wonderful old building.
We met up with our friends at Buffalo Jump.  This was a site where native people hunted Buffalo by driving them over the cliff.  This is looking East from the interpretive center out over the valley.


And this is the cliff, it has eroded since the time it was used.  See that white line on the cliff?  That was the furthest end, and now there is a path below the cliff.  Archeologists have been studying the site for some time, they have found several thousand skulls.  It is estimated that this area was used about 6000 years ago.
Inside the building are several exhibits describing how the hunt was accomplished.

This is Dennis and Carol, our "leaders" and Ed and Sandy.  Wonder what they think of living in a Teepee instead of those luxury motor homes they drive.
When we left Buffalo Jump, the others decided to follow Canada Highway 2 North to Calgary.  It's much like a freeway, 2 lanes each side with fast speeds, not much to see.  Jon and I decided to take the scenic "Cowboy Highway" # 22 thru the Turner Valley, then skirt Calgary on the West side.  The road started off with nice asphalt, one lane each way, then became gravel, for the next 20 miles or so until we met up with Highway 3 which was a paved road.  After a brief lunch stop, we continued on to Highway 22 and eventually arrived at the campground in CochraneLots of wind today, Rain after we got in and set up. 

 Tomorrow we head toward Banff and Lake Louise.
See Ya down the road
  

 

2 comments:

  1. Welcome to Canada. Enjoying your posts.
    Denise (Bland) Colbey

    ReplyDelete
  2. Enjoying the photos!! Hope to see you there

    ReplyDelete