Home Sweet Home

We got to St. Mary’s Montana and were looking forward to enjoying a couple of days in Glacier National Park.  The clouds and rain had been chasing us most of the trip and since the heat in Ft. McCloud we were back into the cloudy pattern. We decided to drive to Browning to see the Museum of the Plains Indians because Dad had remembered it as being nice from before.  Forty years had either dulled his memory or it had changed because it was very run down and the whole town seemed depressed and depressing. 

The only thing that was interesting to me was the amazing displays of the native beadwork and porcupine quill decorating of items.  The description of how they have to soften the quills by holding them in their mouth and then dye them all these various beautiful shades of colors with natural dyes and then sew the quills either by stitching or weaving or braiding them onto items of clothing or purses etc.  I had always been intrigued by Indian beading but I think this quill work is even more amazing.  Sorry no pictures of this as the museum requested no photography.

They were having the annual Pow Wow with dancing and a rodeo so we wondered over and had an Indian Taco for lunch but it was drizzling and had been raining hard.  The place was just dirty and junky not nice like the one we had been to in Fort Hall last year.  We walked over to the dancing place because Dad likes to take pictures of the elaborate costumes but there was a photographer’s fee of $20.  That was the last straw so we decided to head on back to the trailer.  When we stopped at the convenience store on the way out of town we did see a young Indian couple with the dad - who looked like a warrior brave who should have been riding a paint horse across the plains – was carrying a very small baby in a traditional papoose board with all the fancy beading on the part that holds the baby in. But in the perfect contrast between traditional and modern - the baby was sucking a binkie! I wish Dad could have taken a picture of that but we did not want to be rude and ask.

We did see a couple of very funny things in the parking lot of the pow-wow.  One a pickup truck completely covered with bottle caps.  Then they had started adding things to the top of it to cover with more bottle caps.  The other one was on another truck filled with so much junk in the cab only one person could sit in it – bumper stickers about Obama you will have to request a picture of if you are interested because we don’t want to be offensive to anyone!

 Later on along the Missouri River Dad found me a bottle cap with a K on it and gave it to me so I could start my own collection – but don’t expect to see me gluing them onto any of our vehicles any time soon!

Early evening the sun looked like it might start to shine so we jumped in the car and drove the Many Glaciers road in the north east side of Glacier Park. We finally saw a moose beside a lake down in the willows munching his dinner. There was even a Park Ranger there and he did not chase everyone away except the one dope with a big Cannon lens that was going to walk on down almost into the moose’s face.  I was happy to finally see a moose – even though there are too many trees for a really good picture - this was our first one on this trip.

 The next morning we got up all excited to drive the famous “Going to the Sun Highway” and get fabulous pictures of the mountains.  It was again overcast with the sun trying to peak out so I talked Steve into driving at least to the Pass and then we could still turn around and be back by check-out time if the weather had not improved.

We saw more and more of the Grizzly Bear Flowers which I guess officially is called Grizzly Bear Grass.  (I still want a picture of a Grizzly Bear eating some).  Steve got these two awesome pictures.

And the further we went this is what we saw.  The last one Steve captioned “Curtain of Clouds”.  Sadly we turned around and checked out of the campground and headed on down the road.  We live close enough to Glacier it was not worth waiting it out in the trailer in the rain. 

As we drove on that afternoon it rained so hard the wipers had to be on full blast non-stop.  We are glad we did not waste our time driving further into Glacier just to see more raindrops.

We stopped to visit another Buffalo Jump - a Montana State Park south of Great Falls.  It was much smaller than the previous one we had visited in Canada but well done and it had an intrepretive walk you could walk out around the area and up to the jump.  There was a huge prairie dog town up on the top which I was fascinated just watching them play around with through the binoculars. 

We stopped along the Missouri River south of Great Falls at a boat launch that evening and the Caddis flies were swarming thick in the air.  Steve was checking it out for future fishing trips.  We met a couple in their mid 70’s from California who were up there fishing.  He was there at the campsite when we got there and talked our ear off about how it was the best dry fly fishing river there was and on and on.  About half an hour later his wife come walking up the rather steep bank out of the river all decked out in her expensive fishing gear.  She had been down there wade fishing the whole time!  I told Steve not to count on me taking up fly fishing any time soon!

Now we were getting closer & closer to home we were like horses once they are heading back to the barn – just wanting to get on home so after an overnight stop in Idaho Falls to see the grandkids and their parents we got home to Providence 35 days after we left.

After getting all the stuff put away and re-organized at the end of a trip now comes the exciting part of figuring out how to be retired and what to do with the time every morning when you get up and realize you do not have to go to the office that day!  So far I think it is wonderful!

Thanks for sharing our journey with us & farewell until the next big adventure!

Cardston Alberta

The next morning we traveled less than an hour to a campground in Cardston Alberta.  Cardston and three other small towns around it were settled in the late 1880’s by Mormon pioneers – the farthest north people were called to colonize.  Some families actually moved to Canada to get away from the laws and pressure against polygamy in the United States by this time in Mormon history.  Not long after arriving in Canada they began building a temple and it was finally dedicated in 1923.  We were able to attend a session at the Cardston Temple.  It is beautiful inside with amazingly intricate woodwork and beautiful murals.  The original design and décor is still in place – it has not been modernized like Logan.  That was a very nice experience.

It was still mid-afternoon when we finished so we drove over to Waterton Lakes National Park which is the neighbor sharing the border with Glacier National Park in Montana.  There are not many roads in this section of the park – mostly hiking trails.  We did see lots of beautiful wild flowers - -  including one of my favorite “Grizzly Bear Flowers”.  I kept hoping we would see a Grizzly bear eating a Grizzly Bear flower but we were never that lucky.

We did see a rather large black bear right in town on the road to turn up to the golf course.  At first we thought it was just another sign like the one we had seen earlier (see pictures below) but then it turned its head.

There was a funny sign in a meadow that said don't go near to any bears you may see - they are not friendly but we just could not resist - petting the bear sign &

Wrestling the bear sign.  I think in this one of Dad his face looks like Anthony when he is wrestling really hard and trying to pin the guy.

The next morning we visited the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston.  It was quite interesting.  A local rancher who had lots of money started collecting old carriages of all types and restoring them as a hobby until he had way too many for one person. 

He talked the Canadian Parks into accepting them as a donation if they would build the museum and always keep the collection together.  There are lots and lots of all different varieties set up in nice displays.  Some of them were brought together to join the collection from other sources.  I had no idea there so many different types of vehicles that could be pulled by horses.  They even had some that were gasoline cars but when gas got so expensive during the depression they converted them back to being pulled by horses!

Fort McCloud

After two trips – both evening & morning up the road and back without seeing the “guaranteed goats & grizzlies” we checked out of our Radium campground early and headed on to Ft. McCloud.  Along the way we stopped at an interpretive center on the spot where a side of the mountain gave way in 1902 and covered a mining town. 

The name of the town was Frank – so it is called the Frank Slide.  It turns out they were getting a little too carried away with how much coal they were digging out underground and not leaving enough to support the mountain above.  The crazy thing is most of the people escaped because it did not slide directly onto the main part of town and 17 men even dug their way out to safety who were in the mine at the time of the slide.  And the even crazier thing is they just repaired what they needed to and went right back to mining – leaving the area buried that was under the rock.  Think of what Siegfried & Jensen could have done with that today!  (Hope some of you are not offended by lawyer jokes!)

That night after setting up the trailer Dad was just itching to take some pictures but we were out of the wildlife areas of our trip so we drove out onto the prairie and saw lots of wind turbines for energy.  The sky sure is beautiful in the wide open spaces.

As we were heading back to the trailer Dad could not resist a couple of beautiful sunset shots.

The next morning we went to Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump Interpretive Center.  Very interesting to see all of the guides and people working here were First Nation members as Indians are called in Canada.  This was a very well done museum with a movie about how a buffalo jump works as well as a movie about the excavation and discovery of artifacts at this site.  The buffalo jumps were used before the times when Indians had horses.  They were called the dog days because the only animals used to help transport things from camp to camp for the Indians were dogs. 

A young man is selected to be the buffalo runner and puts the tanned skin of a buffalo calf on his head and body and then leads the herd leader mother buffalo down this “funnel” of rock piles with tree branches the Indians have placed there to block the buffalo from running away from the edge.  Other Indians stand between the rock piles with wolf skins on them to scare the buffalos into continuing to run toward the cliff where the whole herd jumps off to their death. 

The Indians would camp here and process the animals, using the meat and hide and practically every bit of every part of the buffalo for eating and sewing clothes and other useful items.  It was all very interesting.

Then we went to the Royal Canadian Mountie Museum from when Fort McCloud was first settled.  They had a mounted horse riding group of high school students that rode the horses in several different formations to music. 

It is interesting Ft. McCloud has just recently been awarded the bid for the new training center for current Mounties when it is a historic Mountie post.  

It was really hot – finally over 90 degrees - and I had found a brochure at the museum with a list of quilt shops.  There was one in a town about 25 miles away so we decided to head over there rather than sit in the hot trailer.  We had driven lots more miles than that looking for animals to photograph so we headed out on the first shopping adventure of the trip.  I have such a good natured husband!  Steve brought his book and waited in a chair in the store while I browsed and found a couple of fun things.  We then saw another restaurant we had never heard of “Montana Steakhouse” so decided to give it a try.  It was a chain in Canada and had lots of BBQ stuff – kind of like an upscale “Bubba’s”.  We enjoyed sandwiches rather than the full rib or chicken dinner. It was too hot for that much food and I ended up taking half of mine home anyway!

Of course on the way home we could not just drive back home on the freeway so checked out the map and took some back roads up through some amazingly beautiful farm country as far as the eye could see.  There were also some HUGE feedlots as far as the nose could smell but luckily we can not forward those along to you.

Dad could not resist taking a couple of pictures of the countryside.

Photographing a Model

We left Calgary and moved on to Golden BC so Steve could finally realize his dream of photographing a live model.  The first evening we drove back up to Emerald Lake – a very picturesque spot.

We also saw the natural bridge waterfall where the water has worn a bridge through the rock rather than over it – very interesting.

Finally the morning had arrived Steve had been anxiously waiting for.  We arrived on location and signed the waivers saying we would not sue anyone if the model just happened to turn vicious with disastrous results to any photographers.  Then along with two other photographers and one other wife we traveled a few miles up a dirt road following the vehicle with the model and her alpha male and female handlers.
Here are the rather amazing results of the next couple of hours and hundreds of pictures. 

The wolves at this Northern Lights Wolf Center are all from zoos or other “domesticated” situations and have never lived on their own in the wild.  The people who run it literally treat the wolves like they are all members of a pack and the people are the alpha male & female.  They have a brother and sister this year’s pups they got from a zoo where they were born.  We watched them feed the pups – one at a time – a whole plate of raw hamburger.  That gave a whole new understanding to the term “wolfing down your food”.  As you can see from this final picture they could never survive in the wilderness.

That afternoon we moved to Radium Hot Springs which we had heard had places you could “always” see mountain sheep and goats by the side of the road at mineral licks.  That evening we drove up the valley with some beautiful scenery.

But the only wildlife we saw was this cute little guy.

Back in town we decided to turn and go back to the cliffs where we had spotted a ram on the way into town.  It is right across the streets from apartment houses – not what you would call really wild but at this point we were desperate to see something.  We drove up and could see three big rams eating and two more laying down up on a rather steep grassy hill. No other cars were even stopped. 

So the crazy guy with the big tripod (Steve) decides he needs to climb up there to get a better view – even though he could have been eyeball to eyeball with them with the telephoto lens.  I could see from down on the road once Steve started up the hill there were more rams in the group as they started moving around.  As a result of being invaded by the photographer the rams decided they did not like visitors so came back down the hill right onto the road. 

They just wandered into the road finally going across and then continued to graze along the other side in front of the apartments.  Lots of people came out of their apartments and stopped in their cars to watch by this time.  The locals just honked and tried to drive really close to them to get them out of the road but we (and the other tourons) thought they were cool.

This poor old gentleman looks like he has been around the block a time or two.

Dad in his usual “Mr. Friendly” manner went over to show the campers in the spot next to us the pictures of the big rams and it turns out they are deaf and only could sign ASL! So Dad even smoozes with deaf people!  But they were very excited to see the pictures and Dad drew them a map of how to go find the rams for themselves.  

Day Two Calgary Stampede

After studying the booklet of all the events going on at the Calgary Stampede we went back to enjoy our second day there.  We took the train again but it was family day and you could get in free before a certain time so even though we parked at the furthest north & west stop on the line there were no seats so we stood up the whole way downtown – getting more and more crammed together at each stop.  We visited with a man on the way down who worked as security in the Chuckwagon race arena so he filled us in on some “local knowledge” things about which stop to catch the train at the end of the show and which side to stand on to get off without getting trampled with all the people.

   We got there about 11 am so we could get in our seats to see a free show called “Tails” which was new this year for the 100^th anniversary at noon.  It was in a different arena from the two we had already seen events in. 

The only way to describe it would be a pageant - with live horses and people and dancing with a live band and music and a narrator who was part of the story.  There was also a HUGE screen on the one end of the arena with video projected on it.  All quite spectacular - which told the story of three horses that met on the plains but then went on to lead different lives – one an Indian paint horse, one a cowboy ranch horse and one a farm work horse. In the end they all “met” together at the original Calgary Stampede 100 years ago.   At the beginning of the show they were each one ridden by a girl whose hair and color of costume actually matched the horse.  There was an amazing rope trick performer on his horse,

Indians dancing

and one scene with the farmers had a whole wagon come in with square dancers and they performed. 

All in all it was over an hour long entertainment extravaganza.  There was even a guy who rode a buffalo with a saddle on it. 

All of the animals were trained to perfection.   The light was not very good so Steve isn't super happy with the pictures but I made him include them to tell the story!

    When that was over we found our way to a nice food court type area that was inside and air conditioned and shared fish & chips lunch.  Again we visited with the people we shared the table with.  They were both from Calgary and were very helpful with suggestions on what not to miss.

    Steve wanted to watch the Cowboy Up Competition which is kind of extreme trail riding with obstacles that is timed.  It is kind of a new thing I guess - only dreamed up as an event in 2010 so he went there while I went to the art and quilt show. The art show was very nice and the artists were actually in their booth – some even working on a painting or creation so you could visit with them.  The one bronze casting artist had the clay statue he makes first and you could pre-order the piece for about 30% off (still in the $1000’s of dollars range) what it would cost when it was a finished bronze.  I had never seen that before so that was interesting. The quilts were pretty but most of them were hung very high up so you could not see the details.  There were all kinds of arts & crafts like at the state fair – some better than others as usual!    

I found my way back to meet Steve at the Cowboy Up arena and watched the final competitor.  It was very funny all of the things the rider had to do with his/her horse.  They had obstacles to walk over and jumps. 

One of the funniest ones was to stop the horse and jump off in front of a building that looked like an outhouse where the cowboy opened the front door while the horse had to stand there and not move.  The cowboy ran out the back door of the outhouse and picked up an umbrella and had to get back on the horse with the umbrella open.

And then this one where the cowboy had to get his horse to stand still while he stood up on the saddle and bonged this drum hanging up there. 

Needless to say the horses had to be very well trained and calm.  The winner was the one who did this all in the fastest time. 

We watched some of the finals of the team penning again.  It was much more interesting because the people around us actually did the event in different classes and so they knew some of the riders and really got involved in screaming and cheering.  One lady right in front of us had come in #22 in the field and only the first 20 teams get to compete in the actual stampede.  One of the guys on one of faster teams riding actually was using her horse in the competition that night.  She had bought it from him and had been using it but he thought her horse could help his team win.  So she was beside herself with nervousness – like when your kid is competing in their sport – I am sure you can all relate to that!  They actually ended up with a really good time – so that was fun.  This is a quick visual lesson on luck in team penning when two cows with the number you are supposed to get come out at the same time and the rider can drive them down to the pen together!

Then we wondered down the midway and had to share the “fair food” corndog for dinner on the way to the “chucks” as they call the chuckwagon races.  Four wagons race in race in 9 different heats.  Each wagon is pulled by a team of 4 horses and has two outriders on separate horses. 

They all kind of do a little parade into the arena first to show off or get the horses psyched up or something.


They have to start in their lane in the arena and the horn sounds one of the riders throws the stove in the back of the wagon and the driver takes off in the wagon around a figure eight with two barrels in the arena and then out of the arena around race track & the back stretch racing – all four wagons going full out and then back around the final curve to the finish line back in front of the stands in the arena. 

They show the racing on a jumbo-tron when they are out of the arena.  The whole time an announcer is calling the race like at a horse race track.  Needless to say it is very exciting.  The 36 wagons race every night and on Friday they take the top 8 total times which are only separated by seconds and those eight race in 2 heats of 4 and the final 4 wagons from the semi –final race on Sunday for the finals.   It is a really big deal and they can win lots of money.  It seems to be quite a family tradition thing as there were lots of brothers and fathers and cousins and son-in-laws in the contestants.

After the wagon race is over they move in this giant stage using tractors to pull it for the Young Canadians evening show.  This was an amazing show of acrobats on bicycles and motorcycle jumping and musical dancing numbers with a 70 or 80 member group of kids from age 10 to young adult. There was also a couple who performed on those long fabric scarf things – unbelievable feats of balance and strength.  Just the stage itself was a wonder to behold as it dropped and changed shapes and had different platforms for each act.  This all ended in a fireworks show.  We left a bit early at the beginning of the fireworks because we has seen it the previous two nights at the other locations and we wanted to beat the crowd to catch the train home.

We found our way to the first stop of the the train slick as a whistle and were lucky enough to get a seat for the trip home getting back to the trailer around 12:20 about 14 hours after we had left that morning.  This retirement/vacationing is not for the faint of heart!!