Family Gatherings -- Road Trip South

It's been awhile since I've written and it's not because nothing has happened, it's just that we've been busy with what life throws at us.  I reacted to a new medication and after a month can finally walk again however, Glen's arthritic hip means he cannot.  This has meant adapting to new circumstances and spending the summer at home in Calgary.  But, I've had done some landscaping and we've had some wonderful family visits both happy and sad.

Road Trip South

After spending the month of April in Victoria crabbing, golfing, visiting friends, and enjoying spring flowers, we came back to Alberta.  My sister, Lynda, had a conference in Winnipeg and flew to Calgary for a short visit.  We did lots of walking along the West Nose Hill Creek near our house, chatting and taking photos.  Lynda is very knowledgable and takes wonderful pictures (click here to check them out) so I try to remember everything she tells me.

She has been to the mountains many times so we suggested a road trip to Southern Alberta, our final destination being Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  From where we live, we circle Calgary on Stoney Trail then drive straight south on the Queen Elizabeth II highway.  When you reach the branch in the road, going right takes you to Fort Macleod; left to Pincher Creek.  We came to the branch at noon so headed into Fort Macleod for lunch.


Fort Macleod, originally built in 1874 to house the North-West Mounted Police dealing with American whiskey traders, boomed as an agricultural centre in the early 1900s.  When Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built a depot there, the town flourished.  However in 1912, CPR moved its depot to Lethbridge and Fort Macleod died.  It declared bankruptcy in 1924.  The buildings remained as they were as the town struggled through the passing years.  In 1982, the province declared the downtown a Provincial Heritage Area and Heritage Canada began restoring the buildings.  Now it's a thriving tourist destination.

I had scoped out the town's restaurants on-line and Macleods Restaurant and Lounge received the best reviews.  It's a nondescript white stucco building with a red roof on the main highway and you are embraced with its small town charm the minute you enter.  We wanted a booth by the window but first Lynda and I used the ladies room.  When we returned Glen looked like a little kid sitting at the table.  I laughed because I knew if I sat down I wouldn't be able to eat.  The place wasn't busy so the server moved us to a regular table.   Glen was thrilled to see a Monte Cristo sandwich on the menu--he hadn't had one in years.

We headed west, back to QE2 and north to the exit to Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  This UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrates the Blackfoot culture by honouring the place where the tribe killed buffalo (driving them over an 11 meter cliff).  The museum is sunk into the Porcupine Hills and is almost impossible to differentiate between its sandstone building and the surrounding hills.  The Blackfoot call this area Estipah-skikikini-kots and according to legend, a boy watching the buffalo herd plunge over the cliff got caught in the stampede and was buried in the ravine below.  He was found dead with his head smashed in.

To view the museum, one begins at the top floor which opens onto the jump's viewing area.  It was a beautiful day and we could see forever from the top.  The mountains marched down the western horizon into the Untied States.  Glen used Geoff's Summit Peek App to discover the names of the more prominent peaks.  The museum is not extensive but tells a simple, compelling story of the jump and what the buffalo meant to the Blackfoot tribes.  We had visited the museum years ago and not much has changed.  Both Lynda and I concluded I had drawn on its resources as background for my book, White Crane, although it's not about indigenous people.

After tea in the rather small cafeteria, we stopped at the gift shop and enjoyed a delightful chat with a gorgeous Blackfoot girl.  She seemed to enjoy the story of the mating marmots we'd spotted earlier on the buffalo jump.

On the return trip to Calgary, we stopped in a little town called Nanton to photograph their original grain elevators.  Turns out they were part of a museum but it wasn't open (too early in the season).  Nanton was founded in 1903 and named for a financier who came out to invest in farm mortgages.  It's also home to the Bomber Command Museum of Canada.