Rid'em' Cowgirl

 And by Rid'em' I mean I road the road not a horse, which I was very sad about. From where I left you last I was in Calgary. Here is my route until my first night in Saskatchewan. 

In Calgary I got to stay with my friends Stephanie and David. They toured me about their wonderful city and took me on a walk that we didn't realize was going to involve half our day. We ended up walking along Nosehill for more than 2 hours looking for the best look out and enjoying the walk. On my second night there I went to Karaoke night with them and our mutual friend Wolfgang (yes he has the best name ever!) at a place down the street. As you would expect there was a fair bit of country music being played (though not all country music!). I had a great time visiting with them but had to mosy in order to visit my good friends in Edmonton too.

Wolfgang and I

I'm a pirate!! No for reals I am!!

  I visited with my friend Dee and her man Jer. She took me to the Edmonton mall and he took me on the Mind Bender which some people actually haven't survived. I couldn't scream with my mouth open so I hum screamed (it was effective at expressing my feelings and not letting me hurl up everywhere). But for serious now I had a blast on that thing.

Here are some pictures of me at the mall.... 

This made me happy and sad at the same time.

OMG!!

I"M  A PRINCESS.... ok I have a slight Disney thing...

Mindbender.....

Can you find me.....I am wearing blue! Blue jeans bahaha

My friend Dan who I also visited in Edmonton showed me the University of Alberta which reminded me of UVic in a lot of ways but his school has a room dubbed the Harry Potter room. I went in looking for something more than just the room. Turns out that it IS just the room; that it looks grand and like a room at Hogwarts, I was more than slightly disappointed, but didn't show it! He also took me to the river's edge at Hawrelak Park. We had a nice time catching up and taking in the city. The weather was pretty bad there, windy and rainy so I left without seeing Fort Edmonton which I wish I had gotten to do along with maybe a couple of other things but there's no arguing with the weather and I don't have time to wait it out.

After I left Edmonton I headed for Drumheller. It is a place of historical significance because it is a scientific focal point for Palaeontology. I went to the Museum there where I was enthralled for a long period of time with the different fossils that have been dug up in Canada. Here are some for your viewing pleasure...

I am vertically challanged

Eggs!!

I made a friend!!

  After spending nearly two hours in this fascinating place I headed south to Hillcrest but didn't quite make it so I pitched up at 930pm in the rain in Pincher Creek which not fun my tent and I weren't very happy. The sun shone in the morning so Andy and I packed up (well I did most of the work) and we headed for Hillcrest where my great grandparents lived and died.

A memorial to those lost in the mine in 1926

 I also got to see their old house they built. There are a couple pictures of the house below. It is over 100 years old now and the woman who owns it is a mine just as he was. He was a miner when there was the worst mining disaster Canada has ever seen but he wasn't working that day. 

The cemetery my great grandparents are buried in below Turtle Mountain

Along the way I visited these falls then there was nothing but prairie lands for miles (yes Andy is American so he and I have agreed to say miles).

On my way out of town I stopped in at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. This is a cliff in the prairie lands where first nations would heard buffalos off the cliffs to their deaths and would harvest the bodies for that winter. Can you guess why it's called Head-Smashed-In????


Because  young brave thought it would be a good idea to stand against the cliff and watch the buffalo fall in front of him. Karma or whatever you want to call it got him and they found him with the buffalos with, you guessed it, his head smashed in.

Here are pictures of the cliff from far away and from close up. The jump was used for thousands of years and so there are thousands of bones and artifacts that can be found here. So much so that I found one myself just walking around at the kill site (the picture is below).

Above is a picture of where the buffalo would have jumped off (or most of them anyway). One of the first nations there took a small group to look at the plant life there and so I grabbed a photo.

 After checking out the exhibits and the site, which both of which I found interesting so I would recommend it (though I'd go early or late to avoid the crowds as I did), I headed to Saskatchewan....

This is Saskatchewan.




Just kidding... mostly....

I stopped in with my good friends Nancy and Lilly who I knew from my childhood. Lilly was my babysitter and Nancy is her daughter. In the house we had Nancy's four kids husband and hyper dog Chip. It was nice being welcomed as part of their family for the night. But I couldn't stay long I want to make sure I have enough time to experience east coast and get back without rushing too much. So I left... 

My next post (the prairies- Saskatchewan and Manitoba will come soon since I am already on my way to Ontario now and need to play catch up with my blogs).