Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Fall in the Rockies (in the Ski-Tracks of Eddie the Eagle)
Quick forecast from Weather Station no. 48 here in Calgary... Indian (sorry, First Nation) summer on hold for 2-3 days... temp down to 3 tonight ... frost in the mornings... might get up to +9 tomorrow... was +23 on Monday... high winds forecast for Thursday night, expect falling trees... should get better for the weekend, and for a few days next week... current bets on the first real Snow Day are around October 28...
Having got the weather out of the way then (who says we're obsessed?), it's on with a quick update on activities here since the visitors' arrival and (mostly) some nice photos. Melissa and Stephen (aka 'Whiters and Stevie') are currently in parts west of here, are at the moment should be enjoying their second night in Banff before doing The Big Drive to Jasper via the Columbia Icefield Parkway and Athabasca Glacier tomorrow. They'll hopefully be back with us later on Friday, and we're taking them out for ribs on Saturday night.
On Friday night we had a barbecue:
Elvis Loves You
while on Saturday we were invited to a Dim Sum lunch at a Chinese restaurant downtown by the Breitmeyer clan (10 of us in all, including Hannah and baby Benjamin). Melissa decided that rather than Brunch, we were having Chunch! (Chinese-lunch)
Baby Ben and Mum Emma
Green Jelly with Chopsticks! (going in or coming out?)
We then headed off into Kananaskis Country for the rest of Saturday, stopping at Canoe Meadows, Barrier Lake, Kovach Pond, Ribbon Creek and failing to find an abandoned mining village. And the four of us saw our very first black bear across the Ribbon Creek! Stephen spotted it on the opposite bank to us, about 50 yards away. Almost as soon as we saw it, it saw us and bolted for cover. For such a big beast, it moved extremely fast! Lucky for us it was moving away from us, rather than towards! As soon as the camera was ready, it was gone - that's how fast it happened!
Bear Sighting Zone
Also, the water level at Kovach Pond seemed to have dropped a wee bit between our visits in August and September. Maybe we can go back in the winter and skate on it!
August
September (look at the trees too!)
Us at Barrier Lake
Them at Barrier Lake
Who's the Popstar?
Man With a Stick
Is it this way? (Back to the car)
Autumn has happened all of a sudden here, the trees going from green to deep orange inside a week, and the leaves are starting to fall at the moment. It's especially impressive in the Rockies:
Trembling Aspen
Autumn in Kananaskis
Fall in the Rockies
Canoe Meadows
Big Rock
Watched Kill Bill 2 in the evening, good but not as excellent as part 1.
Sunday was spent at the penultimate Bearspaw Farmer's Market of the season, and then at Canada Olympic Park. It was OK, but we were disappointed not to be offered a go on the Public Bobsleigh Run (they put wheels on it, apparently) or on the Public Luge (in the Ice House). To be honest, there weren't many staff around on a Sunday afternoon and they weren't exactly tripping over themselves to offer us a go on the facilities. We had a nice afternoon anyway, as the photos below attest.
We took the ski-lift up to the top of the hill, which took about 10 minutes in an open two-person seat - it was nice to sit swinging high in the air, quite peaceful and unhurried. The lift even stopped in mid-air a few times, but we didn't worry too much as the view was great!
Up on the Ski-Lift (Higher than it looks!)
Up at the Top
The High Jump (Eddie the Eagle wos 'ere)
Anyone for a quick Ski-Jump?
It's a Long Way Down
I can see my house from here!
Anyone for a hotdog?
In the bobsleigh run
Boys in the Bobsleigh
So that's all for now, will be in the 'OR' tomorrow all day and then we have all weekend with the young visitors!
See y'all real soon
J
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Having got the weather out of the way then (who says we're obsessed?), it's on with a quick update on activities here since the visitors' arrival and (mostly) some nice photos. Melissa and Stephen (aka 'Whiters and Stevie') are currently in parts west of here, are at the moment should be enjoying their second night in Banff before doing The Big Drive to Jasper via the Columbia Icefield Parkway and Athabasca Glacier tomorrow. They'll hopefully be back with us later on Friday, and we're taking them out for ribs on Saturday night.
On Friday night we had a barbecue:
Elvis Loves You
while on Saturday we were invited to a Dim Sum lunch at a Chinese restaurant downtown by the Breitmeyer clan (10 of us in all, including Hannah and baby Benjamin). Melissa decided that rather than Brunch, we were having Chunch! (Chinese-lunch)
Baby Ben and Mum Emma
Green Jelly with Chopsticks! (going in or coming out?)
We then headed off into Kananaskis Country for the rest of Saturday, stopping at Canoe Meadows, Barrier Lake, Kovach Pond, Ribbon Creek and failing to find an abandoned mining village. And the four of us saw our very first black bear across the Ribbon Creek! Stephen spotted it on the opposite bank to us, about 50 yards away. Almost as soon as we saw it, it saw us and bolted for cover. For such a big beast, it moved extremely fast! Lucky for us it was moving away from us, rather than towards! As soon as the camera was ready, it was gone - that's how fast it happened!
Bear Sighting Zone
Also, the water level at Kovach Pond seemed to have dropped a wee bit between our visits in August and September. Maybe we can go back in the winter and skate on it!
August
September (look at the trees too!)
Us at Barrier Lake
Them at Barrier Lake
Who's the Popstar?
Man With a Stick
Is it this way? (Back to the car)
Autumn has happened all of a sudden here, the trees going from green to deep orange inside a week, and the leaves are starting to fall at the moment. It's especially impressive in the Rockies:
Trembling Aspen
Autumn in Kananaskis
Fall in the Rockies
Canoe Meadows
Big Rock
Watched Kill Bill 2 in the evening, good but not as excellent as part 1.
Sunday was spent at the penultimate Bearspaw Farmer's Market of the season, and then at Canada Olympic Park. It was OK, but we were disappointed not to be offered a go on the Public Bobsleigh Run (they put wheels on it, apparently) or on the Public Luge (in the Ice House). To be honest, there weren't many staff around on a Sunday afternoon and they weren't exactly tripping over themselves to offer us a go on the facilities. We had a nice afternoon anyway, as the photos below attest.
We took the ski-lift up to the top of the hill, which took about 10 minutes in an open two-person seat - it was nice to sit swinging high in the air, quite peaceful and unhurried. The lift even stopped in mid-air a few times, but we didn't worry too much as the view was great!
Up on the Ski-Lift (Higher than it looks!)
Up at the Top
The High Jump (Eddie the Eagle wos 'ere)
Anyone for a quick Ski-Jump?
It's a Long Way Down
I can see my house from here!
Anyone for a hotdog?
In the bobsleigh run
Boys in the Bobsleigh
So that's all for now, will be in the 'OR' tomorrow all day and then we have all weekend with the young visitors!
See y'all real soon
J
Friday, September 24, 2004
Bright Blue Skies
Just a quickie post from work - 08:45 am here, Mel and Stevie got here OK, quite exhausted by the flight but managed to sit up until 9pm before flaking out. No sign of them this morning, but I suspect they may have been up earlier in the middle of the night (seeing as how it's almost 4pm UK time now). They're probably going to head off into Downtown today to see the Bow River, etc., using the 421 bus and the LRT (in the footsteps of Mum and Dad!). Weather lovely today, a warm morning, beautiful blue skies with just a trace of high cloud, some snow on the Rockies. It's going to be nice tomorrow too (+21), then colder on Sunday (down to +12) and then nice for the rest of next week. Seems like our visitors have brought the good weather with them. Hopefully going to head off into the Rockies tomorrow - maybe Bragg Creek or Kananaskis Country...
Great article on BBC News today on how dogs can sniff out cancer. Quite amazing. They did a study to see if dogs could tell the difference (well, smell the difference) between urine from normal patients and urine from patients with bladder cancer. Turns out they can!
But the most interesting part of the study is that every single one of the dogs identified one of the samples from a 'normal' patient as being abnormal. (All the normal patients had tests before the study to proved they had normal kidneys and bladders). And guess what - the patient wasn't normal after all, as further tests picked up a small kidney cancer! The moral of the story - get a dog and let him smell your wee if you want to stay healthy! (I think!)
J
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Great article on BBC News today on how dogs can sniff out cancer. Quite amazing. They did a study to see if dogs could tell the difference (well, smell the difference) between urine from normal patients and urine from patients with bladder cancer. Turns out they can!
But the most interesting part of the study is that every single one of the dogs identified one of the samples from a 'normal' patient as being abnormal. (All the normal patients had tests before the study to proved they had normal kidneys and bladders). And guess what - the patient wasn't normal after all, as further tests picked up a small kidney cancer! The moral of the story - get a dog and let him smell your wee if you want to stay healthy! (I think!)
J
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
First Chinook of the Season
This is turning into a bit of a Tuscarora Weather Blog (like the people up the street) but today it officially became 'Fall' (i.e. autumn) and we've had a bit of unexpectedly warm weather just in time for Mel and Stevie arriving tomorrow.
As you know, Monday morning saw the first snow, but it didn't lie and doesn't really count. I didn't even see it myself. The rest of Monday was COLD. We went to work in our fleeces and when we came home again we went for a walk up the Boulevard all hopped up in our new Columbia winter coats. It was 6 degrees when we came in again and the furnace was on most of the night to keep us toasty warm in the house.
Tuesday dawned with a good frost, minus 1 before the sun came up. Again, it was off to work in fleeces. But the local radio was predicting a 'guaranteed maximum high' for the day of 19 degrees! As the day went on the temperature rose steeply and indeed it hit 19 degrees in the afternoon. It was 13 degrees all evening, 13 degrees at bedtime and it was still 13 when we woke up at 05:30!! Thirteen degrees in the dark! One thing we noticed was that there was a steady wind from the west rattling the windows all night. We didn't know it at the time, but the windows were rattling because of our first Chinook.
Today (Wednesday) was too warm for fleeces and we were out again in shirt-sleeves. It's been about 12-15 all day, and is still a very nice 10 degrees at present.
Apparently all of this is due to the Chinook wind, which sweeps down off the Rockies and can warm the place up like nobody's business! It's complicated but the wind comes off the Pacific Ocean, over the Rockies and hits southern Alberta. They get more frequent as you go south, so down in Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (2 hours south of here) they get about 30 a year, while Calgary can expect 6-10 a year. We're told they're great for warming you up and breaking the long dreary spells of extreme cold weather in the winter. My clarinet teacher says that last winter was 'Brutal!' as on many days it was -65, counting the wind-chill! Ouch! As you go further north the Chinooks die out, which is why they call the Frozen North the Frozen North, I suppose. If you want more info on Chinook weather, check out here and here
Oh, and P saw the typical Chinook arch today, which is the weird cloud formation you get over the Rockies when the Chinook is blowing but she didn't have her camera to hand, so we've found a couple of pictures to give you the idea:
Chinook arch
Another arch
Anyway, off to bed now as I'm operating all day tomorrow and P is going to the airport to collect our 2 special visitors. Mel and Stevie, welcome to Canada!
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As you know, Monday morning saw the first snow, but it didn't lie and doesn't really count. I didn't even see it myself. The rest of Monday was COLD. We went to work in our fleeces and when we came home again we went for a walk up the Boulevard all hopped up in our new Columbia winter coats. It was 6 degrees when we came in again and the furnace was on most of the night to keep us toasty warm in the house.
Tuesday dawned with a good frost, minus 1 before the sun came up. Again, it was off to work in fleeces. But the local radio was predicting a 'guaranteed maximum high' for the day of 19 degrees! As the day went on the temperature rose steeply and indeed it hit 19 degrees in the afternoon. It was 13 degrees all evening, 13 degrees at bedtime and it was still 13 when we woke up at 05:30!! Thirteen degrees in the dark! One thing we noticed was that there was a steady wind from the west rattling the windows all night. We didn't know it at the time, but the windows were rattling because of our first Chinook.
Today (Wednesday) was too warm for fleeces and we were out again in shirt-sleeves. It's been about 12-15 all day, and is still a very nice 10 degrees at present.
Apparently all of this is due to the Chinook wind, which sweeps down off the Rockies and can warm the place up like nobody's business! It's complicated but the wind comes off the Pacific Ocean, over the Rockies and hits southern Alberta. They get more frequent as you go south, so down in Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (2 hours south of here) they get about 30 a year, while Calgary can expect 6-10 a year. We're told they're great for warming you up and breaking the long dreary spells of extreme cold weather in the winter. My clarinet teacher says that last winter was 'Brutal!' as on many days it was -65, counting the wind-chill! Ouch! As you go further north the Chinooks die out, which is why they call the Frozen North the Frozen North, I suppose. If you want more info on Chinook weather, check out here and here
Oh, and P saw the typical Chinook arch today, which is the weird cloud formation you get over the Rockies when the Chinook is blowing but she didn't have her camera to hand, so we've found a couple of pictures to give you the idea:
Chinook arch
Another arch
Anyway, off to bed now as I'm operating all day tomorrow and P is going to the airport to collect our 2 special visitors. Mel and Stevie, welcome to Canada!
Monday, September 20, 2004
Monday Night Weather Info
Quick weather update here - we got the first sniff of winter this morning, with a brief snowfall in the North-West at around 8am. Paula was out in it, taking the Monster Truck back to the rental place - it only lasted for a few minutes and didn't lie. So it's not quite a 'Winter Wonderland' at present, but the winter has definitely declared itself. We'll send some photos when the first snow lies, probably sometime in the next couple of weeks... Tonight it's down to 5oC with a bit of a stiff breeze, but our Columbia coats can take it. See you later, J
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Sunday, September 19, 2004
Weekend in Edmonton (Sunday Afternoon in a Ghost Town)
Well, we're back again after our wee weekend in the big provincial capitol, Edmonton. After we had both done our work on the Friday afternoon, we had a very relaxing and laid-back weekend and had much more fun than we anticipated. Before we set off, Calgary folks told us that the capitol should really be called 'Deadmonton', as there was nothing to do there... But we had a really good weekend anyway!
There's a lot of rivalry between the two cities, because Calgary always wanted to be the capitol but Edmonton pipped it to the postback in the 1910s. Now, Calgary is bigger and trendier and is the business and administration centre of the province, while Edmonton is more of a service centre for the oil and gas business. Locals say that Calgary is 'white-collar' while Edmonton is more blue-collar, and there may be some truth in this. In one respect they're quite similar - Calgary has a radio station called JACK FM (96.9FM), while Edmonton has JOE FM (92.5FM) and both stations make random calls at random times - if you answer with 'I listen to Jack (or Joe)', rather than 'hello' then you win 1,000 dollars. And the JACK catchphrase is 'Playing what we want' while JOE is 'Playing... anything'.
Spot the difference
Anyway, one thing that Edmonton certainly is is a LONG way away from here. 294 kilometres, to be precise (184 miles). You can get some idea of how far it is here:
We left Tuscany at 08:45 and headed north on the big highway 2 ('Deerfoot'). Three hours later, we still weren't there! In fact, we didn't arrive until 12:30! Anyway, after P had her meetings and I had given my little talk in the downtown, we headed for our hotel in Strathcona. This is a trendy, slightly bohemian community just south of the North Saskatchewan River, which more or less cuts Edmonton in half.
P and the downtown skyline (just south of the river)
The North Saskatchewan River
In fact, the town of Strathcona was formed where the train line going north stopped because the Canada Pacific Railway couldn't be bothered building a bridge over the river! Anway, we stayed in the Varscona Hotel, which was excellent value (half the cost of the Ptarmigan in Banff, with free valet parking, morning paper, complimentary breakfast and nightly wine and cheese tastings!) and was right in the heart of Strathcona. We had dinner in a Thai restaurant on Friday and then flaked out, going to be bed early partly due to the long drive and partly due to the long day I had in the operating theatre the day before.
The Varscona
We had intended to go see the West Edmonton Mall on Saturday, but somehow we just never got around to it... We got up late (what luxury!), had a late breakfast in a proper cafe (read the New York Times with my hot white chocolate and appel strudel) and then wandered off to the local farmers' market in Strathcona before stumbling on an antique restored streetcar which runs from Strathcona across the river into Downtown Edmonton. It turns out that it's the highest streetcar in the world, as the bridge is extremely high! The fare to downtown was 3 dollars return (a bargain!) so we hopped on! The streetcar service is run by a group fo elderly volunteers who are enthusiasts. Apparently Edmonton ditched all of its own old streetcars, and so they had to get an refurbished one from Osaka, which is why all the signs in it are in Japanese!
So we went on a jaunt across the river into the downtown (which was pretty dead, on a Saturday) and took a quick walk to the Legislative buildings of the province before catching the streetcar back again.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the various Strathcona neighbourhoods, buying hiking sticks from the farmers' market (35 dollars for 2 from the bargain bin), buying Union Jacks from a wee Indian shop (for the front window, of course!), sharing a hot dog (a cheddar smokie) in the sunshine from 'Fat Franks', and generally just pottering about the various shops around the place. We had dinner in a sushi bar (very good sushimi, gyoza to die for) close to the hotel and never quite managed to make it to the Mall!
Today we toyed with the idea of going to the Mall, but we never got around to it somehow... Up late again, breakfast in a cool bread and continental cheese shop, then off home again. But rather than taking the motorway down again, we decided to see another part of Alberta and struck out west and south to find Highway 22, which is the road that runs through the edge of the 'boreal forest' which stretches all the way to the Rockies from the edge of the Great Plains. It took us nearly 6 hours to get home again, but it was a really different experience. At first, very flat land with lots of grain elevators and scattered farming communities (like Conjuror's Corner, Wizard's Edge, Alberta). Then south and west to Pigeon Lake which looked a lot like Lough Neagh on a cold day.
Pigeon Lake
The forest
Buffalo farm
The autumn (fall) is really taking hold here in central Alberta and the trees are all sorts of colours, from bright red to a russet orangey-yellow. Long curves on the road, and a long steady climb up into the foothills on the long pull which will eventually take you all the way to Lake Louise and Jasper.
Lots of big trucks on the road too, both 18-wheelers and logging trucks, with their snow chains out, ready for winter which is just around the corner...
We struck out west from Pigeon Lake and headed for the oddest tourist attraction I've ever seen - 6km east of Alder Flats, right on the edge of the Forest, the only privately-owned ghost town in Alberta, Em-Te Town! Down a dirt track, it's basically a mocked-up main street from the old west, complete with all-wooden run-down buildings, a working saloon, a campsite and church which is available for weddings! It's been there for over 20 years and has been slowly added to over the years. Apparently it's very popular with the locals! 7 dollars in - that's each, you know! So we spent 20 minutes wandering around this 'ghost town' in pretty muddy conditions (good thing we brought the hiking boots) marvelling at such sights as the 'Sawbones Morgue', the Lost Women motel and the 'DO NOT USE' signs on the toilets!
The 'Town' of Em-Te
Em-Te Mainstreet
Em-Tee Livery & Stable
Saloon of Lost Women
How weird! All the buildings were filled with 'antiques' which were mostly old junk. And there were no staff anwhere apart from the bartender in the saloon. I suppose a ghost town is supposed to be deserted, but we were pretty much the only people around on a cold September day at the start of the autumn. We didn't hang around... Apparently we had just missed a wedding. Maybe the locals here haven't got much else to do...
First Bank of Em-te
The local sawbones (and morgue)
No loos!
We headed south again, skirting the forest now, to the little town of Rocky Mountain House which is right on the edge of the oil and gas fields, before coming a little east to Sundre and eventually (200km later) making it home to western Calgary.
Small gas plant
Our big Monster Truck has to go back in the morning, and to tell the truth, we'll both miss it. It's nice being up in the air a bit when you're driving, especially when about 50% of the other vehicles on the roads here are 4x4s, pickups and trucks. Looks like we might be investing in a 4x4 for the winter months at some stage...
In other news... our friend Emma Breitmeyer gave birth to a baby boy shortly after noon on Saturday 18th September. Benjamin James was almost 6lb, and he's doing well, and so are his mum and dad (Richard). Congratulations, you old Kiwi!
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There's a lot of rivalry between the two cities, because Calgary always wanted to be the capitol but Edmonton pipped it to the postback in the 1910s. Now, Calgary is bigger and trendier and is the business and administration centre of the province, while Edmonton is more of a service centre for the oil and gas business. Locals say that Calgary is 'white-collar' while Edmonton is more blue-collar, and there may be some truth in this. In one respect they're quite similar - Calgary has a radio station called JACK FM (96.9FM), while Edmonton has JOE FM (92.5FM) and both stations make random calls at random times - if you answer with 'I listen to Jack (or Joe)', rather than 'hello' then you win 1,000 dollars. And the JACK catchphrase is 'Playing what we want' while JOE is 'Playing... anything'.
Spot the difference
Anyway, one thing that Edmonton certainly is is a LONG way away from here. 294 kilometres, to be precise (184 miles). You can get some idea of how far it is here:
We left Tuscany at 08:45 and headed north on the big highway 2 ('Deerfoot'). Three hours later, we still weren't there! In fact, we didn't arrive until 12:30! Anyway, after P had her meetings and I had given my little talk in the downtown, we headed for our hotel in Strathcona. This is a trendy, slightly bohemian community just south of the North Saskatchewan River, which more or less cuts Edmonton in half.
P and the downtown skyline (just south of the river)
The North Saskatchewan River
In fact, the town of Strathcona was formed where the train line going north stopped because the Canada Pacific Railway couldn't be bothered building a bridge over the river! Anway, we stayed in the Varscona Hotel, which was excellent value (half the cost of the Ptarmigan in Banff, with free valet parking, morning paper, complimentary breakfast and nightly wine and cheese tastings!) and was right in the heart of Strathcona. We had dinner in a Thai restaurant on Friday and then flaked out, going to be bed early partly due to the long drive and partly due to the long day I had in the operating theatre the day before.
The Varscona
We had intended to go see the West Edmonton Mall on Saturday, but somehow we just never got around to it... We got up late (what luxury!), had a late breakfast in a proper cafe (read the New York Times with my hot white chocolate and appel strudel) and then wandered off to the local farmers' market in Strathcona before stumbling on an antique restored streetcar which runs from Strathcona across the river into Downtown Edmonton. It turns out that it's the highest streetcar in the world, as the bridge is extremely high! The fare to downtown was 3 dollars return (a bargain!) so we hopped on! The streetcar service is run by a group fo elderly volunteers who are enthusiasts. Apparently Edmonton ditched all of its own old streetcars, and so they had to get an refurbished one from Osaka, which is why all the signs in it are in Japanese!
So we went on a jaunt across the river into the downtown (which was pretty dead, on a Saturday) and took a quick walk to the Legislative buildings of the province before catching the streetcar back again.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the various Strathcona neighbourhoods, buying hiking sticks from the farmers' market (35 dollars for 2 from the bargain bin), buying Union Jacks from a wee Indian shop (for the front window, of course!), sharing a hot dog (a cheddar smokie) in the sunshine from 'Fat Franks', and generally just pottering about the various shops around the place. We had dinner in a sushi bar (very good sushimi, gyoza to die for) close to the hotel and never quite managed to make it to the Mall!
Today we toyed with the idea of going to the Mall, but we never got around to it somehow... Up late again, breakfast in a cool bread and continental cheese shop, then off home again. But rather than taking the motorway down again, we decided to see another part of Alberta and struck out west and south to find Highway 22, which is the road that runs through the edge of the 'boreal forest' which stretches all the way to the Rockies from the edge of the Great Plains. It took us nearly 6 hours to get home again, but it was a really different experience. At first, very flat land with lots of grain elevators and scattered farming communities (like Conjuror's Corner, Wizard's Edge, Alberta). Then south and west to Pigeon Lake which looked a lot like Lough Neagh on a cold day.
Pigeon Lake
The forest
Buffalo farm
The autumn (fall) is really taking hold here in central Alberta and the trees are all sorts of colours, from bright red to a russet orangey-yellow. Long curves on the road, and a long steady climb up into the foothills on the long pull which will eventually take you all the way to Lake Louise and Jasper.
Lots of big trucks on the road too, both 18-wheelers and logging trucks, with their snow chains out, ready for winter which is just around the corner...
We struck out west from Pigeon Lake and headed for the oddest tourist attraction I've ever seen - 6km east of Alder Flats, right on the edge of the Forest, the only privately-owned ghost town in Alberta, Em-Te Town! Down a dirt track, it's basically a mocked-up main street from the old west, complete with all-wooden run-down buildings, a working saloon, a campsite and church which is available for weddings! It's been there for over 20 years and has been slowly added to over the years. Apparently it's very popular with the locals! 7 dollars in - that's each, you know! So we spent 20 minutes wandering around this 'ghost town' in pretty muddy conditions (good thing we brought the hiking boots) marvelling at such sights as the 'Sawbones Morgue', the Lost Women motel and the 'DO NOT USE' signs on the toilets!
The 'Town' of Em-Te
Em-Te Mainstreet
Em-Tee Livery & Stable
Saloon of Lost Women
How weird! All the buildings were filled with 'antiques' which were mostly old junk. And there were no staff anwhere apart from the bartender in the saloon. I suppose a ghost town is supposed to be deserted, but we were pretty much the only people around on a cold September day at the start of the autumn. We didn't hang around... Apparently we had just missed a wedding. Maybe the locals here haven't got much else to do...
First Bank of Em-te
The local sawbones (and morgue)
No loos!
We headed south again, skirting the forest now, to the little town of Rocky Mountain House which is right on the edge of the oil and gas fields, before coming a little east to Sundre and eventually (200km later) making it home to western Calgary.
Small gas plant
Our big Monster Truck has to go back in the morning, and to tell the truth, we'll both miss it. It's nice being up in the air a bit when you're driving, especially when about 50% of the other vehicles on the roads here are 4x4s, pickups and trucks. Looks like we might be investing in a 4x4 for the winter months at some stage...
In other news... our friend Emma Breitmeyer gave birth to a baby boy shortly after noon on Saturday 18th September. Benjamin James was almost 6lb, and he's doing well, and so are his mum and dad (Richard). Congratulations, you old Kiwi!
