Spruce Meadows

What a fantastic jumping facility! Bill and I were fortunate to visit this facility for the RBC Cup! Such notable jumpers were Eric LaMaze and Ian Millar, the latter our age, who has been jumping horses for a very long time, even when Bill was an equestrian hopeful for the Olympics. We also viewed the Junior Barrage in which a young gal from Okotoks took a third. It was exciting to see the horsemanship...I felt myself "helping" the riders over the jumps! Such skill!
Spruce Meadows was established from meagre beginnings, a small horse farm, located on Calgary's southern city limits, in the foothills of the Rockies. The venue covers 360 acres, 200 of which are for pasture and the rest encompasses the tournament grounds. Owned by the Southern family, it was officially opened in 1975 with the first tournament in 1976. The family welcomes all families with open arms; it is free to all Seniors. A fantastic afternoon!

Drumheller

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller which opened September 25th, 1985, the day after Kendra was born, has greatly expanded since our last visit in 1987. Now a National Historic Site, the Museum holds over 125,000 fossil vertebrates, invertebrates, plants and geologic specimens. As an active scientific research facility, the collections grow by approximately 2,000 specimens annually. Scientists demonstrated examples of the tedious and tireless preparation of a speciman for identification and display. This is a very worthwhile museum, world renowned for its study of fossils and prehistoric times for young and old alike.

Southern Alberta

As part of the Chapter 44 Escapees Rally held in Millarville AB, we toured first The Saskatoon Farm, where they grow, cultivate and harvest Saskatoon berries, and then the Chinook Arch Meadery where honey is made into wine or mead. Seen here, are the stainlees tanks used to hold the mead or "honey wine" from which it is processed into tasty dinner wines. Mead is the oldest art of fermentation. The term “honeymoon” has been associated with drinking mead during the month long celebration following a wedding in pagan times. It is the bee’s tireless search for nectar from thousands of blossoms that creates the honey in each bottle of mead. 100% natural honey is diluted with pure water and spices or berry juice to add further dimension and complexity. Special yeast cultures are added to this medieval style of Mead. A fermentation and slow aging process in European oak barrels occurs for up to three years before bottling. Bill, Kendra and I thoroughly enjoyed this outing to learn about, view and sample the mead at Chinook, "from bee to bottle". Yes, we purchased a couple of bottles to take home.

Kendra had never experienced a rodeo, so off to High River we went. Many of the rodeo cowboys that compete here, also compete in the Calgary Stampede. Barrel racing, calf and steer roping, bull riding and the chuckwagon races thrill the crowds.

The "chucks" are an exciting climax to the rodeo. Four at a time start, make a figure eight then race the track with outriders in pursuit. I am hearing some of the same names in the finish at the Stampede, currently underway. The cowboys love the thrill, but this sure is a tough way to make a living, especially the bull riding!

Our" Wee" Grandson

Introducing the newest member of our family, three day old grandson, Daniel Reg Thomson Hendry, son of our daughter, Nadine and son-in-law, Michael who arrived May 28th at 12:33 am at Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton, AB weighing in at 9 1/2 pounds, 22 inches long. What a privilege to spoil; proud grandparents, we are! He is a delightful little guy, so alert and a very good baby. Needless to say, we have had lots of baby time as we have "hung out" for the last three weeks. Thank you, Nadine and Michael, for bringing so much joy into our lives!

Grandad loves to hold Daniel, talk to him and take him for walks. Like his own children, Daniel's feet will not touch the floor until he is 2! He is such a precious gift!

Edmonton Bound

Our trip to Edmonton is not a sight-seeing one, this time. We travelled the northern route, Highway 11, for the first since 1972. Many more fuel stations than the last time; it was great to see that the North is just as beautiful as I remember. The Palisades, near Nipigon are an interesting rock formation. Vertical striations in the rock are caused by the glacier action pushing up from below. Formed 1.2 billion years ago through water and ice erosion and columnar jointing, the Palisades of the Pijitawabik (pronounced pidg-i-ta-wa-bik) are one the oldest and most remarkable geological formations Northwestern Ontario has to offer! Several hiking trails take one back to many beautiful spring waterfalls and there is a glacier to which rock climbers from around the world, gravitate.


A familiar sight of the prairies is fast disappearing and being replaced by more modern, silo type grain elevators. It is quite a sight to see these in many small prairie towns; of course, they are not as busy now as they will be in August during harvest.



The old and the new!


















These giants work up the land, fertilize and plant, all in one pass. One farmer we met, said it takes a week to plant all his land, a far cry from our little Neufield tractor, plough, disc, seeder and harrows that we used on our farm in the 80's. It's seeding time on the Prairie!

Homeward Bound

It has been a few weeks since I have posted, but I do want to bring you up to date on our whereabouts at the end of our trip south and the month of May.

One of our very favourite places to visit is Shipshewana, IN. For us, it is like "coming home". We love to have dinner at one of our favourite Mennonite dining spots, The Blue Gate, visit Yoders and the Shipshe Outlet for an outfit or two and just travel the serene, pastoral countryside.


This is a common sight on the roads of this part of IN or hitched to the rails in the parking lots of all eating establishments and shopping areas. New roads in this area have a lane specifically for the horse and buggy to travel safely. We love to see the many carriages and horses enroute.



This is a welcome sight...the Canadian border, with the Canadian flag flying full-out! A short line, a few questions and we were safely back in Ontario, once more. A quick trip to Ottawa and then to Muskoka for Dr's appointments and we were off to the west!

Colorado...Our Big Climb

Vail, CO sits at 10 400 feet and the two mile Eisenhower Tunnel is 11 400 feet. Both of these climbs taxed the truck's capacity, towing our big rig. Sunny in Gypsum, snow in Vail. Skiiers and snowboarders were taking to the slopes for a day of Spring skiing on this bright, sunny day. Ski hills abound in this area.

As this mountain is so steep, signs like these to warn truckers to gear down are frequent along I-70 in this area. Many runaway lanes can be seen on the downward grade; thankfully, we did not need to use them. Of course, the truckers carry chains, as often, there are snowstorms and ice to deal with while travelling in this area of Colorado.