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Monthly Archives: October 2014

What is a Pysanka?

Posted on 2014/10/30 by Guy Posted in road trip .

The 13000 km mark of our trip is punctuated with two bigs

If you are near Edmonton, Vegreville is a nice stop. It is one of the prettiest Bigs we have seen on our trip
There was an elk guarding the entrance to the Elks park

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Once in the park, we saw this 25 foot giant

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So now you know a pysanka is a painted Easter Egg. This pysanka has an interesting story. It is full of uniques and firsts and quite a feat of engineering.  . .and it moves.

Just west of Vegreville, we saw a Ukrainian historic village. Unfortunately it was closed. A bit further, we also saw some grazing bison.

Onto Edmonton where we were looking for a scrapbooking store near the West Edmonton Mall, but the mall is so big, that a small store is hard to find. When we found it, it was an empty shell. 

Moving right along, we are getting ready for the next leg of our odyssey.

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Tags: alberta, canada, road trip, travel .

Drumheller Badlands

Posted on 2014/10/30 by Guy Posted in road trip .

This is likely our last dive into the badlands.  However, the Drumheller location is probably the most famous. Similar to the riverbed areas, our adventure here  starts with a 200 metre plunge.  Did your ears pop?

We had to go see the biggest dinosaur in the world

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He is located in front of the Visitor Centre and has his own website.

The natural attractions are a must see…as you come into town from Calgary, turn right on the Hoodoo trail. About 7km out, you will see a sign for a swinging bridge.  Take a left there and follow the winding road.  Even if you do not like swinging bridges, it is a good picture taking spot.

As you return to the highway, consults the sign to see the other attractions on the left turn.  The hoodoos are just 7km down.  A short walk from the parking lot and you are in the protected area.  You can walk around back and climb the rock face at leisure.  Be careful if it has rained lately.  The silt and sandstone make a nice slippery mud when wet.

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Decide if you want to visit the mine or the schoolhouse.  Then head back into town.  Follow the signs to thew visitor centre to see the big dinosaur and get directions to the three museums in town.

You will also notice several small dinosaurs adorning many lawns and businesses.  After all, this is the single largest repository of dinosaur bones in Canada.

Whether you visit a museum or not, be sure to follow the Dinosaur trail North, all the way to Horse Thief Canyon.  When I overlooked that spot, I could Imagine Indians on the warpath lining the tops of the hills while the vulnerable convoy travelled below.

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For more pictures from Drumheller, see Cindy’s blog

If I had to pick only 2 badlands in Western Canada, they would be Writing on Stone and Drumheller.

Tonight.  We are in Red Deer, anxiously planning our entry into the Rocky Mountains.

Guy

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Tags: alberta, canada, road trip, travel .

Tanner Craswell, Mitch Maclean, Tabitha Steppel

Posted on 2014/10/28 by Guy Posted in road trip .

No pictures today, except at the end.  While I want to record the places we visited today while passing the 12,000km mark, I want to close with a connection to Prince Edward Island.

From Lethbridge, we went past Fort MacLeod towards Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.  The museum is 7 stories, carved out of the rock face.  We paid $11 for the privilege of walking the trail where the Crowfoot would lead the buffalo to a deadly fall.  The museum is full of archeological artifacts from the last 3 centuries.

We moved along to Black Diamond – yes it has a black diamond on the main drag, and it also has a wonderful shop full of massive wood carvings.  The town is quaint and reminiscent of old west villages.  The next town West, Turner Valley, was equally quaint.

We went exploring the Elbow river looking for elbow falls.  Although we did not find the falls, we enjoyed the scenery and got our first peek at the Rockies.

We did not go to Vulcan, because we would have missed Charesholm, which was one of our main reasons for visiting Southern Alberta.

It is just North of here that Tanner Craswell, Mitch Maclen and Tabitha Steppel met their death on the side of the road. The memorial stands about 3km North of Charesholm on Route 2, at the intersection of Township Road 130.  The exact coordinates are

50 02 54 North
113 35 30 West

It is adorned with baseball caps, baseballs, beer bottles, teddy bears, a fairy, flowers and solar lights.

From PEI to Haida Gwaii, we stopped there for a few moments to remember

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Tags: alberta, canada, PEI, road trip, travel .

Writing on Stone Provincial Park

Posted on 2014/10/27 by Guy Posted in road trip .

Today, we went from Medicine Hat to Writing on Stone provincial park. This park is open year round though the visitor centre operates only seasonally.

If you are within 500km, this is a must see. Even a good picture, which mine is not, cannot begin to describe the experience.

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Standing like soldiers, on the side of the river basin, the hoodoos hold the stories of the natives that lived there hundreds of years ago.

From Medicine Hat, head West past Bow Island.  A couple of Kilometres out of town, you will see the first of many blue signs leading you to Writing On Stone provincial park.  If you prefer landmarks, then first and foremost, you need to head to Foremost Alberta. Then you follow the road towards Milk River and keep an eye out for those blue signs. 

If you are coming from Calgary or Lethbridge, head for Milk River. As you take the sharp turn into town, you will see a visitor centre on your right with ROCKS and a dinosaur. The rock formations there are but a pale sample of what you will see in the park.  If the centre is closed, continue towards route 50,direction Foremost.

It was sombre when we got there and my camera did not take a very good picture. Cindy will have better pictures on here blog, likely tomorrow.  Check back at 2fromaway.ca for updates.

Whichever way you come in, complete the loop by leaving in the other direction. Like much of Midwestern Canada, this area is flat, but you enter the milk river valley several times during this trip.  This is also high flat ground.  Most of the area is at an altitude of 1000 metres above sea level.  We peaked at about 1111 just outside Milk River.

Tonight we are in Lethbridge, windy home of the wind gauge.  . . You should drop by the visitor information centre and see this curiosity.

Tomorrow we will zigzag our way to Calgary to get ready for a trip to the other badlands.

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Tags: alberta, canada, road trip, travel .

From Wainwright to Medicine Hat

Posted on 2014/10/27 by Guy Posted in road trip .

Yesterday, we hugged the Saskatchewan border, working our way down to Medicine Hat.  On the way, we stopped in Cereal.

It was their 100th anniversary this year and to that honour they built a small trail station and grain elevator in town. As fate would have it, on the way to Cereal, we saw kilometres of railroad track ripped up with ties in big bundles on the side of what used to be the track,  So after 100 years of history, Cereal is not connected by rail any more.

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The town itself was quaint and one of the streets had many buildings with the tall FRONTS like you see in the old west movies.

Then we stopped in Oyen who was also celebrating a 100th, with several murals decorating a park behind this tower.

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Other than those two stops, there was 2 hours of a whole bunch of nothing…typical scenery for the prairies.  However, we were not disappointed.

Shortly after, we crossed the Red Deer river and plunged again into the South Saskatchewan River basin. This time, the edges were full of moguls which made the scenery so much more eerie.

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We arrived in Medicine Hat near sunset in the rain. When we thought the rain had stopped, we decided to go into the store to get some water for tomorrow. The precipitation had not stopped; it had changed to snow.  We will probably get 4 cm tonight.  It is a good thing we are heading further South tomorrow.

 

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Tags: alberta, canada, road trip, travel .

Alberta bound

Posted on 2014/10/25 by Guy Posted in road trip .

Today we travelled from Saskatoon to Lloydminster and finished in Wainwright after notching up another 1000 kilometres….

Lloydminster is a border city. Actually it straddles the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta. Therefore, it is fitting that it features the world’s largest boundary markers. You will find 4 of these on the side of the main drag

Worlds Largest Border MarkersIMG_20141025_194010

Worlds Largest Border Markers

Wainwright greeted us with a large bison, but the attraction is the clock tower in the centre of the main downtown intersection.

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The inscription reads

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Lest we forget.  For the last two days, we have seen several federal and provincial flags at half mast in Saskatchewan and Alberta.  We paused a few moments to reflect on recent events.

Guy

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Tags: alberta, canada, road trip, saskatchewan, travel .

Moving North in Saskatchewan

Posted on 2014/10/24 by Guy Posted in road trip .

From the big moose in Moose Jaw,

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to the big lilies in Swift Current, to the big Mammoth in Kyle

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and the everything is bigger in BIGGAR, we managed to cross the big 10,000 kilometre mark in our trip.

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Considering it is only about 7000km to Prince Rupert, we have certainly made several side trips.  So far, none have been disappointing.  There have been a few long stretches with nothing but trees or nothing but grain fields but they are offset by the approaching destination.

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Our last meanderings have taken us from the Montana border to Saskatoon in Central Saskatchewan.  Tomorrow, we will be heading Northwest towards Lloydminster, another unique city in Canada.

Catch up on that story later. . . . . Guy

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Tags: canada, road trip, saskatchewan, travel .

From the Big Muddy to Willow Bunch

Posted on 2014/10/23 by Guy Posted in road trip .

We saw two BIGS on Wednesday in the Big Muddy and in Willow Bunch. Now why does Willow Bunch sound familiar?

Castle Butte was our first destination.  To get there, go South from Regina and head towards Bengough.  I believe it is pronounced BENGOFF. The Tourism publications say that Castle Butte is 22km South of Bengough.  But if you drive 22km past the town you will miss it.

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Route 705 crosses route 34 in Bengough.  From there, go 12km South on 34.  Soon, you will enter the Big Muddy valley.  This is another impressive glacial riverbed valley. Enjoy the scenery but do not lose sight of your goal.  At the 12km mark, you will see an old house and palissade against the rock face.  The entrance to Castle Butte is about 200m before than.  You may notice the sign way out in the field on your left telling you to turn right.

As you go down the 6km to the butte, watch for grazing cows that may decide to cross the road.  Watch out also for prairie dogs.  We saw one standing on the side of the road but no chance for a picture. The drive up to the Castle Butte may be a bit lumpy, especially if it has rained lately. Whether you drive or walk, do not miss a close up view.

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This sandstone monolith stands 300 feet above a hill and is 1/4 mile wide.  We walked all around it and examined the grooves and scratches etched into the surface by the water runoff.  In this picture, you see a few holes.  Because of the varying density of the sandstone, several gaps have been created and I am sure are constantly evolving.  The one on the left is tall enough to walk into. Examine the grooves below
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The road down to the Big Muddy Valley is rough, but the trip is well worth the bumps.

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From there, we kept going South as we wanted to see the rest of the valley, and headed West to Coronach. In Coronach you can take a tour of the coal mines.  You will also see a coal fired power station in the distance.

From there, going North towards Assiniboia, you will pass through Willow Bunch.  So what is special about Willow Bunch? It is the home of the tallest man ever in Canada.  Like most unusual people of the last century, the story of Edouard Beaupre is both amazing and sad. Only three people have been confirmed since over his height of 8 foot 3 inches.

The museum in Willow Bunch is well worth the $5 visit.  There are 8 theme rooms, one dedicated to the Giant and others showing the history of the area and colonial days in general.  You may also know that the town has a historical link to Sitting Bull.

The Big Muddy Valley is like taking a trip back to the wild west days.  This area was favoured by Jesse James and many other outlaws.  Highway 13 North from Montana, was known in the day as the outlaw trail.

We are dusting ourselves off and getting ready to visit the murals of Moose Jaw.

Guy

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Tags: canada, road trip, saskatchewan, travel .

South Eastern Saskatchewan

Posted on 2014/10/21 by Guy Posted in road trip .

Today we made several short stops on our entry to Saskatchewan.

We started with a stop in Elkhorn Manitoba.  There is an elk to greet you at the town marker.  There is also an antique car museum that has won some civic pride awards.

Rocanville Saskatchewan is the site of the biggest oil can in the world.  It is there not because we are in oil country, but because there is oil can factory there.

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Yes, there is oil here.  We saw a dozen wells or so on our way to Rocanville.  We also saw several wind turbines.  These are the first we see since leaving Ontario.  I am not saying there are none in Manitoba, just that there were none on our route.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped at a level train crossing. We were first at the gate so I could count all 178 cars go by. Ah all those train memories coming back again. Some time later, we were running parallel to a train.  The train was going about 90kph and we were going 95.  Though it was a very long train, we almost had time to pass it from end to end before a turn. This gives you an idea how long the roads are straight here.

We stopped for lunch in Wapella.  Nice little town with a centennial project park.  It had a few picnic tables and the weather was suitable to an outdoor lunch. In the last 2 days, Saskatchewan has broken 100 year old high temperature records. You will find this nicely decorated park just off SOUTH RAILWAY DRIVE.  I say that because most towns on the tracks have a North Railway street and a South Railway street.

Our next stop was Indian Head .  . . We had to see the big Indian Head. Take the turnoff for SK highway 56 and the head will greet you.

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Keep going down that road (sk 34) 3km to find the bell historic circular barn. No more details here.  You will either have to visit or ask Google.

We then proceeded North on that same road (sk 34) through the Qu’Appelle river valley. This is a must scenic route. You drop about 200metres in elevation and travel about 20km on a winding road along the river.  A good drive in any season.

From there, we headed to Regina to plan our trip to the Big Muddy Badlands. As I am going over my notes, I see we missed an attraction.  We failed to stop in Kipling to see the “TRADE A RED PAPER CLIP FOR A HOUSE” . There are some things we need to reserve for the next cross country trip . . .  Guy

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Tags: canada, road trip, saskatchewan, travel .

Crossing Manitoba

Posted on 2014/10/20 by Guy Posted in road trip .

We left WINNIPEG this morning and headed for PORTAGE La Prairie.  This is a pretty town with a few murals.  We found the post office and Cindy took the opportunity to send a care package home.

Then we took the side roads from there to Brandon so that we could see some of the countryside.  The bridge was out where we tried to cross so we had to make an additional detour.

We drove in what seems forever in smoke fog caused by burning in the fields at this time of the year.

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We also saw a sunflower harvester in operation. We did not know what it was at first except it was creating a lot of dust.  A bit farther down the road, we saw a sunflower field and we managed to put two and two together

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We arrived in Brandon looking for the Buffalo Research Center here except the station no longer has the big sign in front.  They do research on buffalo as it is a viable food source in Canada.

We’re taking a break tonight after the 9000km mark of our trip. We’re getting ready to cross the border tomorrow because we have a major adventure in Southern Saskatchewan coming up.

Check back later for details.

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Tags: ad trip, canada, manitoba, travel .
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