We stopped at this National Historic Site. It is still only partially restored but the visit is really made by the interactions with the folks in period costume and roles. We had a great time.
Our wagon master drove us around the ranch in an open wagon drawn by Radar and Hawkeye, two beautiful, ink-black Percheron horses. He told us all about the days when they bred and raised these kings of the urban workhorse (THE horse for firecompanies in the US). They are physically perfect for that demanding service because of their bone and hoof structure. It was a wonderful story. A much less wonderful story was that of the millions of Percheron killed in war where they were used to pull weapons and wagons of ammunition and stores. They had a 5-7 day lifespan on the battlefield. Very interesting but depressing tidbit.

I lassoed a calf.

OK, so it was a sawhorse with a plastic cow head.  Still, with just one short lesson I managed
to twirl the rope loop overhead with that fancy twist of the wrist and get it
over the head.  Pretty impressive, even
if I do say so myself.

Roundup camp hosted by the Cook

She fed us cowboy grub, campfire coffee & bannock
(dutchoven bread) with jam and honey and told us tales about life for the
cowboys during the huge roundups during the period of open range ranching.  It involved complicated logistics, some
pretty skilled horsemanship, and a lot of hard work.  She did a great job with the storytelling and
the cooking.

Checked the air pressure in the tires since it had been a while. All were fine. At the RV wash the next morning the left front was down to 34 psi from 105. Couldn’t find a leak, Apparently, when I checked the pressure the valve stem did not properly reseat so I lost air all night. No problem, it took a while to pump it up with the compact air pump we carry. Rig looks much better. It really needed washed as it had not been since California. Then on toward Waterton Lakes NP.

It seems the local must-have foods are Alberta beef and Saskatoon berries. We sampled them both. Saskatoon berry crisp from a local bakery and sliced beef sandwiches from Cowtown, a fun walk up sandwich shop that was no more than a little shack. It wasn’t very fancy signature food but all yummy. We did some people watching in their downtown plaza and found a place for desperately needed haircuts. We heard enough about the Stampede that we figure we might need to see it some time. Just one more excuse to plan to pass through up here again sometime.

We visited Fort Calgary and learned all about the beginnings of the RCMP. We got a personal tour and history lesson from a retired Mountie who was certainly in his 70s if not 80s. He did a great job and seemed to thoroughly enjoy his duties there. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try on the uniform, hat and all. Our guide even helped to make sure I got it all fastened up right. Kent captured on “film” for future entertainment.

Wow it got flat fast.
Camping within sight of Olympic Park Ski Jump & Bobsled run.
Watched the fireworks from a perch on the motorhome roof.
They are having a fireworks competition here this week. Tonight’s fireworks were provided by the Philippines and it just so happened we could see them from camp. Well, IF we climbed up on the roof, which we did of course. Fun.

That is Ranger speak for the ear tagged and radio collared (be-jeweled) Elk cows that repeatedly return to town and other areas that they aren’t supposed to be. We saw they several times not far from our campground.

they are actually measuring its movement as it advances downslope in super slow speed ripples and waves as more scree is added as the mountain above crumbles with freeze and thaw. Just like a regular glacier except without the ice. Weird to think, huh?

Well, it involved about 40 miles of not-so-great gravel road an an absolutely filthy dusty Miata, and a slightly exhausted husband but it was a great wildlife drive.
More big horn sheep, first on the road then just above it on loose scree. The animal wardens cruised by and hazed them with a flash-bang of some kind to get then away from traffic. They ran a few 100 yards but I suspect were back before long.
A black bear. Happily munching on berries. He was completely unconcerned about us…he was focused on eating. Kent got some great pics. We stopped…but we didn’t get out of the car.
Protective mom. A cow moose really checked us out (we were a couple hundred yards away) as she and her calf came out of the marsh. Once she was satisfied of their safety they ambled on across the road. We got a closer look as we rolled slowly by. They are really pretty goofy looking critters.
Eagles soaring high overhead.

Very fruity but quite good if icy cold.