2015-08-09 Bow River’s Edge Campground, Cochrane, AB

Today is Sunday, the 9th, and our last day here in Cochrane, AB. A day to blog and get ready to move the house. We will do a little shopping, and make another stop at Tim Horton’s to get access to the internet. Tomorrow, we plan to go north and east of Calgary to Drumheller, AB.

 

Thursday, the 7th, it rained and produced a rainbow.

 

Friday, the 7th, was a bus tour day. We drove to Banff to board a bus tour of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Our son would say it was wrong, but we ate good Mexican food at  a Mexican restaurant in Banff, AB. Our first stop was at a bridge over the Bow River, because the bus driver knew that we would be able to see wildlife. This Osprey was sitting on her nest with babies. . We went to Moraine Lake for our next stop. It was first visited by Samuel Allen in 1894, and by us in 2015. . It is a beautiful lake that is fed by glaciers. . There is a big Rock Pile for those younger folks still into rock climbing. . Marilyn isn’t into rock climbing, and my balance says don’t do it. The last stop on the tour was Lake Louise, the largest non-man made lake in the Canadian Rockies. This lake is fed by 6 glaciers, including the upper lower Victoria glaciers. . Paraphrasing from one of the signs, Lake Louise is 70 meters (228 ft.) thick. Ice covers the lake from November to June at more than a meter thick. The water temperature is less than 10 degrees C (50 degrees F) in the summer. This became another tourist attraction developed by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and of course, they built the beautiful Chateau Lake Louise with gorgeous flower gardens. .

 

Saturday, the 8th, we drove back in to Calgary for bus tour of the highlights of that city. We were told that Calgary’s main industries are Oil, Agriculture, and Tourism. There were four 15 to 20 minute stops on the tour at Fort Calgary, the Calgary Stampede grounds, the Military Museum and the Heritage Center Park. At Fort Calgary, we learned that Colonel James F Macleod of the Northwest Mounted Police had been sent out to eliminate the whiskey trade between the Americans and the Indians. He sent one of his troops to the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers to establish a fort which he named Calgary and thus the name of the city. The Bow River got its name because the Indians came to the banks of the river to make their bows and arrows.  The Calgary Stampede was started in about 1912? . On the grounds of the Stampede is this sculpture that represents the spirit of Calgary and the cowboy through horses crossing the Bow River. .  At the Military Museum is Canada’s Artifact from the 2001 destruction of the NYC Twin Towers where Canadians died also. . Also on the grounds is a sculpture of Donald Alexander Smith (1820-(1914), a poor Scottish immigrant who came to Canada in 1838. He rose through the administration of the Hudson’s Bay Company to become a founder of the Canadian Pacific Railway.  .  The statue depicts him driving the last spike of the CPR at Craigellachie, BC. The last stop on the tour was at Calgary’s Heritage Park, a living pioneer village depicting life in early Calgary.

 

I got curious this morning about how many miles we had driven since we left FL. The motorhome was easy, since Marilyn keeps a written log. We have driven the motorhome 5,562 miles.  The Jeep mileage is a little less accurate. We had an oil change on 2/18 but would have not driven many miles since leaving FL, and I just looked at the odometer before finishing this blog. So we have driven the Jeep about 5,065 miles. Thus I have been behind the wheel for 10,667 miles since February.

 

Hugs, and Type at You Later.