“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” ~Booker T. Washington

Thursday, July 16, it was time to head up to Saskatoon, which I put on the list because I wanted to check out a big city in Saskatchewan. We left about 9 AM taking CA-1 west to Regina, then turned north on Hwy 6 to CA-16 west. At Lanigan we stopped for lunch at Wong’s Restaurant (unexpectedly excellent with huge portions), then continued west on the same road all the way to Saskatoon and the campground. Along the way we saw lots of water birds in the many small ponds and lakes. Although several signs warned us to watch out for moose, elk, and deer, we didn’t catch a glimpse of any. We also passed lots of crops and some cattle and horses, plus at least two small herds of bison. We arrived at Saskatoon 16 West RV Park northwest of town about 3:30 PM. The day started out overcast, but ended with blue sky and fluffy clouds. The first thing we noticed when we were setting up, though, is the abundance of MOSQUITOES!! As soon as we got inside, I pulled out the bug spray for this stay!

What we call reservations in the United States are called treaty territories in Canada. There are eleven numbered or post-confederation treaties, each corresponding to the numbered treaty territory (e.g. the 4th treaty covers Treaty 4 Territory). Saskatchewan has portions of Treaty Territories 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, with Regina being in Treaty 4 Territory. That one was signed on September 15, 1874, with the Cree and Saulteaux First Nations and covers all Indians living in the district after that date. The treaties are distinct and take into account social and geographic conditions within the area in question. This one basically gave the First Nations some land and money, farming tools, a yearly supply allowance, hunting rights, and schools on their reserve land. Canada retained land rights and placed restrictions on some land used for resource extraction or settlement. Alcohol use was also restricted on the Indian reserve land. The “reserve land” is not the entirety of the area covered by the treaties, and I don’t believe we have actually driven through any of it. Some of the businesses throughout the territory are run by First Nations, and every business or organization within the territory that is not seems to have a statement on their receipts, menus, etc., and signage that “acknowledges” that they are operating on what was the traditional land of the First Nations. There was even a spoken acknowledgement as part of the church service in Maple Creek. Like our treaties back home, though, the First Nations feel that they got the short end of the deal. Language barriers left gaps in what the Indians understood was happening and what was actually the case, which I’m certain happened with all negotiations with aboriginal tribes everywhere.

Friday I headed out to Maytag Laundry to get my chore done, but I couldn’t fit Big Jake into that parking lot! There were two rows of spots, but the space in between them would not allow me to get out if people were parked on either side of me and across. So, I opted for plan B, which was Scottie’s Coin Laundry, and it wasn’t a very good experience. First, it was already hot inside when I arrived at 10:30 AM and had no air conditioning or fans to get the air moving. Second, after getting everything started, one of the machines just spontaneously stopped about 3 minutes in and threw an error code. There was no one in the building and the only phone number posted was to the locked office in the back, so I ended up having to move everything to another washer and insert another $5.50! The almost identical thing happened with one of the dryers later, so I ended up losing another $2. Not cool! The best part of the outing was talking with a couple of Canadian guys waiting for their stuff. One was a big history buff who was full of information, and the other a wanna-be American. (According to him, despite our issues, Canada is much worse. He said costs for everything are ridiculous and their government healthcare stinks. I have to say, we have found gas prices to be very high, but dining out costs are similar or slightly less than the U.S. Another woman I talked to was struggling to walk and said she has been waiting TWO YEARS for a desperately needed hip replacement.) After finishing up there, I headed to Between the Buns, a burger joint that ended up having beef, bison, elk, and a couple of other things. I just stuck with a regular burger and spent a couple of hours writing. Later back at Priscilla we watched TV and relaxed.

Saturday we had a relaxing morning, then headed out to see a little sports match…Cricket. We’ve seen bits of matches in British television shows and found it interesting, but never watched one in real life. Mr. Wonderful (MW) was checking out things to do on the internet and found that the local clubs were playing their finals matches today, so we drove over to the park to take a gander. Turned out that all of the players and spectators were from India. We watched for a few minutes from the minimal shade where everyone was gathered, and MW asked one of the men if it was okay for us to stay there. That started a conversation, and two of the fellows gave us some pointers about what to expect. After the match began, the younger of the two, Mohit (pronounced mow hit), came and stood with us to chat and point out things we might miss in the action. While I always thought of Cricket as a lawn sport of sorts, this game is as competitive as anything we have in the United States. (Later we found out that we actually have professional Cricket in the U.S., but we had no idea at the time.) I noticed that I was the only woman there and asked him if that was okay. He said it was fine, and that sometimes the men or players would bring their families. But mostly, this is where the men come to yell and cuss, and their wives don’t want to hear it. I will say there was a LOT of yelling, but I couldn’t possibly say whether cussing was included. LOL. Mohit also filled us in on the altercation that delayed the start…apparently the two teams we were watching were originally scheduled for later. The other two teams got into a scuffle on the pitch (field) just before starting, which the referees usually just keep an eye on and let go. In this case, though, someone from the sideline of one of the teams came running into the fray. A lot of yelling and pointing ensued, and the referee told them all to get off of the pitch. He ended up saying they could play after the other match if they could sort themselves out. Mohit, who is also a baseball fan, actually lives in Newfoundland right now and is planning to relocate to Saskatoon, where his girlfriend lives. He was visiting and checking out the possible clubs to play with when he arrives. This was such a nice young man that I later regretted not having traded contact info. After a while the mosquitoes were eating me alive and the heat was getting to both of us, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the campground.

Sunday we went to Life Baptist Church for services, where we heard a nice lesson from visiting Pastor Brian Unger from John 13 on having an MBA…Mop Bucket Attitude. Jesus specifically said that he did not come to be served, and we should have a servant’s heart towards others. (They have two regular pastors. One was away on sabbatical, and the other was on vacation.) Afterwards we made another attempt at the sushi I had been craving, and this time it was WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!! We had some spicy garlic edamame, a couple of rolls, and a plate of nigiri at Sushi Raku, and it was all fabulous! I’ll admit that I ate waaaaaayyyy too much, but those extra calories were completely worth it. I did end up just having a protein bar for supper, though.

Monday started with breakfast at The Berry Barn. What a place! It is known for their Saskatoon berries, which are ripe now, but it has so much more. Right on the Saskatchewan River south of town, they have a restaurant, gift shop, walks through gardens along the river and the berry trees/bushes, a really nice garden center, plus lots of yard and wall art. They even have a greeter of sorts, a giant Bernese mountain dog. Really he is less greeter than huge rug, be that’s just details. LOL. The weather was pretty grey, but not raining, with nice temps, so we were able to sit out on the deck overlooking the water. MW had a bowl with a mix of all kinds of stuff including gravy, and I went for a half Belgian waffle and scrambled eggs. It was all delicious. For waffles and pancakes, they have a topping bar that kids would LOVE! You can buy baskets of Saskatoon berries or pick your own, and you can tell that plenty of folks do the latter, because many of the lower berries are picked. We didn’t do either, but I did have Saskatoon berry compote with my waffle. They are kind of like blueberries…sometimes tart, sometimes a little sweet, and mostly mixed with sugar when canned or used in pies. Everything you would do with a blueberry they do with these. I really liked them. I also feel certain that my friends Jovonni, Janice, and Mert would LOVE this place!! As I’m writing this, I wish I had bought a basket and made my own compote, but I don’t have any canning stuff on board! Too bad.

Next up was a visit to the Western Development Museum in town. Established in 1949, this place is pretty cool. It has a Main Street replica with many of the types of stores and business that would have been here around the late 1800s. They also have areas that talk about the different treaties with First Nations, what it was like to come here and settle in the 1800s, boom and bust times, and how the railroad changed things. For the settler sections, they used one family that came west. There were photos and recordings (actor portrayed) that talked about the husband migrating first, building the sod house, and getting things started. (There were similar rules to the Oklahoma Land Rush…lay down $10 for a 160-acre claim, spend at least 6 months of every year for 3 years on the homestead, break at least 40 acres, and make improvements worth $300 before the property was transferred.) Once the house was done, he sent for the family. They were coming from a nice house in an eastern town, and the woman talks about topping the rise to see the one-room sod house and nearly coming to tears, but hiding it. I imagine that was very true. The husband is enthusiastically thinking how great this is all going to be in 20 or 30 or 50 years, and she is thinking about raising kids and keeping them alive with nothing, surrounded by nothing. They followed that same family theme through several generations to the current one, where the son has no interest in farming, but the daughter and her husband take over. I really thought it was well done. MW’s favorite part was the giant farm machinery. (Could you guess that?) Mine was a photo series done on three side-by-side screens showing a day in a farmers life. Left was in the 1800s; right was modern day; and the middle was somewhere in between. It was very interesting, and here are a couple of snippets:

  • The city of Regina introduced telephone service just 6 years after Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. By the mid-1920s and thanks to the 1908 Rural Telephones Act, there were more than 1200 rural telephone companies in the province. The last of the party lines did not disappear from Saskatchewan until the early 1990s.
  • American pioneers could order a house from the Sears & Roebuck catalogue, and Canada had a version, too. The T. Eaton Company Ltd. was the first company in Canada to advertise houses. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, they published books with plans for houses plus barns, garages, and out buildings. Packages came complete with plans, lumber, windows, doors, hardware, and nails. This was just the supplies, so you would still have to hire a competent contractor to build it, unless you were skilled along those lines.
  • The Great Depression and the drought that created the “Dust Bowl” both hit Saskatchewan as hard as they did the American prairies. Adding the grasshoppers, rust, cutworms, and violent storms, and fields that typically yielded 23 bushels per acre of wheat only produced 2.7 bushels in 1928. By 1937, two-thirds of the province’s farm families were on government relief to eat. Metis (people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry) and First Nations were hit the hardest. Displaced from their homes and unable to grow gardens, they worked as farm laborers when they could find a job and otherwise existed on municipal social assistance. It wasn’t until the 1940s, when the drought finally ended and WWII demands increased livestock prices, that the cinch was loosened and families could breathe easier. By the province’s Golden Jubilee in 1955, they were able to celebrate a bright future.

Tuesday we went to lunch at The Canadian Brewhouse (two thumbs up), then headed over to catch a ride on the Prairie Lily. The cruise was about an hour up and back on the Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, and was pretty nice. It was a little warm out, but in the shade with a breeze, it was pretty perfect. Before booking this, MW checked to see if there was space on their dinner cruise, but alas, it was all booked up. We enjoyed the afternoon out on the water, though, and the beautiful views from the river.

Wednesday I headed out to get a mani/pedi before getting back into tiny towns with few services. On the way I popped into Quiznos, which I used to love in South Florida, but many in the southeast United States closed. (The Lobster & Seafood sandwich was pretty delish.) Then I wrote a bit and went to my appointment. The rest of the day was writing and later, listening to the TV at the same time. After being parked for a week and in high-traffic areas for the last two stops, it will be good to get on the road again and out into the countryside. Both Saskatoon and Regina were nice places to visit, though.

Saskatoon 16 West RV Park is on the north side of Saskatoon and an easy drive to all of the shopping, dining, and sights in town. Amenities include an office with store, playground, laundry, wifi (at the office only), dump station, and bathhouse. The campground has 77 full-hookup sites with 30- and 50-amp electric and 33 back-in or pull-thru sites with water and 15- and 30-amp electric. Sites are level, most have picnic tables and grills, and thanks to plenty of trees, many are shaded. Cell signals were fine for both AT&T and Verizon, and there were plenty of over-the-air TV stations. The bathhouse was clean and well-taken care of, but the showers cost $2 Canadian for 5 minutes. Also note that, during our stay, the men’s bathroom was covered up with mosquitoes, although the women’s room wasn’t. For a private park, the sites were spaced fairly well, and everything was kept up nicely. It was right next to SK-16, which is a busy, 4-lane highway, so road noise was ever-present. It definitely isn’t a bad park as a base to explore the city, though. For this visit in July 2026, we paid a little over $35 American per night for 7 nights. (Sorry, I totally forgot to take pics until we were well down the road!)

On Thursday, July 23, I woke up feeling a little sick to my stomach, but it was time to escape the big city and get back to a slower way of life. We headed out around 8:30 AM pointing Big Jake generally southeast out of Saskatoon first on SK-14 and SK-7. We passed through Delisle, Harris, Rosetown, and D’Arcy. Admittedly, I slept through a good part of the first couple of hours. At Kindersley, we stopped in at Humpty’s Family Restaurant for a bite (pretty good stuff although I couldn’t eat much of it), then got back on the road headed south on SK-21, which zig-zagged west to Eatonia, then turned south again. After passing through Leader, Liebenthal, Fox Valley, and Sagathun, we ended the day in Maple Creek at Willowbend Campground. Quite a bit of the drive was through flat, beautiful farmland filled with fresh cut hay, barley, canola, and flax. Towards the end of the day hills and gullies began to appear sporadically adding texture. We saw a few pronghorn along the way, but that was it for wildlife except for birds. The weather was hot, mostly cloudy, and very hazy.

Friday morning started with a good walk through town, then after cleaning up, laundry. Thankfully our walk took us right past the only laundromat in Maple Creek, so I was aware in advance that it didn’t open until 11 AM! Otherwise I would have been down there earlier. When I arrived there was one person using a washer with 2 regular sized and 1 giant one available (1 of each was broken). As I started putting my stuff in, another lady and her sister came in and we ended up sharing the available machines. I was a little worried about dryers, because there were only three working. Turned out the sisters took all of their stuff back to hang on the line, so worked out perfectly. They were spending 6 weeks at the same campground as us, something the sisters and their mother have done for the last 13 years or so. The woman there when I arrived has spent summers in the area for 70 years! She has two cabins on Cypress Lake south of town. How cool is that! On the way back to Priscilla, I passed deer just wandering around in town.

While I was taking care of chores, I dropped MW at Rafter R Brewing Company down the road. We met Ryan and Teresa who own the place on our last trip through here in 2023. Ryan collects growlers from all over, and we picked up a couple in our travels to add to his collection. MW hung out there chatting with them, then walked back to Priscilla. After I came home with the clean clothes, we picked up sandwiches and went back there so I could get a bit of writing done. Later we relaxed and watched a couple of westerns.

Saturday we walked around downtown Maple Creek checking out the shops then headed over to Tim Horton’s for sandwiches. It was pretty hot out, so after that I was happy to park myself at Priscilla and do some writing. MW, however, went to check out the fort just southwest of town.

Fort Walsh National Historic Site sits in the Cypress Hills 34 miles southwest of Maple Creek. You might remember that name from the previous post, which had a couple of points related to the Mounties. Here are a few tidbits:

  • Although the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), the precursor to today’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), was actually established earlier in the year, it was the Cypress Hills Massacre that sped up the expansion west and creation of Fort Walsh. Sadly, the whole thing was a misunderstanding. In June, 1873, unknown person(s) stole some of the hunters’/traders’ horses. They thought the Nakoda (Assiniboine) Indians in a nearby camp were the culprits. The mostly drunk hunters/traders headed over there to take care of the problem, and the day ended in the deaths of men, women, children, and Elders in the native camp. When news of the massacre reached the east, the powers that be realized just how important it was to get the NWMP staffed quickly.
  • The task of recruiting, training, and leading the fledgling police force fell to James Morrow Walsh. He founded Fort Walsh in 1875 and was a strong supporter of law in the North West. He was also reportedly very courageous, often standing up to Indians like White Dog, and garnering respect for the NWMP. He held several offices before his death in 1905, but is most known for persuading Sitting Bull and his Sioux to return to the United States.
  • Fort Walsh was responsible for more than 20,000 square miles of territory in what is now southwest Saskatchewan and southeast Alberta. It was the NWMP headquarters from 1878 to 1882. Today it appears to be in a very remote location, but as soon as the fort was built, the town of Fort Walsh sprung up nearby quickly rivaled the size of Edmonton, Alberta, at that time. The town was abandoned in 1883 when the fort closed.
  • After the headquarters was relocated, the fort was closed and partially dismantled. In the ensuing years a forest fire burned what was left of the fort down, and a few years later the property became a private ranch. This is when the second previously noted thing happened: In 1942 the RCMP set up Fort Walsh as its Remount Ranch raising and training the large black horses for recruits and the famous horseback demonstration team known as the Musical Ride. In 1966 horses were removed from the regular Mountie units, and in 1968 the Remount Ranch, still catering to the Musical Ride, was moved to Pakenham, Ontario. Fort Walsh was then transferred to Parks Canada signaling the end of an era.
  • The current fort is a reconstruction, but it is a very well done copy. There are costumed interpreters, including a Nakota representative to give their perspective. They fire the cannon several times a day, which you know MW found cool. He said it was definitely worth a visit.

Sunday we went to St. Mary’s Anglican Church in town where the service was led by Bishop Helen Kennedy and included a confirmation. Her message was about prayer when we feel worthless. One quote I liked was that the Holy Spirit helps us pray “with sighs too deep for words”. I’ve certainly felt like that before. In addition to the service, we caught up with Joann Haughian and her daughter, Adeline, sweet folks we met the last time we were in town in 2023 on our way to Alaska. Joann and I became Facebook friends, and I was looking forward to seeing her and her munchkins and checking out the community garden that she was just starting then. Adeline has grown so much, and the garden is a big success. Joann and friends plant it every year, then send messages out letting folks know what is ready for harvest. Anyone can come and get what they need. Too cool! Their church has a snack and coffee gathering every Sunday after services, where everyone sits around visiting. It’s pretty nice. Before leaving, Joann invited us to her house for supper, too. There later, we got to see Nathan, who has also grown a bunch, and meet Travis, Joann’s husband. Adeline and Nathan regaled us with stories, and Adeline drew beautiful pictures for MW and me that now adorn our fridge. Travis also filled us in on his adventures hitting a MOOSE at 70 mph!!! (I think it is a miracle he survived!!) Dinner was delicious, and we really enjoyed the visit. We hope they will come south sometime and see our part of the world.

We stayed at Willowbend Campground and Cabins on our last trip through, and you can check out the review here. The only thing different this time was a note on the counter in the office saying that campers were REQUIRED to turn off their air conditioners when they were not at the campground. What??!! It was in the high 90s for our entire stay, and that just wasn’t going to happen. We noticed that none of the other campers were doing it, either. We stayed at another campground in Washington state during cooler weather that had a note about running electric heaters, which I would assume included electric fireplaces. I’d be willing to bet most campers ignored that direction, too. To my way of thinking, when we rent a site, it includes whatever water and electricity we use. If your income is not covering the expenses, then increase your per night site fee or meter the electricity and charge accordingly. (Many do that for long-term stays, but in the hundreds of campgrounds we’ve stayed at, no one has ever charged that way.) Whatever the choice, don’t rent a site, then tell people what appliances they can run. My two cents, of course.

Monday, August 27, we hit the road around 9:30 AM heading north on SK-21 up to CA-1 west. After crossing into Alberta, we made our first stop of the day at Unlimited Characters, a bookstore in Medicine Hat that Joann had recommended on Facebook. You know we couldn’t pass that up, and we were both glad we didn’t. By the time we were done there it was time to eat, so we went to Montana BBQ & Bar just down the road near the mall, mainly because we know it is good and there was parking. (Medicine Hat is fairly large with a LOT of traffic!) After lunch we continued west on CA-3 to Lethbridge, then turned south on AB-5 down to Cardston and the Lee Creek Campground. It was another beautiful day for a drive, but we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife.

Tuesday we awoke to more smoke in the air, which created a beautiful pink sunrise. After getting dressed, we took a walk over to the Remington Carriage Museum in town. Billed as “The World’s Largest Purpose-Built Carriage Museum”. Its beginnings trace back to 1954 when a man named Don Remington began collecting horse-drawn vehicles. The first was a cutter to bring Santa Claus into Cardston for the Christmas celebration. From there he became consumed, collecting and storing 48 vehicles over 33 years. In 1987, he donated them to the Province of Alberta, which built the current museum. Since then the collection has been increased by donations and incorporating displays from other provincial collections. Today there are more than 250 carriages, buggies, wagons, sleighs, and other vehicles to see, most completely restored and some in various stages. Their restoration shop had a line of projects waiting, and you can go in and talk to the guys there, too. Finally there are stables to house horses used for daily wagon rides. During our visit there was an adorable mom and colt in a paddock. When I walked up to the rails, the colt came running over to see me, sticking his head through the railing and pressing his nose into my chest. He was adorable and got a good rub from me. It wasn’t until I walked away that MW pointed out a sign saying not to touch the horses. Well, in my defense, he touched me first! This museum was pretty cool and had a lot of vehicles that you don’t often see. Afterwards we walked back over to the campground. We could smell smoke in the air, which made my eyes burn.

When we walked out to the stables, we passed a racehorse statue. It turned out to be Seabiscuit. Jockey George Woolf was born in Cardston and honed his racing skills riding against the Niitsitapi or Blackfoot riders. He first raced professionally in 1928 in Vancouver, British Columbia. After that his career took off, and the “Iceman” as he became known, established himself as one of the best in the business. Over the course of his 19-year racing career, he rode 2,784 horses and came in first 721 times, second 589 times, and third 468 times. He finished in the money 47% of the time, but all of that isn’t what he is most famous for. In 1938, the “Race of the Century” was scheduled between Seabiscuit from the east coast and War Admiral from the west coast. The latter’s owner had long scoffed that the much smaller Seabiscuit was no competition for his champion, but Charles Howard, the biscuit’s owner finally goaded him enough to force the contest. Prior to the race, Seabiscuit’s regular jockey, Red Pollard (also a Canadian from Edmonton, Alberta), shattered his right leg and was unable to ride. That’s when George Woolf, Red’s friend, was called in. The race was amazing! For a little while it was a neck and neck contest, but as they rounded the last turn, Seabiscuit and George left War Admiral four lengths behind in the dust and forever shut the mouth of his arrogant owner. To top that, he did it in record time for that track. You can find the race on YouTube, and if you’ve never seen it, Seabiscuit is an excellent movie. Seabiscuit was Horse of the Year for 1938, and both Red Pollard and George Woolf are in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Wednesday we retraced our steps back to Lethbridge, Alberta, to check out the Water Tower Grill. We thought about stopping there on our way through, but weren’t too sure about parking. It was totally worth the drive. As the name says, it is built in an actual old water tower. The original water tower was built in 1958 and held 500,000 gallons of water. By 2000, though, it was no longer used and planned for demolition. Interested parties put out a request for ideas to salvage the local landmark, and the idea was born. The modification is a nice bit of engineering, with a lot of structural changes to accommodate the specially made windows and doors. The center shaft, which originally pumped water up to the tower and used gravity to provide the necessary pressure to send it out to homes in the community was turned into an elevator shaft. Up top in the old tank there are two separate floors, one that is casual dining and another that is more formal. You can walk out on the catwalk around the outside of the tower to take pics, too. The food was delicious (we both had Indian options), and our waitress Polina was very nice. (She emigrated from Ukraine when the war started and loves it in Lethbridge.) Overall it is a cool little piece of engineering with good food, so where can you go wrong?

Next we drove by theLethbridge Wind Gauge. I know, it doesn’t sound very exciting, but this particular wind instrument is more like a sculpture. At an overall height of ~17′, with each link in the chain about 10″ long, and the ball measuring more than 4′ across, it is the largest in the world. This behemoth was designed to be an actual wind gauge in this prairie land where sustained winds can reach just under hurricane strength and gusts can make it to 110 mph. After the original installation, concerns were raised that the ball might swing around, hurting someone in the process. So, the powers that be had it uprooted and moved to a little park where the ball was welded in place. Dang, I’d totally stand out in a giant wind to watch that ball swing!!

Before heading back we made a quick stop at Winners (like TJ Maxx), then took a different route to enjoy the scenery. After relaxing a bit, we went to the Carriage House Theatre to watch the play Nice Work If You Can Get It! We weren’t expecting too much of a small-town production, but man, it was terrific. The actors come from all around to do summer shows here, and the theater is running several different shows simultaneously. Color us impressed! The play is funny and heart-warming, filled with Gershwin music, and definitely worth seeing if you get an opportunity. I’ve still got Someone to Watch Over Me playing on a loop in my head!! We didn’t get home until past our bedtime, but it was totally worth it. MW went to sleep quickly, but I stayed awake reading for a while. There was a group of kids playing basketball nearby at about 10:45 PM that sounded about middle school age. About 11PM just as I was about to turn out the light, I heard them walking down the campground road just behind our camper laughing. Next thing I know one is running through our site and banging on the outside of Priscilla. Needless to say, I just about jumped out of my skin, and MW woke up with a jolt. It was too dark to see anything, but I believe they were not staying in the campground, but from the surrounding neighborhood. I’m sure he was dared to do it, and thought it was all in good fun, but my question is…why are kids that young out wandering the neighborhood at 11PM?

Lee Creek Campground is a seasonal campground located in and owned by the town of Cardston, Alberta. Amenities include an office, laundry, bathhouse, reunion center, and one rental cabin. The campground has 72 sites in both pull-thru and back-in varieties, some with 50-amp full-hookup, some with 50- or 30-amp electric and water only, and some primitive. All have fire pits and picnic tables, and there is wifi, although it was pretty slow when we were there. Both Verizon and AT&T had coverage, though. This campground is pretty nice for a private one. The parallel, pull-thru sites were well-spaced and there were quite a few back-in sites in the trees. Despite being right in town, it wasn’t terribly loud at night, except for the neighborhood kids mentioned above. It is worth noting this is a muster point for one of the Fantasy RV Tours, which is probably a plus, since I believe they are a little persnickety on where they stay. We would stay again if in the area. For this visit in July 2026, we paid just over $39 per night for 3 nights in a 50-amp, pull-thru, full hookup site.

Thursday’s drive was going to be relatively short, so we started the day with a walk over to A&W in town for a breakfast sandwich. I’ve gotta say…that’s the first time I’ve been there in years, and their stuff tastes really fresh! Back at Priscilla later, we packed it all in and hit the road about 10:30 AM. We headed west on AB-5 to north on AB-6 up to Pincher. There we hit CA-3 west where we passed through Frank and saw the remnants of the Frank Slide. In 1903 at 4:10 AM a massive chunk of limestone 3,300′ wide, 1,394′ high, and 490′ deep broke off of Turtle Mountain. Officials estimated that 121 million U.S. tons of rock came crashing into the valley, and moving at over 70 mph, in less than 2 minutes it was climbing the opposing hills. Between the beginning and the end points lay the eastern edge of Frank. That section of town was destroyed, along with a portion of the Canadian Pacific Railway line, including the bridge across the river, and parts of the coal mine. An estimated 70-90 people just disappeared under the rubble. A train had just pulled out of the mine area when the engineer heard the deafening noise. He put the peddle to the metal and made it across the Crowsnest River bridge just before it was destroyed. Seventeen men were trapped in the mine, but managed to tunnel out. Only a dozen bodies were found in the rubble immediately following the slide. Another six skeletons were found in 1924 as crews were building the new road. The Frank Slide is the deadliest in Canadian history and was the largest until the Hope Slide in 1965 (you can see my pics of that here).

We continued through Crowsnest Pass and into British Columbia, and just a few miles later, pulled into Mountain Shadows Campground in Sparwood. It had been a gorgeous drive through farmland, spectacular mountains, and lots of lakes and ponds in Waterton Lakes National Park. Visibility was fine, but smoke from the wildfires in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon definitely added some haze here and there. Near the end of the drive, we could actually smell it when I rolled down the window to take a pic. We were a little nervous about our reservation. We made it back in mid-June on the phone, but they don’t send any type of confirmation and said they were in the middle of a “management” change. Because of that, we had tried several times in the last few days to confirm, but no one ever answered the phone and our voicemails went unanswered. We had even discussed options and looked for campgrounds to call in the event we had no site. When we arrived, the woman at the desk struggled to locate our reservation, then appeared to enter a new one while saying that she had found it. It felt like she was just covering for it not being there, but we were very happy to have a place to park. It was even what we had asked for in our original call. Bonus!!

Friday I headed out to do laundry at Shepherd’s Dog Wash and Laundromat, which wasn’t anything to write home about, but the machines were clean. I met a nice guy there who is camped in the same campground long-term. Also met a couple who lives half the year on the road in their RV in North America and the other half in Nicaragua. Interesting. After finishing the chore, I headed over to A&W to have a bite of lunch and get some writing done. By the time I made it back to Priscilla, I could really smell the smoke. MW ordered pizza for supper, and we watched a John Wayne movie.

Despite the previous smoke, we woke up to no smell and pretty clear visibility on Saturday, so we took the opportunity to walk around the campground and on the woods trail. From the campground you can access more than 90 miles of hiking/biking paths, including ones that are part of the Trans Canada Trail. Despite the sign on the wall at the office warning of a bear in the area, we saw no signs. We did get squawked at by lots of squirrels and saw/heard plenty of birds, though.

Later we went to the Visitor Center in Sparwood and checked out the World’s Largest Truck and some mining equipment, too. After my good report from yesterday, MW wanted to try a hamburger at A&W for lunch, then before heading back to Priscilla, we checked out Marina Wolff Chocolatier. (Yes, we did take a couple of things home.) We watched a couple of movies in the afternoon. Well, I listened and worked on photo books.

Wait…let’s talk about that truck. The Titan 33-19 is one of a kind. Made for work in open pit coal mines, this behemoth is 65’11” long, 24’10” wide, and 22’7″ tall with the bed down. Raise the bed up, and you’re looking at 56′ at the top! The truck weighs 560,000 pounds, and can hold two busses and a couple of pickup trucks or, if you just wanted to haul coal, over 77,000 POUNDS of the stuff. You aren’t going to be racing around it in, though, as the 3,300 hp engine will only go 30 mph , and that will cost you about 70 gallons of fuel when loaded. Definitely not cheap, but if you are looking for the cool factor, just sayin’. Built in 1974, Titan made its way to the Eagle Mountain Mine in Southern California. Later the company moved it up to one of the mines near Sparwood.

Sunday morning we headed a few miles down the road to Fernie, British Columbia, to attend services at Mountainside Community Church. The service was nice with Pastor Andy DeHoog preaching about keeping our focus on God. As we were leaving someone stopped us outside and asked where we were from, which we both noticed since he was the only person that spoke to us at all during the visit. That is very unusual. Afterwards we grabbed a bite of lunch at the Silver Fox Pub, which had an eclectic menu that included some Indian fare. We were surprised at just how good it was, because the building and dining area didn’t look like too much. For the last week or so the weather has been mid- to upper-80s in the daytime, dropping down into the low 50s at night, which is pretty pleasant in the dry climate. Sadly, we’ve been mostly indoors to avoid the smoke, which really does a number on my eyes!

The most important thing that happened on Sunday was the 14th birthday of our fourth Booger, Cadence. Regular readers saw pics of her earlier this summer during Cadence’s Great Adventure, but just in case you missed it…here’s our beautiful girl. Happy Birthday, Cutie Booger!!

Mountain Shadows Campground in British Columbia, is REALLY nice for a private park. Laid out similar to a state park, the sites are well-spaced and nestled in the woods. Amenities include office with store, pavilion with wifi, playground, two bathhouses, dump station, and lots of adjacent trails. The campground has 64 sites, some pull-thru and some back-in. There are 37 full-hookup 30-amp, 12 water & 30-amp electric, and the rest primitive. All sites have picnic tables and fire rings, although they were under fire ban during our visit. Cell signals for both Verizon and AT&T were fine, but there was no over-the-air TV. The only negatives to this park were actually getting in touch with the manager on the phone prior to the visit (they don’t have an online reservation system) and the highway noise, which is substantial all the time except between the hours of 11 PM and 4 AM. Despite that, we would stay again if in the area. For this visit in August 2026, we paid almost $37.50 per night for 4 nights in a full-hookup, pull-thru site.

Time to walk away from the laptop! Next up…Back in the USA, Wildfires, and a Break Down. See you on the path!!

Talisa

Sources: Signage, brochures, Wikipedia, and attraction, campground, and business websites.

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