ROAD TRIP CANADA 2014 PART III

Maligne Lake Jasper

We're on the road again and the weather is still way too hot, but it's not something we have a choice about.  One consolation, since deciding on a 55-60 mph speed limit to save fuel I don't feel so bad about running the air conditioner (in the car).  There are tent trailers with air but it seems a little incongruous considering the wall are made of cloth.  Finding places to camp in or near metropolitan areas is always a difficult proposition and Edmonton is no better or worse.  The decision process ends up being somewhat arbitrary.  You start with Woodalls, a publication that lists RV sites by city,  Listing by cities are not always that useful particularly when it's the general vicinity that is what you are interested in, not a specfic place.  When Woodalls falls short, there is the internet . . . when available (we are camping after all). We track a place down with a description that says half an hour outside of Edmonton.  It is the capitol and a fairly big city after all, so we are figuring we'll be on the outskirts of town, the suburbs if you please.  Suburbs, in my mind that equals 1) easy to find and 2) not too far from a grocery store.  NOT.

Tent Trailer en-route

 We call for directions:  "From Hwy 16 take Rge (range road) 212 north 13 km to Twp (township road) 544 . Go east 5 km to Rge Rd 205.  Go south and take the entrance on your left as you go over the crest of the hill."  Let's start with we are navigating with maps and as often as not, each road, highways in particular, can have three or four numbers associated with it.  So finding Hwy 16, is not nearly as simple as it seems.  Never mind that we have been traveling on a  brand new piece of road that is not even shown on our map (thank you AAA).  We find Hwy 16 and head off East. Edmonton is disappearing behind us.  In fact I am not entirely certain we have even seen Edmonton, just vast stretches of housing giving way to even more vast stretches of yellow rape seed.  We count off the tunings, Rge 215, 214, 213. ah found it, Rge 212 and there is nothing.  We haven't seen any signs of civilization in miles and we're turning off a 4 lane hwy on to a two lane road, but at least it is paved!  So I'm thinking "Okay, we are out in the middle of nowhere, but perhaps things will improve.  It is after all 13 km ahead of us that we will make our next turn."    

You guessed it, not so.  The next turn is from a two lane country road on to an even smaller, narrower and less well maintained rural road.  Having already counted down 215, 214, 213 to get to 212, it would seem logical that we would continue that process until 205.  Our logic seems to be holding until there is a sudden jump from 209 to 204 and then 203.  We're about ready to look for a way to turn around that does not require a whole lot of reversing with a trailer in tow, when the next intersection turns out to be 205.  Boy those Canadians need some lessons in simple number theory, eh?  

Where we turned left

Yes we make it, and indeed it is "over the crest of the hill" where we turn, only to pull up in front of someones home.  Guess they had acreage and a yen to manage an RV park because there are hook-ups for water, electric, sewer and even internet, not to mention laundry facilities for perhaps 30 "campers".   As we pursue this odyssey I'm thinking there will be a town, or at least somewhere to pick up ice, fresh produce, and just, generally speaking, food.  We inquire . . ."go back out and turn right (north) and follow the road for 20 minutes and you should reach Brudenheim, they have a market."   Just to make the point,  half an hour from Edmonton is in reality half an hour to the outskirts of Edmonton and we are well and truly out in the back of beyond . . .  within a quarter of a mile the road goes from paved to dirt and I can see for miles and miles and miles and it is nothing but yellow.  Brudenheim has an auto parts store, a gas station, a post office and market the size of a 7/11.  Ice they have, but the only fresh vegetable are cabbage and potatoes, the meat counter has sausages and the frozen food case lasagna and ice cream.  Yep, sausages, mashed potatoes and sauted cabbage for dinner but there were Oreos, SCORE!!

Orthodox Church

We spend the next couple of days touring in and around Edmonton.  The Capitol Building, which looks much like any other capitol building; the Ukrainian Cultural Center and Fort Edmonton.  The Ukrainian Cultural Center and Fort Edmonton are both Living History Museum, which are right up our alley.  The Capitol Building (aka the Alberta Legislature Building) was really more about adding to our collection of "state capitols".  


Western Canada was heavily settled by people emigrating from the Ukraine.  Those settling in the prairies of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba where largely farmers, lured by offers of free land.  They were granted land for agriculture much like in the US.  If they cleared the land and made it productive it was theirs to keep.  It also served the purposes of the Canadian government to populate the open prairies with "Canadians" rather than Americans,  thus precluding the US from annexing what we now know as British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.  
  

Sod House

The building at the Ukrainian Village that most fascinated me was the burdei or sod house.  It, unlike the other buildings on the site, was a recreation rather than one of the historic structures that were moved to the site.  Never really thought about how to build a dwelling when your focus is putting the land under crops not building a house and how would you acquire lumber out on the prairie anyway.  The simple solution, although not particularly sturdy is a sod house.  First cut some trees and create a tent shaped structure, perhaps 6 or 8 feet wide by 10 feet long. Then  go find yourself some grass with think densely packed roots, not too difficult a task on the prairies.  Next step cut the sod (grass) in to bricks about a foot wide, four inches thick and several feet long.  Lay them in overlapping rows over the tent structure making sure to leave room for a chimney, a narrow door (too small for a bear to enter) and a window (see it the door).  Home Sweet Home.

Grain Elevator

The other fascinating aspect of the museum was the research that is done on every structure.  If you speak with a re-enactor they will remain in character and not just a general character but they will have learned the history of person they are portraying.  They will converse providing details on how they arrived, the size of their families, where other relatives reside, how they came to have the particular house, or business, or job.   They are for all means and purposes real people and they have real stories.  There are store owners and hotel operators.  There was a man plowing a field with a team of horses and there are three Orthodox Churches that still hold services.  Loved the hardware store where I was able to inspect plans for several different styles of barns and the grain elevator that was on site.  If you wanted a barn you could order the whole thing, from plans to paint and have it delivered down to the last nail. Small wonder so many barns look identical.  


We finish off Edmonton with the Fort.  This time it is not original but a recreation comprised of multiple streets each reflecting a different period in Edmonton's history.  It was okay, learned a lot at the Fort which was never a fort in the classic sense.  There were no soldier and if was never meant to defend a town.  It was really just a glorified trading post operated by the Hudsons Bay Company, another of those names vaguely remembered from middle school history lessons. 

It's time to hit the road again,  Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise beckon and it is time to meet up with our traveling companions, Carol and Frank Sobotka.

ROAD TRIP CANADA 2014 - PART II

BREAKFAST IN MIAMI

I didn't really share any photos from Miami, so will take this opportunity.  We found this fun little Cuban restaurant just a couple of blocks from our hotel. One stop and it became our go to place for breakfast. There were two tables besides the stools you can see and a bar on the street front where people stopped for their morning cup of Cuban coffee, an espresso with a touch of milk and plenty of demerara sugar.  Their huevos rancheros were killer as well.  There was something a little sweet about the beans and no typical chopped tomato salsa but more like a chunky enchilada sauce and fried plantains, yum.    

Room with a View

Our stop wasn't only about food and lightening storms.  Ostensibly we were going to check out South Beach and the treasure of Art Deco buildings for which it is famous.  South Beach has a curious history.  It became prominent in the '20s as a vacation spot.  That was when all the hotels were built.  I seem to remember something about a hurricane destroying the previous community but can't seem to find any verification of that.  The long and the short of it, the area went in to decline and became a haven for the senior set and drugs (remember Miami Vice).  It wasn't until the 90s that it was rediscovered and all those SRO (single room occupancy) hotels became once again fashionable.   It is the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the west and they are doing there best rehab and renew what would have been lost to development had it not been for all those seniors living on social security in these fabulous old building which were slowly sliding in to decay.

Love the lights

       

Maybe a little more about food, I mean really, what are vacations for if not for eating.  So, we did the tour, checked out the buildings, saw the place where Gianni Versace was murdered, walked a little on the beach, visited the Holocaust Memorial and then,  time for lunch.  Saw this Art Deco Deli on our wanders and it was nearby so in we go.  The lights above were inside and you can see the exterior here.  The food, not so special, except we got as many free pickles as we could eat (3).  The waitress though, what a character.  She was 60 if she was a day, long bleached blonde hair, way too much makeup (blue eye shadow), red finger nails, hoop earrings, big colorful bead necklace and bracelet and attitude to spare.  I'm pretty certain she told us what to order all the way down to pie for dessert. 

CANADA ROAD TRIP PART II

Rise and shine.  Another day beckons and our first planned destination is within a reasonable drive.  Leaving Cranbrook behind, we head for Crownsnest Pass and the road to Calgary.  We are in the Canadian Rockies, there are ski resorts, and yet it doesn’t really feel like the mountains.  I’m a California girl, and mountains are the Sierras.  The mountains at home are so massive you hardly ever see distinct peaks, just a mass of granite and green reaching in to the sky.   At home you drive up the mountains and then you go down the other side.   The Rockies are something else entirely.  There are long green valleys and meandering streams, and enormous individual peaks capped with snow.  I guess it is more like being in Yosemite, which makes sense given both areas were carved by glaciers.  But before the mountains and glaciers we are bound for the prairies and eastern Alberta.  Our destination Crowsnest Pass and the flat lands beyond.  A quick stop at the visitor’s information center garnered us a “Visit Alberta” Frisbee and a free cup of coffee as well as plenty of recommendations on places to go and things to see.  Next stop, “Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump”.  

Buffalo Jump - Not very impressive

I’ll begin with the "Buffalo Jump" part, which has little to do with the "Head Smashed In" part.  Ever wonder how the First Nations people acquired enough buffalo to clothe themselves and make pemmican for the winter without the benefit of horses?  Back in the day, (and that day extends from 10,000 years ago, give or take, to present) when buffalo still roamed the plains from Canada to Mexico, the First Nations people gathered together to participate in the killing and slaughtering (butchering) of buffalo.  Up on the plains groups of men built cairns (stacks of rocks) demarcating an ever narrower path that directed the herd toward the cliff now called Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.    The cairns were covered with wolf hides and “planted” with trees to discourage the buffalo from turning aside from the cliff toward which they were being herded.  Ultimately additional men lined the edges of the trail as braves in wolf skins began ushering the animals toward the cliff.  In the end, those lining the path jump out yelling, resulting in a stampede which carried the animals forward and over the cliff to their deaths.  Here, at the base of the cliff, the women and children waited and when all were assembled the process of butchering, drying and otherwise preserving the meat was carried on.  Buffalo jumps exist all over Canada and presumably the plains or the US.  Not every jump saw action every year, it was a matter of where the buffalo were found at any given time.  But this particular spot has been excavated and there was evidence of a long standing use of these cliffs as a place to entrap and butcher bison.  The site, which we visited, is about 15 miles out a dead end road with no other signs of habitation.  There is a seven story structure, built in terraces into the hillside, which serves as a museum.  You begin with a film and then are directed up to the top to view the plains and cliffs which are the "buffalo jump".   The way down is through a series of galleries that take you down the seven stories to, of course, the gift shop.   It is really quite well done and blends gently in to an otherwise bucolic landscape of rolling grass lands.  

DRUMHELLER

As to "Head Smashed In", the story is a young man, wishing to become a part of the hunting party  hid himself in an overhang under the cliff to watch the animals fall to their deaths.  When the tribe was in the process of removing the dead and dying animals from the heap at the bottom of the cliff they found the young man with his head smashed in.  Not terribly prosaic, but it tells the story.  

 We are on our third day of driving somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 miles pulling a trailer.  At the outset we discussed the feasibility of driving no faster than 55-60 mph to help with the gas mileage and more specifically, the cost of fuel.   The one advantage is you actually get to look at what is outside and may actually spot those historical markers before they flash by your window.  The Canadian government has done their part to assist us with our goal.  Before hitting Canada Hwy 2 we saw nothing but two lane roads and not once did the speed limit exceed 100 kph, which translate to roughly 60 mph.  The speeds may be more moderate than at home but there does seem to be this unwritten rule that if you really want to pass someone you wait until there is a blind curve with a double yellow line and then go for it.  Nothing like tootling along at 55 and seeing a great big pickup bearing down on you and the only place to go is in to the ditch on the side of the road.  That little burst of adrenalin, just kinda kick starts your day! 

DINOSAUR #1

When we left home our intent was to make for Edmonton, Alberta; which is,  by the way, the provincial capitol, much to the dismay of the Calgarians.  But, as is often the case, with us at least, when on the road plans change.  Seems the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drummheller, Alberta, is a mecca for those interested in Dinosaurs, especially Ceratopsians (as in Triceratops).  And, so it was we took a detour east to explore the wonders of giant, extinct animals.  Mick had a blast and I admit to being mildly amused by the stories of how the remains had been found, excavated and preserved.  Frankly though, a day is more than enough to devote to creatures which are long dead and additional time on the dinosaur trail was not in the cards.   Would I recommend a visit to Drumheller, absolutely, particularly if you have little people in tow.  It is extremely well done, with plenty of explanations, hands on opportunities and air conditioning!! Just be prepared for miles upon miles of yellow rape fields and no civilization to speak of.  Once there you can have a good giggle at the dinosaur models to be found in front yards, entrances to business establishments, in childrens’ playgrounds, and especially the four story tall Tyrannosaurus Rex at the visitors center.  

DINOSAUR #2

DINOSAUR #3

So it was we turned our sights, once again, on Edmonton.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED


-  Canola oil is a derivation of Canadian oil, where it was hybridized and where it is grown extensively
-  Canadians measure driving distances in travel time, not kilometers travelled, oh, say 3 hours down the road
-  20 degrees centigrade is comfortable, 30 is not.
-  The roads in the rural areas don't have names, they are numbered as either Township xx, north/south (I think) or Range xx, east/west