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| Bar U Ranch - Longview, AB |
Today we went to the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site which is a Park dedicated to the history of ranching in Canada. We wanted to get an early start so that we could get into Calgary later in the day to visit with friends. We figured we wouldn't need to set an alarm because we are up early most mornings. This morning was no different as Tanya, Natalie and I were awake by 6:15 am. At about 6:20 am there was this loud noise as a small tree branch fell from a tree and landed on the tent. It wasn't big enough to cause any damage but it did make a loud enough noise to startle us. Andrea and David didn't hear it.
The mosquitos were once again very thick that we decided not to eat at the campground. We packed up the tent, loaded the van and were off and rolling by 7:30 am. We had a beautiful ride through rural Alberta to the Ranch. We stopped and had breakfast at the Visitor Information Centre in Longview and we got to the ranch at 9:00 am.
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| Cowboy David ready to go ranching |
Because we were the only ones on site, they encouraged us to go to the horse barn where they were getting the Percheron horses ready for their days work. Upon arrival we met a cowboy who talked us through everything he was doing to hook the team of horses up to the wagon. He then took us on a private wagon ride where he told us the history of ranching, explained the different buildings within the ranch and then dropped us off at the food camp where another cowgirl was prepping food for the day. She had a hot fire with steel pots hanging off them with coffee, tea and boiling water for drinks. It was pretty neat. She also explained how the food wagon worked when the ranchers went out herding or branding the cattle.
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Learning about the food camp
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| Natalie cooking lunch |
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| Andrea showing her lassoing technique |
A school group arrived a little later and they had a cattle herding demonstration where the moved a number of Texas Longhorns and Shorthorns to different areas of the enclosure. They also explained how they ride quarter horses and showed us a roping demonstration on how they catch the calfs to have them branded. After this we went to some other buildings where they had some dress up clothes so you could look like a cowboy, you could try your hand at lassoing a cow and see how the ranch hands lived. It was a very interesting day.
After touring the ranch we had a picnic at the information center which had the snowcapped rocky mountains as a backdrop. The scenery was absolutely beautiful but we couldn't enjoy it too much because it started to rain a bit. The forecast was for nothing but sun but they said around the mountains the weather can be unpredictable.
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| Francois and Scott |
We then proceeded to Tanya's friend Scott Maxfield, his wife Nicole and their two children Avery and Zachary's house for a barbecue. Zachary is a newborn (1 week old) and Tanya enjoyed holding him while the children had fun playing with Avery. Scott cooked us a wonderful barbecue which we enjoyed out on the back deck. The thermostat was reading 27 C and that was at 6:30 pm. Nicole made a lovely cheesecake dessert that we ate later in the evening - it was delicious. It was a lovely evening.
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| Tanya, Nicole and Zachary |
Scott and Nicole suggested that we stay the night with them rather than drive to Drumheller so we took them up on their offer. It provided a great chance to visit a little bit longer and catch up on old times. This is one of the best things about this trip is visiting with family and friends we don't get to see very often. Our hats go off to Scott and Nicole for making us feel so welcomed in their home and for being so great to the kids. We also enjoyed our time with their younger children because you quickly forget how much fun it is to sit on the couch and read a book with little farm animals and make the noises with them.
Tomorrow we will be heading to the dinosaur region of Alberta around Drumheller where we hope to learn about dinosaurs, fossils and see some of the Alberta Badlands.
Francois
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