Vacation with a mission...

As my boss said when I turned in my leave slips..."gee you are taking a lot of time off". I gently reminded him that I took virtually NO time off last year, save a few snow days at the end of the year. So began our second vacation of 2009! But we this vacation had some definite missions, to see our friends in Alberta and to visit Ralph's family in ND.

We started off by heading east and then north through Idaho and into British Columbia on our way to see our friends Clayton and Brenda in Alberta. On the way we did a bit of the tourist thing, stopping in Fernie, BC to learn about all the coal mining in the area. Fernie is a cute, historic little town in the mountains...really a pretty spot!!







Fernie was the headquarters town for a huge coal mining company and all the hills around the town that had a rounded effect (like the tree covered ones in the photo above) are areas that have been mined and reclaimed. All the craggy type mountains were not mined. They had a cute little visitor center with a nice guy who let us tour the small museum even though we had Beau along with us on our walk through town. He used to be an engineer for the mining company so had tons to tell us about the industry and the company and the area. It was fun to learn so much in such a short time. Then we were off down the road again.

Continuing on the Crowsnest Pass route we came by Frank Slide. This is an area that fell victim to the mining or to unstable geology...depending on who you listen to. On April 29, 1903 at 4 in the morning Turtle Mountain came tumbling down on top of the town of Frank and the mine there. More than 70 people died and Frank only had about 600 people total, so it was pretty devastating.

The debris field is HUGE!!! Probably more than 30 cubic meters!! And it all came down in about 90 seconds or so. It covered not only a lot of the town and the mine, but also the railroad that ran through the area. In later years part of the debris was cleared away to make room for the highway that now passes through the area.







Then we were off to Nanton, AB and the great air museum there. The museum is also home to the Canadian Bomber Command Memorial, a huge granite wall with all the names of those who lost their lives between 1939 and 1945 in the Bomber Command. Ralph toured the museum and took a few photos of his favorite airplanes and he also had a nice chat with a US guy who flew with the Canadians during WWII. The guy was super interesting and funny and Ralph probably could have stayed and listened to him all afternoon!







Arriving at Clayton and Brenda's in the early evening we toured their new house, beautiful! And sat down for a catch up visit with the two of them. They also treated us to a fabulous dinner out at Nilgiris Tea House just down a block or two from their place...a lovely summer evening walk there and back and a truly wonderful dining experience. Thanks to Karyn the owner and to Clayton and Brenda for a great evening.

It was wonderful to hear about their adjustments to being back in Canada after a few years in Pakistan, about their family and their own thoughts an plans for the next few years. These are awesome folks and we love them dearly. We hope they will come and visit us soon.

The next day we hit the road again, headed for the folks in ND!