Raymond & Lethbridge (Part 3)

The first thing we did after settling in was go for a walk around the "block", block is in quotes because everyone in Raymond lives on a minimum of 10 acres.. So a walk around the block turns into a small marathon. It was nice to stretch our legs after the long drive and we got to watch a spectacular sunset in the process. 

{Judy & Max's house= top photo} 

Monday morning we got up and drove to Lethbridge. Our first stop was the 'high level bridge' which is the longest (5,327.625 feet) & highest (314 feet) trestle bridge in the world--there are longer & there are higher, but no other longest highest. The bridge was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway and it recently celebrated it's 100th anniversary. We also climbed up to the observation point to get a better look. 

{High level bridge}

After the bridge we stopped for lunch and we had our first experience with Canadian cuisine: Poutine (i.e. fries with gravy & cheese curds) I thought it mostly tasted like mashed potatoes.

Next, we headed over to the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. This garden is a friendship garden between Canada & Japan. The bell in the bottom left picture is a friendship bell and its sound is supposed to send out a message of goodwill and understanding. When Marty and I rang the bell it was shockingly loud but also satisfying. It was so nice to be in the middle of a city and feel like everything just melted away. We sat under the gazebo for a while and listened to the stream run by and I know it sounds cheesy but I felt so cleansed afterwards. Who knew you could find Japanese Zen in Canada?

{Nikka Yuko}

Tuesday, we slept in and then we got up and took a tour of Raymond. We went to the town hall/ library  and wandered through the shops on main street. Raymond is such a charming little town..

{Raymond}

Later that evening we went to visit a Hutterite colony. Max & Judy are good friends with the Hutterites in the area so we got special permission to tour their facilities and get a behind-the-scenes look at their lifestyle. We were really impressed with how hard they work and how much they really take care of each other with their sense of community. I didn't take any pictures because they are frowned upon in their society and I didn't want to be disrespectful. 

After the Hutterites we went out to dinner and then went on another long walk through the Raymond countryside. 

Gates of the Mountains & Border Crossing (Part 2)

Sunday Morning we got off on another early start because we wanted to catch the first boat for the Gates of the Mountains river tour.

The Gates of the Rocky Mountains were named by Lewis and Clark. Captain Lewis wrote on July 19, 1805,

"This evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. these clifts rise from the waters edge on either side perpendicularly to the hight of 1200 feet. ... the river appears to have forced its way through this immense body of solid rock for the distance of 5-3/4 Miles ... I called it the gates of the rocky mountains."

{Waiting to board the Sacajawea} 

If you look left to right you can see how the gates "open" This is what Lewis & Clark saw as they floated on the Missouri River. 

{Opening the Gates}

The cliffs are mostly made of Madison Limestone which is why they have so many caves and characters in the rocks. One of my favorite things about the tour was how much it required imagination to see shapes and faces in the rocks. Top left- personally, I think it looks like the Kool-Aid man, Top right is Montana's Devil's slide, bottom left is an arch in the rock, and bottom right is an elephant. 

{Cliffs of GOTM} 

We stopped to examine some Native American Pictographs which were carbon dated to be over 1200 years old! We also had an awesome Bald Eagle sighting- I was happy Mr Eagle posed for me long enough to get a good picture. 

Top= Native American pictographs, Middle= Bald Eagle Sighting, Bottom= entrance to the gates. 

Quick break at a campsite along the river before heading back. 

{Beautiful Morning at the Gates} 

After the tour we got back on the road and made the long stretch to the Canadian Border in Sweetgrass. We crossed the border without too much delay and then we had just a short drive to Raymond, Alberta which was our final destination at my Great Aunt Judy & Uncle Max's house. Judy is an amazing cook and had a full Sunday dinner feast waiting for us when we got there. 

{Canadian Welcome Center} 

The T-rex was too awesome to pass up a photo opp. 

More on our Canadian adventures to come… 

Montana & Canada Road Trip (part 1)

We just returned from a week-long journey to big sky country & the great white north!

We decided to take a road trip to visit some family members on my side and have adventures at the same time. We started our journey on Thursday the 7th, after I got off work. After dropping off Pongo with Marty's parents, our first stop was my Gramma's condo at Bear Lake. My Gramma Carol accompanied us on our journey and made an excellent tour guide along the way.

Friday morning we started our trek northward and we drove from Bear Lake, UT to Helena, MT!
We made a few stops along the way, one of our more fun stops was at Geyser Park in Soda Springs, ID. The geyser was only bubbling at the time, but the red rock against the blue sky was beautiful on it's own.

{Geyser Park}

Friday night we arrived at my Uncle Dick & Aunt Carol's home in Helena & we enjoyed a delicious dinner out on their deck and we enjoyed catching up with them. 

Saturday, we hit the ground running ready to take Helena by storm. Our first venture was out to the old Mansion district in down town Helena. Because of the mining success in Helena, the city used to be home to more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country. I fell in love with the charm and design of all the old homes. My favorite mansion of course was the one with gargoyles.. I am still obsessed with gargoyles from my study abroad in Paris. I also loved the cobble-stone style side walks and the fact that a lot of the homes still had hitching posts for horse-drawn carriages. 

{Helena Mansions} 

↑ Bottom left was the original governor's mansion. 

Next we stopped by the farmer's market going on down-town. It was nice to wander through the different vendors and get a feel for the vibe of the city. I ended up with a pretty glass necklace and Carol bought a bag of flathead cherries to share- yum! 

After the farmer's market we decided to visit the Montana Historical Society Museum & C M. Russell Gallery because A. We had time to kill before our train tour B. It was free that day C. Because it was awesome D. All of the above!  We enjoyed getting lost in Montana history for a while. It was like taking a trip to the wild wild west. I also really loved the Charlie Russell Gallery, he had suck a knack for capturing things as they really were and adding in all the little details of what life was like in the west. 

{Face-in-hole outside of the museum} 

Our next activity was the one we had been waiting to do all day. Helena has a train trolley tour that takes you all around the town and the "engineer" provides a lot of local lore and commentary along the way. 

{Last Chance Gulch Tour Train} 

Top left & top right photos below are from the walking mall, the top center is the Helena Civic Center, formally known as the Algeria Shrine Temple, & bottom is the Bluestone house known as "The Castle". 

{Sleeping Giant} 

Peak on the left is his chest, smaller peaks in center are his mouth, nose, eyes, and forehead. 

{St. Helena Cathedral}

{Helena Capitol Building} 

We ended up back at the Capitol building at the end of the train tour, and we were ready to stop for lunch so they took us to a fun local sandwich shop called Staggering Ox. All of their sandwiches are shaped like little cans. This was my first tube-sandwich experience, but overall we really liked it and it was fun to try a new spin on a classic concept.  

After taking a quick breather back at their house, my Uncle Dick took us over to Spring Meadow Lake to go Kayaking. It was surprisingly peaceful to paddle around after our day of touring the city. We especially liked the view of Mount Helena in the background. 

{Kayaking}

{Birds on the lake}

After exploring and spending the day in Helena, we came away with a whole new appreciation for the capital of Montana.