Day Seventeen, Fri, 9/20/2024, Conrad to Bozeman, 252 miles, 4 1/2 hours

Bozeman is the Austin/Boulder/Lawrence of Montana.  A university town, lots of traffic, boutiques, fancy and expensive restaurants.  We drove all over town to find a Mexican restaurant in a small mall on the west side of town.  The meal was delicious and surprisingly, someone comped us!  I went to find and pay the waitress, and she informed me that our meal had been paid for!  Wow!

Jo chowing down

Accommodations in Bozeman are expensive, so I went with a Motel 6.  This was the most expensive Motel 6 room ever, AND it turned out to be the very nicest Motel 6 room of the entire trip!  We were very pleased.

What was meaningful about this day?  It was a short driving day, and Bozeman was interesting.

What did I learn today?  That Bozeman is hotsy-totsy.

What would I do differently if Mary and I traveled together again in the future?  Avoid Bozeman altogether.

Day Fifteen, Wed, 9/18/24, Day of Rest and Day Sixteen, Thu, 9/19/24, Calgary to Conrad, MT; 286 miles, 7 hours

We needed another day of rest, so we skipped the Heritage Park.  But we did go to the Calgary YMCA today.  And I participated in a Zoom meeting for the Ecological Integrity committee of the CSJs.  We also tried a new-to-us restaurant close to the Super 8.  I had fish cakes and Mary had fish-and-chips.  We shared an Irish cheesecake.  We re-organized our clothes for the trip home.

We got the car packed by 9am, but sat at the Port of Entry for 2 hours.  We never did figure out why it took so long to drive back into the United States from Canada.  Our Super 8 accommodations in Conrad were as advertised.

What is happening in the Flint Hills?

Day Fourteen, Tues, High River self-guided tour of Heartland

The Heartland TV series is our favorite series, staged in the High River area of Alberta.  The actual ranch where Heartland is filmed is not available, but the town of Hudson is the town of High River.  This is definitely horse country less than an hour southwest of Calgary.

Our first stop was the Museum of the High Wood, where there were books and other artifacts from the many season of Heartland.  When Heartland is being filmed, it is said that they set up right behind the museum.

Our first stop

High River is a small boomtown even when Heartland is not filming.

Maggie's Diner figures prominently in the Heartland series.

... but Maggie's is closed during the off season.

Mary says, "but maybe I can find a back way in!"

Jo says, "it's not gonna happen!"

Nevertheless, we walked through the walkway behind Maggie's to a different diner and had a wonderful lunch.  Then we meandered through the valley over hills and creeks to make our way back into Calgary.

What was meaningful about High River?  We are now in our third cycle of watching the entire Heartland series.  Season 18 had just wrapped up in late August when we visited High River.

What did you learn?  High River is just as quaint as Hudson, the make-believe town in the Heartland series.  Also, I noticed that High River is booming with new residents and new buildings.

What would you do differently if you and Mary traveled again in the future?  We might consider staying in High River and driving into Calgary if needed.

Day Thirteen, Mon, 9/16/24, Calgary Zoo, Lunch and more

We needed to eat.  The Katamba Cafe was the perfect solution.  Then we entered Destination Africa.

Katamba Cafe

We didn't eat any.  Just a cool sign!

Entering Destination Africa

Vroom Vroom Zoom

The entrance to the open Lemur exhibit.

Mary catching some more rays at the Lemur open air exhibit.

Mary and Jo getting to know Lemurs.

 

Artwork in Destination Africa

 

Lion Pride

Out of the mouths of babes!

Land of Lemurs

 

 

One of the women from the Gift Shop took this for us.

 

We ended our day at the Calgary Zoo back at the Gift Shop and the cab company took us back to the Super 8.  We were pooped!  I gave it all at the Calgary Zoo -- 12,000+ steps.

What did this day mean to me?  I enjoyed the lemur exhibit even if they were a bit hard to see.  The whole idea of an open air exhibit appeals to me.

What did I learn today?  I learned how influential lemurs are in creating and maintaining forest systems.

What would I do differently if Mary and I travel again in the future?  Come back to the Calgary Zoo!  Maybe divide our visit into two days, one-half day each.  Although Mary had the Power Chair, I was on my feet the whole time and that wore me out.

Day Thirteen, Mon, 9/16/24, Calgary Zoo, Wild Canada

 After braving the traffic into Calgary from Lethbridge on Day 11 and the insane traffic to the Calgary Farmer's Market on Day 12, I used the taxicab app on my phone to order a cab for us early this morning to drop us off at the Calgary Zoo.  We wanted to get there early enough to get a Power Chair for Mary.  It turns out that even though the website cautions getting there early, there just weren't that many people needing a Power Chair on this day.  We rented a Power Chair at the Gift Shop at about 9am and entered Wild Canada.

Penguins

 

Mountain Goat

Owl

 

Tundra Buffalo

Elk

 

A shy Moose

A shy Arctic Wolf

Female Wolves napping

A shy Grizzly (Brown) Bear

 

Artwork in Wild Canada

 

The Moose Ecosystem

All Life is Connected

Dancing Foxes

We were getting tired!

Day Twelve, Sun, 9/15/24, Calgary Farmer's Market

Today is my 39th sobriety (9/15/1985) anniversary.  We wanted to celebrate but could not find an AA meeting in our local area.  However, there are two Calgary's Farmers Markets and several smaller ones scattered throughout the Calgary area.  We chose the Southern one to visit this day.  We drove through some insane (even on Sunday!) traffic to get to an absolutely beautiful, warehouse type building with food courts and displays and children's play areas.  Everything you would want to entice a family to visit.

Calgary Farmer's Market South

Main entrance from handicapped parking

As soon as we walked in, I saw a booth for honey and beeswax products.  The Calgary Farmer's Marketers are required to sell at least 70% locally produced products.  I bought I don't know how many bars of beeswax soap as gifts for people back home.

One view of the inside

Another view of the inside

I was getting hungry so I found a kitchen making Turkish meals.  Here I am chowing down on a Turkish meal made by some friendly women with little English.  We had an interesting time communicating, but eventually I got what I wanted to order.

Adana Kebab with 2 doner (flatbread)

After eating we pretty much dragged ourselves back to the room and slept until later when we went swimming and relaxed in the hot tub.

What was most meaningful on this day?  I had researched farmer's markets in the Calgary area, and I was so impressed with the one we visited.

What did I learn?  Turkish food is delish.

What would I do differently if Mary and I traveled again in the future?  Take a cab.

Day Eleven, Sat, 9/14/24, Lethbridge to Calgary, 130 miles, 2 1/2 hours

This was a short driving day, and we were glad for it.  Our Super 8 in Calgary advertised free breakfast, free wifi, indoor pool, fitness center, guest laundry, elevators, and hot tub.  We were on the first floor very close to the reception area, the pool, the hot tub, and the breakfast area.  The guest laundry, again, was not working!  Fortunately, we had plenty of clean clothes from our wash in Livingston, MT, and we had separate suitcases for what we thought might be colder weather in Calgary.  We were good to go!

While we were in Calgary, we planned to visit the Calgary Farmer's Market, the Calgary Zoo, to travel to High River where the Heartland series is filmed, and to visit Heritage Park.  We ended up letting go of Heritage Park, and we decided not to fight the traffic every day.  I found a cab company with a phone app where I could just arrange a pickup.  It worked out well for us.

In some of the motels in which we stayed the bathrooms were so small, Mary could not get in or out of the shower.  However, the Super 8 in Calgary had a slightly larger bathroom, so Mary was good to go.

Another goal or aim we had in Calgary was to go to the Calgary YMCA.  I chose this Super 8 because it is very close one of the seven YMCAs in the Calgary area.  Our home Y confirmed our membership so that we could visit when we wanted to.

What was meaningful about Day Eleven and arriving in Calgary?  We were finally at our destination!

What did I learn?  Calgary is a HUGE city with lots of traffic.  I don't know why this surprised me.

What would we do differently if Mary and I traveled again in the future?  I might pick a smaller town to stay in.  I don't know.  Calgary was exactly where we wanted to be and finding a cab company to take us to the zoo was a perfect compromise.

Day Ten, Fri, 9/13/24, Livingston, MT to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada; 438 miles, 10 hours

This is the day we drove through the Sweetgrass, MT port of entry into Alberta province, Canada.  We changed our route from Livingston slightly to take advantage of the interstates, I90 and CA4.  Along the way we stopped in Helena for lunch, and we stopped to go to the bathroom.

Steve's Cafe in Helena, a landmark

It was rainy all day this day, but I put the RAV4 on cruise control and let the vehicle determine the closeness and speed behind big trucks on I-90.  This is the day that we logged 47 mpg.

Surprise!  The bathrooms were closed, but the Tyranosaurus Rex remained.

We arrived at the Travelodge in Lethbridge about 5:30pm after 10 hours of driving.

Day Nine, 9/12/24, Day of Rest, Livingston, MT

We arrived in Livingston, MT 9/11/24 about 3:15pm, early enough to settle in and find somewhere to eat dinner.  The Rib and Chop was recommended, but their service was very slow, and the food wasn't really that good.  Rib and Chop restaurants are all over this part of Montana, but I would stay away from them.

Day Nine 9/12/24 we designated as a day of rest, but since I couldn't sleep through the night, I was up early attempting to do some laundry.  This was a Travelodge that advertised a guest laundry, free wifi, indoor pool, and restaurant.  There was no restaurant, and after I put in one load in the washer, the dryer wouldn't work.  I could not get any staff to respond to my request for options.

I put the wet laundry in a plastic bag, and Mary and I went to the Rock Shop we had seen on the way into town.  This was a find.  Sarah Taylor recommended gemstones and rocks for each of us.  She also recommended the 49er Bar & Grill for breakfast.  So, off we went.  Breakfast was very good, and there was a laundromat just across the side street from the restaurant.  We were able to hang out at the restaurant while the laundry dried.  This turned out to be a very good day even if the guest laundry was a bust.

Windy Way Rock Shop

What was meaningful about Day Nine in Livingston, MT?  The visit with Sarah at the Windy Way Rock Shop.  She was so friendly and knowledgeable about different characteristics of gemstones and rocks.

What did I learn?  I learned about shungite, rock that can be used for healing.

What would I do differently if Mary and I traveled in the future?  I would research other motels in the area besides the Travelodge and make sure the guest laundry is available as advertised.