My first stop was the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. I was looking forward to spending some time walking through the gardens, only to discover they had a special event going on and the grounds were closed to the public.
Undeterred, I headed to the CASA Art Gallery. Unfortunately, my timing struck again. They had taken down all of their exhibitions on Saturday and were preparing to install new ones this weekend. Apparently, I arrived during the art world's version of moving day.
Not wanting to be denied a cultural experience, I made my way to the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. They were featuring student exhibitions. A few of the pieces were very good, and several others were quite interesting, but I was hoping to see a larger collection of professional works. Still, I enjoyed wandering through the gallery and seeing what the students had created.
The highlight of the day was definitely the Galt Museum & Archives. I found it fascinating. The museum covered the history of Lethbridge, the Blackfoot people, early settlers, and the development of southern Alberta.
There was also an exhibit on nursing and another on Prohibition, both of which were surprisingly interesting. One thing that really caught my attention was learning that during World War II, Japanese Canadians were not only placed in internment camps, but many were also required to work in the sugar beet fields.
Later in the day, I visited a retreat center that had a labyrinth for walking meditation. It was a grass labyrinth that had clearly seen better days and could have used a little landscaping attention, but it still served its purpose. There was something peaceful about slowly walking the path and taking a few quiet moments in the middle of an otherwise busy road trip.
Well I was parked trying to figure out where I was going to have dinner, a crow flew on top of the hood of my car and began eating what looked like a piece of caramel corn. Very strange.
After that, I met up with some friends before beginning the drive to Canmore. It was really great seeing some friends.
The drive along Highway 1 was absolutely spectacular. Mountain after mountain rose into the clouds, many of them capped with snow. Every few miles seemed to bring an even better view. At some point I stopped trying to decide which mountain was the most impressive because another one would appear around the next bend.
The weather finally cooperated, and I was treated to a beautiful sunset. I even managed to get some photos of the sunset with the mountains in the background. One thing that still amazes me is how late it stays light here. It did not get dark until after 10:00 p.m., and I was still taking mountain photos a little after 10:00.
Once I arrived in Canmore, I met up with my friend Bob. We ended up sitting in the hotel lobby talking for about an hour and a half. It was great catching up. When Bob lived in Florida, we used to go to lunch together most Thursdays, so it felt like old times.
Ironically, I had originally planned to visit Bob in Seattle during this trip, but instead we ended up meeting in the Canadian Rockies. Life has a funny way of changing the itinerary.
Tomorrow we'll get together with Bob's wife for breakfast and catch up some more. After that, I plan to spend time exploring either Canmore, Banff, or both.
Given the scenery around here, I have a feeling tomorrow's biggest challenge will be deciding where to point the camera first.
No comments:
Post a Comment