We finally had a weekend where neither of us had other commitments, so we took advantage of the Easter long weekend and took a little trip to southern Alberta. It was very enjoyable and the weather was great...here are a couple pictures (click on the pictures to enlarge them).
La conduite à travers les prairies... ensuite les montagnes. Incluant Tache qui n'était pas trop impressionée d'être dans l'auto pour si longtemps, mais elle aurait encore moins impressionnée si nous l'avions laissé à la maison.
There was a long drive through the prairies, to finally get to the mountains. Tache found the trip very long and wasn't too impressed, but she would have been even less impressed had we left her at home for the weekend.
L'arrivée à Pincher Creek. App 5,000 de population aux pieds des montagnes et pas mal tout était fermé pour la longue fin de semaine, mais c'est vraiment un jolie village. Rien trouvé sur les Guérette, mais Christiane peut dire qu'elle est la première de sa génération à y retourner pour visiter. Il n'y avait pas de présence récente francophone, mais il y avait beaucoup de noms francophones sur les ranchs et autres édifices... intéressant quand même.
We stayed at Pincher Creek, which has a population of about 5000, but most things were closed for the long weekend - it really is quite a quaint little village. We were unable to find anything on Chris' great grandfather, who settled in this area many moons ago, but Chris is the first of her generation to return and visit the area. There was no evidence of a current francophone population there, but there were quite a few francophone names on the ranches of the area. Interesting history.
Jean-Michel a bien sur fait de la pêche à mouche... On peut le voir sur ces photos, le petit pico noir, sur la rivière Oldman.
Of course, JM had to go do some fishing while there. These are pictures of him on the Oldman river. Despite the appearance of winter it was about +8C that day and he did manage to catch a few trout.
La journée d'après nous sommes allé au parc national des lacs Waterton. Vraiment un petit bijou caché de parc qui se rattache à un parc national américain au sud. L'hotel fait parti de la chaîne historique CP, et est la seule édifice sur cette montagne.
The next day we traveled to Waterton Lakes National Park. What a beautiful place. The building is one of the old CP hotels that sits at the foot of the mountains.
Au bas de la montagne, il y a une toute petite communuauté, principalement touristique, mais quelques personnes y vivent à l'année longue, probablement les employé(e)s du parc. Ils ont tout ce dont ils ont besoin: petite école, petite église, petites boutiques, la nature...incluant les chevreuils et moutons de montagne (?) qui se promènent n'importe ou! Les moutons lichaient les véhicules couverts de sel...trop drôle car tout les véhicules avaient des marques de langues partout. Tout cela était tellement normal pour la communauté que même les jeunes enfants à bicyclette y étaient habitués et les ignoraient.
At the base of the hill on which is located the hotel you find a small cottage community. Most are summer residences, but we think that some people live all year long and probably work in the park. There is a little school, community center, church, etc. All for about 200 people. There is even the local wildlife. Being the end of the winter season, there was still many deer and bighorn sheep that were in the village. They come down from the mountains during the winters and ascend back up during the summers. The picture on the left is a sheep licking the salt off a vehicle. Most of the vehicles had markings of being licked...apparently quite normal because the residents didn't pay any attention to them.
At the base of the hill on which is located the hotel you find a small cottage community. Most are summer residences, but we think that some people live all year long and probably work in the park. There is a little school, community center, church, etc. All for about 200 people. There is even the local wildlife. Being the end of the winter season, there was still many deer and bighorn sheep that were in the village. They come down from the mountains during the winters and ascend back up during the summers. The picture on the left is a sheep licking the salt off a vehicle. Most of the vehicles had markings of being licked...apparently quite normal because the residents didn't pay any attention to them.
Une marche dans les montagnes... Jean-Michel et Tache.
JM and Tache taking a stroll in the mountains.
Et le voyage du retour. Nous avons aussi arrêté à Calgary pour voir Denis et Dawn Ouellette, des amis de famille de longue date à Jean-Michel...mais nous avons oublié de prendre des photos! En tout cas, joyeuse longue fin de semaine à tous...gros becs.
Bye bye mountains. On the way back we stopped in Calgary to visit with Denis and Dawn Ouellette. Long time friends of JM's family. Sorry, we forgot to take pictures of them. Next time...
Happy Easter and bisou for all!
1 commentaire:
Well said.
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