Road Trip ~ July 2009

Chris & I drove down to Cypress Hills in southern Alberta. I had never been but always wanted to go because I had heard that there is an abundance of wildlife there.  Imagine my surprise, when one of the first wild things we saw were turkeys!  We were sleeping in our tent when a very strange noise woke us up.  I unzipped the window just in time to see 3 turkeys running away from our tent.  We jumped up & went on a wild goose, err, turkey chase to get some close-ups but Turkeys move fast when they're being chased, they're kind of chicken, ya know (groan).  

I did get one good close up (above).  The turkeys were definitely one of the coolest things that we experienced, but we also went on a "Wild Safari" bus tour with a guide later on that day.  Ironically, we didn't spot any wildlife, however our guide felt bad because of that so he took us to his secret Saskatoon berry patch for a treat: 

Here's Chris "gobbling" up some berries.

As the sun set, we got to see this dazzling display of color:

And later on that night we went to a "dark sky preserve", where two guides set up telescopes so we could do some star gazing.  It was a fascinating experience ~ spotting various constellations, seeing Jupiter through a telescope & learning about light pollution & how it affects wildlife. 

Cypress Hills is special for many reasons including the fact that it was untouched by the glaciers thousands of years ago when they moved southward.  We stopped at Horseshoe Canyon to get a better understanding of this:

Are you able to read this sign?  I guess the print is a little small here.  It says, "Thousands of years ago, glaciers advanced from the north.  They flowed into and around the Cypress Hills, leaving the plateau where you are standing untouched.  This is one of the few areas in western Canada that escaped glaciation.  As the glaciers melted, water carved steep-sided valleys into the northern & western slopes.  Horseshoe Canyon, below was formed long after the surrounding glaciers had left the land.  Water soaking through the ground froze, expanded, and thawed forming ever-widening cracks.  A horseshoe sloped area weakened and slid into the valley.  The landslide here at Horseshoe Canyon is one of many within the Cypress Hills..."

Fascinating stuff!

Another thing that made Cypress Hills so special were all the wildflowers including the bee balm growing everywhere.  I pay money for this stuff at the greenhouse!

Chris & I went canoeing on Reesor Lake.

There were a lot of pelicans around, perched on little islands in the lake ~

and flying overhead.  They're so stunning. 

And there were also plenty of cows roaming around.  This one posed for us.

After a couple of days in Cypress Hills we made our way into Saskatchewan & headed to Beaver Flats Resort where our friends Tricia & Mike have a cabin.  I didn't take a single photo while I was there because I was too busy relaxing.  So I borrowed these shots below from Tricia.  The first one is of the view from her cabin.  

Tricia's parents also have a cabin at Beaver Flats & they have a boat so they took us out on the lake.  We cruised around & went swimming in the lake & Tricia went water skiing.  She's so rad!

And finally, a beautiful sunset shot of the lake: