Bar U Ranch, Alberta

The Bar U Ranch

A stunning blue-sky day in Canada. One more stop at the Townsite Falls and we were off to Longview. It is difficult to get very far in this part of the country for stopping every 10 min to take photos. Just when you think you have seen the best view Canada has to offer you round the bend and another knocks your socks off! Unbelievable. Our road to Longview leveled off to the soft, green velvet rolling hills of the prairie. Lush ranch land spread out to greet us along the way. The Bar U Ranch, once the biggest in Canada, is now a National Treasure owned by the government. We decided to stop to take a look and were very surprised to find out that the last owners of the ranch were Jude Baker-Montano's family. Jude is a friend of ours in La Veta. What a place! We toured the bunk/cook house, tack building, post office and other buildings. I ran into two guys who knew Jude and the family. We also saw a quilt she had made hanging in the main building.

When we arrived at the ranch there was a wedding about to take place. Naturally, Carol and I snapped a few surreptitious photos of the bride and her entourage. Some of the outfits worn by the guests were priceless. I decided I could start a new reality show about What Not To Wear To A Wedding. The bride herself sported a pair of high heel platform sparkly shoes that rendered her feet in a completely vertical position. She was less than graceful at her walking attempts. Her strapless dress was not designed to hold up/in her huge bosom and she was constantly pulling up the top. Tacky, tacky. As my daughter would say "very WT."

Finally, we pulled ourselves away from the continuous photo opps and made it down the road to Longview, a town of 350 pop. We traveled a bit further and found a Provincial Park off the side of the road and made camp. Alberta has many Prov. Pk all along the highways so it is not difficult to find a spot to pull in. Most of the small pks are not serviced but there are several parks that are quite large and have all the amenities.

The next day we would make it to Banff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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