Buffalo Jump, Rockies & Tyrrell - email 5 Nov

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Buffalo Jump, the Rockies & Tyrrell... (Calgary, Alberta)

Learning experiences since Halloween have included a visit to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. This is now an interpretative centre run by the Peign Indian People commemorating the site where their peoples drove buffalo herds to and over the cliff edge in a mass organised process that dated from six thousand years ago till the horse was reintroduced into North America - soon after the buffalo became virtually extinct. It was a great insight - Justin in particular was fascinated by it. Both Cathy and he spent some time talking to an elder working in the archaeological laboratory and were given obsidian arrow heads that he had made. This centre is about 200km south of Calgary and I would certainly recommend it.

Next day, Wednesday, was the Glenbow Museum in Calgary - one of the better ones to be certain - and our knowledge of the settling of the Territories in Canada moved forward with gusto. Of course the LRT (local transit system) was also a highlight of the day. The kids were not so amused by the journal writing component of homeschooling in the afternoon.

Thursday took us to Banff and Lake Louise in the Rockies, in absolutely superb weather (by design of course). All the smaller bodies of water were frozen, the rivers were partly there with ice blocks ganging up on the edges, the mountains and trees were beautifully snow-capped. If you think this is all rather overstated, don't forget we are from Sydney where snow is rather rare - Cathy saw her first snow actually falling in the past few days. It would be fair to say that the young-at-heart enjoyed the snow experience, and also learning to make "snow-angels" (thank you, Lorne!).

Friday was a home day, catching up on things. I dropped in on the Junior High School where Val, my penfriend and host, is the librarian. Interesting, but based on a one hour experience I am not rushing to enrol our kids.

Today, Saturday, we trekked 180km east to the Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum at Drumkeller. Well worth the drive, it is an excellent resource, with a great permanent display of the dinosaurs as well as putting them in perspective in terms of time and evolution. Visiting the hoodoos, interestingly weathered sandstone formations, and catching a flimsily dressed model being photographed in the cold late afternoon light next to a shiny prime mover (the connection escaped us), and then a couple of stops to photograph an oil rig and a grain elevator (sort of significant symbols for this part of Canada) completed our last touring day here.

Tomorrow we wind down, connect to Compuserve, and prepare for our very early departure on Monday for New Orleans.

Cheers - David.

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