Saturday, September 29, 2012

Grande Cache


We thought we'd drive through Grande Cache on our way home,
it might be our last opportunity.
We were excited to see the fall leaves, 
they were okay, but nothing spectacular.
Lots of yellows, a few oranges,
no red leaves.  We haven't seen any at all this year.
This was a gorgeous valley, filled with color.
Unfortunately, no moose, not a one.
But we did find this bighorn sheep,
"world's largest" according to a website I found.  Regrettably,
 there are several claims to the "world's largest" bighorn sheep.
This is a rock Inuksuk.
And this is the "world's largest" bear, in Hinton.
Not a very nice friendly looking bear, is he?
Actually, he's quite frightening.  Not like you'd want to 
pose your children in front of him.
Now this squirrel, he's cute, kid friendly cute.
He's new on the list, the "world's largest" squirrel in Edson.
See!
We are seeing all kinds of "world's largest" today.

Look, another bighorn sheep, you guessed it, "world's largest".
We see a lot of these too.  They must be proud of their aircraft.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Grande Prairie, ZLC


We were on our way to Grande Prairie when we came
across this scene.  
It's the bridge over the North Saskatchewan 
river and this particular morning the fog off the water was creeping 
onto the road, very erie.

The Grande Prairie zone is rather small, only 12 elders so
although we have to travel 5 hours to get there, it's the shortest
interview process.  But we still have to do it in two days,
one for the interviews and one for the conference.
A few elders tried their hand at polishing their shoes.
Before on the right and after on the left, what do you think?
No doubt this is Grande Prairie, mostly trucks in the parking lot.
After lunch, I couldn't keep the elders from playing on the nursery toys.
Just kidding, I set up this picture, but it's cute huh?  There's nothing
like a little toy kitchen.



Wednesday, September 26, 2012

So Long, Farewell



After 18+ months of service, we bid a sad farewell,
to two of our office couples.  
Although we will miss having them in the office and serving with
them, we have made friendships that will last throughout the eternities.
Elder and Sister Meldrum, financial secretary and office secretary
Elder and Sister Elkund, vehicle coordinator and new converts,
referrals and supply secretary.  They put in over two years!

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Fort!


We've been to Fort Saskatchewan many times, but we've never
stopped, taken pictures, or picked up a pin.  No better time than
the present, I always say.  Well not always, but I did say that today.
We drove into town late afternoon and spotted this school
bus, loved what it was called, scholar hauler, too cute.
I guess this is officially "the fort"
and the back side, just kidding.
But here's the sign.
This little train station appears to be the information booth, that's
usually where we find the pins.  But this had all kinds of fun relics.
This is an old caboose, a Canada National Railway caboose.
And the old Fort Saskatchewan train station,
with a hand cart out front.  Looks kind of tempting, I think this would
be a lot of fun.
We picked up a pin and talked to a friendly guy that wanted to
take us on a tour and tell us all about Canada and the history of
the "fort", no thank you.  We are tired and we want to go home.

Hay!


Hay!

Another one of our attraction tickets took us north west.
 Past these beautiful wheat fields,
or hay fields,
whatever they are they were awesome.
Then further along the way we spotted these hay rolls,
what a perfect hide and seek field, don't you think?
This is the Prairie Gardens Adventure Farm and the greeter, kind of cute.
A few more spooky decorations.
Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere
as far as the eye can see.
Loved this wagon of pumpkins,
and these,
and these.
There's a snowball fight in this tent.


I'm going to go home and plant a pumpkin patch, a whole field full.

This cute little billy goat was having a wonderful time with this
ear of corn.  He was out of his cage, but wouldn't stop eating.
Chris posed for me by the pumpkin wagon.
There were several tents like this one, but we came on
a Monday, right after a huge carnival held here on Saturday, 
and today there was nothing going on.  It was almost like a
ghost town,  all the tents were empty, 
at least void of people and activities.
But there were plenty of pumpkins, did I mention that?
There were these great little buildings, but nothing in them.
I was dying to check out the fudgery, but it was closed,
as was the lost lemon mine.
Shooting Gallery, you guessed it, closed.
Took a picture of this for the idea, very fun.  Cinder blocks stacked
on top of each other with polls stuck through the holes to make a
fence.  Top with gourds, pumpkins and corn stalks, super cute.
They also had a corn maze across the field, but it was. . . 
closed!
It was very much like Lacombe's corn maze we went to last week.
With the exception of the wonderful array of pumpkins, I like
 Lacombe's corn maze way better.