Onward to Where the Buffalo Roam

Sometimes events ebb and flow in life.  One happening drifts seamlessly into another.  Other times, there's more of an abrupt end to an event.  Such was the case when we left this:

for this:

If I were to show you a close-up of this, you would see, in addition to the cool, steady city-driver husband, a crying wife with the color completely drained from her face.  And just in case you've been wondering, we do not recommend driving a 29.5 foot RV through Calgary.  Did you realize Calgary has over a million people?  Hm.  Neither did I...and I'm so glad I didn't know that ahead of time.  It totally would've spoiled the first half of my day thinking about what that would mean for details like lane changes and such. 

In my opinion, there were two, only two, great things about Calgary:

1.  Whizzing by Olympic Village

2.  Leaving it alive.  If I'd had it my way, we would've stopped our rig right in the middle of that  five-lane, called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and been air-lifted outta there.

Still alive, and we headed for somewhere a little more my pace to pull over and make some lunch.

And onward we traveled through "where the buffalo roam"...staying in bleachy, noisy Nanton, Alberta for the night.  I was only happier leaving Calgary than leaving Nanton...and that's all I'll say about that!

We oh so very happily left Nanton this morning, passing on the $12 box of Cheerios, and settling for a gallon of chocolate milk.  We had a long drive through the prairie ahead of us, and a much-anticipated stop at Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump.  The whole family learned so much, and really enjoyed this part of history coming alive to us.   The interpretive center is incredible--five floors, built into the side of the Porcupine Hills.  We learned so much about the Blackfeet Tribe and the history of the buffalo.  It wasn't until we had gone through the entire building, viewing artifacts, and reading and viewing tons of information, that we went out and experienced the actual Jump.

It was absolutely fascinating--having that base of information, and then experiencing the breadth, and the height, and the sounds, and the sights of the prairie. 

We could picture how it how it must have been back in a day.  And goodness, the prairie has a beauty all of its own.

Tonight the crickets are chirping and occasional gusts of wind shake our little house on wheels as I write.  All my men-folk, big and little, are sleeping soundly and I need to join them.  We're back in the U.S.A. today, and it feels good to be back "home."  Looking forward to whatever tomorrow brings.  I'm just beyond-thankful for the blessing of being on this adventure with my family.