Family reunion: the drive

Note: I'm posting this after the fact.

This is going to be a bit of a test to see if I can get a blog post cranked out quickly before the day gets crazy. Yesterday we met the Vancouver relies at a little cafe in Okotoks.

The convoy begins

They have been driving Beano while they’re in town. From there we proceeded in tandem to Lethbridge taking the back roads and stopping to see grain elevators, take photos, and have lunch.

It wasn’t a perfect day i.e. no beautiful blue Alberta skies, but it wasn’t stinkin’ hot and we had an enjoyable trip. I especially liked poking around the grain elevators and taking photos.

A lot of the crops have been lodged, a term I didn’t know. It’s where the crops are lying down in the fields. The stems are permanently bent or broken which makes harvest difficult  and can reduce the price or even spoil the crops. I always thought it was called blow-down but I’m a city kid. Apparently lodging can be caused by a combination of factors including wind, heavy rain (that fits for this year), poor root development, or pest damage. Whatever the cause, a lot of the fields we passed were in this condition.

Heather wanted to see a field of canola in bloom and I was really surprised that the few we did see were just starting to bloom. The fields north of Calgary which I see each week are sporting the brilliant yellow of canola in full bloom. I’ll have to do some research about which areas of the province grow canola and what causes the difference in ripening times.

We stopped for lunch at the golf course in Vulcan. I never would have thought of that but it turned up as an eating spot when David googled eating places. It was the perfect spot. We had the place all to ourselves and there was neither music nor TV screens, just the way I like it, Bah humbug!

We arrived in Lethbridge, checked into the hotel, had dinner, and then some of us went to a get together a little way out of town. It was great to see people I haven’t seen for probably 20 years.

Today is the main gathering of the weekend. The rest of the Vancouver crew arrived early this morning on a shuttle from Calgary so the families will be in full force today. I have my phone and my camera and I plan to take a lot of photos. Stay tuned for whatever shenanigans we get up to.