What makes a place feel like spring, I
mused earlier today when we drove south from Black Diamond, Alberta
towards Fernie, BC. There was still lots of snow, not only on the
magnificent peaks to the west but in the valley where we were
travelling as well.
It was still a few degrees below zero when we
left our friends in Black Diamond where we had spent the night, and
under an overcast sky that held enough light to let us hope for the
eventual breaking-through of sun it was slow to warm up on our way to
the border.
Spring ... there were no skeins of geese in the air, nor
any sitting by the small rivers and creeks already flowing freely,
and at first there wasn't even water in the ditches. Yet, all of a
sudden something in the landscape spoke strongly of spring to me. It
might have been a section of road lined by tall poplars after a long
stretch of spruce and pine, their pale branches with their swelling
dark buds etched delicately into a shred of blue sky – I don't
know, but there it was, and I felt the lightness that comes after a
long, hard, cold winter.
Yes, we are once again on the road, in
part to revisit places we enjoyed before, but more so to
discover new destinations: this time we are heading for New Mexico.
We have about four weeks until we want to be back home, and we are in
no hurry to get anywhere in particular. Like two years ago we plan to
stop at hike-in hot springs in Idaho, Utah and Arizona before we
arrive at our friends' in Mesa where we'll stay for a few nights.
We had a nice start to our trip,
getting eased into travel slowly: after stopping at friends only
about 150 km from home two nights ago, where we enjoyed a nice evening
with fondue, we arrived in Black Diamond yesterday afternoon for
another visit.
It was fun to spend time with our young friends and
their three lively young boys (aged 6, 4 and 2). Henry, the oldest,
not only was very knowledgeable about the eating habits and behaviour
of Henriette, his corn snake, a handsome dark and light orange
patterned much bigger relative of our garter snake, he also showed me
how to hold her, warning me not to move too much or 'she would poop on
me'. I seem to have been holding still enough ... I wasn't too keen on
holding Sam, the second oldest boy's tarantula, although I was
assured that he, too, was not dangerous, and it would be a neat feeling to
feel him walk slowly over my hand. I will save that for next time,
maybe - or not.
Black Diamond has a nice, laid-back feel to it, a small town
with enough stores and amenities that it is not necessary to head to
nearby Calgary for shopping, even though it is convenient to be so close to a big
city. This has traditionally been ranch country, and our friends, too,
have a ranch and produce grass-fed cattle, pigs and soon sheep, plus
they have chickens in the summer when they also sell eggs. We got a
tour of the great old ranch house they are planning to live in after
some extensive renovations. The view is magnificent, with the
foothills rising across the valley and the Rocky Mountain peaks
behind.
This morning we headed south on Hwy 22,
passing through the small town of Longview, and then no more towns
for a long time, just miles and miles of ranch land. Here, the eyes
can roam freely over now snow-covered pastures and hills given
structure by poplar groves surrounded by shrubs rising black from the
snow. From time to time there were traffic signs warning of strong
crosswinds. While there was some wind today it really was not bad at
all, but these winds can do great damage. We'll pass through again
this summer with our niece Trina and a group of cyclists for this
year's 'Cycleforward' adventure. Hopefully the winds will relent and be calm for
that, too.
At Lundbreck we turned west onto Hwy.
3, heading for the Crowsnest Pass and the ski resort of Fernie.
A field of huge boulders to the left
and right of the road indicated where the Frank Slide, Canada's
deadliest landslide, had taken the lives of more than 90 people in a
matter of a minute and a half in 1903, a sombre and impressive
reminder that, with all our knowledge and means, we are no match for
Mother Nature if she decides to play with us.
After crossing the
Crowsnest Pass at 1,358 m the road slowly descended again, and it
warmed up a bit more. When we reached Fernie around 1:30 pm the sun
had started to come out a bit. The snow was becoming slushy, and big
puddles graced the parking lot of the tourist information centre
where we opened the tailgate of the pickup and opened our cooler to
have a picnic lunch.
At the border it had warmed up to about
+5 Celsius, and on the downhill sections water was running into the
road from the side. As almost every time we have entered the US we
were treated very politely at the border station, which is very quiet
at this time of year. The border agent told us that there can be
waiting times up to two hours in the summer. No wonder: it is a very
scenic route.
Our destination for the night was Kalispell, MT, a town
of about 25,000, not even half an hour from Whitefish, the famous ski
resort where huge snowbanks lined the road. Skiing must still be good
there. In Kalispell – the name derived from the Salish name
meaning 'flat land above the lake' - I knew immediately what made me
feel like spring: apart from the balmy +8 Celsius it was the calls of
the gulls wheeling over the Costco parking lot. Soon they will be
part of our north central Alberta skies again as well.
On our trip today we saw many deer, both white tails and mule deer. They likely find much easier access to food down here than further up the mountains with their huge snow cover. I was
especially happy when I spied a bald eagle on a tree in the ranch
country between Black Diamond and Lundbreck.
Tomorrow night will find us in Salmon,
Idaho. Part of the drive will be the same as two years ago, but the
first part of the trip, until Missoula, will be new, and I look
forward to this trip in the mountains.
~~~~~~~
Sunday morning: I watched sparrows busily carrying nesting materials to the eaves of the hotel when we had breakfast, and then - the familiar flight pattern of starlings. Spring is on its way!
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