Goodbye Radium, Hello North Battleford

The reasons I love Radium Hot Springs, are the scenery, the big horned sheep and of course the springs. In North Battleford, the business of my journey began. But first the hotel gave us money to gamble and the casino gave us cash to gamble. I was tired and needed to prepare so only gambled $5, thereby making a profit of $15. Next day the hotel gave us each another $10 for the casino. We only gambled $5. Those slot machines just don’t hook me at all. I figure we won $30 all totaled by not playing further. A wonderful restaurant attached to the casino served us bison steak and spinach salad. Great prices. Another score.

Driving at dawn towards the school, I saw a huge bull moose dash across the highway. Beautiful! No time for a photo. The sun rising behind me turned all the wheat to gold and the frost tinged scrub to silver. Almost the best part of the day.
I didn’t impress the grade elevens of Turtleford Community School much. I hope the grade twelves learned something at least. You can’t really force someone to write and I feel so sorry for them when they won’t even pick up their pencils or pens. How sad that they will never know the power, the magic and the fulfillment.

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Big Horn Sheep and Lussier Hot Springs

We decided to take the hotel manager’s advice and drive up a steep logging road, White Swan Park, and find a natural hot springs. (free) Cattle drifted onto this gravel pathway around a cliff and deer scampered across. Pine trees blanketed the hills as far as the eye could see. If you weren’t gripping the handle of the car door or biting your nails, the scenery dazzled you.

the end was a pool of sulphur smelling water among the rocks along side a fast running stream way hotter than the regular commercial hotsprings at Radium. Nothing aches when you soak in a hot springs. You can’t feel stress while you’re floating.
One of the reasons I chose Radium as our holiday base was the abundance of Big horn sheep. The animals you see gamboled along just outside our hotel. We hiked along a trail beside them.


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Working Vacation

Right now we’re in Chateau Europe which has this lovely view from the balcony. We’re waiting for the manager to bring us our restaurant certificate for the Saltzberg. We’re also heading for the hot springs before our dinner. A few blocks away a herd of curly horned sheep ran along side us on the highway. Yesterday we enjoyed turkey dinner at Heritage Place, a historic village in Calgary. We took a cold steamer boat ride through ice–it’s the last ride of the season– and hitched a train tour. Don’t you just love those old black locomotives that belch smoke out in huge clouds? Something romantic about them.

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