Through Cypress Hills to Calgary (Day 10)

Somewhere in the middle of the night, it started to rain. We woke up and lay there hoping that it was just a little shower. Then it started to thunder and lightening. I was half tempted to get out of the tent to watch the thunderstorm on the open prairies, because I bet it would have been wild. But I didn't. Instead, I huddled under the covers and prayed that it wouldn't rain enough to wash out the clay roads.

When I got out of the tent, you could hardly tell it had rained. The ground was so dry it just sucked up all the rain.


We packed up the car and drove the rest of the Ecotour out of the park. We spotted a couple of mule deer in one of the fields on our way out (check out the big donkey ears),



and a couple of different groups of antelopes.



Along with a tonne more ground squirrels playing chicken on the road in front of the car, Dan also spotted a badger. I'd never seen one before and I guess it's rare to see them since they're kinda ferocious (you can barely see him beyond the fence as he's making his getaway from me).





The road started to change as we got towards Cypress Hills, where the flat lands gave way to more rolling hills and windy roads.





And I'm pretty sure that's snow in the distance. The temperature changed significantly and there were quite a few big pockets of snow on the ground. And once we drove into Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, it looked like we had landed back in Ontario- back to evergreen trees and snow and hills.





My co-worker Kathleen had recommended that we make the detour to Grasslands and Cypress Hills and it turned out to be a great side-trip. The Cypress Hills are pretty spectacular and even with a bit of overcast sky, you can still see forever.




On the way out of Cypress Hills, we drove a flock of turkeys- wild or domestic escapees, I'm not sure.





And to Dan's delight, we drove out past a group of cowboys (girls) herding cattle into a nearby field. Yes, we're definitely in the prairies!




Back on the TransCanada, we went through Medicine Hat and caught a passing glimpse of a humungous teepee (World's Biggest???).



And then before long, we were across the border and into Alberta!



Alberta definitely has its own vibe. The land of big trucks and oil jacks.

And relatives. We made our way to Calgary to spend some time with Dan's brother's family and his parents who are visiting. It will be nice to spend a few days with everyone and have a warm house and people around! We've both been travelling a lot since the last time we saw Dan's parents, so it feels like it's been too long since we've had a good visit. And he's got a trio of pretty cute niece and a nephew, so they should keep us busy!

PS: By the end of today, we'd had our biggest wildlife sighting day yet. Not counting all the suicidal ground squirrels, Dan tallied 12 mule deers, 8 antelopes, 6 turkeys, a collage of different birds and a handful of hawks. Not bad.