South of the City

The last couple of weeks have been long and difficult, and I expect this week to be a particularly rough one with seeing the oncologist again (I'm actually dreading that and not sleeping well at all).  I've gotten home late every night again, so by Friday night was ready to crash.  Earlier in the week I declined a Saturday outing - a rarity for me.  Then I planned to head out for a shorter trip, but that didn't materialize.  And things just worked out.  Friday afternoon I come down with a cold, so I thinkI'd have been torturing myself had I gone out hiking or snowshoeing or skiing or anything physical today.  Instead I opted for another drive, more me time to recharge a bit.

A friend had mentioned Frank Lake just east of High River.  It's a wetland area and in spring and summer just teeming with water birds and whatnot.  Today, it was a frozen sheet of snow in dull prairie. I didn't even feel that I had the energy to walk the km or two to the bird watching shed.  I took photos of birdhouses and a windmill thing instead.  Listening to the radio I knew that a winter storm was brewing and it was come from the north, heading south.  I made it my mission to head further south, towards the blue.

In Nanton I found a hidden treasure.  I'd seen billboards for their infamous candy store, but I had no idea that it also included a back room with old stuff - some things that I grew up with, others that I didn't know what they are.  Best of all, there were about a half dozen vintage cameras.  As I'm currently (still) redoing my den, the plan (for the last few months) has been to include a small ledge type shelf along the main wall to hold some photography (and outdoorsy) memorabilia.  Perhaps one of those camera would do the trick.  It was a nice distraction and find on a dull day, and a place that I'll be sure to return to when I pass through Nanton.

After that I headed even further south, towards Stavely.  Armed with my Southern Alberta Backroads Mapbook, I looked for some winding roads on the map, an indication that there'd be a bit of elevation, a bit of foothills and not just prairie.  Hwy 527 was my choice.  It was about 30km on deepish gravel, but another hidden treasure that I'll be sure to revisit when the grass is green.  It was coulee after coulee, blue sky on side and dark on the other.

I think I definitely found one of the better weather pockets today and on my way back drove right into a blizzard.  It's funny how that happens, but on my solo drives down south, that's usually the case.  Then I turn up the heat in the car and it's all cozy with heavy snowflakes outside.   And I feel happy for having upgraded to include fog lights on my car because those things are beyond amazing for driving in snow.