Southern Alberta

[Karin L]

Went on a trip to southern Alberta, around Cochrane. And...brought back some pics.

Here's a few out of many that I took.


Cochrane Ranche House c. 1900


Men of Vision Statue - commemorating homesteaders and pioneers that settled here.


Some scenery with the Rockies in the distance


Manager's house of the Cochrane Ranche to the left with antique corrals in the foreground: furthest left corral would be for training horses, the corral on the right is for sorting, handling and branding cattle, and on the far right, connected to the corral on the right is the butchering "pen"


Old blacksmith's shop: now an info booth, has a couple of antique saddles (for ladies and menfolk), different types of horse shoes, map of the Cochrane ranch, and other things. It's sorta like a mini-museum.

And lastly:

The mighty Bow River...looking west.

Enjoy the pics!

[Joy in Eastern WA]

Beautiful!
I've been up to Canada several times over the years, and I have to say that Alberta and BC are two of the most gorgeous regions I have ever visited. Lovely, and clean country!

[bluetick]

Thanks! Nice pictures. I have only visited southern Ontario, including Toronto, but would like to see more of Canada - some day...

Back in the 70's my ex and I looked into relocating to the Yukon or Northwest Territories! I think that area has since been renamed.

[Earthbound]

Beautiful! My folks live in Canmore, so i've had the pleasure of being around that country.
corry

[Lost River]

That truly looks like Heaven on Earth.

[notenoughtime]

What a beautiful place. The one tip I want to take would be to Edmondton, Calgary and Banff. Did you stay at this ranch? Looks like you had a wonderful time.

[Karin L]

Thanks.

This ranche is really, now, a historic site, so that means that the Ranche House is now the Town House (for the town of Cochrane), and the rest of the place (the old manager's house, and the old blacksmith's house) are just a part of the park. So, in short, no we didn't stay at the ranch. Main reason we where there to see my brother and SIL's new house in the town of Cochrane and stay THERE for a couple days.

I love the land around there too, and thought it was a beautiful place too.

[wr]

notenoughtime, if you're coming out this way, you may find that visiting Banff is lovely but it tends to be quite tourist saturated. You may want to check out Kananaskis as well, which tends to have a different type of tourism in the sense that anyone there is there to hike, bike or ski and it has a more family type atmosphere.

Karin, did you manage to stop over at MaKays for their ice cream?

[adamtheha]

I live just a few minutes away from everything in these pictures, and I can tell you, if I was rich, I'd be living out there already, the land is so perfect! Unfortunately, it's too close to Calgary, and is as expensive as heck. Maybe someday though, when prices are more reasonable...

[notenoughtime]

Thank you for the info. I will write that down for future use. This would be a big trip for us so it won't be for a few years til my boys get bigger. But out of all the places in the world this is where I would like to go.

[Madroaster]

I've been to Cochrane a few times...it's a beautiful place. Last time I was there it was a hotspot for hang gliders. There're also a couple steakhouses worth driving from Calgary for.

Thanks for the pictures/memories.

[Tracy Rimmer]

Several people who work with my DH in Calgary live in Cochrane. I've always found it MUCH more expensive than Calgary, but I suppose that, like everywhere, there are expensive areas and not-so-expensive areas.

Banff is beautiful, but as WR noted, REALLY expensive. It's a tourist mecca, and they know full well that tourists bring lots of dollars, and prices are set accordingly. The one must-go place in Banff (besides the hot springs ) is Welch's candy store... old-style candy store just packed to the CEILING with every type of candy imaginable -- including that stuff that you used to get as a kid but they don't seem to sell anymore anywhere else! They also have homemade fudge there, and my DH (who is from the UK) loves the imported European candy

Lake Louise is one of the most beautiful places on earth... it's just unfortunate that you can't see the scenery for the tour buses.

Kananaskis is, by far, my favorite. On the route in along Hwy 22, there is a place called "Forget-me-not Lake". It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

[Karin L]

wr, I didn't stop there on the weekend that I took the pics, but I do remember, a while back, while on a band trip the bus stopped there to let us kids get our hands on some icecream.

Tracy, the next time we go down there, my brother wants to take us down to Bragg Creek. Lake Louise is pretty when your out hiking the trails along the lake. I've never been down there in the summer, but I have in the winter.