On July 10th our grandson Nathan, will be flying from Ottawa and visiting us for a couple of weeks. This is his third summer visit and he’s done some great things on his previous trips. These included rafting down the Bow, having an ice cream at MacKay’s, visiting the Stockmen’s museum to learn all about Cochrane’s ranching past, swimming at the Spray Lake Centre, playing tennis, mini and Frisbee golf, going on a road trip to Fort Calgary and Drumheller, and having lunch at Aama, the Nepalese Restaurant in Cochrane.
This time, Sue and I were scratching our heads to think about what we could do on this trip that we hadn’t done before. So I went to the mighty Google and typed in “Unusual Things to do in Alberta” (https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/alberta ) and came up with these three winners:
“Bankhead Ghost Town, Bankhead: Once a bustling mining town, operated by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, the crumbling ruins of Bankhead now lie abandoned up in the mountains of Banff National Park. Educational plaques and an interpretive trail tell the tale of what one historian dubbed “The Twenty Years Town.”
Bankhead was established as a company town in 1903 to provide coal to CPR locomotives and Banff Springs Hotel boilers. By 1905 the frontier community was dotted with homes, shops, community buildings, even a school.
Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin: This museum has one of the world’s best historical collections of transportation and industrial machinery. The collection was started by Stan Reynolds a local car salesman, and collector, who stressed in his advertisements that he would take ANY kind of trade in. Naturally he ended up with an odd assortment of vehicles and machinery. This didn’t bother him much as he was also a collector of usual machinery. Stan donated his collection in the mid-1980s and the museum opened in full in 1992.
Gopher Hole Museum, Torrington: About the size of an RV, Torrington Gopher Hole Museum features stuffed gophers (actually, “Richardson’s Ground Squirrels) posed to resemble the townspeople. Exhibits include gophers dressed as a priest, bank robber, RCMP officer, duck hunter, firefighter, and beautician, among others. Dressed in elaborate costumes and framed by elaborately painted backdrops, the gophers pose in cabinets, their glassy eyes indifferent to the media attention they provoke and the letters pouring in on their behalf.”
So, let me know of any quirky things that we can take Nathan to see in Alberta. Much appreciated.
