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Visit to Alberta in June/July 2017

This visit was primarily to attend Jessie and Mike Wrobel's 65th wedding anniversary celebration. The real anniversary is in the fall, but they decided to do it on Canada Day (July 1) of Canada's 150 th year.

I visited my sister Jan and her husband Rich southwest of High River, Alberta, for one night on the way up. I was driving with all my rafting gear for the Hell's Canyon trip which followed immediately after the Alberta visit. I had some car trouble starting at Jan's when I think a rock got into the casing around the flex plate (flywheel?) through an inspection port whose cover was lost somewhere. It chewed up the starter motor housing. Somehow the alternator and battery also ended up bad. All was fixed at a Canadian Tire Service Center in Edmonton that was remarkably open on July 1 - Canada's 150th birthday. I managed to pick up Joan at Edmonton International on June 30 despite the trouble.

We stayed with Jean and Ern from June 30 to July 3, going to the anniversary celebration and taking a walk around the river. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at the celebration so my only photos are a few late ones taken with the iPhone, which tends to make a mess of low-light pictures.

On July 3, we drove the Icefields Parkway to Baniff where we had a reservation. Then July 4, we took the Kananaskis Highway to Jan's place. Joan flew out on July 6, and I left for Hell's Canyon on the Idaho/Oregon border on July 7.
 
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Click on the image for a screen size version. The "2000" and "full size" versions are larger (not available in web versions).

Jan's house from the river side with its new additions.

Jan's house from the front.

Me with one of their two new steers.

Jan and going past a shelter on the part of their land well above the river (the house is next to the river) on our way to check a solar powered watering station.

Joan arriving outside customs at Edmonton Airport.

Mike Wrobel

Jessie Wrobel

Jessie, Joan, Jean (Joan's twin), and Ern (Jean's husband).

The cake at the celebration for Mike and Jessie's 65 wedding anniversary.

Kelly and Joan. Kelly is the son of Joan's sister Marilyn.

Joan, Kathy, Jessie, Mike, and Jean

Joan, Kathy, Jessie, Mike, Jean, and Marilyn. Mother, Father, and all the surviving children.

Ern on a bridge over the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, near their home.

The North Saskatchewan River looking toward downtown Edmonton.

Joan and Jean along the river

Some dragon boats on the river.

The dragon boats and some city buildings.

Ern, Jean, and Joan on one of the bridges.

Athabaska Falls along the Icefields Parkway.

Mt. Athabaska on the left. This is near the Columbia Glacier. I climbed this mountain in my younger days.

The Columbia Glacier, much reduced from when I first saw it.

Mt. Athabaska. We climbed the snow ridge about dead center in the photo in the 1970s.

One of the lakes along the Icefields Parkway.

Mountain sheep along the Kananaskis Highway.

One of the sheep close up.

The Highwood River at Jan's ranch.

Joan and one of Jan and Rich's horses.

The Highwood River at Jan's ranch. The buildings are just in the trees along the left in this picture.

Downstream from Jan's property.

Looking toward Jan's access road and the neighbors.

The young ones and the longhorn with lumpjaw.

Jan and the young ones.

A couple of horses and a deer.

The new mule that Rich just brought back from Montana.

Jan at work.

A hot air baloon that came by while I was out taking a walk. It went by the nearly full Moon.

The baloon over the neighbors.