Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Vulcan, Alberta

WARNING: Picture heavy!!!

We flew to Vulcan, Alberta at the end of June for 10 days, to visit hubby's sister. The Starship Enterprise, is the town monument and its claim-to-fame! When the recent StarTrek movie premiered, the residents of Vulcan were given 300 tickets to auction off among the inhabitants and those who won, were treated to a buffet dinner and then bussed to Calgary (an hour away) for a special viewing.

We timed our visit so hubby could go to an airshow in Nanton, about 30 minutes from Vulcan. (That's my b-i-l on the right) They were going to start up an old WW 2 bomber plane, and being an airforce brat, he couldn't resist. Also, two of his uncles were bomber flyers in WW 2 and were killed within a couple of months of each other - both were in their late teens/early 20's. They had a huge memorial wall of all the Canadians who had served and both of their names were listed.

This is the actual bomber. I have a video feature on my camera and promised to get the whole thing on tape for hubby and his one surviving uncle. My arms nearly fell off holding the camera high and for at least 5 minutes, but I got it all!

I won't bore you with further pics, but I got inside and photographed from every angle possible! It was actually quite interesting.

We noticed that there was a farmer's market happening, so we walked over to check it out. We discovered hubby's cousin (on the right) with all of her handmade jewelry for sale. She makes beautiful stuff -- I bought 3 pieces!


This is a town lost in time. It hasn't been created to look this way, it IS this way. The fenced building has a real, honest to goodness saloon on the main floor. Gotta be at least 200 years old!

I love the colourful grain elevators! They're almost becoming extinct.

Me and one of my nieces. On Canada Day, we got up early and drove to Rosemary, Alberta about 1 1/2 hours away. This is a tiny town, population 300, that for one day is at least 10x that! They have a big celebration, parade and all, and people come for miles to participate.

Here's another niece, flying the flag!

The whole gang, on the sidelines, watching the parade ... it circled the town twice, so you didn't miss anything! Volumes of candy was tossed out, so the kids had a blast scrambling to retrieve it.

Hubby, who climbed out of his comfort zone and dressed for the occasion, tattoo and all! Yeah!

Mud bog truck races ... notice the flying mud, which sprayed up and landed on those of us standing at the fence line, taking pictures :P*****
On-land, ski do races -- can you believe it?? I was down in the pit, taking photos, before someone noticed me and told me to get lost :)

And a very fun time was had by all!

3 comments:

Jackie said...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip with all of us.

As a Trekkie from way back, just gotta love the Starship Enterprise.

God bless.

Kaylyn said...

Looks like you had an amazing time. You have taken some great pictures! Can not wait to see how you scrap them ;-)

Tara said...

You went to Vulcan? I'm so jealous! I've wanted to go since I first heard about that town in the Trekkie documentary!