a glimpse

Beaver Mines Lake Provincial Park - Alberta

of where we went and what we saw.

We had a fabulous time! We slowly wandered our way across southern BC to Kimberley for a visit with friends we hadn't seen for a few years.  (On the way we stopped in Grand Forks and I popped into Heart N'Sole Quilt Shop - lovely quilt shop where I picked up some Mocha Meringue yardage and a couple of panels.)  So great to catch up!  While there, we checked out Fort Steele, and had a nice wander in Marysville down to the falls.

 

Fort Steele, BC

Marysville Falls, BC

After leaving Kimberley, we headed east through Fernie.  (In Fernie, we just happened to park right in front of The Cotton Tree Quilt Shop, where they just happened to have a sale on - I couldn't resist, I got the red and white print, red fabric, and the Figgy Pudding charm pack).  Then it was off to Alberta.  Unfortunately, I was unable to visit Cozy Corners as we passed through Coleman too early in the morning - they didn't open until 11 am.  The weather to this point had been pretty good - we had some rain in Fort Steele, put it quicky passed over, and back to sunshine, but we were seeing clouds building on the horizon, so we expected a wet night just outside Pincher Creek at Beauvais Lake Park.  Some showers overnight, but didn't amount to anything.  However, as we were just getting packed up in the morning, it hit! The temperatures plumetted, the sky darkened and the hail hit.  It quickly turned to rain, but it was cold!  We got the car loaded up as quickly as possible, and got on our way.  Some very heavy rain that day and the temperature went down to 4C, and we decided to hotel it in Lethbridge rather than camp.  I'm glad - the temps dropped to -1 that night.  (As it happens, the hotel we stayed in just happened to be right next to the strip mall where The Fabric Addict was located.  Appropriately named, don't you think?  Of course I had to check them out, and of course I had to pick up a charm pack - Victoria by Bernatex, and a FQ bundle of white on whites.  I also picked up a copy of Homespun - my first experience with the magazine and I'm very impressed!) 

After my shopping, and exploring the coulees we headed for Milk River and Writing on Stone Provincial Park.  Incredible!

Writing on Stone Provincial Park, Alberta

 

Hoodoos - Writing on Stone Provincial Park, Alberta

We had a fabulous time exploring this park.  It was a beautiful campground as well, right on the Milk River, and very quiet as it was off season.  (On leaving the park we went into the town of Milk River to restock our supplies, and wouldn't my lovely husband once again park the car directly across from a quilt shop??  Sorry, but I can't quite remember the name of this one - its a very small shop, but the owner was such a pleasure to talk to!  and of course I could not leave empty handed - a FQ bundle of blue and brown prints managed to make its way home with me!)

We hit some record high temperatures on that day - for late September, temperatures of 34C were not what we were expecting!  Thank goodness for AC in the car!  Stopped at Beaver Mines Lake Recreation Area for our overnight - another gorgeous place!

Beaver Mines Lake - Sunrise

The view from the tent

(also the picture at the start of the post)

A few other nights, fabulous campsites, and then home!  Did I mention that I had forgotten how many stars there are up there?  After living in the city for 25 years, you forget about the Milky Way and all the millions of stars that you can see when there isn't residual city light.

Oh, and it wouldn't be right to leave out my two traveling companions - here are my two favourite guys!

I have discovered that I cannot do handwork in the car - much the pity - but I did manage to get a little bit done when we weren't off exploring.  Here's what I was working on - Christmas Wishes by Leanne Beasley of Leanne's House.

Happy Quilting everyone!