Take a Jump in Time to Lethbridge, Alberta (Canada)

Once leaving Ames, I had to join real life for a few days. I had plans to be in Wekaskiwin, Alberta by Friday - but also some of that dreaded four-letter word that starts with a "w" and ends with an "ork" that had to happen. Several Zoom meetings, a client project, some work for one of my volunteer gigs - and a lot of miles to get through as well. You know, being a responsible adult. A highly over-rated state sometimes. But still necessary on occasion.

I made it as far as Mitchel, South Dakota on Sunday afternoon and early evening, arriving about 8:00pm. Tuesday was going to be a longer than usual driving day, with almost 500 miles to cover to make it to Billings, Montana. It ended up being about 9 1/2 hours of elapsed time. I have tried to limit my driving to no more than about 5 or 6 hours per day on this trip (as I did at the beginning of the year), which actually gives me time to explore a little wherever I go. In this case though, I knew I had to stay in Billings for 2 nights, and that Wednesday (the full day in between) was going to keep me in my hotel room pretty much all day. Which it did, mostly on Zoom but also an analytics project for a client.

So I'm picking up the blog now on Thursday, June 15th. This was border crossing day into Canada. I had discovered that I was to use an app called ArriveCan to 'pre-register' for the current Covid protocol. And in going through the process of the app, it was clear that no all border crossings were created equal during the pandemic in terms of hours of availability for crossing.

The one that best fit the bill for my route was to cross at the Del Bonita crossing, which added a little bit to my trip that day. They close at 5:00pm, and it was going to take me at least 4 1/2 hours to get there so I left with plenty of time to spare. I actually arrived at Del Bonita at 4:00 pm, and once through would have been in Lethbridge, Alberta by 5:30 if not for the detour for something I never saw. Anyway, I was at my hotel just before 6:00pm, and tired. So I went out and picked up food and then went back to the hotel to chill for the evening.

On Thursday, I set out to go to two different Lethbridge attractions. First, to Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. Some of what's below is from their website, some from what I learned while I was there.

The name comes from three Japanese words: Ni (from Nihon meaning Japan), ka from Kanada or Canada, and Yuko, which translates as "friendship" to mean “Japan-Canada friendship". It was established in 1967 to recognize contributions mady by citizens of Japanese ancestry to the community of Lethbridge, and is a symbol of international friendship. There is a bell in the garden actually called the "Friendship Bell".

The vision was to create a Japanese style garden that reflected the mountain and prairie scenery of southern Alberta. And the goal was to create a garden that was authentic and of the highest quality. It was designed by a very respected Japanese garden designer, and the construction was overseen by a colleague of his at Osaka Prefecture University.

From the website: "Each element of the garden has been carefully chosen and maintained to bind the entire garden together in perfect harmony. Water is important, refreshing the spirit with a tumbling waterfall, gurgling stream, and reflective pond. Plantings of forest and meadow layer the garden in soothing hues of green. Meticulously pruned trees and shrubs shape the serene setting, and in season, become focal points and symbols on their own. A brief appearance of spring flowers or autumn colour signifies the fleeting experience of life."

There are areas of rocks (some very large and some very small) everywhere around the garden, in different positions and patterns. One of the attendants confirmed that they were sourced locally and were millions of years old.

I also learned that pretty much everything structural (teahouse, bell tower, the gates, and the bridges) were made by hand in Japan, all using cypress. The components were then taken apart, packaged and shipped to Canada by ocean. Once in Lethbridge they were reassembled by local workers under the supervision of five master tradesman from Kyoto. The bell tower houses the Friendship Bell mentioned above, which was created specifically for Nikka Yuko, and cast - in bronze - in Kyoto. Having just spent time at a Zen Buddhist monastery a couple couple of weeks previous to my visit here, I can attest that the bell's deep, rich tone sounded very familiar!

I found the garden beautiful and very peaceful. I even found a somewhat secluded spot to sit in and do a short meditation. It was absolutely lovely, and thankfully not crowded at all. Serenity can be tough to achieve when a place is wall-to-wall visitors.

After the garden (and some lunch) I headed to Henderson Lake Park, also in Lethbridge. It has various attractions surrounding a man-made lake. There are a couple of paths running along the edges of the lake. However, it was kind of crowded and didn't feel like nature. It was too commercial and not enough peace. I didn't end up staying very long there, but did wander around for a little while and then walked around the center city area as well.

Since my second attempt on Thursday wasn't quite satisfactory, I managed to get out and on the road pretty early on Friday so that I would have time to visit the Lethbridge Nature Reserve for at least a couple of hours before heading further north. This was more like it. I didn't actually have time to explore the whole thing but I walked out the main path and on a couple of side routes. It was a beautiful day, and there were trees and water and wildflowers and animals and bees and everything there should be in a place like that. I met a few people while walking but was mostly alone. And happy. And not experiencing what I call my "chaos brain". Lovely!

I left shortly after noon for my drive to Wetaskiwin, and arrived about 5:00pm. I am here to visit to Gord and his wife Sandy. Gord and I met about 15 months ago, and have become good friends as well as colleagues in a new venture. All through emails (many), Zoom meetings (in some cases multiple times per week) and texts (many more). He was living in Ontario until a few weeks ago, and then came the decision to make a move to Alberta. We never managed to meet in person while he was less than a day's drive away, but now we are meeting in person and it's only taken me 15 days to get here!

There really isn't anything to post to the blog about the weekend, but I know for sure I enjoyed it!

I left Gord and Sandy late this morning and drove to Canmore, Alberta (just east of Banff). Tomorrow I will spend the whole day in Banff, but here are just a few pictures from here in Canmore, mostly walking by Spring Creek. The Rockies really are amazing!