journey east: day 10

And yet another day, June 11, comes and goes without a journal entry. I just took a quick scan ahead in my little black notebook and see a pattern. When I was alone on my journey east I wrote in my journal. When I was with company, either family or friend, I didn't write.

So, once again the best of my recollection of the day.

What can you say about Lethbridge? I stayed with my sister Heather and her partner Barry. My visit came just around one year after they had moved there from Vancouver. It felt good to arrive and they had four seasons of experiences in a new land to share with me.


a critter in Heather and Barry's garden.

Heather and Barry are one of the few couples I know who walk the talk about minimizing their ecological footprint. Barry had been busy setting up a water reclamation system to capture runoff from the roof and there were 20 litre buckets all around the yard, some contained water, some didn't. A large barrel of water sat next to the house. The reclaimed water was destined for the garden. Laundry hung on a line that criss-crossed the yard and the garden was already being worked.

You can never have enough clothes lines. When I see one I'm taken back to my childhood, a simpler time, and I think they symbolize a way of life that is far less rushed than the ones many are living today. I wonder if anyone has ever studied a link between the prevalence of clothes lines and quality or pace of life. Do we live better when our clothes come in fresh and fluffy from the backyard?

There were a few errands I wanted to take care of and some sights I wanted to see while I was in town. Barry was off in the morning to work and after a nice homemade breakfast I was off to see a bit of Lethbridge. Heather seems quite taken by the city and I can understand why. It doesn't seem to have outgrown itself. Somehow, with growth, it has maintained a sense of what it is that gives it character. The city has a downtown area stereotypical of cities in the area. Wide avenues with slant parking and building that rarely climb much higher than four or five stories. It sprawl, but not in a suburban way, more like in a cowboy hanging out on hay bales kind of way: relaxed and casual, but purposeful.

Lethbridge is cut in two by the Oldman River. The river valley cuts 100 metres down through the flat prairie landscape on which the city of 80,000 is built. Two notable architectural features of Lethbridge involve the valley. First, the University of Lethbridge is located on the west side of the valley. University Hall looks like a recent addition to the campus and it is this building that is most striking. It looks as though it has slipped down into the valley. The long structure cuts through the ridges of coulees lining the steep valley walls and flows down into their troughs. It's a most unobtrusive and organic design, and looks like the valley has grown around it.

The second architectural feature spans the valley from east to west and is the polar opposite from the University of Lethbridge campus in that only a blind person could miss it, and even then I'm not so sure. The High Level Bridge was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1909. It stands 100 metres above the lowest part of the Valley and stretches more than 1.5 kilometres from end to end. It is the longest and highest bridge of its kind in the world and is truly spectacular to look at. I get shivers just thinking about crossing it on foot.


The High Level bridge in Lethbridge is the highest and longest bridge of its kind in the world.

Beyond my sightseeing I had a few necessities to pick up. I found a game shop that sold large dice. I picked one up for myself to replace that which was stolen by the felonious raven in Yoho, and a dozen and a half for mom (she has a dice fetish.) I bought a $2 pair of sequined flip-flops for footsie protection in alien public showers. And I bought a $20 phone card that gave me a remarkable amount of minutes of long distance chatting so I could keep in comfortable contact with my honey.

And no, my mom doesn't really have a dice fetish.