This morning, we started off early again, after enjoying the 5 am hotel breakfast with a pancake maker. Our route for today started on bike path, which took us within a block of our destination: the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre. Even though the museum didn't open until 10 am, we could still walk around the outside of it. There were several informational signs about this deadliest Canadian landslide, which happened in 1903. The museum sits atop rock debris from the landslide, while facing Turtle Mountain across the highway. Continuing on our bikes, our route took us down to the foot of the mountain, where another large sign had several stories about what happened that fateful day. It was very interesting to learn about the landslide and be there among the rocks.
We were very much enjoying cycling bike paths, side streets and quiet country roads. We only spent 3 miles on highway 3 today! After the highway stretch, we turned into a country road with farms on either side. Without the fading mountains on the horizon (and the rolling hills!), this could be the Midwest. A couple fully loaded with camping gear stopped to chat for a few minutes as we stopped to take photos. It was wonderful to be feel relaxed cycling in the beautiful countryside!
The highlight of today, though, was the Miner's Mercantile in Beaver Mines. This store had it all, from fishing lures to postcards to any gift shop souvenir you might want, along with coffee, kombucha on tap, a variety of delicious sandwiches, and ice cream. The most wonderful of all was an exquisite pastry called a Blueberry Saskatoon Napoleon. It was a flakey pastry filled with cream and blueberries. So delicious!!
The couple that we'd chatted with on the road had also stopped to fuel up. They had traveled between Amtrak and VIA Rail to Jasper and were cycling south to Whitefish, where they would take the Amtrak home to Oregon. They were cycling today, what we were cycling in two days!
After a lengthy air-conditioned break in the Mercantile, we got back on our bikes, knowing that there was nothing between here and our final destination of Pincher Creek. It was hot but there was a slight breeze. Plus, we'd already climbed most of our elevation for the day.
The closer we got to Pincher Creek, the more wind towers that we saw on the horizon. After we sailed into town too soon for our hotel, we decided to head to the information center to pick up some postcards. Imagine our surprise when we turned our bikes around directly into a strong wind. No wonder we'd made such good time!
The information center is the gift shop for the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village. They did have postcards for sale. Then, I walked the few blocks to the Canada Post to pick up some stamps. The downtown was quite small but at least much more interesting than the area by our hotel. On the walk back, I took a path behind the Pioneer Village to see what I could see behind the fence.
After checking in at the hotel, I still had time to go back downtown for the weekly Farmers' Market that I'd seen advertised. On these trips, I always crave fresh fruits and vegetables after eating so many prepackaged energy bars, cookies, etc.
Always nice to have the wind at your back. Dad
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