Friday September 11, Viva and Greg Nicas’s, Pincher Creek, AB

The glorious weather continues and woke to stunning views of the mountains. The Andersons have been in Fernie for about 3 years, Rennie has been working on a major development, Fernie 901, which has been the conversion of the old school buildings into upscale apartments. The project is nearing completion so Jacqui took us down this morning to meet Rennie on site and he gave us a guided tour, and were able to go into some of the unsold units which are all furnished. The original brick of the school buildings has been retained in some parts of the rooms and with the high ceilings and fabulous fittings there is an air of real opulence. The views from the penthouse apartments take in 180 degrees views of the mountains, just breathtaking.

Most of the units in the first 3 stages of the development are sold and there are just some left to sell in the last stage.

Jacquie took us along to see the new day care centre which opens on Monday, she has been on the board of this “not for profit” organisation and it has been 3 years in the process, so it was great to see it all set up ready to go. Evidently Fernie has a shortage of child care and there is a waiting list already.

Walking around the town we got the feeling a small friendly community, and can understand why people like living here…apart from the magnificent scenery.

It was sad saying goodbye, but they will be home in NZ for xmas so will be able to catch up with them then.

Back on the road again, the afternoons drive was just stunning, through the mountains and back into the prairies of Alberta. We stopped at Frank’s Slide, in the early 1900’s the whole side of a mountain collapsed and rocks plunged down into the valley and rolled up the other side, killing 70 people in the process. It is quite a sight, the vast areas of boulders pushed up on the far side giving an indication of the force of nature.

The day was really calm, and as we drove through the prairies with the Rockies in the distance, the huge wind farms gave an indication that this is quite a windy area. The harvest has been very late and a lot of barley was getting cut. Pincher Creek is quite a big rural service centre.

We were off to see Viva, Joanie’s friend who visited us on the farm 21 years ago, the third of our 3 Canadian travellers that we have caught up with this year. Their 11 acre property is set among large ranches about 20 kms south of town in the foothills of Waterton National Park. As we drove up the road, we could see Viva jumping up and down with excitement, wearing the red singlet we had given her years ago, with advertising for our Red Devon cattle. In the excitement I forgot to take a photo!

Greg and Viva have 2 children, William (14) and Kate (12). There were lots of tears as we picked up where we left off all those years ago.

There home is delightful, 360 degree rural views with the blue waters of the reservoir in the distance. We had another wonderful evening enjoying a great meal, and the talking never stopped. I am going to do it hard getting back into “proper” cooking again.