In the last few days typical autumn weather was enjoyed. Rain, forecasted for a good part of the prairies as a low crosses the region, will be upon us in a few days.
Hopefully harvest is completed in many areas after many interruptions. At the Herter farm, harvest had been completed in late August for another year, but now there are many other activities, farm related and otherwise, and taking preference. Since it was a pleasant day on Saturday, three of us ladies decided to take a drive out to Elkwater Park, which borders Alberta and Saskatchewan. It is part of the Cypress Hills Provincial Park. This is about a 45-minute drive from Medicine Hat. It was a beautiful sunny fall day with just a slight breeze. The fall colours were starting to appear in the surrounding countryside.
On the way to the park some fields still had to be harvested, the cattle were grazing lazily around water sources, and many campers were in the park in the off season. After a scenic tour of various parts of the park, I marvelled at how much development had taken place since my last visit. Although a complete tour was not made of the entire area, a late lunch was enjoyed, people watching and just being plain lazy fol-lowed. Over coffee and treats world events and latest gossips were discussed before returning home in the early evening.
Since I live in Alberta I have a season’s park entry ticket for the Saskatchewan parks as I try to go and visit my family when they are camping in the Cypress Hills. I didn’t make much use of the sticker this summer as I did not visit any other parks when in other parts of Saskatchewan, but I added to provincial coffers by sup-porting tourism. There is no season entry fee for Elkwater. The smoky days from forest fires are now gone. For about a week the smoke was intense and I stayed many remained indoors as much as possible. Hope you all had a pleasant eventful summer!
