My Pilgrimage to Southern Alberta

Since I moved to Edmonton seven years ago, whenever I played the game about three strange facts about yourself, I would always say that I had never been to Southern Alberta. People would be shocked and would usually reply with "But the temple is there!" There is also a temple a 12 minute walk from my house, so why on earth would I drive 6 hours to attend the temple. Anyway, this weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend, so my friend Karen and I headed south for my first ever trip to the Mormon Mecca of Alberta: Cardston. Some interesting facts/impressions about Southern Alberta.

1. No mormon shall live within 20 miles of the City of Lethbridge. This law is still in effect.
2. The largest LDS seminary outside the Utah/Idaoh corridor is in Lethbridge.
3. The small towns surrounding Lethbridge were settle by saints sent by John Taylor on settling missions.
4. There seems to be an attitude of "the Prophet sent my family, from our beloved Utah, north and I'm going no further north ever!!!!!"
5. There seems to be an attitude that Southern Alberta is the "other" Zion.
6. It's really windy.

I met my friend Karen 13 years ago in Ottawa when I was dating her nephew. Last year she moved into my ward and we've become close friends.
This is me; Wanda, Karen's sister; Karen; Brother and Sister Bennett, Karen's parents. This is after we went to the temple. What makes the Cardston Temple unique is that as you move through the temple towards the centre, the wood gets darker. Most temples, the rooms get lighter towards the centre. The windows do get larger, to allow more light in to try to counter act the effect of the dark wood. The reason for the darker wood is because it is more luxurious. In the celestial room the tassels on some of the curtains are made out of real gold. It truly amazes me what people sacrificed to build the temple. I sometimes wonder if one of the trials that we have now is the ease with which temples are now built.

After the temple, we headed to Waterton National Park.

Wanda being crazy in the car again. I'm starting to think that women without their kids are the most crazy people out there.

Wanda almost getting blown away.

This waterfall will be almost a trickle by the end of the summer. The mist is icy cold, because the water is from glacier run off, plus the weekend before there was a huge dump of snow. The smell of snow melting, and things starting to grow is purely divine. I wish I could somehow capture it. It would be the perfect pick me up in the dead of winter.

More of me getting blown to bits. This is a glacier lake. Apparently, this is a very calm day.

I love how the wild life just marches into the town site. We went into this furrier and had fun trying on coats that we clearly can't afford. And lest you judge about the whole fur thing, try waiting for the bus at -40F/C plus wind chill. This is some of the snow still left just outside of the town site. One of the great parts about Alberta is that it can be 20C and still have snow on the ground.

We also went to a Hudderite colony on Sunday. It was very interesting. For the most part, they keep to themselves and as a result there are all sorts of rumours and nutty lies about them. One of which is that they don't believe in taking pictures. Which is why I didn't take my camera. Imagine my surprise when they pulled out wedding photos. They told me I could come back because I asked so many questions and clearly had more. They told the Bennet's that most people come and just stand there and say nothing.

It was a great trip.