Sue

Lethbridge & All Shook Up

July 26, 2013 by Sue Leave a Comment

Day 7-Canada
Brian and Jack took us to Lethbridge, the closest big city to Cardston and about 45 minutes away. We felt right at home because of all the American chain stores and restaurants, but were surprised to see so many in Canada. It was like driving up to Sandy without the mountains. The main attraction was Moxie’s, which is a Canadian chain, with some swanky decor and tasty food. We had a yummy lunch, then did some grocery shopping while in the big city. They wanted to go to the Wal-Mart and while there we saw some sister missionaries from Utah, then met some elders. Obviously it was P-day. We were leaving the store when a different set of sisters ran up to us and one said to Brian, “Were you in a play in Montana last year?” We all looked at each other rather dumbfounded, then Brian replied that he had been in shows at West Yellowstone and how do she know that? Turns out she saw them because another cast member was a good friend of hers and she just recognized Brian. We walked out laughing about the randomness of that encounter. Yes, Scott and I do hang with celebrities.

Back in Cardston early afternoon for a rehearsal so Scott and I had some time on our own. We went to the Ora Charles Card cabin by the theatre.
It belonged to the founder of the town who came from Cache Valley, Utah with a group of settlers. The cabin is owned by the town and very nice inside with many artifacts donated by the family and other early settlers. Very interesting. I did some shopping along the main street while Scott did laundry at a laundromat. While there, a police officer burst in looking for someone reported as intoxicated and questioned Scott. That was exciting.

That evening we saw “All Shook Up” and it was outstanding. The entire cast did a great job and it was high-energy with great dancing and singing. Jack and Brian were the male leads and both were great. Jack played an Elvis character with lots of hip-rolling and attitude who rolls into town on his motorcycle and sets the town on its head.
Brian was the brainy guy in town with a secret love. He had a great sense of comic timing that allowed Dennis to be human and not a caricature and he got tons of laughs. His solo was awesome.
The show is based on Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” so there are lots of love mix-ups with Elvis songs as the backdrop. We loved the whole show and were very proud of Brian’s performance.

He was also hired as the music director for the show and did a fabulous job at that, as the singing was really consistently wonderful. So fun.

Red Rock Canyon & Les Mis

July 25, 2013 by Sue Leave a Comment

Day 6-Canada
First stop was Wieners of Waterton where Brian and Jack were immediately recognized like famous celebrities. Aren’t you Marius? And you’re the Bishop! Yes, we commoners are allowed to hang with them. May we sell you an autograph? 🙂 Anyway, Wieners is a tradition with them so we had to experience it. The place was started by a former employee of JDawg’s in Provo but is way better, according to Brian. It turned out to be super tasty. I had the gluten-free option which was a lettuce wrap instead of a bun and was quite yummy, and the sweet potato fries with exotic dipping sauces were great.

Brian and Jack wanted us to experience Red Rock Canyon in Waterton so we headed out from lunch prepared to hike. The locals had told them that they always saw bears on the road to the canyon but when they had gone previously they hadn’t seen any and their local friends were totally surprised. We went with hope in our hearts that a bear would show itself and kept our eyes peeled along the road. We came around a bend and saw several cars pulled off to the side so Scott screeched to a halt and swerved over. We jumped out and walked to the clump of people and there it was: a cinnamon-colored black bear cavorting in the field. We were all ecstatic! We stood there watching for quite a while until he disappeared behind the crest of a hill. Joy!
I should interject here that last summer Brian and Jack worked at a theatre in West Yellowstone and never saw one bear. We visited the park twice and also went to Glacier last summer and never saw any, so we were all hoping to get a glimpse of a bear this summer. We had been told that there is a much better chance of seeing them in Canada than the States, so there you go.

To return to my narrative, we got back in the car happy and satisfied, when what to our wondering eyes should appear? A couple of cars pulled over with people pointing at nothing. Then we saw a small patch of brown nestled down in some bushes and wondered if that was an animal. A head popped up and it was another cinnamon black bear. Score!
We watched it eat for quite a while and then it lumbered out of the bushes and up the hillside so we got a great whole-body view at close range.
It climbed up and proceeded to tear apart a fallen log with great force, pulling off branches and digging into the log for something.
Scott was snapping photos like a picture-taking fool so we got plenty, including some with us in the foreground but the bear is kinda blurry.
We finally left when it got crowded with lookers so we could give others a chance because we are nice that way. It was a good thing the other people had stopped at first because we would never have seen that brown blob hidden in the bushes while driving by. So we were all happy-two bears in one trip.

Farther up the road we came to Red Rock Canyon, which was the purpose of the visit. They were really excited to take us but I had been apprehensive for days because Brian’s original description included the phrase “there’s potential for ankle-rolling on this hike”. Hmmm. We brought extra tennis shoes for hiking the streambed. There is a paved loop above the narrow canyon but hiking the bed is more fun and scenic. So we hiked up the stream and through the very narrow canyon of red marble.
There was seepage along the walls so lots of vegetation up the sides, small falls of water along the walls, and showers here and there.

We got to a large logjam which had an opening in the bottom that was navigable with lots of bending and twisting so we forged on to the water slide area.

We left the sliding to the younger folks and just enjoyed the water pouring down. You know I can sit and watch moving water for hours so I’m always up for that.

The water is super cold and by the time we hiked back down the stream we had frozen toes, but it was gorgeous and fun and I’d do it again. Here are some additional photos if you still have the stamina to view: the canyon on the way out, Rafiki makes an appearance on Pride Rock, assisting old ladies across the street, etc.

We got the guys back to get ready for their call time and we cleaned up for the evening show, “Les Miserables” at the Carriage House Theatre in Cardston. Brian played the Bishop and one of the student rebels and did a great job. He sang some short solos and had his own songs as the Bishop and sounded great.

Mark spent 10 days visiting him before the shows opened and did the sound design for the show plus bought a bunch of mics, equalized the room, and did a bunch of other technical audio stuff I don’t understand but made the show sound great. Lots of talent in the show but I think Brian and Jack were the best. I may be a little biased, but I don’t think so. 🙂

A sneak peek at Waterton

July 24, 2013 by Sue Leave a Comment

Day 5-Canada
We went to the single’s branch with Brian and some cast members and Brian played a viola solo for the special musical number. Then we took a quick drive into Waterton Lakes National Park and saw Cameron Falls, which is a beautiful falls right in the Waterton townsite.

It’s at the end of a street on a road leading to campgrounds and hiking trails.

It pours tons of water over and has diagonal slashes of rock that give the water a nice pattern.

Scott, Brian, and Jack took a short trail to the top that looks over the falls and I got some photos of them at the top.

We sat on the shore of Upper Waterton Lake at the townsite, listened to the waves lap on the shore and skipped some rocks.

Then we drove up to the parking lot of the famous Prince of Wales hotel which sits on a promontory overlooking Middle and Upper Waterton Lakes.

It is very windy on top but has a great view of the lakes and the townsite. So far, Waterton is gorgeous!

Buffalo & actors

July 23, 2013 by Sue Leave a Comment

Day 4-Montana & Canada
We went to First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park and it was more developed than Madison. There was a new visitor’s center with really nice displays and stuff for kids. We were treated to a personal introductory talk by one of the rangers, who explained about jumps and how they were used. They had three taxidermied bison, one of which you could touch and she reassured us that none of them were wild but all from ranches. They also had a wolf skin that kids were allowed to put on for photos. I offered to take a pix of Scott with it on but he declined.
There was a walking trail to the top along the front face or a driving road around the side that went to the top of the bluff. I was getting tired so to conserve some energy for later, we opted for the road. At the top were some displays and a ginormous prairie dog town, much larger in area than the state park we had been to the previous day. It turns out that bison and prairie dogs live together well because the bison graze and trample the short grass making it easier for the dogs to see farther for predators and they also like to take dust baths in the mounds to protect themselves from bugs. The prairie dogs eat annual plants, thus encouraging the growth of perennials like buffalo grass and blue grama that the bison like to eat. Who knew? I thought the bison would just break their legs stepping in burrow holes, but apparently they are smarter than me.
During the “dog days” before the tribes had horses, this jump was used for harvesting buffalo by stampeding them to the edge so they fell over a cliff before they had time to realize and stop. Several herds of 75-100 animals grazed on top of this huge bluff and the buffalo runner focused on one herd. He was a teenage boy dressed in a calf skin who spent a couple days with the herd to identify the lead cow. If he could draw her towards the edge, the others would follow and his two teen mates in wolf skins lurked in the back of the herd to keep them moving to the edge. He dived over the cliff to a prearranged safe ledge or crevice where he hid as the herd thundered over to their deaths. Adult warriors also hid along the drive route to ensure the entire herd went over. Warriors at the bottom killed any animals still living and the women and children immediately began processing the animals’ meat, hide, bones, hooves, and organs, as the entire animal was used. The young buffalo runner became a man at once for his daring deed to help the tribe.
We loved the immense view from the top. We could see in all directions for miles and miles. I guess that’s why they call it Big Sky Country.

We left there and drove to the border where I got to use my very first passport as we entered Canada. We stopped to take pictures of Waterton in the distance.

Our destination was Cardston, in Southern Alberta, to visit Brian who is appearing for the summer at the Carriage House Theatre. We met him at the theatre for a quick behind-the-scenes tour, grabbed dinner during his call time, then saw the first show. It was called “Encore” and is performed three times during the summer by the full-time summer cast. They performed some group numbers from the summer plays and did some solo and small-group numbers in a showcase-type format, interspersed with short video clips of funny interviews of the cast members. Brian accompanied several numbers on the piano, including a Disney mash-up that he arranged that gave solo moments to each cast member, as well as three intermingled duets that included him singing while playing. It was awesome! The whole show was great with some fantastic talent and very fun to see.

Pictograph State Park

July 20, 2013 by Sue Leave a Comment

Day 2 continued
After leaving Little Bighorn we continued our quest to see more state parks. Rosebud earlier that day was unmanned so we put our $5 in an envelope and slid it in a box. Then discussed how this was going to break us if we paid five bucks at every little waystop state park. But we moved on from Little Bighorn to Pictograph State Park. This had a small visitor center with a real person where we saw a sign for a non-resident annual pass to the state parks. Scott did some quick mental math because he’s just good like that, and figured it was a worthwhile deal because we had several parks in the pipeline. That was quite the experience for the summer help. Apparently non-residents do not purchase Montana State Park annual passes. Ever. (At later stops with rangers we had to assure them repeatedly that we had a sticker on our car window. Fortunately, most rangers turned out to be trusting souls, although one was unaware the state even offered such a thing. So fun to be a complete anomaly. Later in the trip I took a picture of the sticker with my phone for proof.)

Armed with our new pass, we hiked the short, but steep trail to the cave. There was a sign up saying to be careful because a rattlesnake had been seen on the trail earlier in the day. Scott’s response: Cool! Another lady’s response: No way am I going up there! Being brave adventurers, we started up. That couple did not. Soon we saw them following us escorted by the ranger with a snake-catching pincer-thing. So we got free patter in the cave. Score!

The cave was fascinating. It had red and black drawings on the walls, but the black ones are harder to see because there is seepage on the back wall which dries white and obscures the drawings. He said they are much easier to see when the cave is wet because the walls are dark.

We then hiked over to the Ghost Cave and got a glamour shot of me in a secluded shade area which was pretty and only lasted for a few feet, but was a nice break from the heat.

Ghost Cave had a series of concretions, which are snowball-like rock growths over ancient clam shells. Photos of Scott with geologic formations whenever possible as he endures my historical forays with good grace.