Heritage Park-- The Train

My favorite part of Heritage Park is the train that goes around the park.  I love it, mostly the only reason I would like to go to the park is to ride the train.

We took the train last thing we did and afterwards me and Neil stood at the windmill waiting and waiting for the train to come around the corner so I could get a picture of it.

 I love the steam it looks so neat while they are driving and then they stop and the steam comes out from underneath.  There are only three stops on the train, which is weird cause I thought there was four when I was a kid, but I can't see where the other one would have been.

And of course they have old cars that we could look in and some of the rooms are pretty plain

And some are pretty nice, sure wouldn't mind spending a week in some of these rooms.

This one train had a shower and in the shower there was a toilet, thought that was kinda weird but I guess it doesn't matter if the toilet get wet.

Its so neat to see the different way people traveled back then.  When I was younger my great grandparents took me and my sister on the train to Vancouver.  We had so much fun but when i think back, I sure can't imagine them doing that!  It woulda been a lot of work watching us and following us around.

Heritage Park Continued

After we went in most of the buildings, we headed down to take the boat.  It was replicated in 2/3 size of a boat from BC.  It was used to ferry people and passengers to places the train didn't go.

While we were on the boat, which floats on the Glenmore Reservoir, Neil asked the guy about all the mechanical stuff (I think he gets bored)  and the guy said they use vegetable oil in the hydraulic lines cause they are on Calgary's drinking water supply.  I thought that was kinda cool.

Its kinda a neat paddle wheel ship that can be used in really shallow water.  I don't ever remember being on any other boat that had a paddle wheel.  The mountains on the other side of the reservoir were pretty cool looking so I got a picture of them too.  Already snow in the mountains, so I guess winter is coming.

After we got off the boat, we saw someone taking these two Clyde's out to hook them to a wagon.  Their wagon never had people in it, just the greys were hauling people.

We headed down to the farm area and then finally I seen the Belgians :)  They are my favorite draft breed.  Maybe cause I used to have a couple, but I sure like them. 

They were so cute but it must have been their day off cause they were just in a small pasture with another couple horses.

After that we headed to the fort.  It was a Hudson's Bay company fort that was set up and apparently to work there you had to be able to carry two 90 pound packs of furs  at least a mile.  I don't think I could even carry one!

He is sitting on one of the bales of furs and is weaving a belt to help prevent hernias that they would all wear while carrying the furs.

While we were there, I caught Neil looking in the cannon, Kinda a dangerous thing to do I think!

My Mom loves log houses, so this is her favorite stop of the day at this hunter/trapper cabin.

They have these homesteader cabins that are not much of cabin, when the wood run out they would use these tarps as a roof, sure looks like it would be a cold winter in one of them.

The RCMP office here says it was the Berry Creek Detachment.  This was interesting cause I used to live on the berry Creek, so we looked a little closer and read about it and it turns out it was on a friends place.  How cool!  Although its close to Wardlow, the sign at Heritage Park says east of Gliechen, well its east of Gliechen all right and a long ways north too!

Heritage Park Part 1

On Saturday me and Neil and my Mom and my sister Heidi, her boyfriend Rob, and her two boys Tristan and Jaret headed to Calgary to go to heritage Park.  Me and Neil hadn't been there for many years but everyone else goes every year, so they showed us around.

We got there right at 9 and walked through Gasoline Alley and saw all the old cars.  Neil got stuck talking to this man who asked where he was from and when he said Finnegan, the guy said his Dad worked in Trefoil and if Neil knew where that was.  Neil was amazed cause no one knows where Trefoil is anymore.

They had this neat part of a car that you could crank the engine and put it in gear, It was impossible to crank if the brakes were on or it wasn't in neutral.  They boys love it!

The gasoline alley had all kinds of fun things in it, like the drive in.  My sister had to get her pic in the car so she could brag that she has her drivers licence too!  It has no doors and no seat belts, so she said it felt a little unsafe.

They also had the cutest little camper, perfect size for dragging around while camping with horses I thinks.  Right beside the door, you can even see it comes with its own washing machine!

After gasoline Alley, we headed in to the main part and first building was a Jewish Synagogue.  It was near Sibbald then brought into Hanna and used as a house then brought to Heritage Park in 88.  Neil was looking at the picture on the paper when they moved it from Hanna and a couple people we knew were in it, how cool!

There is the Thorne House that is supposed to be haunted.  I guess they say if you take pictures, quite often the ghost shows up, but in all the ones I have taken, so far nothing.  I took some with a black and white film (yes a film camera) that I am hoping it will show up in.  This ivy covered Gazebo was in the yard, so we thought it was a good spot to take pics, even though it was really sunny.

Then the Sandstone House.  They started Making houses out of sandstone when there was a big fire and it burned all the timber houses down.  This one was made for Calgary town solicitor Robert Bruce Smith.

Then the schoolhouse.  I told the teacher we lived in a one room school and she thought that was kinda neat.  Ours looked way different cause it has more than one room and had no fire stove in the middle of the room, no blackboard, and mostly no teacher.

The newspaper shop is always interesting.  The good guy that used to run it retired, and the new guy doesn't talk unless you ask him questions.  Its kinda neat how everyday they make a newspaper and print it on the old printing press.

Neil spent quite a bit of time talking to the guy in the pool hall too.  They had huge snooker tables in there, they were 6 feet by 12 feet.  I said something about us girls not being allowed in there, and he said he wasn't responsible for my reputation.  Apparently a Lady's reputation is gone as soon as she walks through the door.

Then onto the lumber yard.  I found a house plan I liked.  It said something about pick your house today and you can be living in it within a month!  I like the sound of that.  And also only $1000.  Wow sure would have a new house all the time for that price!

And onto the Masonic Lodge.  I was a little surprised to see one there, and the guy in it was a Mason and he would answer all the questions anyone asked.  That also surprised me cause it seems like there are a lot of secrets to their religion.

And the bank.  No one was manning the bank so they couldn't tell us all the movies it has been in, but one cool thing about it is there is a hole above the safe that a guy sat in with his gun and if someone went to rob the safe, he just shot them no questions asked!  Bet they never had much for robberies after the first guy was shot!

Then onto the dentist.  Some place I am sure everyone avoided unless they really needed help.  The guy in the chair looks pretty scared and I can't blame him.  I cant imagine a tooth being pulled without painkillers and freezing.

And the lawyer.  Doesn't look much different than now except no computer.  But still has the lawyers bookcases filled with books.

And the Chinese laundry.  They sure worked hard for a living.

And the blacksmith shop.  This is Tristan's favorite place to stop.  He would stay there all day if we let him.  The young blacksmith was making a sign holder and was creating a rivet for it when we stopped by.

The town jail  at the RCMP office is always good for a laugh, we put the boys in jail, and they thought it was fun.  I imagine if we locked them in and left them there a while it would be a different story.

This is getting really long, so I will post more tomorrow.