Beyond Borders

Travelling to dog shows is always one of my favorite things to do. It's nice to get away with a vehicle filled with dogs and all the anticipation of how the shows will go. Growing up I never had a vacation in the normal sense - as in flying somewhere hot, laying on a beach or taking a week at Disneyland. Always vacations were dog shows. We did get to go to Disneyland when I was six while in CA for a Puli National Specialty ...

You see things on the road you don't see flying and I have some great memories, all jumbled together, of various show trip landscapes. Here's some of this trip ...

How flat is the Alberta prairie ... well, the warmer the temperature the shorter the distance you can see but the impression is still of endless flat land. You also may notice the size of the sky ... the green reflects the blue ... it's more impressive when there are no clouds.











Here is an abandonded farmhouse on the way to Lethbridge. You can see the bushes and trees planted on the western edge to protect the yard from the elements. The house and out-buildings have long been empty but not removed - I always wonder what happened to houses like this that were obviously once full of industry.

This is the railway bridge that spans the valley leading into Lethbridge. The University sits in the hillside of the valley but I couldn't get a good picture of it as we didn't take the scenic route. Apparently there is some concern that the University is shifting down the the hill into the valley. You don't say.






When we'd cross the border when I was little I'd see a sign that said 'MT POE' which I thought referred to this oddity at left - it's a mountain of sorts out in the prairies at the Alberta / Montana border. MT POE, of course, means Montana Port of Entry and does not refer to the mountain. I still don't know what it's called but to me it will always be Mt. Poe.

The town to cross into Montana on the Alberta side is Coutts but on the Montana side it's called Sweetgrass. I always kind of wondered what the border guards did in their careers to get assigned this border crossing. One officer is a complete asshole and we've had to deal with him twice. He seems to think his position as a border guard gives him some sort of divine asshole power. My mom is not a Canadian citizen, she has permanent resident status, which means to US Customs that she is a serious terrorist threat.

Homeland Security is the biggest crock of shit ever implemented and it tacks on almost an hour everytime we have to cross the border. Travelling alone it takes me about 2 minutes to get across, travelling with either of my parents involves parking, waiting in the US Customs office, filling out a stupid form, having their picture taken, thumb printed and hassled by Mr. Customs Asshole. It doesn't help that my mother can't stop herself arguing with them about what she's doing going to a dog show in Montana of all the horrors. They also take MY passport so they can record the accomplice to the British National Senior Citizen Terrorist.

So we've made it to the border. Does Montana hold an assortment of wonders ... ?