When We Grow To Old To Dream We’ll Have This To Remember

Black Diamond is a bit of a detour that we made because Marlene’s Uncle Bill is celebrating his 80th birthday; three summers ago we came this way to help Aunty Norma celebrate her 80th. Norma and Bill are the kind of octogenarians everyone aspires to be: Norma still owns and regularly rides her horse, they are very active in their community, and they go camping and attend Cowboy Poetry events all over Alberta and Montana. Norma’s doctors caution her repeatedly about the dangers of riding at her age but she always says “I’ll ride until I can’t get my foot in the stirrups! If I fall and can’t ride anymore, think about all the great rides I’ll have to remember when sitting is all I have left!”
Black Diamond is typical of small Alberta towns but its proximity to expanding Calgary threatens to turn it into a bedroom community. It is a place where everyone knows everyone else and when we celebrate with an excellent chinese food buffet at Diamond Valley Restaurant Norma and Bill are greeted by almost all the many patrons and staff. We could have chosen to revisit the Black Diamond Hotel which is renowned for its award-winning food and is also a very popular motorbike destination but that will have to wait for our next trip.
It is Stampede week and when we head out Highway 7 we pass Ford 350’s, driven by sweet young cowgirls, pulling big horse trailers with rodeo costumes hanging in the cab, heading to the Calgary Stampede . We head south on Highway 2 at High River and speed by two spectacular attractions we’ve explored on prior trips that cannot go unmentioned. The first is the world heritage site of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, an awesome, timeless place with so much significance it make you shiver! The second is the North West Mounted Police historic district of Fort Macleod on the Oldman River.
Skirting Lethbridge we head south on Highway 4 to cross the Canadian/American border at Coutts/Sweetgrass. We have to wait with a group of motorcycles while the dog sniffs for drugs or perhaps Alberta beef that we might be smuggling across. It is a hot wait but we are finally cleared to head south to Shelby where we turn east on Highway 2. This is a fast (75 mph) little-traveled road through very beautiful prairie landscapes and small farm communities. It is a beautiful day for riding and we enjoy every moment stopping at the Cottonwood Inn in Glasgow, Montana for the night.