This morning we visited the art gallery in Assiniboine where we were surprised at the wonderful collection of diverse topics and artists we found, including quite a number of Group of Seven pieces.

Next stop was the Thrift Store where Ruth hunted for necklaces to recycle the beads from. $2 yielded a lovely pink stone necklace. The last stop before leaving town was the village bakery where we purchased items for lunch.

Most of the rest of the area on our route was pretty sparsely populated and didn’t look like it was great farm land, so we spent the rest of the day driving with the goal of reaching Alberta.

There was a lot of smoke from the wildfires in the air today so it looked very misty. As we drove, the clouds darkened and soon we were in a torrential downpour for a few kilometres. The outside temperature rapidly dropped from 26C to 16C. We were on the verge of pulling over to the side of the road when the rain abruptly ended and the temperature returned to 26C.

We had two possibilities in mind for overnighting – the first a municipal campground in Bow Island. We didn’t find any water surrounding the town, but there was a big long list of offences and their fines posted at the entrance to the campground.

We decided to pass this campground and continued to Walmart in Lethbridge. Right next door was a Costco and we did some quick shopping including a BBQ chicken and some blueberries and cherries for dinner.