Big Rock

It is amazing the places around here that I havn't been! Take Okotoks, Black Diamond and Turner Valley for examples!

Okotoks is such a beautiful town and I can see why so many Calgarians are migrating south to live there. It is actually much larger than I had expected. I parked in the downtown area and took a walk and visited a number of quaint shops and antique stores which are all in this area of Victorain style buildings. They reminded me of Fredericton in N.B. which has numerous houses of that style. Very nice.

From there I drove to Black Diamond where I stopped for lunch and found this awesome little 60's style diner called Marv's Soda Shoppe! I had a chocolate malt (made by Marv himself) and their classic hotdog. It was probably the best hotdog I've ever had and it had celery salt on it - strange, but yummy!

If you couldn't guess, this is a picture of Marv! He has an amazing curled mustache! This diner also had one of those old organs that play by themself and the keys move - not sure of what they are called, but it was very cool and I had never seen one before, other than on tv...

Along my travels I also stopped to see the Big Rock which weighs 18,000 tons! I guess it is the largest glacial erratic in North America and was dumped on this now farmer's field by a glacier which carried it there from up Jasper way some 35,000 years ago! They are gigantic and when I was there a few people showed up with their gear to do some climbing on it!

From this area I drove more north toward highway 22. It is such a pretty area and some of it is in such a valley that you can't even see the mountains even though they are very nearby. Some of the properties and houses were amazing; you always hear rumors of various celebrities who own houses out there and I can see why. If you could afford something, who wouldn't want a place out there.

I did see one funny sign to a property which was called, "Happy Ass Acres" and I thought that it must be a great place to live!