Magrath

I just got back from a big multi-phase trip to Canada... too big to capture properly in one post. The first part of my trip was a visit to my home town. Magrath is a small farming community located in the beautiful prairies of Southern Alberta. On a clear day you can see the Rocky Mountains, in the summer you get glorious views of the bright yellow canola fields. There are maybe 2,000 people living there, but it's grown since I've left. It's a place where kids run free! At least we did, growing up. I played outside every day, all day - snow, rain, sun... In the summers I lived in my swimming suit, and in the winters my snowsuit. We walked to school, to the pool, to the store to buy penny candies, to the fish pond. Our house shared a back yard with most of my Dahl cousins and grandparents. There were two trampolines, a big tree swing, play house, a coulee to explore... It was a magical place to be a kid! Even though I haven't lived there in a very long time, it still feels like home and I LOVE getting to visit. It's even more amazing to bring my own kids and see them enjoy some of the same things I did. Every year they have a big "Magrath Days" town celebration complete with a pancake breakfast, parade (with tons of candy), petting zoo, baseball tournament, kid races, rodeo, town program, free beef on a bun, and a pretty sweet fireworks display (right over your head, mind you, so the little bits of debris fall on you if you're lucky). SO, part one of the journey...

At the petting zoo

Parade! Once he realized floats were throwing candy, he turned around and said "Mom, this is the BEST PLACE EVER!!" And yep, that's main street.
Just watching some mutton busting
At the golf course, one of the few places in Magrath where you can buy dinner. This hill is also where we used to love to go sledding.
Suckers, cousins, fish pond... pretty much perfect.
We used to play down here all the time, Owen loved it to.

View from the spill-gates