Although I've known about the Torrington Gopher Museum for a long time, I thought maybe it might be a bit ... grim or creepy to see a bunched of stuffed gophers. Then I read a book this year called "Road Tripping" about a group of friends who take Alberta road trips every year together. Some of the province's quirky sites made it to their list of stops, and the description of Torrington sounded quite fun. So we stopped on our way to my parents'.
Totally worth the detour! I thought it might take 5 minutes to go through the one-room schoolhouse, but it took quite a while to take in the details.
It didn't help that Laura and I kept breaking out in hysterical laughter. Or maybe it did help! I am sure the museum is meant to be amusing. Seeing the pants on this guy made us go back to the beginning and look closely at the clothes.
Gophers don't have much in the way of legs, so pants seemed to be a problem. The solution seemed to be a diaper with full human-scale zippers glued on. So funny! Although some of the vignettes had really well done painting, finding a seamstress in the early years I guess was a problem.
The solution to bikini tops were bows pinned into the stuffed gophers. Pins were also used for earrings, rivets on leather jackets, and sticking hats on. We used to do that sort of thing with Barbies when we were kids.
Then there were the spelling mistakes. This one says "I'm a beautican, not a magican." Hair was also pinned on. These two beauties had blush on their cheeks. I love it!
The book of fan letters and hate mail was also great fun to look through. "We read about your museum in a travel magazine and think it's terrible that you stuff rats and display them in a museum". Others praised them for finding a good use for the pesky rodents. Letters from around the world and visitors from around the world too. Good fun.
Then we went to Medicine Hat, had some quality visiting time with my parents and brother and his wife. We timed our visit so that we could attend the Taber Corn Fest. It included an art show, midway, corn-related contests, live music, craft sale and a car show.
The weather was beautiful. The day was lots of fun and now we can say we've been to the cornfest.
On the way back to Edmonton, we drove near a wind farm, and a new wind turbine was on at least 6 trucks at the truck stop. We needed a bathroom break anyway, so we examined the turbine up close. The size was huge. That's me standing in front of one of the blades. Can you see me?
After a great weekend, we got out of our van at home to the horrible sight of a hail ravaged garden. I almost cried, but I'll get over it. I won't show you pictures of that because it still hurts me to see it.
August 31. Summer is over. That also makes me sad.
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