Traveling Cowboys: Turning Left for the Hospitality of the People of Glenwood, Alberta

Chance Encounters

Our first experience with Glenwood was one of disappointment. We missed an opportunity.

We were running low on gas when we left Waterton National Park last summer and were hoping to find a small town with a gas station on our way north. Firstly, we headed for Hill Spring. Nothing. Then we aimed for Glenwood. Neither rewarded us with gas. We should have headed for Pincher Creek, but we love seeing small, tiny towns. Without gas, unfortunately, we missed our chance to get to know Glenwood.

DO YOU WANT YOUR DESTINATION OR BUSINESS FEATURED?

We were under stress all the way until we made it to Fort Macleod. If we had a little more time and paid a bit more attention, we would have been surprised and rewarded by the unique characters of both these Southern Alberta towns. Instead, we sped through Hill Spring and missed our left turn to Glenwood.

Our next encounter with the people of Glenwood and Hill Spring happened when we received a chance invitation to join them for their Pioneer Days Celebrations the weekend of 20 July 2018. What a surprise! This time we didn't miss the turn. We turned left on our way back from Waterton.

During our visit, the people of Glenwood took in the Two Cowboys and made us part of their families. We had breakfast at Tina's Cafe, Polony at Van & Dan's General Store. Lost an Ice Cream eating contest at the Pioneer Parlour & Cheese Factory Museum and watched fireworks that outdid some of the best we've seen.

We've discovered massive RV parks in the twin river beds that surround the towns and danced at the Great Canadian Barn Dance until our feet hurt. In Hill Spring we ate ice cream again at the Hill Spring Trading Co. and we joined in the parade after a delicious pancake breakfast. After the show, it was a roast beef picnic! What a trip!

Observations

Here in lies the lesson.  If you take it slow and make time to look around, meet some of the people and learn more about the history and the attractions of a destination, you will be wholesomely rewarded as a traveller.

Because we did, Glenwood and its people are now one of our go-to places in Southwestern Alberta, and we hope we can encourage you to make it yours.

The small towns are where you will find the interesting people, the unique experiences and the best hospitality. They are the real travel gems you encounter on the road.

Unfortunately, they are the folk that misses out on the big destination marketing budgets, so no one ever gets to hear about them, and only a fortunate few get to experience what they have to offer. The world is a less attractive place without stories of Glenwood and Hill Spring.

You will not see a video of a Millennial blond's hair waving rhythmically with the prairie grass while horses thunder and gallop through the river beds surrounding Glenwood or Hill Spring. What you will see when you make the trip is folk riding their horses through town. Blond Millenials sitting on the porch eating ice cream with their families, and friendly people waving at passers-by. They will go out of their way to convince you of the quality of their polony and give you the first taste of their freshly baked doughnuts before opening time.


These are places whose stories should be told. The world should know more about them, and we are set on doing the job. With your support as our audience, we will bring you more Glenwood, Hill Springs, and who knows where else...

Hendrik van Wyk 

Travelling Cowboy

 We earn our livelihood by producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. Please book us here so we can tell your story too.

Photos

Glenwood

The Beginning

The Originals

Ice Cream Baron

We Were There!

Traveling Cowboys

Traveling Cowboys: Black Cherry Chocolate Banana Soft Serve Two Cowboys Special at Swirls Ice Cream in Lethbridge, AB

Must Stops

We have three great culinary passions. Beer, BBQ and Ice Cream.

We don't give attention to these primary food groups in any particular order. However, when the sun is out, and the weather heats up on the Prairies of Alberta, we have to stop at every ice cream shop on our route.

The ice cream tastes even better when the business is from a locally owned and operated business. It is how we discovered Lethbridge's pinnacle and most recent addition to the ice cream universe. Swirls Ice Cream!

GET YOUR DESTINATION OR BUSINESS FEATURED: Click Here

Swirls has apparently been a local tradition for more than 30 years in Medicine Hat. We've never been to Medicine Hat. It doesn't stand out as a "must-do" on the tourism agenda for our great Province. The same goes for Lethbridge. No one excitedly proclaims that they are travelling to Lethbridge for the Summer holidays. We did.

We made the trip during the early part of Summer to go and explore what Lethbridge has to offer, courtesy of Chinook Country Tourism. We were pleasantly surprised. As all great stories should start, this one began with an ice cream stop at the newly opened Swirls. There were beer and BBQ stops as well, but we will leave that for later.

Swirls is an institution that took way too long to work its way into the local stops and attractions of Alberta. It is changing with the recent addition of Swirls Lethbridge. We also discovered a Swirls ice cream truck at the Okotoks Farmers' Market. We are told, there are more.

Observations

When you visit the store, you quickly realise it is high-tech ice cream. Majestic one-arm-banded touchscreen-controlled ice cream dispensing robots deliver flavours and colours on demand. This is not your quaint Italian Gelateria or the over commercialized blizzard blast. Swirls hits you in the face with exploding colours and an overload in flavour. Nothing disappoints except your capacity to inhale the deliciousness.

Great people run the business. They are our kind of people. Bob Probe and his partner made this their second career stop. A childhood dream coming true, maybe? We are glad they did. It is an enormous amount of fun to visit them and create your own custom flavors.

We indulged in creating the Two Cowboys Special which includes Black Cherry and Banana Ice Cream dipped in Chocolate. Wickedly delicious!

Our only problem now is that Lethbridge is a day away from our home base. It is about time that we give them a hand to bring a Swirls to the mountains. How about one in Canmore?

Hendrik van Wyk

Chilled Cowboy

We earn our livelihood from producing great content and supporting inspiring people, businesses, and communities. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. Please become a patron at http://www.travelingcowboys.com if you want to see more of this and other stories.

Photos

Creativity!

Guess?

When do we taste?

Ice Road Swirl

Lovingly Mine