Fort Steele

We got up this morning and made it to Fort Steele around opening time (9:30). This is the original Fort that was built at a place called Galbraith's Ferry. Because of trouble with Indians (called the aboriginals here) a Royal Mounted Police fort was formed in 1880's. Samuel Steele is credited with having smoothed over the troubles with the natives and the name was changed to Fort Steele.

The town has been somewhat preserved to its original state, although there is a fair amount of buildings falling down and others needing repair. But the best and most interesting part was the dozen or so characters wandering about town in costume and full character of people from Fort Steele. They would put on little skits around the town that told some of the story of the Fort. At the end of the afternoon a large stage play brought all the skits together.

One of the first things we did was get an Olde Tyme photo taken of all of us. The boys were dressed up like cowboys (which for dad wasn't much of a wardrobe change) and mom and I were saloon girls. Colby & Grady looked soooo cute! It was fun and we have a great photo memory of the day.

Colby ate the plays up - he wouldn't let us miss a single performance. Luckily we had all day so it worked out well and we managed to crawl all over the Fort (complete with Clydesdale-drawn hay rides, steam engine train ride, panning for gold and other surprises). Grady particularly enjoyed the train and hay rides, not to mention the old fashioned candy sticks.

I remember the Fort from when we were young but I don't remember them having the performers. To be honest, they made the day incredibly more interesting. Fort Steele is not nearly as restored as Heritage town so it was a slight step down as far as the level of the buildings. But they are also authentic so that part is pretty cool.

We closed it down at 5:30 and ended up back at our park. Colby rode his bike around the loop about a dozen times while Grady practiced sling-shooting marshmallows with his old fashioned slingshot. Steve and dad enjoyed yet another game of Chicago style Cribbage (Erica - watch out this changes the game a LOT) and mom and I cleaned up and read books.