the Great Canadian Barn Dance

Hill Springs, Alberta is in the middle of nowhere. Okay, not nowhere. Hill Springs, Alberta is in the middle of somewhere. And in the middle of that great empty somewhere, is a barn. And inside that Great Canadian Barn is a dance. A wild hoopla of line-dancin' two-steppin' fools, I tell ya!

They feed ya first; stuff ya right full of meat and potatoes, and the yummiest cobbler this side of...somewhere. Then you dance. You dance in the barn. Till your feet fall off; or till your kid falls asleep on the Great Canadian Barn Bench.

And catch this. Outside of the mess hall there was a big bag of water, just hanging on the post. Wierd, I thought. Then I heard a local explaining its purpose to a not-so-local. There's a penny at the bottom of the bag. The sunlight hits the bag, the penny reflects all sorts of light refractions (these are the words the cowboy used) in the water, and them flyin' critters think it's a dagun' spider on its gigantic web. Eh? They stay good and away. Pretty sweet.

Oh, the things you'll learn, and the grooves you'll find...in the middle of nowhere.

Not nowhere. Hill Springs, Alberta.