Good evening ladies and gents. Today we woke after catching up on many hours of needed sleep. Also the sun didn't set until 9:30, and then Penguins beat the Flyers, two things that made my night unpleasant. So, after our very nice continental breakfast we set out for Fort McLeod Alberta, where the Smashed In Head Buffalo Jump center was located.
Now, don't let the name turn you off, but do let it begin to intrigue your imagination. We didn't literally see any heads being smashed in (as much as I would have liked to see that) but this is what happened thousands of years ago. During prehistoric times dating back as far as the ice age, Native Americans (NAs for short) of the area used this area to help them with their buffalo hunting. The NAs would strategically heard buffalo into big groups, using seriously awesome badass tactical procedures. I'm talking camouflage (in the form of animal skins), advanced planning (we were told the NAs spent years practicing and training for the procedure), and some acted as double agents ( seriously, some of the NAs would put on calf skins and actually fool the buffalo into thinking they were part of the heard, crazy).
So anyway, once the buffalo were herded into position, a group of NAs would scare the herd into a stampede. They would then guide and chase the stampede conveniently off the edge of a cliff. The buffalo would fall to their demise where NAs were waiting at the bottom to finish off any survivors (pretty br00tal). [On a completely unralted side note, my dad just told me if I was born a girl my name would have been Isabella] So that is how the cliffs got their name of Smashed In Head Buffalo Jump. I'm not sure why that is still its name. I mean, I think it sounds interesting but I would imagine it would completely turn off some people, and kids too. Couldn't they name it, Buffalo Cliffs? Do they need to plant the image in my head of blood and gore and bone fragments before I even learn anything about the place? I seriously have no problem with it but like I said I wonder if more people do.
The place is a World Heritage site (along with Stonehedge and other shit) , one of the worlds recognized places of great heritage and information and stuff. Look at THIS WEBSITE if you want a more detailed explanation. We learned a ton of information though and it was really really cool. We got lots of pictures, but they were spread across three different cameras and I'm tired so they'll get put up later after dinner.
On another note, we stopped in a Bank and exchanged $49 USD for $48 Canadian dollars, which was a pretty good deal. I can't think of anything else right now and this blog is holding up dinner so i'll post pictures and more info in a few hours.
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