We arrived in Medicine Hat just in time for happy hour, so we chose to go to the first restaurant we saw: Local Public Eatery. I definitely recommend it! The waitress also gave us a few ideas on what to visit while we were in town. After a little while, we opted to go sleep at a municipal campground in Redcliff just a few minutes away and settled down for the night.
Our first stop the next day was the Saamis Tepee, the largest tepee in the world! Originally built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, it was moved and reassembled in Medicine Hat. Inside the tepee, there were 10 round paintings depicting the history and culture of the different tribes who live(d) here. Near the front of the structure, there is also a brick sculpture representing the legend of how Medicine Hat got its name.
Our second stop was Windmill Garden Centre. No, we were not shopping for any plants, but inside there was a petting zoo and a butterfly house, too. The petting zoo was quite small, so we quickly moved on to the butterfly house. It was smoldering hot and very humid inside, but we saw some really cool butterflies, and lots of them, too! There were nocturnal species, a lot of species from Costa Rica, and even the elusive blue morpho. On the pictures you can see the windmill, some koi fish in the pond, one of my only good pictures of a blue morpho in flight (hard to see, in the middle of the pic), a Thoas swallowtail, an owl butterfly (nocturnal), and a blue spotted butterfly.
We then headed to The Esplanade, a really nice museum/art gallery/theatre, and until September, it's pay-what-you-will to get inside (there's a box at the exit to put your envelope), which is a really cool concept. We explored the history of Medicine Hat, which is also called Gas City due to the enormous amount of oil and gas it's sitting on. There was even a scavenger hunt! I won, of course, Joel still had two missing objects after I had spotted everything. ✌️ In the pictures, you can see a reproduction of an old neon sign, an authentic Knights Templar's uniform (from 1924, owned by a guy who was also a Freemason), a vintage flight simulator, and blown glass that was produced here.
There was also an art exhibit in another section of the museum. I couldn't help but stare at these painted frogs, they were absolutely gorgeous! The sculpture of the whale and the little owls also caught our eye on our tour. We even met the museum's photographer, a guy from - you guessed it - Drummondville! We chatted a bit, then visited the last section of the museum called From The Vaults, which features stuff that usually stays in the archives for different reasons. We saw unusual, shocking, and beautiful artifacts, and I chose two of them for you: a monkey "calculator" sheet, where you point to the numbers you want to multiply with the monkey's feet and its hands will frame the answer, and Nazi artifacts that the museum used to explain how important it is to remember these dark times, even if it hurts or if it's controversial.
Finally, our last big attraction to check off the list was Medalta in the Historic Clay District, where pottery is still produced. We could not visit the kilns on that day, so we were given a 50% discount (fair enough). We visited the historic portion of the factory, where we learned a lot about the full process of pottery making, and we saw many unique and surprising artifacts. In the 3rd picture, you can see a pie plate that was part of a set made for the Montreal restaurant "Au Lutin qui bouffe"! We also saw a plate that was "secretly" made for the emperor Haile Selassie, and ashtrays made to look like cowboy hats. Finally, there was also a contemporary ceramic arts section, where we saw both weird and amazing clay pieces, such as this whole fabric cutting table, complete with dishrags and scissors - yes, all made out of clay!
As it was around dinnertime, we decided to give Skinny's Smoke House a try. Of course, they specialize in all kinds of smoked meats, and we went for the pulled pork and the brisket. For some reason, the pulled pork was really flat and unsavoury, but the brisket was nice, despite the ridiculous amount of fat in our servings. Unfortunately, being an overall disappointment, this place gets a thumbs down from us.
We then went back to our campsite to prepare for the next day, where we would see our first hoodoos! But more about that in the next post. Stay tuned, folks! 💜
TL;DR: There were a few cool things in Medicine Hat, but a day will be enough to see everything. Check out the world's largest tepee, make a quick stop at Windmill Garden Centre for some quiet time at the butterfly house, pay what you want to visit The Esplanade museum, and visit Medalta in the Historic Clay District. Also, make sure to try out Local Public Eatery during happy hour!
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