2006-12-30 - 5:08 p.m.
Well, I held out as long as I could, but I finally gave in, a victim to convenience. That's right folks. I bought my first pair of Wrangler jeans today.
I should explain something here. In small town Alberta, where you would think that cowboy culture is dominant, cowboys are, especially to the adolescent male, anything but cool. This means that any sort of jeans that may be associated with cowboys, Levis, Wranglers, or anything that comes in a 'boot cut' is to be shunned. So when I was growing up, we never shopped in Rocky. I never even considered it, to tell you the truth. My brother and I would always make mom drive us to Red Deer, or wait for a trip to Edmonton to buy clothes.
Well, I'm a little older now, and care about that sort of stuff a lot less. I also didn't feel like making the drive into Red Deer on my own, and there was no one to go with me. So, at Mom's suggestion, I checked out the stores in Rocky. I went first to Mark's Work Wearhouse, which is a store you can find in the city- I figured it was my best bet. Turns out all they didn't have anything. So I tried that cornucopia of fashion, the local Co-op. They had a terrible selection of jeans, but some awesome shoes. At Mom's further urging, I went to the two stores that I took care never to be seen near in High School- Henry's Western Wear, and the Smart Shop. Henry's, by it's very name is cowboy. They have everything that the average cowboy or oil worker will need, from loud dress shirts to fire retardant coveralls to work boots to bolo ties. Lots of jeans, but they were mostly expensive, and the ones that weren't expensive were not the ones I wanted. Finally, Dad and I braved the Smart Shop. The Smart Shop is one of those stores that exist in every town or city. It's the store that you are never sure how it stays in business. No one is ever seen shopping there, no one ever admits to stopping there, and when you go in, it looks like no one ever comes there. We walked in to the noise of a loud buzzer, alerting the owner that we were there. It is a small shop, with a low ceiling. One half of the store is two steps lower than the other, the result of Main Street being built on a hill. Only half the lights were working, creating a dingy atmosphere. This wasn't dispelled when I went to the shoe section. There were two shelves of shoes, one on either side of a wide aisle. There were lots of shoes, seemingly all one of a pair on the shelves, arranged in an untidy line. On the one shelf there was everything from women's casual to work boots. I didn't see any boxes of shoes, and had no idea if there were more in the back, or you were supposed to mix and match. Beside the shoes they had backpacks, big ones like I took to Europe. He seemed to have a lot of hiking and camping stuff, but I've never heard of anyone buying anything there. We found the jeans in a dark corner of the store, and lo and behold- Wranglers were on sale. I hadn't particularly wanted Wranglers, but when I saw the price I was converted. So now I am the proud (ish) owner of a pair of cowboy jeans. It's a good thing I'm moving back to the coast.
I went for supper with Mom and Dad last night at Grillers. In the grand tradition of Rocky restaurants, this is at least the third version of this place. It started out as a hotel restaurant, and then morphed into the Rocky Grill, and now Grillers. This is the way of restaurants in Rocky, and since it happens so often, people appreciate a little word play in the names. Take for instance, the restaurant just across the highway from Grillers. It started life as the Flames. That went out of business to be replaced by a restaurant called the Black Stump. Brilliant! I chortle every time I pass.
