Alberta

Right after coming back from Vancouver Island (August 2008), I flew out to Calgary for a few days of exploration in Alberta.

One cool thing about highways in Alberta is that the speed limit is at 110 km/h and that people actually drive more around 140 km/h.  I still remember driving in the right lane at 140 km/h.  Most of the time, it's not the speed limit that slowed me down, but rather my own fear when I was going too fast.

I first headed to the Rockies.  By August, many mountains don't have snow left on their peaks.  Also, I went there during days of record-high temperatures, so everything was somewhat hazy.  Thus, I didn't get the optimal conditions to observe the natural beauty of the Rockies.  I'd say the best time to go is late May / early June.

I went to Banff, to Lake Louise (with its surreal turquoise water) to Moraine Lake (with its crystal-clear water) and Peytoe Lake (another lake with awesome water color) on my first day.

I picked up a hitchhiking couple.  The girl, Marie-Hélène, was a fellow Quebecker and her partner, Karsten, was a German who also speaks French and who is now doing his master's in articifial intelligence in Edmonton.  Marie-Hélène is also doing a master's, but in piano interpretation.  I didn't even know there were such master's!  The pair was making its way up to the Yukon.  They don't have much money, but compensate with their adventurous spirit and willingness to compromise on comfort.  They've travelled all over the place, often sleeping outside or camping in order to preserve their little, precious money.  Good thing I have money because I have led a sheltered existence so far that makes it unthinkable for me to not have my own bathroom and shower when I spend the night somewhere.

The next day, I back-tracked to the Columbia Icefield and drove back to Jasper again (this time during day-time, so that I could see the landscapes).  I stopped at a very wide river (1 km?) that didn't get deeper than 50 cm.  Many people were playing in the water there.  Then, I drove shoeless all the way to Edmonton.

Edmonton deserves its nickname of Deadmonton.  In the downtown core, only one street really feels downtownish.  In the university area, Whyte street shows some life, even on Sunday nights.  So, at least it's not clear that Edmonton is as boring as Seattle.  Also, the West Edmonton Mall isn't that huge.  It's just like a regular mall, but with an amusement park, a water amusement park and some themed areas.  One thing I found funny in Edmonton is the presence of radars on some streets that make messages appear telling you to slow down when you drive too fast.

Next was Calgary.  Again, not much to see here.  Although, to be fair, Calgary is a bit bigger than Edmonton.  I went up the Calgary Tower to take a good look at the city.  I quickly exhausted my curiosity for this city and decided to fly back home two days earlier than planned.  What I'd pay extra to change my flight, I'd save on car rental, gas and hotel.

At that point, I became pretty much saturated of all that nature stuff and of all that exploration of Canada.  I think it's time for me to get back to what I normally like doing:  visiting foreign mega-cities.