O Canada...

...How very beautiful you are!

Well now. I know Canada is big, but I didn't realize it was SO BIG.

As you may or may not know, I just recently flew to Fort McMurray to meet up with Troy and to act as his navigator for his move home to Nova Scotia. An amazing adventure, let me tell you!

We left Fort Mac on Sunday, Sept. 5th, and travelled to Edmonton. The next day we "did" West Edmonton Mall and travelled to Calgary to visit his cousin and her family and to do a bit of touring in the Rockies. On Wednesday morning, it was wagons ho to Nova Scotia with a stop in Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrell Museum in the Badlands (the richest dinosaur deposit in the world) . We arrived in Kentville Tuesday evening. Please excuse the order of the pics...I didn't remember to load the last ones first!

I can't possibly do it justice by describing the scenery as beautiful because it was more than that. Stupendous or awe-inspiring comes closer, but even then does not describe it fully.

The first pic was taken somewhere in Saskatchewan. I was really taken in by the Prairies. It was not, in any way, boring as some people have described the drive. It was very peaceful, actually. No stress, just wide open spaces with trains, oil pumps, bison, antelope, prairie dogs, fields of every colour and patches where salt had permeated the surface of pools surrounded by some kind of purple vegetation.

The Rockies were amazing. We spent some time in Banff in the hot-springs and then decided since we were so close, we should go up to Lake Louise. I had heard it was wonderful, but HOLY COW. Nothing prepared me for the sight when we came 'round the bend. That is a glacier behind us. It was very cold up there!

And here is one of me in West Edmonton Mall (which was so huge we had to selectively decide where we were going to go) seeing if I am tall enough to go on the rides. We went on one called the Mindbender and we screamed and laughed out loud!

And this last pic is a picture of Troy with Fort Mac in the background as we headed to Edmonton. The residential part of the city is on the other side of the Athabaskan River..that is downtown in this photo. Fort Mac, is, well, um, growing fast. There was a bit of a slow down due to the recession, but things are beginning to hop again. There are social problems besides the isolation...there are 85 different ethnic groups represented there with no idea how to relate to one another. And so many transient people. However, there are people trying to make it into a community and I am sure that in time things will even out.

We made overnight stops in Edmonton, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Brandon, Thunder Bay, Sault. Ste Marie, Montreal and Fredericton. Met a lot of friendly people and got to sample local fare: beef and bison in Alberta, fish in Northern Ontario, poutine in Riviere-du-Loup and local beers all over. We met one very special person and some of her family in Winnipeg named Kal Barteski...she is a favourite artist of mine (I have two of her prints in my home). I had arranged the meeting before I left. It was hard not to be a bit star-struck! She is even more lovely in person than you might imagine from reading her blog. All in all, it was a fantastic trip.

Oh yes, Canada...you are beautiful and I love you more than ever, now. Thank you for the adventure.