Alberta
Judy comments on some differences between urban Toronto and the Canadian Badlands.
Halloween is big business in Canada. Just ask Statistics Canada. Every year, it releases Halloween stats that include the latest demographics on trick or treaters, the number of Canadian farms with pumpkin patches, the amount of money Canadians spend on Halloween candy and even a list of places in Canada that may give you the [...]
” The sky is ever sensed above Canada.” – Russian writer Andrei Voznesensky in 1971 Travellers headed west out of Calgary towards the mountains are focused on the growing Rockies, but the first thing that strikes me every time I drive east from the stampede city is the big sky. Perhaps it’s because I can’t [...]
Besides being a long-lasting comic strip first published in 1918, and the second solo album by Rod Stewart released in 1970, Gasoline Alley is a collection of roadside eateries, gas stations, RV dealerships and assorted travellers’ diversions on a patch of highway 2 just south of Red Deer, Alberta. Some people think that Gasoline Alley [...]
Chambers’ Dictionary of Etymology defines the term “mascot” as an animal, person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck. According to the dictionary, the word is borrowed from the french word, “mascotte” meaning sorcerer’s charm or good luck piece. Canada is a land of mascots. I’m not sure why but they’re plentiful here. [...]
A recent New York Times article ranked Banff, Alberta as one of the five best places in North America for spring skiing. But what if you don’t ski? Is Banff worth visiting? We think so based on a March trip we did a couple of years ago. We chose a bed and breakfast a couple [...]
Two of the creepiest places to spend Hallowe’en in Canada are Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and the Atlas Coal Mine near Drumheller in the Canadian Badlands of Alberta. Niagara-on-the-Lake is said to be the most haunted town in Canada and the creepiest place in town is Fort George. Its Hallowe’en ghost tours are so [...]
In Halkirk, Alberta, Canada, not far from Big Knife Provincial Park, you’ll find the Halkirk Snack Shack. Halkirk is like many towns in this part of Alberta, tiny with a population of just one hundred and seventeen. So when the town’s old grocery store (circa 1907) reopened in 2006 as the Snack Shack, I’m betting [...]
Continue reading about Old general stores in Alberta, Canada
A highlight of our Canadian Badlands Alberta trip in 2007 was the annual Oyen Bullarama. We arrived in the late afternoon in Oyen, a town of 1200 near the Saskatchewan border. The parking lot was already a sea of pickup trucks. A bullarama is professional bullriding and “bloodless bullfighting”- the latter is basically a guy [...]
Medicine Hat Clay Industries National Historic District and Medalta Potteries are expanding their facilities and activities.
Continue reading about Medicine Hat Clay Industries National Historic District