In the Canadian Badlands between Cypress Hills and Etzikom, Alberta
This weekend the Montreal Alouettes travel to Calgary, Alberta, to meet the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the Grey Cup, Canada’s version of the “Superbowl”. It seems a strange fact that this is the first time these two teams have met since the Great Depression. In an odd way, it reminds me of how little we Canadians travel our own country. Ask a Canadian how many places he’s been in the country and he’ll likely tell you not many. Canada is so big that seeing a lot of it on a two week holiday isn’t possible. But taking two weeks to explore a particular region, especially its backroads, is a good alternative.
Hoodoos and beehive hills near Drumheller, Alberta
Last summer, we did just that in the Canadian Badlands, a 90,000 sq. km corner of southern Alberta. We’ve done some work with this region over the last couple of years and have become smitten with the place. Just a one hour drive east of Calgary, it’s made up of prairie intersected by ancient river valleys with hills that look like giant beehives. The valleys are part of a massive prehistoric sea that once occupied a good portion of North America. Wind and water have stripped away the sandstone and they’ve revealed something else. Dinosaur fossils. Millions of them. Two spectacular places to learn about the biggest finds are Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the world’s largest devoted to palaeontology.
One thing I’ve noticed on our travels across Canada is how our needs seem to change by region. Downtown Toronto and southeastern Alberta, for example. My office overlooks a busy downtown Toronto thoroughfare. Streetcars lumber past my view every few minutes or so. There’s a gas station close by. It’s BUSY!!! Lots of traffic. In summer, we get smog alert days. There are bright lights everywhere 24-7, noise, litter, all are issues that I deal with daily.
Streetcar in downtown Toronto, Ontario
On the Trans-Canada Highway west of Brooks, Alberta
Now fly me four hours west to Calgary, Alberta, give me a car rental and and an hour later, I’m in a landscape so foreign it’s hard to believe I’m in the same country. There’s no traffic, no noise, no litter and no light pollution. Gas stations are scarce though. So are convenience stores and other things we take for granted in the city. Topping off the gas tank and having lots of drinking water in the car quickly become necessities. It’s a different life. No wonder our politicians in Ottawa have such a hard time coming to a consensus.
About that Grey Cup game this weekend, I was in the Toronto Airport this am and saw a green Rough Rider shirt coming the other way. It made me chuckle. Saskatchewan Rough Riders fans are the most loyal in the land and they seem to be everywhere. I’ve got my money on those Montreal Alouettes though. Once a Montréalais, always a Montréalais.
Tags: Alberta, Alouettes, backroads, blog, Calgary, Canada, CFL, Dinosaur Provincial Park, dinosaurs, football, fossils, Grey Cup, hoodoos, Montreal Allouettes, Neutral Hills, no traffic, Ontario, road trip, Royal Tyrrell Museum, Saskatchewan Rough Riders, Toronto, traffic, Trans Canada
Yes, I can how that might grate on someone from Canada’s eastern provinces and you’re absolutely right, I am writing from central Canada so, will make a change. But what’s with the “Central Canada against Western Canada” bit in your comment? A rather strange choice of wording given the blog is anything but.
Really it is Central Canada against Western Canada. The Atlantic Provinces are Eastern Canada.