Wish Upon an RV Star!: Province of Alberta, Canada

May 17, 2022 - May 30, 2022

Our first full day in Canada. We spent five nights in High River, Alberta, on the outskirts of Calgary. It’s a small town that’s known for many different shows and movies filmed in the area, including two shows we watch currently, Yellowstone and Joe Pickett. The Heartland series on Netflix is also filmed here which is on our to-watch list. 

The next two days we are supposed to have pretty crummy weather, so we’ll see what we can find to do.

Jonell and I are perusing the menu of the local diner. It looked good, but we never did make it back there.

There were several murals throughout the town depicting different historical scenes or influential citizens.

The weather has not been very good, rather cold and rainy. So rather than outdoor activities, we spent our time in various museums. The first one is the Bomber Command Museum of Canada which told all about the history of what's called the "bomber command" units during World War II. The museum is a labor of love of many volunteers, finding, refurbishing the aircraft, and donating them to the museum. The second day was the Military Museum in Calgary. I myself did not visit that museum, but Al said it was very interesting.

Our last day we visited the Heritage Village Park, another museum dedicated to the history of the province of Alberta, denoted in several different villages showing different time periods. We learned about coal mining and oil drilling, the pioneer era, the Dust Bowl and Depression eras, even some interesting facts about trapping and trading. Gasoline Alley Museum, a new section, had beautifully restored automobiles, trucks, gas pumps and paraphernalia related to service stations.

Al and Jonell bellying up to the bar in the Saloon.

In Edmonton, Alberta, the weather had improved a bit, and on our first day of sightseeing we decided to visit the Alberta Legislature Building. Monday was a national holiday, Victoria Day, here in Canada. Because of this, tours were available to the public. We landed spots on the 11 a.m. tour, which was about 45 minutes long. We were given a short history of the building and shown several areas: the Rotundra, the marble stairs rising to the chambers, the upstairs galleries for the public to watch the proceedings, and a special visit to the Premier's office and the cabinet meeting room. Afterward, there was a memorial service on the grounds with a military band and symbolic firing of the cannons. It struck me, listening to the music that was played, how closely aligned the countries of Great Britain, Canada, and the U.S. are. Much of the music is similar, if not identical. We then walked over to the Visitor Center where we watched a short film presentation on the history of the Alberta Province, and an exhibit hall that laid out the history of the legislature. It was very interesting.

There is reno work going on to the outside of the Legislature building.

Marble stairs leading up to the Legislature chamber.

The Premier's Cabinet meeting room

View from the patio balcony of the Premier's office.

The Rotundra

A quote from one of the "Famous 5," a group of women who led the cause for women's rights in Canada and secured the right for women to vote once they were declared "persons."

The hall where the Legislature meets. We are in the viewing gallery above.

Being Victoria Day, there was a memorial service on the grounds at noon, with the military band playing patriotic music and a cannon salute.

A plaque I found inspiring in the Parliamentary exhibit hall.

Our last day in Edmonton, we visited the Muttart Conservatory. Composed of 4 distinct biosphere pyramids, they had exhibits on tropical, temperate, and arid climates, and the fourth one is a changing feature which is hydrangeas this month. We really enjoyed wandering through the conservatory.

Walking up to the conservatory

Orchids in the tropic zone

Sculpture named "The Proposal" in the temperate zone.

Two scenes in the temperate zone

Hydrangeas in the rotating exhibit

Two scenes from the arid zone.

Thursday we had departed Edmonton and headed about 240 miles further northwest, settling in Grande Prairie, Alberta. This is our last stop in Alberta. We stayed here 4 nights mainly because the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend. They were not wrong! But we did manage to do a few things. We first visited the Visitor's Center where we saw the giant sundial- although it was cloudy out so we couldn't tell the time - and there was a very interesting museum on the history of "Peace Country" as they call it - due to the Peace River running through the prairie. We went to a year-round Farmer's Market that had lots of yummy baked goods. It's a tad too early for much locally grown produce.

The big sundial on a sunless day

Grande Prairie Visitor Center

The area is also known for an abundance of dinosaur fossils, some unique to the area, and a world-class palaeontological institution, the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum. It was a good way to spend a very rainy day.

The Pachyrhinosaurus is exclusive to the Peace Country area. A huge pocket of fossilized bones was found in the Pipestone Creek area. It is believed an environmental cataclysmic event such as flooding occurred, killing the herd. An abundance of various other scavenger dinosaur bones were found in the area, believed to have been drawn by the corpses of the pachyrhinosauruses.

The lab where teams work on the fossils that are recovered in the area.

A trackway of prints recovered at the Pipestone Creek site.

On our last day here, today, Al and I went to the Grande Prairie "Stompede," billed as the Peace Country's Greatest Show of the Year. It was going on all weekend, but this afternoon the rain finally stopped and was the best afternoon for us to go. And it was a lot of fun. Tomorrow we drive another 90 miles northwest where we will finally reach Dawson Creek and Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway.

Bronc riding

Singles calf roping. They have to lasso the calf and secure its feet by hogtying it. The winner did it in just over 8 seconds.

Team calf roping. One lassos the head, the other lassos a back foot.

This was a loop of balloon targets that they had to ride in a circle around and shoot out the balloons. It was timed with 5 seconds added for each balloon that remained intact.