alberta

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I often talk about Finland and how wonderful it is. I don't want my readers to think that I don't like living where I'm living. I actually quite love Canada. I've often wondered if I would move back to Finland if the opportunity arose. I'm not sure, to be honest. The ideal for me would be to be able to travel lots between the two. Instant travel - that's what I dream about. There are so many things I love about Canada as well. Today I have concentrated on the beauty of Alberta as this is where I live. I like Alberta because there is a lot of variety here. We have the prairies, the Canadian Rocky Mountains and also the badlands. Here is a sampling of all those three. *Click* on the pictures that say click. Enjoy!

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The first picture above: Alberta prairies - lots of "aakeeta laakeeta". You can see miles away. Lots of farmland. They say that "sky is big" in Alberta. It definetly is. Beautiful in it's own way.

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On the east there's the badlands. All of a sudden when you're driving the scenery changes. Hills, hills, hills. Canyons and these things called "hoodoos". Cactuses. Very hot in the summer. Totally different scenary from the rest of the province. Look up Drumheller on the map and this is what you get. *Click*
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Horseshoe Canyon near Drumheller. Awesome place to go hiking. *Click*
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One of the many glaciers at the Rocky Mountains.
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Bow Valley. Some hoodoos in the left bottom corner.
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Cavell Lake. The water is always crystal clear in the mountains. In many places a really cool turqoise in color. Absolutely gorgeous! *Click.*
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Maligne Lake. Breathtaking!
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Most tourists go to Banff when they visit the Rockies. I would definately recommend going to either Jasper or Waterton instead. Of course Banff is beautiful as well but I find the other two even more beautiful. Couple of days in the mountains is worth a couple week vacation somewhere else. So relaxing and renewing! I love to hike and then soak in the natural hot springs. We don't go camping. I like to sleep well after a full day of nature so we usually stay in a little cabin or borrow Jay's parents big motor home. We don't go to the mountains often enough. I need to add "going to the mountains OFTEN" to my New Year's resolutions. Jasper is 3,5 hours away from us. It's about the same to Banff. Waterton is in southwest Alberta and it takes longer to go there but now that our friends live in Raymond (close to Waterton) we'll have to make the trip often.
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Bear's Hump in Waterton.
The 40 minute or so vertical hike is worth it to see this amazing view. You see the town of Waterton, the lakes, the surrounding mountains. I would LOVE to have a little summer house in Waterton!!!
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The Prince of Wales hotel in Waterton. Lots of weddings held in that place. Can you guess why? It's pretty obvious, isn't it. *Click.*
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Just a small sampling of Alberta's beauty. The earth truly is an amazing place. So much variety. So many wonderful, amazing, beautiful things. Never boring.
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ps. As you can see I didn't nap. *roll eyes*