We are fortunate to have such good friends around the world. When we first started to plan our summer trip, our friends Fraser and Diane, who live in Calgary and rented from us last winter, offered up their apartment for a month while they traveled to Europe. Then they suggested that we travel with Europe with them and then, when we come back to Calgary (where our car remained), we could still live in their apartment until the end of July. We took them up on both offers.

We’re back now, having left Europe a last week. Since then, Linda and I have had many opportunities to wander around southern Alberta, visit friends around Edmonton, visit more friends in Lethbridge, and wander around more in Calgary before heading into British Columbia.

Here are a few stories and photographs from our Canadian wanderings.

Downtown Calgary

Kananaskis

We wanted to drive into Banff National Park for the day. We’d been there before and will drive through it on our way to Sorrento, in BC. We diverted to Kananaskis , a beautiful valley sandwiched in between towering mountains. We drove for most of the day, got out of the car several times to hike, and eventually found 1) a brewery, and 2) friends Robbie and Geri, who live in Okatoks.

Off to Edmonton

We spent five days up north, visiting Mike and Stacy in Pigeon Lake, and Gord and Marcie in Edmonton.

Lethbridge

One more trip away before leaving Alberta. South to Lethbridge to visit with Daniel and Lise. THey live a couple of hours south of Calgary. We know them from Venture Out and know that we will mis them, as they won’t be traveling to Mesa this coming winter.

We took a nice walk besides a lake in Lethbridge, and then went back for a great Lebanese meal that Lise cooked. The following morning we woke, went on another hike into the Coulees by their house before breakfast.

THe small town of Valcun is on the way between Lethbridge and Calgary. Besides a replica of the Starship Enterprise, the town boasts everything Star Trekish, and a nice brewery (the Nine in a Line Brewery) which Linda and I needed to sample. Along the way, I found some pretty cool old barns to capture.

Drumheller

It rained on our last day in Calgary, so Linda and I decided to drive to Drumheller, which has the Royal Tyrrell Museum, a great collection of dinosaur fossils and a very thorough history of life on Earth. The museum is worth the time to visit.