JULY ADVENTURES

The Cooke family and I are living in a beautiful 2 level house on a 3.5 acre block. The house has under floor heating which feels great on your feet and warms up the whole house. We are about a 30 min drive west of Edmonton, which is the capital of the state (or province, as they call it here) of Alberta. Edmonton is built around the oil mining industry. The Rocky Mountains (spectacular natural international tourist attraction) is only another 3 hours west of where we're living. The temperatures in winters here are supposed to be very low (average minus 20o C) but not that cold because it's so dry - unless it's windy. The wind chill factor quickly lowers the temperature. There are two towns close by (Stony Plain - 10 mins and Spruce Grove - 20 mins) that have everything we need so we don't need to go into Edmonton very often, except if we want to visit the "Biggest Mall in the World" - West Edmonton Mall. The Mall is like a big Sunshine Plaza in the way that it is undercover, but this Mall is so big it has a wave pool and an ice skating rink in it.

After only being in Canada a short while we quickly realised that this country has lots of water - huge lakes, and wide, long, powerful river systems - as you will be able to see from some of the photos below. I can now better understand why Australia is called the "dry" country. Canadians love to be outdoors and because of all this water a lot of activities include canoeing, white water rafting and fishing, along with lots of hiking and in the winter, lots of skiing.



WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2009.
Mrs Cooke and her son, Aiden, with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer at the Canada Day Celebrations. Canada Day celebrations are a bit like our Australia Day celebrations with rides, jumping castles, food stalls and other stalls, as well as entertainment and games and of course fireworks to end the day. Canada this year celebrated 142 years of Confederation.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officers of today do not wear this uniform that you see in this picture, (only for special events) and they don't ride horses anymore either.









TUESDAY JULY 21, 2009.
The Athabasca Glacier is between the two main towns in the Canadian Rocky Mountains - Jasper and Banff. This glacier is part of the Columbia Icefields which is the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies. A glacier is ice formed from snow. This one formed as long as 400 years ago. It is 1 km wide and 6 kms long. Because of the warming climate, the glacier has been melting for the last 125 years, shrinking 1.5 kms in that time. Looking at this picture you can see one of the signs showing the different stages of the glacier over the years.





Specially designed buses (we called them "monster buses") are used to travel over Athabasca Glacier to give visitors a closer look at the glacier. Athabasca Glacier in the background.










The top of Athabasca Falls. The Athabasca River, which is the river flowing through these falls, carries more water than any other river in the Canadian Rockies. At these falls, all this water thunders loudly and ferociously down a 23 m drop. The spray from the falls keeps the nearby area cool and wet, making it a wonderful place for mosses to live.











One of the many bear bins found throughout all of the Canadian National Parks and any other picnic area in parks within Canada. These bins have a special handle where you have to place your hand through to release a latch. Bear paws are too big to fit through these handles - I should know, because I tried it.










WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 2009.
Johnston Canyon (Banff National Park) is a good example of what the force of a powerful river can do to limestone.















The Johnston Canyon trail is a beautiful and interesting walk because of the suspended walkway running along the canyon wall. It feels like you are walking on the river. During the winter, tours actually DO walk on the river because the river freezes.










One of the many squirrels (a hungry one eating a nut) that call Johnston Canyon home. Lots of squirrels all over Canada. They're a lot smaller in real life than I thought they'd be - averaging 15cms.













Curved horn sheep having afternoon tea on the side of the road. They call them sheep, but they look more like goats to me. A lot of wildlife in the National Parks casually stroll and munch away on the sides of the roads causing lots of traffic jams because tourists are taking photos.






FRIDAY JULY 24, 2009.
Waterton Lake National Park is on the US border. Two fawns having their afternoon tea with their mother close by.













Waterton Lake. Here's lots of water again.








SUNDAY JULY 26, 2009.
Even indoors you can find lots of water. This pool and water slide can be found inside a Lethbridge motel - very common around Canada. For most of the year it's too cold to go swimming in an outdoor pool.

Have a look at this huge jumping castle. This navy aircraft carrier jumping castle was one of many jumping castles at the Lethbridge Air Show. This Air Show is one of the biggest in Canada.

This Supertanker flew in from the US during the Air Show. The Supertanker is used to put out forest fires and can hold 20,000 gallons of fire fighting agent - therefore it is able to put out fires a lot quicker and easier.

There were a lot of flying demonstrations during the Air Show. If you look closely at this photo you can see a lady standing on the top of the bi-plane doing some stunts.

Large red barns like this one are common sights around the country areas of Canada. This barn is standing in the middle of a yellow flowering crop of canola - where canola oil comes from.

FRIDAY JULY 31, 2009.

Just over the provincial border, heading west into British Columbia, we came across the Biggest Truck in the World. This dump truck, and others like it, were used in the coal mines around these south eastern parts of BC.

The Cooke family bought a large motor home (or RV - recreational vehicle as they are known here in Canada) to travel around in. It makes our trips very comfortable. You see these types of vehicles wherever you travel in Canada. They are a very popular way to holiday in the summer.