WELCOME TO ALBERTA!!

Welcome all BATW visitors!!
Debbie does a wonderful job taking us
to fascinating places around the world! Thank you so much!

So, grab a hot chocolate, or that second cup and enjoy the visit.
Here are some facts about the Province of Alberta,
part of western Canada, where we've lived for 37 years!



Thanks to Doris for this lovely winter scene! Didn't have my own!
It's winter here now but we do get the four seasons and they are beautiful.

Love this photo - thanks Evi!

The days are getting longer and soon we will have spring again!
The trees should have green leaves by Mother's Day!

Alberta's license plates read, WILD ROSE COUNTRY. Click on the rose to read more about it!

Alberta had it's centennial celebrations in September '05! We're still quite young! If a 21 year old had ten bucks to his name in 1905 he could buy 64 hectares - over 150 acres. Of course it had stipulations, but wouldn't that be fantastic nowadays. I'd even pay $1000.00, oh ok $10,000!

The province was named after the 4th daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Louisa Caroline Alberta who had married the Governor General of Canada John Campbell. Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies also bears her name, as does a town called Caroline.

20 Pieces of Trivia

1. Only Saudi Arabia has more oil than Canada and almost all of it is found in Alberta. Check out the Fort McMurray link here. Tar Sands. Controversy. Trivia here.
   
2. Edmonton, Alberta was the first city in North America to have light rail transit- LRT. We're watching the construction of the end of the line (for now) right from our 9th floor apartment window.
   
3. Calgary's C-train, their LRT, is completely wind-powered and emission free!
4. There is a Mindbender roller coaster in West Edmonton Mall, the biggest mall in Canada, the 3rd largest globally. The top loop is almost as high as the Statue of Liberty!
5. Alberta has an animal forensics laboratory, the only one in the world. It's called the Neil Crawford Centre. It is also a great place for wedding photography!
6. Alberta has the best overall weather in Canada - and yet many people complain about the heat in the summer, the cold in the winter, the shortness of spring and wetness of fall. Sure, some days are harder to take than others, but I love it here! For the winter months we can always migrate to someplace warm - if the budget allows!
   
7. Cold-FX, the #1 cold and flu medicine in Canada was invented by CV Technologies in Edmonton.Haven't needed it yet this season! Thank you Lord!
   
8. Untouched by glaciers during the last ice age are the Cypress Hills in southern Alberta.
9. There is a UFO landing pad in St. Paul, Alberta. Star Trek fans may want to visit Vulcan, AB.
   
10. The largest annual event in Canada is the Calgary Stampede. I'm just not into huge crowds and though I live in AB, have never attended the Stampede! My shame I know!
    
11. Calgary hosted the 1988 Olympics - they were the first to make a profit I'm told. The world's largest Olympic Hall of Fame is in Calgary.
12. A Calgarian was the father of Java programming language.
13. Apparently at one time in Wetaskiwin on their Main St. it was illegal to tie a mare and a stallion together. Check out Wetaskiwin! They claim that cars cost less in their town, but we got a better deal in Steinbach, MB this summer!! Shameless plug for Toyota in that town!
    
14. The first National Park in Canada is the Banff National Park. There are also Elk Island, Jasper, Waterton Lakes and Wood Buffalo National Parks in the province. Breathtaking scenery everywhere - any time of year!
    
15. Lloydminster is the only city in the country that spans two provinces - Alberta and neighboring Saskatchewan. Sometimes gas is cheaper in one province not the other - must be fun! It's a good place for our first coffee-break at Tim Horton's on our way to visit family in Winnipeg!
    
16. Snowmobiling's capital is Whitecourt. I always drove through there to visit our children in High Level. The Northern Lights are most spectacular up there! Maybe not like in Alaska or Finnland - but absolutely breathtaking!
17. Alberta's legislative building in the capital city of Edmonton is situated prominently on the North Saskatchewan River, but during the construction there were problems with quicksand. Oops!!
18. Check out our Travel Alberta site for fantastic vacation ideas and further information. No, I'm not getting paid for this advertising, lol! Gorgeous pictures! It's a huge resource site that I turn to often. We've lived here so long and still haven't seen every neck of the woods.
    
19. The absolute best part about Alberta is that most of our immediate family lives here - two daughters and their families - with six of our 9 grandangels - and even some of the extended family. Our son and his family are living in Pennsylvania during their studies.
    
20. For the past 23 years I've worked with seniors at Shepherd's Care Foundation and think of them as 'family' too. Age-in-place facilities for our seniors are a huge industry in Alberta and this organization has an excellent reputation.
    

I hope you have enjoyed my quick tour through our province!
Hope you have followed the links of your choice
and enjoyed them.
Here to finish it off is a tribute poem to Alberta
which I wrote many years ago.

ALBERTA

This land of opportunity
With rolling hills and mountains of sheer majesty
With prairie vistas as far as the eye can see,
Spectacular and splendid, Alberta is our home.

Where crystal springs rush cool and clean
With deep, dark forests, lakes of dazzling emerald green,
Where on the glorious plains the buffalo is seen,
Breathtaking and beautiful, Alberta is our home.

The pioneers of this great land
Have labored hard and long with strong and sturdy hand,
To build the prairie towns and all the cities grand.
Adventures ‘extraordinaire’ in our Alberta home.

This Wild Rose country vast and free,
Where oil provides abundance and prosperity,
We celebrate with great responsibility,
Alberta, this land of plenty, is our home.

Though different heritage be seen in every face
We live and love in brotherhood and harmony,
First Nations and a true mosaic of each race,
We cherish our diversity in our Alberta home.

No matter where we ever roam,
Alberta is the perfect place to call our home.
God bless our dear provincial family.
She has a bright and shining destiny.

Karin Ristau