Walking along the river valley, we passed by a condomium complex with pasted on the door.  It seems that as the population grows, so does the amount of crime.  To make the area safer, people are now installing cameras everywhere.

Everything is for sale...

  
ALberta is going through a boomtime right now.

As more and more people venture into the city, the value of homes have sky rocketed.  This little lockbox signals that a nearby propery is for sale.  These lock box contains the keys for entering the property and can be accessed by most real estate agents.

It snowed again....

Spring arrived, and last night winter made a last ditch attempt to hold on. We had about 3 centimeters of snow. Early this morning, these snow removing vehicles found themselves in parking lots throughout the City.

Southern Alberta has a few tornados once in a while. It is not Tornado alley like what is found in the midwest United States, however,

they can be just as deadly.

Here is a picture of what the clouds look as they start to form...

This street light shown brightly all winter long anytime after 6pm, since early March the light has only shines this brightly after 9:30 pm.

By mid June, the sky will only stay this dark for a few hours. Dusk wont arrive until 10:30 pm and dawn will arrive as early as 6:15 am.

These streeking clouds usually represent high winds in the upper atmosphere.

On this day, the temperature was just below freezing which allow me to enjoying this morning until the wind came down to earth. When the wind finally did picked up, it was time to head home.

This picture demonstrates why Highway 93 was closed until Tuesday.

The Canadian Rockies have received more snow this year than any other year in the past decade. As beautiful as it looks, when the temperture begins to warm up, these snow packs become unstable and the chances of an avalanche increase dramatically.

During a morning trip from the mountains into the city, I drove right into the sunrise. At first, it was hard to enjoy this view because of the blinding light. However eventually, I got my chance to stop and take this pictue. It truly is beautiful.

A few miles down the road from this point is the best spot on the highway for seeing wildlife... mainly elk, sheep and some mountain goats.

Yes you can have rainbows in the winter...

While the mountains on this segment of the highway don't have much snow, there is still enough moisture to generate a rainbow every once in a while.

This pictures was taken only a few thousand feet above sea level. Once you get closer to five thousand feet, the snow is still at least a few feet deep.

Mystery mountain....

While driving along Hwy 93 between Banff and Jasper, I came across this mountian. I know many of the mountains along this route but I have no idea what this mountain is called. It is only about twenty minutes away from Jasper.

Hopefully in the next little while, I will come up with its name.

Why I havent posted for four days...

I hate it when a pesky virus infiltrates my computer.

Just a rest stop along Highway 16 between Edmonton and Jasper. Talbot lake is one of my old haunts and a place where I have enjoyed many an hour fishing for Jack fish when I was growing up in Jasper.

These days, I rarely get to stop at the lake. Like most of the travellers along the highway, this is just a spot to stretch your legs or use the washrooms located beside the turn off.

For those interested in Fishing, the past summer, a 40+ lb. jack fish was caught less then forty yards from this spot. For those travelling along the highway, this is also the spot elk who frequently inhabit the banks.

Looking up...

Although this plane is permanently grounded, its presences must have inspired more than a few future pilots who looked at since it has been anchored in front of the
Edmonton Aviation Heritage Society musueum.

The musuem is located by Edmonton Downtown Airport, which is one of two airports in Edmonton.

One of my favorite Pictures...

I took this picture in august a few years back. As I am about to head up to the mountains, I was looking at some older pictures and came accross this one.

Flying down one more time...

Spring is finally here and we have a few weeks of above freezing temperatures. As a result, the snow on the ski hill is melting away. But before it disappears, a few die hards have made a few last trips down.

And for a few, these trips come with a little air time.

In a few short months, this hill will house the Edmonton folk festival.

Look carefully ... very carefully

Alberta Thrill Seeker....


You have to look really hard to realize just what this biker is up to. Not only is he riding on snow; but if you look at the top of the picture, you see the guy just starting his decent on a toboggan. The hill has a 45 degree angle and this biker was reaching close to 40 kilometres per hour when he hit the bottom of the hill.

The House of Ed...

It has now been just over 90 days since Premier Ed Stelmach took the reins of the Conservative Party of Alberta and became the premier of Alberta. In the past 90 days, Premier Ed has begun to put his stamp on the government: bringing in his own cabinet; introducing a new lobbyiest bill; embracing and introducing greener policies; and lobbying the federal government.

As their website provides more information on their policies and procedures.

Spring is on its way...

Not only are the two legged creatures happy to see spring arriving, our four legged friends seem very happy to see the sun and warm weather as well.

178 Steps...

For those suffering from cabin fever or wanting to get rid of a few pounds collected during the winter, the steps leading down to the river valley are as good a place as any to start. These set of steps has 178 in total and will wind you if try them after taking a winter off.

Hiding in the shadows...

With spring, Alberta Cities are starting to see a few more motocycles on the roads, however, there are also a few potholes hiding in the shadows. These holes in the road are caused by frost damaging the pavement.

So when driving in Alberta for the first part of spring, keep an on the road for not only cars and pedestrians but also those nasty little potholes.

The Grain Elevator is a one of those prairie symbols which are slowly disappearing from the landscape. Farmers used to bring grain to the elevators to sell and then rail cars would pass by and pick up the grain and take it to the mills.

Almost every town in the prairies had at least one of these elevators.

Edmonton's five favorite sons are soon going to be six. In this upcoming week, Mark Messier number 11 will be lifted up into the rafters and no oiler will ever wear that number again.

These numbers hang at the top of Rexall place.

Home after a day of sliding

After a hard day on the slopes, these kids are heading home to tell Mom and Dad all about it..

Edmonton Light Rail Transit...

Faster than a speeding flash blub, the Edmonton Light Rail Transit crosses the North Saskatchewan on the way to the University of Alberta.

In the summer, this walkway is light until 11 pm.

Happy Family Day

Family Day is the third weekend of February. This civil holiday was established about 10 years ago and intended to give everyone a day off during the winter.

This holiday was intended to provide family of Alberta with an opportunity to spend time together. This is one of the fun way in which can close to both family and friends. There are not many thing which will get you to hold on tighter than sliding down a hill together.

I hope that you got some time with your family and enjoyed Family Day.

What am I?

On a weekend outing, I took my parents to a local greenhouse with exotic plants.

This is one of the flowers which we saw but did not get the name of. Does anyone know that this is? My mother now wants my father to building new house so that she can have a green house.... The next family get together may have to be homebuilder.

OPEN 24/7

It is 4 am and you are in downtown with a car showing empty, what do you do? Go to Petro-Canada's gas station and fill up. Most of the gas stations are open 24 hours a day and are self service so you pay only for the gas. Full service stations cost usually half a penny more per litre.

And if you careful, you can see an independents station next door. Gas at the independent's is 4 cents cheaper per litre. Unfortunately, their station closes at 10 pm.

By special request...

Tonight the temperature was just above freezing and so it was time to head out into night and find a picture or two. Well, I needed to get home before CSI hit the airwaves and so this is the picture that I came up with. This is the legislature building for the province of Alberta. For those who do not live in a Federal system, this is capital building for the province of Alberta. As a province, the natural resources of this area are governed by the province.

This is one of the warmer days of February and so it was fun to finally get out.

An eyesore... it depends on your perspective

Refinery Row at minus 20 Celsius...
At minus 20, the refineries around Edmonton expel a lot of water vapour used during the refinery of oil. Many of Canada's largest oil companies have operations in the area including this small refinery on the eastern part of the city. This PetroCanada refinery produces gasoline for many of the PetroCanada stations in western Canada.

Off to work... Don't forget to bring your skis

Edmonton has two ski hills within the city's bondary. These ski hills are usually very busy during the weekend and most evenings during the week. However, when the temperature dips below minus 15, the hills stay surprising quiet. This morning, the temperature reached minus 30 Celsius and even the lifts decided to take the day off.

The Edmonton Ski hill is right across the valley from down town. At its base, one finds the four glass pyramids. The Muttart Conservatory is the premier horticultural attraction and is nestled in the river valley. The conservatory features more than 700 species of plants in arid, temperate and tropical climates.

On the other side, one has clear view of the Shaw Convention Center. If you are looking to have a massive party in Edmonton, the convention is the place to host it. A versatile Centre offering concert capacity for 4,700, bleachers, dressing rooms, support rooms, and sound experience.

Look up ... way up..

While standing at the LRT (Light Rail Transit) station, I looked up and this light fixture...


This is the last of my artistic images for awhile. The next few pictures will show some of the Capital main attractions; however, I got lost in this piece and had to share...

Exiled from the family...

With an economy firing on all cylinders, many Albertans are upgrading their household items.

In this case, this sofa which has likely been part of the family for years finds itself outside looking in.

In most cities, commercial and large apartment buildings have their garbage handled by a private company. In most cases, they pickup once or twice a week and usually they only pick up their own bins. If this is the case, this sofa may be sitting in the cold for a few more days....

Here is another picture from my Niagara Fall's visit.

As hard as it is to believe, I felt colder standing at the falls than I felt walking in minus 40 degree temperatures.

The mist generated by the falls was incredible, and coated most things in the general vicinity. Just ask the trees in the top left hand corner of the picture.

How cold is it?

I woke up this morning to minus 16 and the windows frosty. After a quick walk outside, it was time to come in a warm up.

Alberta's temperature can vary from minus 45 to plus 33 Celsius during the year. It starts getting cold in October, the true cold arrives in January and February.

I am back!!!!

I finally made it home!!!

This picture is taken on the approach to Edmonton International Airport (YEG). This picture was taken from a rear airplane window and shows Edmonton and the winglet from the Westjet airplane.

This picture has not been altered in any way.

Only a few steps from...

Not only was this cold, it is wet and costs just over 10 dollars to visit. Now, next time, I just have to get there before 6 pm. Fortunately, they don't shut off the falls.

Not in Alberta... but the reason for my disappearance

Niagara Falls: It is definitely a place worth visiting in the summer, but it was a challenge this winter day. I have been many places during the winter but this is definitely the coldest! The mist freezes you down to the bone.

This telescope provides an incredible view of the falls. Here are a few facts for those who haven't made it to Niagara Falls...

- the Canadian Horseshoe Falls plunges 52 metres (170 feet) into the Maid of the Mist Pool.

- at the American Falls the water's vertical descent ranges from 21 to 34 metres (70 to 110 feet) to the rock at the base of the Falls.

- more than 168,000 cubic metres (6 million cubic feet) of water go over the crestline every minute during peak daytime tourist hours.

How Cold is it???

How Cold is Niagara Falls in November?

This light stand is covered in ice even though the lamps are more than than 200 watts and are on from 5 pm until 6 am every day.

So what happened here... well the falls run 24 hours a day and the mist from the fall lands on the posts and freezes... so as long as the temperature stays below minus 3, the post remain icicles.

Let me introduce you to the Neighbours

Most of the pictures from Niagara Falls are of the Canadian side; however, these pictures are from the American Side.

It is nice to see one of Canada's exports to the America, I hope they enjoy the ice as much as we do!

One Big Step...

When you get to the edge of the stone wall, you look over and see this... it drops nearly 170 feet down and there are thousands of gallons flowing past you every minute.

This is one of the few places that has ever taken my breath way... Nature truly is beautiful.

Drive Carefully

When travelling through the Canadian Rockies in the winter, these sign give you a heads up on what to expect.  While the pictures are incredibly beautiful when there has been a new snow fall, the road can be difficult to maneuver.  So if you happen to be heading from Banff to Jasper and the road condition sign indicates poor driving conditions, slow down and drive carefully  and take lots of pictures!

Canadian contribution to the culinary world...

I don't know of any other donut shop which has influenced a country's psychy like Tim Hortons (timmy's). It has changed the language by spawning the term "double double" to go along with "eh".  It is also the main source of warmth for many hockey parents while at the same time rolling up their rims to see what they have won.  

So next time you bump into a Canadian and want to start up a conversation, ask them about timmy's.

Winter Birdfeeder

It is very uncomfortable to be outside when it is minus forty.  As uncomfortable as it can be to be outside for short periods of time, the animials live in these conditions ever winter.   During winter, we keep this birdfeeder full so that birds have a chance.

Butt Out!

Alberta is slowly becoming a non-smoking province.

This movement has generated this new piece of furniture. They are found in front of most public building and provide a place to discard your butts. But as you can see from the ground, not eveyone hits the mark.

Posters

Walking along Jasper Avenue and you come across these modern shelters/bus stands. Each of these stands, has spot for advertisements including posters advertised operas, plays, musicals and underground shows.

Subway Lighting

The provincial capital is known for its culture as well as it shopping, but very few people comment on its subway. This is a light at one of its underground stations.

Mount Edith Cavell

This is one of my favorite times of year.

There is always something fresh about snow everywhere.