Escape the city

Southern Alberta has finally defrosted enough to contemplate leaving the city limits and exploring the surrounding areas. On Sunday we drove roughly 200km SW through Okotoks and the Turner valley, down the Cowboy Trail, and through Crowsnest Pass into the neighbouring province British Columbia (photos are here). A beautiful area - the contrast between the prairie landscape and the Rocky Mountains is amazing! And being Spring, there were lots of baby animals around - horses, cows, and deer. Crowsnest Pass has many relics of unsuccessful coal mining operations in the area, including the Frank Slide, a disturbing mass of boulders that slid off the face of Turtle Mountain in 1903. The "rock avalanche" extends at least a mile from the base of the mountain . It wiped out part of the town of Frank and a large stretch of railway in its 100 second journey.

Heading back into Calgary we decided to drive along Macleod Trail instead of taking the highway. Close to 100 blocks of strip malls, an unpleasant contrast to the prairie wilderness just a few kilometres away.