Calgary, Fort McMurray & Smithers (Canada)

Fort Calgary was built in 1875 for the North West Mounted Police who were sent into the area to deal with the illegal whiskey trade. It is now a historic park where you can see how the NWMP lived in those early days.

Inglewood an area just outside the town centre - a mixture of old buildings and new houses.

Guns are much easier accessible in Canada than at home (though not quite as easy as in some US states). This is mainly due to the large wilderness areas where people hunt or carry guns for protection from wild animals. In Sept this year the official statistics showed 5.5% of Canadians have a firearms licence. Funny enough the laws on guns here go back to the days of the British Empire and the centuries old common law rights to keep firearms for self defense!!

Inglewood Bird Sanctuary was a nice peaceful walk even though it was just a short distance from the city centre.

There were hundred’s of these little Chickadee’s in the park who were quite curios – if you put some dried leaves on your hand they would come to see what it was – some even just came if you held up your palm – cute…

Due to the time of year there weren’t too many other birds about, some ducks and geese on the river and this little duck who was waddle sliding across the ice.

But there were some big deer.

And I saw my first ever wild Beaver.

And some squirrels collecting up the last food before the snow arrives.

And just a few winter flowers.

There was some pretty patterns on the frozen ponds.

I took the river trail back from the park to the city which was also a nice walk.

Calgary used to be a quiet little cowtown until the oil boom hit the state of Alberta then it was transformed into a booming city for oil company headquarters.

The C train that runs through Calagary is a good way to get around – and you can hop on and off for free the section that covers the downtown area which was good for me as my hostel was near here.

A statue in tribute to the Native Indians from this area.

There are quite a few bear statues scattered around downtown.

And then there was this street Tea Party.

People start to get ready for Christmas.

Bus services in Canada (and US) pretty much come down to Greyhound – not anywhere near as good as those in South America, but more people here have their own cars or will fly to save time which is understandable given journeys which would take 7 hours to drive in a car (or 1 to fly) will take up to 19 hours on the bus due to stops and transfers. But it is a cost effective way to get around on a budgetand I have a few books to keep me entertained.
Though in both countries people are always a little surprised that I am taking the bus as they are not considered that safe though I didn’t have any problems. T In Canada almost everyone looks at you in horror and retells the story of the guy who went crazy and attacked another passenger with a knife and eventually chopped off his head to display to the other passangers who had got off the bus – funny enough he was found to be insane!! But as I said if he had done this in a shopping mall would everyone avoid going shopping as far as I could tell it was a one off incident and at most stations any bags you are taking on to the bus are searched for knives and alcohol.

Sunrise as I catch the early bus from Calgary.

Next stop is in the fairly remote spot of Fort McMurray to visit my brother Vince and his wife Louise. I wasn’t there long when their kids Sam, Daniel and Sophie took me out to play in the snow along with their dog Storm.

Then we went to the park where we had fun playing – we even had a game of Hide n’ Seek.

Meeting Santa is always exciting.

Sam’s pet lizard having his dinner….

Daniel playing with his wee hamster.

Sophie

Me trying out one of these new fancy skateboards – the best I managed was to cirle the pole whilst holding on whilst the kids flew about quite the thing!!

Sunset

I had a lovely weekend spending time with the kids who I hadn’t seen in a long time but I said my goodbyes as they went to bed as I had an early bus to catch the next morning.

Sunrise from the bus again – beautiful as it is early mornings are not really my thing – though I had plenty of time to catch up with my sleep on the bus.

My Uncle Vince & Aunt Monica live in the countryside just outside the small town of Smithers which is in northeast British Columbia and again set amongst some beautiful scenery and mountains and I arrived just after the snow.

Uncle Vince & Koji take me for a walk in the snow.

Oatis, Koji and Wally love the snow.

After a heavy overnight snow fall Vince has to clear the driveway so we can get out.

My cousin Maureen just got a new pup Bronson who is a feisty character.

Sunset on the snowy hills was beautiful as well.

I would have got a parking space at my Uncle’s house if I had a car at least!

Aunt Monica kicks some butt at her online poker game :-)

Even though the snow limited how far we could walk we had a few nice walks with the dogs.

Vince and his grandson Riley and Koji.

The view from Vince & Monica’s living room when the clouds clear you can see the mountain so clearly.

Vince & Monica take me to their club for a game of darts – well I just watched my aim is not that good to play in public!!

I get to try on some proper country clothes for the winter and Riley shows us the size of some of the Caribou that they hunt in this area.

Wally, Koji and Oatis may love the snow but when they come inside they like to get warm – particulary Wally whose favourite spot is in front of the heater.

Vince, Monica, Riley and Koji.

Maureen took me out to visit Hazelton which is the oldest settlement in Northern British Columbia dating back to 1866 and has a population of about 1,350.

Some really stunning scenery on the drive between Smithers and Hazelton.

Maureen was going to take me crosscountry skiing but due to unforeseen events we didn’t make it but we went out and had a couple of practice laps around the school grounds – I was surprised I even managed to do that without ending up on my butt!!!

Smithers Christmas lights were turned on whilst I was in town.

Maureen’s daughter Bailey and her friend Julie let me tag along when they went to the cinema to see the Twighlight 2 ‘New Moon’ movie – not an Oscar winner but young fit guys show off a lot of bicep muscles so it kept me entertained.

I saw another sunrise though I have to say as we were on winter time it wasn’t actually that early!!

I didn’t see any Bears or Moose on my travels around Canada which would have been nice – well from a distance. But it is not uncommon here for people to find them in their gardens or when out walking. This guy was killed after he started to attack local cattle – you certainly would not want to meet him on a dark night!

We drove over to Prince George where I was catching a flight. Vince doesn’t need GPS as he has Koji to direct him. All the lakes on the way over were solid ice. This was also the first time I ever stayed in a Motel which is pretty much a hotel designed for motorists,

We had a quick visit to the Casino where both Monica and I came out with more than we went in with not that we were the big gamblers of the night my profit was $4.

One more Canada update to go.....