Alberta
...mountains, moose, dinosaur skin and mosquitoes

As you drive eastwards out of British Columbia, the change from province to provice is blurred by the Rockies. For me at first the drive is a necklace of familiar BC towns that I'd visited or passed through whilst working — Grand Forks, Castlegar, Nelson, Cranbrook, Sparwood. Then up through the Crowsnest Pass, a long descent and then we reach the abrupt eastern edge of the mountains and the beginning of the rolling prairies that are going to be our companions for a while.

Entering the province on Highway 1 we met Alberta drivers for the first time. Their chief joy was to wait to overtake until the very last few metres of a passing lane, when the van was heading for a rapidly-diminishing amount of hard shoulder, and then glare at us AS IF IT WAS OUR FAULT!! Grrrr.

Our first stop, after a night at Fort Macleod, where I managed to lock myself in the campsite lavatory and had to climb out, was Head Bashed In Buffalo Jump. I was very impressed. Then we spent several days in Lougheed Provincial Park, at the eastern foot of the Rockies. We were visiting Lenore's aunt Anita and her husband Chris.

We spent a couple of days in Calgary, upgrading our van's security system. Thunder was now probably the best protected van in the country — all it needed now were a few photon torpedoes... We also bought a cheap mosquito tent to save Ralph from being emptied completely of blood.

Then we drove eastwards: to the Tyrell dinosaur museum and then Dinosaur Provincial Park. Here we enjoyed finding dinosaur epidermis.

And then that was enough dinosaurs for the time being, and so we headed out into the prairies.

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