Not much to blog about from Friday and Saturday so here’s the short update.

Friday, July 21

I spent most of the day driving from North Battleford, SK to Edmonton, Alberta, stopping off at Elk Island National Park on the way, a distance of 265 miles. The journey was almost entirely on the Trans-Canada Highway with little interesting scenery – in fact, if you watch the video, the clouds are more interesting than the land. The map and video are here.

Elk Island NP is known for two things: its herds of bison and recreational activities based around its multiple lakes. They have a bison loop road that is “where our bison prefer to be” according to the visitor centre guide but I drove the loop going in and coming out of the park and the only bison I saw was a group of three animals about a mile away. I did see one up close, right at the side of the park road, but he was in tall grass and partially hidden (below). I stopped for a while at the largest lake in the park, Astotin Lake, to take a short walk and a few photos.

Saturday, July 22

I have four heavy driving days coming up so I spent the morning paying my monthly bills and planning some roadside stops. I discovered an excellent book, called The Milepost, that logs everything along all of the major highways in Western Canada and Alaska literally mile-by-mile. In some ways there’s too much information but it does include details of every service along roads where services can be hundreds of miles apart. It also suggests good places where you can pull off for photos etc.

In the afternoon I went sightseeing in Edmonton. One of the recommended views of the city is from the High Bridge Streetcar so I tried that out as well as spending some time wandering around the area near the Alberta Legislative Building. The streetcar runs every 40 minutes but I missed the return trip I had planned and then got stuck in horrendous traffic that wasted another 35 minutes. I had planned to visit the Alberta Aviation Museum but the delays meant I arrived 20 minutes before closing time so I skipped it.

The one bison that was less than a mile away from me (only 30 feet) in Elk Island NP
Astotin Lake

View of the city of Edmonton from the top of the High Bridge where the streetcar travels on rails with nothing to stop it falling in the river if it derails.
The Alberta Legislative Building
and the equivalent of Washington’s Reflecting Pool, just opposite the entrance to the Legislative Building, which was being enjoyed by many on this warm Saturday afternoon.