Girl Meets Canada: The Really Long Road to Calgary

Day 21 cont… (Sunday, May 30th)

Remember those challenges my friends gave me? Well, one of the easier ones was to take pictures of every provincial border crossing. So Bev, here you go! I’m pretty sure you wanted this as proof that I’m actually traveling, and not just hiding out in Victoria, ignoring all of my family and friends.

I had stayed in Golden an extra night because the google machine told me the weather was supposed to clear and get really sunny in the Rockies. Folks, you’re not going to like what I have to say. But sometimes the google machine lies.

There is a road that goes between Banff and Jasper that’s called The Icefields Parkway, so named because it takes you past glaciers. I thought this sounded lovely, so North I went along said route.

I’m sure under better weather conditions this would be an absolutely beautiful drive. I did catch the occasional glimpse of rugged mountain peaks and what could have been giant slabs of ancient ice. The rest of the time I was enveloped in fun and playful snow. And you all know how much I LOVELOVELOVE snow in May! WooHoo! Bring it!

So please excuse the dark and crappy photo quality. Any complaints should be taken up with google directly.

My plan for the day had been to do this drive, then find somewhere to camp near Jasper. But the weather pretty much chased me out of the Rockies with my wet and frozen tail between my legs. Okay, fine, I’ll camp somewhere along the road to Edmonton. Is that okay with you, world?

No, it wasn’t okay with the world. The snow turned to rain and wind. So I kept driving. And driving.

And driving.

Stupid world.

I have some friends in Calgary and I had been thinking I’d take a few days to meander my way to them. But no. Instead I rolled into town close to midnight and once again found myself hunkering down for the night in a Walmart parking lot.

PS — All the weird and wonderful places where I found wi-fi in BC do not seem to exist in Alberta. But on the plus side, gas is about 20 cents cheaper. Gas, or wi-fi? That’s like asking me to choose between my skin or my arteries. I NEED BOTH TO SURVIVE!

PPS — For those following along at home, yes, I did take the super extended route to Calgary. If I’d just stayed on the #1 it would have been about 260 km. I did it in just under 1000 km.

If You Go…

Golden, British Columbia

Banff, Alberta

Jasper, Alberta

Calgary, Alberta

Photo Credits

All photos by Sarah Gignac

Alberta Border

The Icy Icefields

East out of Jasper

This article was first published on Raggedy Threads in June 2010.