"This Province Has it All " a Province of Alberta Travel Page by Bwana_Brown

Although only the 6th largest of Canada's provinces, Alberta still has plenty of room to move around in it's 661,000 square kilometers. Comparatively speaking, this makes it about the same size as the state of Texas or equal to the combined area of France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

A rental car is a necessity here if you want to do some independent exploring. In 2001 we visited the western side of the province, mainly in the Jasper National Park and Edmonton area. By 2004, two of our daughters had moved to Alberta from eastern Canada, so it was time for another visit! We split the difference in their locations and flew into Edmonton. From there, we headed east to Cold Lake on the Saskatchewan border and then the farmlands route down along that side (where this photo was taken) until we veered west toward Calgary and Banff National Park.

It was a great trip, with beautiful sunny weather and pleasant temperatures almost the whole time. We saw northern lakes, endless fields, strangely eroded 'hoodoos', the Rocky Mountains and the friendly city of Calgary! We were back again for our third visit in July, 2006 - covering some familiar territory as well as new explorations southward to Waterton Lakes National Park and on into Montana, USA.

Hopefully, my tips will give you some insight into what you can experience here if you too decide to pay Alberta a visit! Please see my 'General' tip for a provincial map showing our driving routes.