Hello again!
I know it's been a while since I posted last (Tim and Kaiti), so I figured I'd try catching up.
After I left Elbow, SK I headed to Lethbridge, Alberta. I found it so funny.. first place I stopped when I got into Alberta (Medicine Hat) I noticed lots of men were wearing cowboy hats. Talk about filling a stereotype haha. Anyways, in Lethbridge I did a tiny bit of touring - saw the high level bridge which was really cool I thought, and then went and visited the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden which was really pretty. Kind of small, but I still really liked it - wish I'd brought a book with me or something.
After Lethbridge, I headed to Edmonton! This was highly exciting, as I stayed about a 3 minute drive from the West Edmonton Mall - might as well be a miniature town. The first day after I arrived, I actually didn't do any shopping because I went on a full day excursion with my boss doing various work tasks in the area(give or take hours haha). Asp part of this excursion, we went to check if the fires in Slave Lake had affected the pillar that we attach equipment to - which it didn't. I have to say though, driving through Slave Lake was crazy. Heading into town for kilometers it was just burnt sticks sticking out of the ground which used to be all forest, and then the actual houses - everything was literally just flattened. Biggest thing you could see were the skeletons of burnt trucks. It was also strange to see houses that were just across the street from totally ruined homes were in either perfectly fine condition, or just had some melted siding. So unfortunate for all those families living there though.
Back in Edmonton the next day I did a little bit of exploration with a coworker. The mall has everrrything. Waterpark with huge slides and a wave pool and bunjee jumping etc., Amusement park (with quite large roller coasters actually!), Skating rink in the middle of the mall, shooting range, hotels, movie theatre, sea lion shows and scuba divers, chinatown, a street of restaurants, annnnnd just about any store you could think of. I didn't want to leave haha (particularly the pet store.. wanted to steal several puppies)
It was also nice in Edmonton to see all my coworkers again... it had been arranged that we would all be there for the night to regain some sanity.
After Edmonton, I travelled back to saskatchewan and spent 2 nights in Kindersley. Not a whole lot going on over there while I was visiting, so I tried some workout vid that a coworker had given me and am still feeling quite sore from.
From Kindersley, I drove to Kananaskis (it's like an hour from Banff or so). I chose a route that would take me through Drumheller so that I could see a bit of the badlands which was really cool. Also got some sweet pics of a giant T-Rex. I also stopped in Calgary though and had dinner with Lane and Brian (2 friends from Queen's), so that was nice to see some familiar faces. Driving out of Calgary there's this one kind of hill that you go over and you finally get a pretty good view of all the mountains on the horizon... this was fantastic. After looking at a lot of flat so so long I was basically squealing from excitement as I was driving into Kananaskis Village surrounded by huge mountains. They're just so big and pretty!! Instead of heading straight to my hotel (which has possibly the comfiest beds ever), I went to check out my site so that I would have an idea of where it was/how long it would take to get there in the morning for set up etc. buuuut since Fortress Mountain is now closed, and is where my site location is, I didn't have access to it. There were locked gates about 8km away from the pillar. Sooo my boss came in from Calgar to check it out, and made some e-mails and calls. In the end, he was able to get a hold of someone today who was able to grant me access, so all was okay! This point is located pretty much at the verrrry top of Fortress mountain, so I drove up as far as I could, and then had the pleasure of hauling the 50 pounds or so of equipment up the last 500m or so of mountain slopes - I was tuckered out by the end. But the views definitely made up for the muddy/snowy climb. I think I took about 20 pictures which all look the exact same, and do the actual view no justice whatsoever. Oh wellll. I have no idea how i'm going to get the equipment back down the hill tomorrow without taking some huge tumbles, so with me luck with that.
The amount of wildlife that I see around here is extraordinary. Elk, deer, fox and mountain goats literally just hang out on the road, or just beside it. Trying to take as many pics as possible!

CURRENTLY
Odometer Reading: 26400 ish???
Hotel Number:9
Harry Potter AudioBooks Completed: 3.. nearing 4
Animals Seen: deer, rabbit, fox, beaver, groundhog, prairie dog, gopher, elk, mountain goat.
Big Things Visited: Nickel, Baseball, Canada Goose, Winnie the Pooh, Golf Ball, Lima Bean, Teepee, Bridge, Cornstalk, Sausage.

I'm sure I've forgotten a few things, but I really want to go and enjoy this rare sunshine!!!
Miss you all!!
Erin