We stood out on a dock at Lac Beauvert in Jasper, on an October night so clear that the only clouds around were the ones we made with our breath. Across the lake, the bass from a wedding party thumped at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and above us hung a moon so full we […]

Photographs from our morning helicopter tour in Canmore, Alberta with Alpine Helicopter. […] This has been my summer of helicopters and each time the door is shut, headsets are adorned, and the rotor blade spins, my heart races and prepares for not only the amazing scenery I am about to witness, but for the thrill of the ride.

Stepping off the plane at YYC airport you’ll find that the terminal is full of friendly White Hat volunteers, wearing the signature cowboy hats you may associate with the Calgary Stampede, and the city of Calgary itself. Stetsons, steaks, sprawl, and steeds, that’s what one might purely think of this Albertan metropolis, unless they’ve visited […]

The quote “I didn’t even know there was a festival for that!” is displayed on the About page of FestivalSeekers, an online directory and guide to festivals across Western Canada. Indeed, the site provides information about festivals you didn’t even know existed on top of the most popular summer events, contests, photos, deals, and useful […]

Southern Alberta has been devastated by floods and rising river waters over the last week leaving the City of Calgary, and many surrounding areas, in a state of emergency. Most significant is a large amount of rainfall — up to 200 millimetres in some places. Add in ground that is already saturated because of some […]

Within just a few days last autumn I spent the night at a ghost town hotel followed by a chilly overnight stay in a tipi at Blackfoot Crossing. The experiences were unforgettable and surreal all at once. I was on a media trip in the Alberta Badlands, a few hours outside of Calgary, with two […]

The Rosedeer Hotel opened 1913 in the dusty boomtown of Wayne, Alberta. Back then, the population swelled to over 2,500 but since the mines closed up in the 1950s it has dipped to just over two dozen. Over the last 30 years proprietor Fred Dayman, who bought the place from his mother (his uncle owning […]

Last week I was on a tour with travel media exploring the Alberta Badlands prior to the Go Media conference in Edmonton, hosted by the Canadian Tourism Commission. We started off with a whirlwind tour of Drumheller and one of our next stops was the Atlas Coal Mine. Since it closed three decades ago, this […]

I’m a West Coast girl, born and raised. My boots are muddy 10 months of the year, I can tell the difference between a spruce, cedar, or pine cone, and I know that while seaweed is smelly at low-tide, it’s delicious on a specialty hot dog. I’m used to damp, mossy, lush green coastal forests […]

I’m in Alberta for the next week on an excursion in the Badlands followed by a travel media conference in Edmonton. Yesterday our small group was picked up at the Calgary airport by Pat “The Bandlands Guy” Mulgrew of Wild West Badlands Tours and we began a whirlwind visit of this unique region. Wild West […]