Alberta embraces the simpler life, and some farms (like Sprout Farms) offer wooden wagon rides pulled by draft horses. It’s one way to spend a summer day in Alberta, but the Edmonton area has so much more to offer. Here are some suggestions of things to do, when you travel to Alberta’s capital city, Edmonton.
Alberta is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I should know. I live here. Yes, I travel to other parts of the world, and I do so frequently; I would go nuts if I didn’t. But I love traveling in Alberta, too.
Alberta is home to the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Two of the most visited ski towns are located here, too: Jasper and Banff.
Travelers along the mountain highways will often be treated to the sight of flocks Rocky Mountain sheep (yes, they look like goats – but they are sheep).
The stingray deaths at the Calgary Zoo have continued to baffle authorities. The cownosed rays began dying en masse this past Sunday in a new exhibit that opened just a few months ago, in mid-February. Toxins or poisons are suspected in the rays’ deaths although recent water tests have come up as clean. Zoo veterinarians have eliminated the possibility of moisture lotions or sunblock creams as the source of any contamination of the touch pools.
As sad as the stingray deaths are, the Calgary’s Zoo, Botanical Garden, and Prehistoric Park, with over 290 species of animals, has so much more to offer its patrons. Opened in 1929, The Calgary Zoo celebrates its 80th birthday next year.
If you’re planning a trip to western Canada, be sure to include the Calgary Zoo in your plans. And here’s why you should do that . . .
Looking for drugs? Do you need a tooth fixed? Or maybe you just have a yen for a darn good taco.
A visit to Brownsville, Texas is great but you must spend at least one day in a foreign country when in the area. And that’s so easy to do, because Mexico is just a short drive, or walk, away.
You can choose from a variety of entry points (International Bridges), but double your fun with a drive up Hwy 281, the “Old Military” highway, and hang a left at Progresso.
Read on . . .
There are some things you must do when visiting New Orleans: Take a Hurricane Katrina bus tour; eat seafood gumbo from a tiny deli on Royal Street; ride a streetcar to the huge St. Patrick cemeteries at the end of Canal Street; and visit haunted houses in the French Quarter. Above all, take a walk along Bourbon Street, but do it in the morning.
Bourbon Street is a magnet for the young and lecherous among us, at night, but a morning walk in the bright sunshine, devoid of the nighttime debauchery, can be a truly pleasant experience. Especially if you are a photographer.
Read on . . .
Okay, call me a traitor, call me a fool, call me any name you like but I had to take the chance. I made a decision, before a recent trip to southern Texas and New Orleans, to leave my heavy Olympus Evolt E-300 DSLR at home. I replaced it with a sleek little 12-megapixel Fuji FinePix F50 compact digital camera.
My husband looked at me askance as he repeatedly asked me if I still wanted to take my DSLR camera. I told him, firmly, “No.” That I would take my chances. And that I would live with my decision. Only time would tell if I had made a terrible mistake . . .
“Oh, look a snake!”
The urgency in my husband’s voice was alarming. We had just been warned by a local Texan to watch out for snakes inhabiting the bushes. And sure enough, in one of the older, more deserted, most appealing graveyards, just outside of Brownsville, along Highway 281, a snake crossed our paths.
Read on. . .
In the army, you never know who you’ll be bunking with. Except Simon Vega had a fairly good idea that the dark-haired handsome guy from Tupelo, Mississippi, was special. Back in 1958, Vega shared army duty with none other than the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. Vega remembers fondly his days with a young Elvis. But remembering his former army buddy wasn’t enough for Vega; only a museum would do. But what a place to put a museum!
Read on. . . (more…)
Ignore its dumpy exterior because if you want to eat in this New Orleans restaurant, you’ll have to get over first appearances. Besides, the place was good enough for celebrities like Steve Martin, Jimmy Buffet, Kathleen Turner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and LeAnn Rimes.
Look for a plain building with a side entrance; one of the entrances probably has a busted door, so you’ll have to go to the side. You’ll see lots of people coming and going; that’s always a good sign of good eats. Once inside, don’t stand around waiting for any special attention, just grab a menu, and place your order.
Read on. . .
Don’t let the look of the ketchup bottle put you off. You simply must visit this tiny 84-year-old restaurant hidden away in historic downtown Brownsville, Texas. You’ll be able to say you’ve rubbed shoulders in a place where American President, Lyndon Johnson, once rubbed shoulders, too.
And rub shoulders is exactly what happens here – the walls are only about 6 feet apart.
Read on. . .
