lifestyles
with CHERYL MacKINNON
There is so much to see and do in the gorgeous province of Alberta. This week finds us exploring the south with its vastly varied landscape – from sweeping wheat fields, to shimmering lakes and National Heritage Parks boasting dinosaur bones and hoodoos, prepare to be awed. This is the region bursting with history, a two billion year old geological history that is on full display in the area known as the Canadian Badlands. Over three to four days, wander the paths of dinosaurs, and hike and explore eerie hoodoos – those pillars of sandstone that have been pinched and scraped into wild shapes by thousands of centuries of wind and water erosion.
A SPECIAL REPORT PROVIDED BY GLOBAL TV'S CHERYL MACKINNON AND visitors can now come to experience an ancient Mandan Earth Lodge and visit the site where Chief Crowfoot, signatory of Treaty Seven signed in 1977, is buried. This is a special place to bring the kids for an overnight stay in a tipi, while cultural enthusiasts will thoroughly enjoy participating in a ceremonial dance, touring the Gallery, or hiking the park with a First Nations tour guide. Blackfoot history is rich with cultural details in which to learn the early history of our country, long before the Europeans arrived.
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Travel and Lifestyles Canada
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Travel & Lifestyles is a weekly information report from Cheryl MacKinnon, Founder of ‘kid friendly!’ family tourism and Tourism Industry of Canada 2006 Travel Media Award Finalist for outstanding tourism promotion of Canada. Watch Cheryl on Global TV Morning News every Wednesday at 8:50 a.m. in B.C.
If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to live on the range, this is definitely the part of our country where you can find an authentically western experience. Cowboy culture is a real way of life here in Alberta South. Roping, branding, bucking and herding, to rodeos and country dances — there are outstanding vacation packages throughout the region which provide programs for guests to decide if the life of a cowboy suits them. And if you’d like to ride like a cowboy without the ranch work, there are a number of excellent trail riding outfitters who offer overnight packages for beginners to advanced riders. So while Brokeback Mountain doesn’t actually exist, places like the famous Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and the Cowboy Trail certainly do.
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Digging Alberta South
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ou can take day trips from Calgary, or two to three day trips, but truly, Alberta South needs at least a week to be enjoyed to its fullest. The Canadian Badlands - dramatic hoodoos and sandstone formations of ancient ocean floors – completely captivate with their incredibly weird and wonderful shapes. The Alberta badlands are so named for the largely barren areas in which soft, exposed rocks – originally laid down as muds, silts and sands by ancient seas – have been eroded over thousands of post-glacial years by water, wind and frost. The term ‘badlands’ originates from early French fur trade trappers who called similar landscapes in South Dakota ‘mauvais terres à traverser’, or “bad lands to cross.” Visitors can discover the Canadian Badlands a la carte, or take advantage of guided tours, interpretive trails and centres, or learn through the multi-media resources of the museums. So many options, further enhanced by the amazing sunrises and sunsets to be had from your RV or tent campsite.
Dig Them Bones Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the striking area of rock formations within Dinosaur Provincial Park have an almost other worldly sense about them. The rocky landscapes of the park offer amazing views of ancient rock formations. It’s within these formations that paleontologists have discovered multitudinous dinosaur fossils. This is where, more than 75 million years ago, dinosaurs hunted, mated and ultimately perished as the then lush sub tropical paradise was flooded. From young children learning about the earth’s early history, to grown up curiosity of natural history, the Royal Tyrell Museum (also near Drumheller and the Park) brings these fossil discoveries to life through their collection of life-like reproductions of dinosaurs. Home to the world’s largest collection of dinosaur fossils, the Museum offers programs for every age. A one-hour hike lets visitors experience seven wonders of the badlands, including trees that tell stories, rocks that come alive and volcanic clay you can eat. You can even try your hand at excavating at a simulated dig site, or prospect for fossils.
Past, Present and Future Alberta South is the historic home of the people of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Last July, the stunning Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park opened to much excitement. The Museum/Gallery overlooks 6,000 acres where guests and
Where to Find More If you haven’t checked this out yet, I really encourage you to do so this weekend. Imagine having your holiday paid for by the place you want to visit. This could happen as Travel Alberta has an exciting contest running through to June 1, 2008. Visit the web site at www.travelalbertastay.com to learn more about Southern Alberta, and then enter to win one of three travel prizes valued from $1,500 to $3,500. If you’d like to browse through Alberta’s colourful, official vacation guide, give the nice travel counselors a call at 1.800.Alberta (that’s 1.800.252.3782), and they’ll send you one in the mail. For specific help with planning your visit to this absolutely amazing region of Alberta – the south, visit www.canadianbadlands.com, www.blackfootcrossing.ca, www.tprc.alberta.ca, www.traveldrumheller.com, www.head-smashedin.com and www.albertacountryvacations.com .
What’s next? Hoodoos to You Do’s – Living History in Southern Alberta