June 26, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

After the long haul from Alaska to the Canadian Rockies, it has been great to have some time to look about, rather than drive hammer and tong every day. Yet again it has been the scenery that has enthralled us over the past few days. Even with the patchy weather we have had, Jasper and Banff National Parks have kept us gasping for the last couple of days. The blue-green lakes are absolutely stunning, especially with the mountain backdrops. The wildlife has been accommodating, posing obligingly by the side of the road for us. On the other hand, the much-vaunted towns of Jasper and Banff left us a bit cold. Admittedly, that is probably our dislike of T-shirt shops, ice-cream parlours and over-priced art galleries. When tourist traps and the scenery are combined, as they are in Lake Louise, then the experience can be extremely positive. We were able to hire a canoe at a reasonable price and paddle off towards the glacier at the end of the Lake, with the famous Fairmont Chateau as a distant backdrop. We made the round trip in record time, weight for age!

Previous experience has taught us to avoid hotels within National Parks like Jasper and Banff, where the price of accommodation is way beyond our budget. Instead, we stayed in the towns of Canmore and Hinton just outside the parks. Both were average North American strip mall settlements, but without the press of tourists. As a bonus, Hinton is situated in an extremely scenic spot, with high ranges towering above the town.

Today we had an easy drive to Calgary, just 100 km down the highway from Hinton. With another rainy day threatening, we took a bit of a punt and headed for the Calgary Heritage Park Historical Village. What a find! We have seen a few of these outdoor museum complexes around the world and this is well up there with the best of them. It has a fantastic auto museum, steam train ride throughout the park, historical village, authentic original buildings, re-located to the site and friendly and well-informed staff at every location, most of whom had been to Australia at some stage and were keen to chat with us about their experiences and explain the features of the museum. All for a reasonable $20. The only drawback was the hordes of school kids screaming and yelling all about us. A small price to pay.

June 27, Calgary, Alberta.

Calgary turned on a much better day for us today. By mid-morning the sun was out and the temperature was approaching something like a summer's day - for the Northern Hemisphere. Our motel is fairly close to the city centre, so we elected to take the light rail downtown for a bit of exploration. This was the same light rail that rumbled past our door every ten minutes for most of the night. At least it was a short walk to the station.

Calgary is a city of about 1 million and, like most North American cities, it has tended to sprawl out. Having said this, it doesn't seem all that large in comparison to other cities we have visited that are about the same size. The light rail is not a large network, just two lines, but it seems well used and it worked well for us.

A city is generally a city to us and Calgary is probably just that, another city. Downtown could be almost anywhere in the western world, but without the cowboys and cowgirls we had expected. roaming the streets in big hats, big belts and high-heeled boots that we might have expected this close to Stampede time. There was, however, an excellent museum. The Glenbow, is a combination art gallery and museum, with a strong focus on western development and Indian culture. It was extremely well-presented and when we visited, not at all crowded.

On the downside, a long trip to the outer suburbs to visit the Aero Space Museum, was a serious disappointment. Sure the planes they had were in extremely well restored, but we have seem more, better-presented aircraft museums in smaller cities like Darwin. Perhaps we were a little jaded by the long wait for the connecting bus once we had left the light rail?

Next week is the 100^th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. We are sure the place will be jumping for this internationally renowned event, but today, it was a bit like 'Saturday night in Toledo Ohio' downtown. You could have shot a cannon off. Just on peak though as we returned home, the good folk of Calgary streamed out of their office blocks and filled the stations for the quick commute home.