July 27 - Swan Hills

Originally I had planned to take a day off driving; however I asked the boys and they wanted to go on. Their hope being that it would mean less travel time on the way back home. I decided that Swan Hills would be a great one to get out of the way since it was further north; this meant that we could simply start heading east the following day. If only I'd known how much road construction there would be. I used this extra waiting time to take about the changing landscapes and the many lakes in the area. To be honest, I'm not sure that the kids heard much of what I said; they were to wrapped up in their DS games.

Along Hwy 33 as you enter Swan Hills you will find a very unique scene - The Wilderness Sculpture. It is located beside the tourist information booth; which is a beautiful historic log cabin. The scene the depicts a mother goose protecting her eggs from a bear. It is hard to miss the copper and red sculptures. The unique steel sculptures, weighing approximately 2,000 pounds, were constructed in 503 hours by Kevin Oracheski of Edmonton, Alberta. Nearly 20,000 pieces of steel make up this truly unique piece of art.

After filling up with gas and buying each of us a tub of Ice Cream for lunch it was time to decide what to do next. We could either return to the campground or continue our journey further north to Slave Lake. The boys seemed happy enough to keep going. We drove around trying to find somewhere that might sell firewood. I was determined to buy it at a cheaper price. However, unlike back home firewood wasn't an easy thing to find - not even at gas stations. I went into a Home Hardware (I think) to check. The people working joked with about the irony of being surrounded by the logging industry and all this lumber and not being able to buy a simple bundle for sale. One women even joked that her husband could go chop down and tree and sell me that wood.

It was until after leaving Swan Hills that I learned of "Center of Alberta". You see, Swan Hills is the closest municipality to the Geological Center of Alberta. From the information kiosk on Highway 33 (the Grizzly Trail) it is just a three kilometers hike to the Centre of Alberta. Apparently, once you arrive at the "Center of Alberta" you can have your picture taken by the bear statue. It is supposed to a great place to enjoy a picnic and to explore the many natural trail that lead of from this spot.

Slave Lake is only 1h16min away from Swan Hills, so it seemed like a shame not to take advantage of the closeness. Not only had I heard about how beautiful of an area it is and how magnificent the shear size of the lake it, one of my lists also said there was a huge Walleye Fish Statue in Lesser Slave Lake. While the list was correct, it would have been nice to have a better sense of the region before heading up there.

The drive up to Slave Lake was incredible. At times I felt like we were simply in the middle of nowhere; everything around me seemed to calm and yet the nature was so alive. I had fun talking to the kids about how long it had been since we last saw a house, and asking them questions about the habits in the ares. How did they know we'd changed regions in Alberta? What did they think the main industry was? I mentioned how lucky we were to have so much land and what a shame it was that people took advantage of it - littering and using ATVs off-road.

We arrived in Slave Lake and stopped at the local Wal Mart; you see, I'd forgotten to pack enough clothes for the next day. Plus, I wanted to see if maybe they had any firewood. After looking at some bathing suites, which I've been trying to find a new one all summer, and trying on a few clothes I was finally ready to rescue the boys from the van to keep driving. However, once I went up to pay I realized that my wallet wasn't in my purse. Of course, instant panic. Had it fell out in Swan Hills? Did I leave it at the gas station there when I bought gas? The cashier was kind enough to put my items aside as I went to check the van; of course my wallet was there on the passenger seat.

I got back to the car and before looking for Lesser Slave Lake, I stopped at a few more gas stations looking to purchase some firewood bundles - still no luck. I was thankful that Navi knew where I wanted to go, because I sure didn't. I saw the sign saying that we'd entered Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park, but the further we drove the more I questioned the direction in which we were headed. I saw a sign for a Bird Observatory (off Hwy 88) and pulled off the road. I am every glad that we did. What a beautiful spot. It is a lovely building surrounded by various walking trails. After looking around at some of the signs, I went in to ask where I could find Shaw's Point.

It turns out that I was at Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park and I wanted to be at Lesser Slave Lake Hilliard's Bay Provincial Park. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong. I was on the east side of the lake and I needed to be on the north west side of the lake. I talked with them about my trip to all of Alberta's Big Things and how the boys were so done with it all today. They just wanted to get back to the campsite. Plus, we still needed to buy firewood.

It just seemed like a shame to be so close to the big Walleye and yet so far at the same time. She showed me some of the information in the centre and told me that more than 24o birds have been observed in the area. I also found out that Lesser Slave Lake is one of the, if not the largest recreation lake accessible by vehicle. The lake drains into the Athabasca River Basin and covers 1160 sq km.

The more we started to talk, the more determined I was to go see the Walleye. She kindly gave us two bundles of her firewood and wished us safe travels. I headed back towards the city of Slave Lake, slightly over 10 Kms and then over to Hilliard's Bay Provincial Park. It is about 13Kms outside of Grouard. Grouard is over 1h15m outside of Slave Lake. After that you still need to travel down some more roads to get to Shaw's Point, which is where the Walleye is located. It seems like a very family friendly campsite, although to open for my liking.

July 8 - The Long Way Home

It was once again time to pack up the van. This time we did a much better job knowing that we were one our way home; plus, the boys wanted to sit in the very back seats of the van so they could charge their DSs. I was disappointed that the boys didn't want to stop and see any of the plane displays in Cold Lake, but figured it was best not to push my luck. They had been so well behaved that I didn't want to jinks it.

A visit to David Thompson in Lac La Biche was our first stop. David Thompson travelled more than 100,000 kilometres. He mapped the Columbia River system to the Pacific, helped pinpoint the sources of the Mississippi River, and explored much of the territory east and west of the Rocky Mountains. He later surveyed expensive portions of the border between Canada and the United States. Upon entering Lac La Biche the first thing I did was look for the information ? sign. I'd done this when arriving at most new towns. The information centre is located along the river front. We took a lovely walk down by the lake to find the David Thompson statue. At first my boys whined that I was forcing them to walk. I couldn't believe how lazy they were being. After a bit, it did feel like we'd gone to far. I knew we hadn't though because I was told we'd find it at the end of the trail. The views were exquisite. Suddenly the boys wanted to know why we hadn't camped here. Funny, I believe I gave them the choice last night, but they chose Cold Lake because it was closer.

The boys happily walked along the shore trail back to the information centre, as I walked along the road, taking photos of the many beautiful churches. Time for the boys to moan again...they were hot and they were hungry. Even though I'd told them we wouldn't buy any fast food on this trip, KFC looked like a wonderful option. We didn't have to go digging through the cooler or pull over to make a sandwich and we could stay in our air conditioned van, while continuing our journey.

Shortly after leaving Lac La Biche my 12 year old had to go pee very desperately. Apparently he'd forgotten how not hold it. Not wanting to pull over I jokingly gave him and empty pop bottle and mentioned how lucky he was to be a boy in moments like these. While, you give a 12 year old a bottle to pee in and he'll do it.

Thanks to the list we'd been given in St. Paul, I discovered there was a large Tireman in Grassland. It was so cute and certainly a "big thing". Although it was difficult to get pictures of, it soon became the boys favourite roadside attraction. From there it was off to another item from the list the Rocking Horse Ranch in Athabasca, which apparently is no more or perhaps never was. The girls in the tourist information booth were extremely helpful and enjoyed learning about the various roadside attraction we'd seen thus far. They also told me about a large chair a few Km north on Hwy2 in Ghost Lake Campground. As they told me, I couldn't almost picture the boys sitting in the van rolling their eyes.

Only two more stops and we would be home. Next stop Legal to find Depression Pete. After driving up and down the main street, plus a few back roads to find him, we eventually gave up. At this point we were all hot and getting grumpy from being stuck in traffic for so long with all the construction. So, I decided that we would save Morinville for another day and just go straight home.

By the time we got home the 500ml pop bottle was full. What had I started?

July 7 - On the Road Again

We got up relatively early and packed up the van - we did a very quick job of it. We just sort of folded the tent and placed things very arbitrarily. After speaking with the campground hosts the day before, I added a couple more stops to our planned list for the day.

Stop number one was going to be a short walk up an old glacier path. I had my tiny map from the campsite in hand and a very vague idea of where it was - towards Elk Point. I must have driven for about 45 minutes, going up and down a small stretch of highway before I finally saw the tiny sign for the RR that I needed. Now, most people likely would have given up after the second time turning around, but not me. I am way to stubborn; once I get an idea in my head we are going to follow through. Once we found the turn off, it was still a short drive down some dirt roads. We hit the dead end and saw the parking lot that the camp hosts had described...a small patch of dirt by a farm house.
Then we found the sign for the path. It stood behind a "Do Not Trespass" sign. Hum, I recall them saying something about the farmers being okay with people doing this walk, but the grass looked like it hadn't been disturbed in a long time. Remembering that we were in bear country, I decided that it wasn't worth the risk. So, the boys stood behind the sign and I got a few pictures of them pretending to walk up with path. The drive wasn't a total waste. I also got some great photos of old farm buildings. Plus, it became another silly thing that mommy did on the trip for us to laugh at.

Okay so maybe the first of the camp hosts ideas didn't pan out; this didn't mean that I wasn't going to backtrack to another small town: Heinsburg: Iron Horse Trail Ghost Town. It is located on Hwy 45. We stopped at the Railway Theme Park to view an impressive restored 60,000 gallon Wooden CN Water Tower. It is located in it's original spot. The boys were none to impressed with this impromptu stop. What they failed to see was this historical relevance and natural wonders of the views. Frog Lake (near Heinsburg ) is also home Frog Lake Massacre Historical Site, although we didn't stop in.

Once back in the van the boys were pleased to be back on our original journey route. In fact, my youngest (then 10) was very excited about seeing Pete Fiddler, located in Elk Point. He had just learnt about him in grade five social studies. Pete Fiddler was a British surveyor, map maker, chief trader and explorer who had a long career in the employment of the Hudson's Bay Company. First stop in Elk Point, the beautifully redone, green information booth.
Here I was given an abundance of information, which of course worried the kids. I think they saw more attractions being added to the list. To be honest I can't recall whether they were right. Pete Fiddler certainly is larger than life - 32 feet high. He is located along Hwy 41.

We continued up Hwy 41 and turned off onto Hwy 29 to St. Paul, home of the World's Largest UFO Landing Pad (or is it Canada's Largest?). Maybe it was the World's First UFO Landing Pad? Attached to the Landing Pad is a small UFO exhibit, where you can see crop circles and reported UFO sightings. It is also where the tourist information centre is located. Here I bought the boys each a small souvenir.

I also had a wonder visit with the guy at the booth. We talked about how much I was missing my daily Starbucks visits, and the fact that I needed a good cup of tea (as someone who sells tea...I did have a small collection of loose leave with me, but nothing substantial. He provided me with a very long list of big things in Alberta. The boys sort of rolled their eyes, thinking great here we go with more stops, and boy were they ever right. It was looking at that list when I started to realize that perhaps I wouldn't see all of the "big things" in Alberta.

Bonnyville was our next planned stop. We were looking for an "Angus Shaw". Me in my ignorance thought that we were looking for some type of cow statue. We'd been to Bonnyville once before for a hockey tournament, but never left the main drag. Little did I know, that from our hotel window I'd been looking straight at Angus Shaw.

The first order of business was to find a nice spot to enjoy a picnic lunch. We found a beautiful spot by Jessie Lake. The boys were grateful for the opportunity to run around and stretch their legs. I was grateful for the chance to study my new list. I also asked a couple of local women where I might find the large Angus Shaw. I was glad to see that they too were a bit confused at first. One finally realized that I must be talking about the large wooden person statue. Instantly not only did I know it was located by the museum, but it made sense to me who Angus Shaw was. He was known fur trader and somewhat of local politician. I guess that I did pay attention in school.

On route to the museum we were cut-off by a turning truck. I off course honked my horn. Looking in the rear view mirror I was the truck do a u-turn. I didn't think much of it initially until the boys pointed out that the truck was following me. Keep in mind that I am on a main street through town. However, when I turned down some street, the truck also turned. When I went back onto the main stretch of road, the truck also went back onto the main stretch. I turned onto Hwy 28, towards the museum so did the truck. Now my heart was pounding and the boys were freaking out. I was on my cell phone with hubby, and he told me to drive by the local RCMP to scare the truck away. I pulled off the Hwy and headed back into town. The truck simply drove by.

We pulled into the museum parking lot and just sat there, too scared to get out of the car. I had trapped us. Heart racing, we quickly got out of the van and ran towards to museum entrance. We sort of stood their in shock before finally asking if we could go and get a photo of the Angus Shaw statue. It is 7 meters high. Once I was done with my many photographs within the museum ground, we hesitantly walked back towards the parking lot - what would we do if the truck was waiting there. Of course, it was not. We picked up some ice cream from the little museum shop and hit the roads again.

July 6 - Trip One - Big Things to the East

After seeing the big pig in Red Deer, my boys were a bit skeptical about what they`d see next. However, they reluctantly help my husband pack up the van for what would be our first over night camping trip on our journey around Alberta. People I told either thought I was crazy or brave to take the boys out camping alone...me, even now I am trying to decide which one it was.

We left around nine on July 6th with the first planned stop being Mundare to view the World`s Largest Keilbasa, or for those of you are are no familiar with this Ukrainian Sausage it is a Garlic Sausage, very tasty I might add. The sausage is 42 ft. high replica sausage and weights 6 tons; it is the only one of its kind in the world. The Stawnichy family set up a non-profit foundation that completed it.

Although our navigation, ``Navi`` system took us on a bit of a strange start while leaving town and there was a ton of highway construction (welcome to summer in Alberta) we did eventually arrive to the cute town of Mundare. It is nicely located in the middle of town. As you have likely guessed, Mundare had(s) a strong Ukrainian Settlement; you can learn about the history in the Basilian Father`s Museum (although we didn`t take the time to stop in).

Mundare is 70Km E of Edmonton.

Only 24 Km W of Mundare is Vegreville our next stop. Vegreville is home of the World`s Largest Pysanke (Ukrainian Egg),




Canada`s Largest Elk statue (although this may have changed over the years) and `Our lady of the Highway` Shrine just off Hwy 16 (we didn`t find out about this until after our visit). Other attractions include the Main Street Sidewalk Plaques and Regional Museum, although we didn`t stop at either. History of these many attractions can be found on the Vegreville website. While the egg can be seen from the highway it is well worth the stop to get out and walk around the lovely park area.


It was time for a longer stretch of the journey as we continued west towards Lloydminster, the border city. It was here that the rain began and I started to question the whole idea of camping. However, I was about to give up this easily, not yet; plus, we still had a few more stops along the way. In Lloyminster the boys stayed dry in the car, while I tired to take pictures of the World`s largest survay markers, which sit on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boarder.
It is not the easiest thing to photograph. The boys didn`t seem all that interested until I explained to them that just pass those markers we`d be in another province. So, of course we drove into Saskatchewan; okay, so maybe it was because Navi was once again taking us on another one of her strange little detours. What I didn`t realize at the time is that Lloyd is also home to the World`s/Canada`s largest Sundial, situated in Bud Miller Park.

Now the question was how to get to Dewberry, and if I blink will we miss it? Navi has gotten us this far, it was time to see how well she'd do finding small towns. Well, she found it alright; however, for whatever reason she decided to take us down a bunch of dirt roads, and I mean dirt, now muddy from the rain, roads. This would not be the time to get a flat tire or to get stuck in one of the ruts; we were literally on some road in the middle of nowhere. After much laughter to help me get through the frustration and nerves of driving in this we were in Dewberry, Alberta. Yes, it is a town that we would have normally just driven through likely without much notice.
Now we just needed to find the World's Largest Chuckwagon. Small town, should be easy. A good starting point seemed to be the local museum - closed. With the kids whining for a bathroom break, the next best option appeared to be the local store. Apparently we'd driven right by the chuckwagon on our way into town. We were told we could find it in a case/house thing in the field by the E entrance of town. Back we went - still no chuckwagon. We found the case, but I guess the wagon must have been out at some parade or local fair. We were also told that there was a tirelady in the area...no such luck with the either. We found out later that blew over in a wind storm.

Two hot, tiered and crappy boys, did I dare drive further? Could I push one more stop into the day?

June 29 - Red Deer

Our first stop was in Red Deer. Not only did this provide with the opportunity to see the big pig, but it was also a great chance to meet up with my baby sister for lunch. We had an enjoyable lunch at Glenn's Teahouse before heading across the road to enjoy the memorial gardens. I also saw the large Doughnut Mill, Windmill as I have seen many times before. I simply didn't take a photo. While we chose to eat at a restaurant, I know from previous visits that there are some beautiful parks in the area where one could enjoy a picnic.

My sister decided to join us one our first big things quest to find what is either Canada's or the World's Largest Pig Statue; however, don't be looking for anything huge. The only information that I was able to find ahead of time was that the pig was located by Wei's Western Wear. With Navi ready to go, we followed her to a parking lot. No sign of any pig. I went in and asked the people in Subway who all must have thought I was crazy. I asked someone outside having a smoke; he just sort of laughed at me and then walked away. Finally I came across two women in another vehicle. One of them actually knew what I was talking about. She told me that I was at the wrong Wei's Western Wear. How was I to know that there are two? She gave me some direction, so I got back in the car and started to drive.

I tried to look up Wei's Western Wear in Navi, but found nothing. Feeling hot and frustrated after this drive that appeared to be going no where, I decided it was time for Starbucks. As I was ordering, my baby sister managed to find Wei's in Navi, so we wet our new destination and went on with the journey. We arrived at the destination and sort of looked around. We saw nothing at first, but them from the corner of my eye I spotted a statue. We payed for parking, which seemed silly since all I wanted was a photo across the road; however my sister wanted to get out with us rather than wait in the hot car. After taking the two photos we went into some type of video game/music store things. My sister also wanted to check out Wei's. She bought the cutest little outfit for my soon to be nephew. Just as we were leaving and our parking meter started running out, we spotted the meterman. Good thing we paid.


Francis the Pig, is simply a standard size pig statue. He is also well hidden amongst some flowers and bushes in what appears to be a parking lot - although I'd imagine that the street has some historical relevance. (51ave & 52 St - Gaetz in Parking Lot) Even now, the boys and I have a chuckle as well tell people about the "big pig" in Red Deer.

The stone next to the monument says it all and reads in part:
Ghosts
Francis the Pig
by Danek Mozdzenski
The legend of Francis began in July 1990 when this pig escaped from a local abattoir. For nearly five months the fugitive roamed throughout Red Deer's parklands, eluding predators and several attempts of recapture. This freedom loving pig was finally captured and spent his remaining life on a local farm. Francis reminds us of the importance of hog production and processing to the economy of Red Deer.

Also in Red Deer

• Historic Fort of Normandeau
• Alberta Sport's Hall of Fame (off QEII heading N)
• Donut Mill Windmill (Gasoline Alley heading S)
• Sound the Alarm Statue (Downtown)
  

Red Deer is

• 148Km from Edmonton
• 145Km from Calgary
• 360Km from Lethbridge
• 409Km from Medicine Hat
• 586Km from Grande Prairie