Earlier this year our family received not one, but two invitations to family reunions in northern Alberta. Renting a recreational vehicle suddenly seemed like a good way to make our adventure north more comfortable and convenient. Despite my reservations about renting...
Lesser Slave Lake is the third largest lake in Alberta and a popular place for fishing, boating, swimming and sunbathing. The lake itself is surrounded by several campgrounds as well as the Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park. For our family reunion we stayed a week at...
Apiaries in northern Alberta are highly successful thanks to the long summer days and the cool summer nights. The hives here produce staggering amounts of honey that are shipped domestically and internationally, to places like Japan and the United States. We had...
St. Isidore is a small francophone farming community in northern Alberta and the hometown of my father-in-law. His family, searching for a better life, moved their large family from Québec to St. Isidore in 1958. What they encountered on their arrival was far from...
The Hoodoos are sandstone pillars topped by protective capstones. It takes millions of years for these pillars to form and every year wind, rain and snow slowly erode them away. These unique structures are scattered throughout the Alberta Badlands but just 16km east...
About twenty years ago my family spent some time exploring various attractions around Drumheller, AB. It was such a memorable experience that I wanted to bring my own children here one day. Now that we are here I am happy to report that the experience does not...
Bow Valley Campground is a popular camping spot for folks living in Calgary because it is a relatively shorts drive away. I have done a fair bit of camping between Jasper and Canmore but this was a new stop for me. As we drove from Lake Louise, through Banff and...
Why we were going to look at a lake was beyond my children. We live by a lake and we only look at it if we aren’t close enough to be in it. It took a bit of convincing and explaining for them to understand that we were going to see a special lake. When we arrived at...
As you drive east from Mount Revelstoke National Park to the Glacier National Park there are three easy-to-access self-guided boardwalk trails: Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk Trail, Giant Cedar Boardwalk Trail and Hemlock Grove Boardwalk. Each trail is well marked along the...
The Enchanted Forest was birthed out of a love for art and a desire to create a magical space for people of all ages. Truly, it is a place where fairy tales and nursery rhymes come to life. I have fond memories of visiting the Enchanted Forest as a child and then...
Running, swimming and biking and very popular activities in the Okanagan. Put them together and now you have a triathlon! Early this morning we woke sleepy children so that my eldest could take part in his second triathlon of the summer (this was his first). He took...
Books I recently finished Wild by Cheryl Strayed After Cheryl Strayed looses her mother to cancer she stumbles down a path of self-destruction. In an effort to set her life back on track she decides to set out on journey of self-discovery on the Pacific...
My parents have an apricot tree. A beautiful apricot tree filled with sun ripened apricots. We have been harvesting fruit from this tree over the last couple weeks and finding creative ways to eat and preserve them. I have learned over the last few years that my...
Summer is upon us! For the last couple weeks we have been experiencing steady mid-30°C (95°F) heat. Such intense and prolonged heat has acted as a catalyst for the many forest fires blazing across the province of British Columbia and for the last few days our blue...
Last night we drove down to Osoyoos to go see a reggae band from Grande Prairie, Alberta: Tasman Jude. It was a bit of a trek to get there and it was sweltering hot when we arrived. The nice thing about the concert is that it was right on the beach so my children were...
The Best Strawberry Ice Cream by Josée Bergeron the Backwoods Mama. A summer favourite!