Alberta! (all over)

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Soooo a few days and no updates. But fear not! Now we're back on track.

There has been lots of visiting this past little while. First we went from Saskatoon to visit Al in Westlock, Alberta. Though we were only there for a handful of hours we still had a fantastic little trip up. Dan - Al's boyfriend whom I haven't seen since my Ottawa days - was also in town visiting, so it was a good-sized reunion all around. That night we had a fantastic salmon fillet for dinner, alongside some risotto and stir-fried vegetables.

Come morning Val and I drove Dan down into Edmonton to see his folks for a bit, and from there the two of us got to our business in the city. We did the West Edmonton mall for an hour or two, and then I dropped Val off at her friend Catherine's house. She spent the night there catching up and doing the town while I went off in search of a bit of my family.

I was really glad to hook up with Sandra and Asad for the evening. We hadn't seen each other since Chris and Shannon's wedding in 2001, but catching up seemed easy as pie. The two of them were gracious enough to treat me to a fantastic dinner on the town, and then they went above and beyond by letting me crash there overnight.

Originally I came home from dinner at 7 and hoped to grab a quick nap before the Edmonton hockey game started at 8, but I guess after so much driving I simply passed out. I slept for 12 hours that night.

Then came today and our trip south into the parks around Lake Louise and Banff. All I can say is wow. We were lucky enough to get a bit of snow cover as we hit the Lake. All of the trees look amazing with a light sprinkle of white.

Otherwise, the pictures of Lake Louise speak for themselves. The place is a treasure and that's all there is to it. As a matter of fact, we liked it so much that we decided to splurge on lunch in the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise overlooking the lake and its mountains. It was excellent! We had a table right against the window, which offered a perfect view of just about everything.

Then it was on to Banff which is where I am now. After a couple beers on the town I'm writing from the hostel. There will be more on that tomorrow, but for now I'm going to upload a couple pictures, publish the blog here and then grab one more drink before bed. Good times!

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Photos

Sunset nearing Westlock
Magic!

Al and Dan
Al works on her article for the paper with help from the lot of us.

Small Truck & Big Mountains
Near Lake Louise

The Happy Travelers
At Lake Louise

Mountains
I had to post at least one photo of mountains

Durrty
'Nuf Said