Canada is a great place to visit, but as the old saying goes..."Wouldn't want to live there". I disagree with their politics, medical system, taxes, etc. However, the scenery is spectacular, the roads are good and the people are "sorta" friendly. The people I meet in the oil business are great, but the average "Joe" on the street seems to have a problem with most Americans. It seems to get a little better when they find out you are from Texas. Canadians and Texans have quite a bit in common...I have been to Canada several times, so I can say this. 

The Canadians are very big on "Cowboys", in fact they host the largest rodeo in the word in Calgary...the Calgary Stampede. Canadian boys think of themselves as real cowboys, but they need to visit Texas before they can appreciate what real cowboys are!

My son, Justin, accompanied me to Canada on a business trip. We took a few vacation days to do some exploring. This was in January 2001. I expected snow, and wasn't disappointed. However, what I didn't expect was getting caught in a blizzard the first day we were there! We had just left the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and were driving back to Calgary. The weather was threatening and ominous, promising to get really nasty. The sun had been shining earlier that day, so we figured it would be OK. 

We made the decision to drive back to Calgary instead of getting a room in Drumheller. As we drove, the snow flurries started and it got dark quickly. Things were going OK until we reached Brooks, then the snow really started to fly. We couldn't see past the front hood of the PT Cruiser we had rented. I wasn't going to end up in a ditch, so we stopped at a highway intersection to wait it out. We had been driving in a "train", with about 5 other cars following us. All the others stopped too. "Wait it out" was an understatement! We were there for 6 hours before the storm lessened it's hold on us. At least we could see a bit further down the road, so we continued on to Calgary.

On the way, we saw dozens of other travelers who decided to brave the storm and drive...they ended up in the ditches! I'm glad we stopped to wait it out. What a night in the cold we spent.

We also visited Lake Louise, Banff National Park, the city of Banff, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Jasper...the list goes on and on. Look at the photos to see some of the places we visited.