Ode to Alberta

     I will miss your wide open skies and your amazing sunsets that I could view from my bedroom.

    I will miss your spectacular full moon. The biggest I have ever seen

I will miss your stimulating storms, ferocious winds, exhilarating thunder and lightning,
and even your terrifying but fascinating hail.

Returning from a very scary run in which I was pelted
with hail, as the thunder shook around me.
 

Rain and thunder on a run

                                             And the rainbows that come after the storms

 

I will miss the beautiful Bow River and all the parks and pathways along it, particularly Bowmont and Bowness. 

I have loved running here more then any other place I have lived. It is more hilly than any other place I have lived. I couldn't go on a run anywhere without running up at least one steep hill. The pathway system is fantastic and it's been so nice to run along the river and through the parks rather than always in neighborhoods. I have caught some of my best views and taken many pictures on my runs and gained some good leg muscle along the way.

Running through Bowmont park

I have too many pictures and not enough time to add them all. I will miss Christmas at Heritage park, iceskating outdoors on frozen ponds, and nighttime tobogganing with Christmas music in the background and the hill all lit up with lights.

Drumheller, Big Hill Spring, Elbow Falls, Johnston Canyon, Fish Creek Park, Banff, Johnsons Lake in Banff, and Lake Louise. If you live here and haven't visited some of these places make sure you do. My favorites are Drumheller and Johntson Canyon.

I love prairie drives, where all you see is canola and wheat fields and wild skies in the distance.

And the zoo. Oh, how I have loved the zoo. I cried the first time I saw the elephants there. I'm kind of a big baby like that. Those sweet tiger cubs there, and the bear at the fence, and the butterflies that land on your hands and head.

I will miss my gym. I loved the Tabata, and bootcamp, and kickboxing classes, and the great ladies that taught there.

I will miss my school here. To have great discussions with like minded people who share a passion for health and nutrition. Sometimes I think if we had never moved here I may have never started school again. In the short month and a half I've been there, my confidence has grown as has my passion. Getting educated makes me feel so happy and complete. I can't wait until I finish school and can do something that helps others.

My kids have also loved it here. They have made great friends that they are sad to leave. We love our family here and will miss them dearly. We have made some good friends here and learned that even if you have little in common with people you can still laugh together. 

So good bye beautiful Alberta. You were so much more then I ever imagined you to be. I am so grateful we have had this experience living here, as short as it was. We took every opportunity to explore and immerse and to fall in love.