<<< _ ALBERTA
Recreation and Places to Visit

Alberta has five national parks: Banff National Park, in the Rocky Mountains, is the oldest national park in Canada. It was established in 1885 and encompasses 6,641 sq km (2,564 sq mi). The resort town of Banff, in the park, is noted for its mineral hot springs. A highway from Lake Louise leads northward through 290 km (180 mi) of spectacular mountain scenery to Jasper National Park.

Jasper National Park is the fifth largest national park in Canada, covering 10,900 sq km (4,210 sq mi). The park is famous for its alpine scenery and diverse wildlife population, which includes grizzly bears, caribou, moose, and wolves. The resort town of Jasper, in the park, lies on the CN railway line.

Waterton Lakes National Park, in the southwestern corner of Alberta, has an area of 505 sq km (195 sq mi). The park, which encompasses grassy plains and mountain foothills, adjoins Glacier National Park in Montana. Together they form the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

Elk Island National Park, east of Edmonton, is mainly a wildlife preserve for bison, elk, deer, and moose. The park covers 194 sq km (75 sq mi).

Wood Buffalo National Park straddles the Alberta-Northwest Territories boundary. It is the largest national park in Canada, with an area of 44,807 sq km (17,300 sq mi). The park is a noted wildlife refuge for wood bison, plains bison, and other animals. It is the summer nesting ground of the whooping crane, one of the world’s rarest birds.

Provincial Parks

Alberta has developed an extensive system of provincial parks. They include Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, southeast of Medicine Hat, where forested hills and plateaus rise more than 460 m (1,500 ft) above the prairie; Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, on the Milk River in the extreme south, where ancient picture writing found on sandstone cliffs is still undeciphered; Dinosaur Provincial Park, where the fossils of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures may be seen in the Badlands region of Red Deer Valley; Vermilion Provincial Park, a swimming and boating resort in the east; and more than 100 other areas.

Museums

The Provincial Museum of Alberta, in Edmonton, is one of Canada’s most popular museums and offers a variety of exhibits that explore the human and natural history of the province. Also in Edmonton are the Alberta Railway Museum, which displays historic railway cars and locomotives; Fort Edmonton Park, which preserves a Hudson’s Bay fort and dozens of period buildings; and the Odyssium, a space and science center that features North America’s largest dome theater. Several important museums are located in Calgary. They include the Glenbow Museum, with a large permanent collection that focuses on the art and history of western Canada; the Museum of Regiments, the largest military museum in western Canada; and the Alberta Science Centre Centennial Planetarium, offering interactive displays on a wide range of science topics.

Other popular museums in Alberta include the Sir Alexander Galt Museum and Archives in Lethbridge, which preserves and interprets the history of southwest Alberta; the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum in Banff, which explores the culture and history of indigenous peoples; the Sunnybrook Farm Museum and Interpretive Centre in Red Deer, an agricultural museum; and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, which exhibits dinosaur bones and other fossils. Many small-town museums display artifacts from indigenous peoples and pioneers.

Other Places to Visit

In Edmonton are the Legislative Building; the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium; the Valley Zoo, featuring native and exotic species; the Odyssium (formerly the Edmonton Space & Science Centre); and a reconstruction of Fort Edmonton. The Edmonton area is also home to one of the world’s largest shopping centers, the West Edmonton Mall, which houses more than 800 stores and covers more than 45 hectares (120 acres).

In Calgary are the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, which is a duplicate of the one in Edmonton, and the Calgary Zoo, which includes botanical gardens boasting more than 4,000 ornamental plant species and a prehistoric park that seeks to replicate the natural world of the dinosaurs. In downtown Calgary are the Devonian Gardens, the largest indoor gardens in the province, and the Calgary Science Centre, offering many types of interactive displays and exhibits. Fish Creek Provincial Park, on Calgary’s south side, is the largest urban park in Canada, encompassing an area of 1,348 hectares (3,331 acres).

Provincial forestry roads connect Coleman in the south with Brazeau and Hinton in the foothills west of Red Deer. These roads afford spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains. Near Lethbridge, there is a historical site called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a cliff that indigenous peoples used to kill bison nearly 6,000 years ago. Groups of hunters chased the bison off the 10-m (33-ft) cliff while others waited at the bottom to kill those that survived the fall.

Source: MSN Encarta: Online Encyclopedia