Alberta is a Providence of Canada that is known for many features.

The World Famous Calgary Exhibition & Stampede is held annually in Calgary,a city in Alberta, each July.

It was the base for the energy boom in oil and gas in Canada.

It borders British Columbia on the West and Saskatchewan to the East, in the South it borders the United States and yes in the North The North West Territories so its landlocked.

Many Albertians and Candanian holiday makers all head to the beach, not any beach but Alberta Beach.

Alberta Beach is found as one heads West out of Edmon on Highway 16.

So as part of my exploration of small towns of rural Alberta I decided that the mystic and popularity of Alberta Beach deserved a visit.

Well the day turned out to be anything but a beach day. The sky was overcast infact it persisted in light rain all day. It wasn't even warm the outside temperature hovered around 8-10oC.

Alberta Beach was not exactly on Highway 16 so I headed Norh along a very potholed country road until I was faced with a decision. The answer was two fold in reality. At the lake turn Left or turn right, the decision to drive on water was not an option. I turned right and soon after passing some home arrived in downtown Alberta Lake.

The main Street is only some 50m front the actual beach I was told.

I ventured that 50m to find no not a beach but a boat launching ramp with lots of signage saying no parking but I did not expect any great numbers to want to launch a boat today in these conditions so i stopped to take a few photographs.

The shops well there was The Alberta Beach market so i took a look inside it turned out to be a regular supermarket.

The store opposite catered for the beach goer. On display were swimwear inflatibles and a wide range of tourist souveniers. Much was discounted as the summer was coming to an end. I enquired about trade to the owner who said it had been a good summer with many customers.

The town had the usual range of facilities a bank,lawyer,car sales, apparently uring the summer the population swells into tens of thousands with a permanent population of 1100 approx.

It is unique as it is one of two only urban places in Alberta that is not listed as any designation such as village,town,city etc this came about in 1999 (Jan1st to be percise) when it changed from it's 1920 designation of Summer Village to it's current Alberta Beach.Full Stop.

Located on a large inland waterway called Lac Ste Anne, it is the historical site of the Lac Ste Anne Pilgrimage shared by The Indian Tribes of Cree ,Dene,Blackfoot along with the Metis Roman Catholics.

Evansburg is another small settlement that has adopted a different approach to attract the tourism dollar and become a destination of the recreation market. Hence it promotes the Prime Citizen of the year as a Grouch. So Evansburg is officially The Home of The Grouch. Evansburg was also my stop for a Sunday ice cream a tradition of Sunday outings. The elderly sales lady accepts cash only and sells ice cream and well ice cream only.

Lunch was taken in a shelter at a waterpark in Wabamun,,no customers today despite being free, as it had a shelter shed and the local inhabitants were out in force to greet the only tourists of the day, even the toll collector didnt show so I had free parking, wonder if the CCTV signs were real or signage only.

Once food came out the residential seagulls both young & old joined the Canada Geese to seek human food scraps.

This town had a unique set of locals apart from the bird life. Someone had assembled a group of locals constructed out of terra cotta pots filled with petunias. A unused speed boat also filled with sunflowers stood guard at the towns entrance while high above a large metal Dragon Fly hovered.

Then it was on to Edison a later town to see what a larger town offered but my interesting was a second hand store on the roadside that yield a number of brand new books at a cost of $1 each. These books obiviously appeal to a very limited market as one is about betting on Harness Racing but another title Black Maverick, telling the story of a freed Black Slave who signed up in the Union Army during The US War of Independance. The third tells the history, the phenomena and the meanings of The Bridges of Madison County, not excatly riviting reading but sure to bring back fond memories of this leg of looking at the byways of Northern Alberta.