Leaving Christina Lake, our journey continued eastward through the beautiful Rocky mountains straddling both BC and Alberta. Once over the other side, the first thing we noticed was the wideness of the rolling almost treeless hills and the wideness of the huge sky above. The expression “big sky country” came to mind, and memories of growing up on the prairies rushed in.

When we first saw a windmill, we were struck by its beauty, and again memories arose, this time of the windmills we saw in Denmark some years ago. When we came upon some gentle hills that had a row of dozens of these tall graceful modernist looking structures, we could not help but stop and drive along the gravel road to get closer to this “farm” – yes, they are called windmill farms!

Alberta, an oil rich but hydroelectric-poor province has led Canada in increasingly investing in this clean and efficient renewable resource. At home we learned that this “farm”, which had a sign “Cowley North” is part of the Cowley Ridge Windplant, the first commercial windplant in Canada. It was completed in two phases in 1993 and 1994. Fascinating! Why isn’t BC investing in these on our windy westcoast? So much better than nuclear energy anywhere!

Our destination, Lethbridge sits on the edge of a coulee overlooking the Oldman River. Our hotel was next to this, so we enjoyed an evening walk along the lovely nature trail here as we watched the sun lowering in the sky behind the High Level Bridge. Across on the other side, straddling the slopes of the coulee, is the unique University of Lethbridge building designed by Arthur Erickson.

The next day would be the highlight of the whole trip….

UPDATE June 15th: Don’t miss Roger’s comments on a historical site in Lethbridge (which we visited long ago) – Fort Whoop-up.

UPDATE 2, June 15th: Exciting news – BC is developing a windfarm! My husband has been doing a lot of research on wind energy for personal interest as well as a potential project at work, all inspired by this trip. Tonight he came across the Nai Kun Project. The proposed Nai Kun wind farm is to be situated in Hecate Strait between Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) and Prince Rupert off the coast of BC. The wind farm will be built during the calm periods of the year, over a three or four-year period. Construction is expected to be complete by 2010. It’s a very interesting and informative website with some videos to view, including this project.

(Read more at Alberta Trip Day 1, Day 3, Day 4 and Days 5 & 6)

As I mentioned a few days ago, we took a little driving holiday last week. We enjoy car trips which allow us the flexibility to stop and enjoy whatever catches our interest (within some time limits of course) and have a picnic lunch somewhere along the way. We have lived in BC for a lot of years and still haven’t seen all of this province, nor that of Alberta, our destination. It has been a couple of decades since we drove the scenic Crowsnest Highway from Hope (east of Vancouver) all the way to Lethbridge, Alberta. British Columbia has several mountain ranges running north south with valleys in between, so the road does wind up and down until we cross the Rockies into Alberta.

Whenever we travel in BC, we take along our now dog-eared copy of the Beautiful British Columbia Travel Guide (1994) which was published by a magazine of that name (now called British Columbia magazine). While my husband drives, I read out loud the interesting history and facts about the communities along our route. The Crowsnest website is as interesting as the book, with much more detailed histories. I’ll just mention a few highlights of the day’s journey.

I was thrilled to see the wild rhododendrons in bloom in Manning Provincial Park, three hours east of Vancouver. This species of rhododendron is similar to the Himalayan ones, and is found in just a few locations in North America. (I wish I’d written down the information from the park.) This was the first time we were there in June to see them in bloom. We have fond memories of several cross-country skiing holidays in Manning Park when our family was younger.

Osoyoos is located on Canada’s only desert – the northern most tip of the Sonora Desert. Situated in the heart of the South Okanagan, and boasting the lowest annual rainfall and the highest average temperatures, this is appropriately called BC’s Desert Wine Country! It’s too hot for me, Spanish/Mexican looking, and popular with families and retirees. Some cool day I would like to visit the Desert Centre here.

We stopped for the night at Christina Lake, a pretty little town with cottages rimming the lake. It will be very busy in July and August but now it was still quiet, without fast food joints, hotels or fancy restaurants. These tired travellers found a lovely spot to unwind on the public beach by the quiet waters surrounded by mountains before retiring to a motel.

(Read more about the trip: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Days 5 & 6)