Sometimes you have to love living in Alberta.  Not only does the weather change on a moment’s notice but your options for recreation are seemingly unlimited.  This weekend was a perfect example of that.

Yesterday it was abandoned places in the Canadian Badlands.  Cacti and sagebrush.  Today was snowshoes in the Porcupine Hills.  Spruce trees and snow.  Both less than 90 minutes from my front door. 

Now, in fairness, this has been a drier than average winter for Calgary.  I think it has been a month since we’ve had new snow.  We’ve seen high temps into the double-digits.  Major grassfires and high winds.  This is not a normal January for those of us living north of the 51st parallel.

I have not wasted the chance to get out and enjoy the opportunities presented by not having to travel roads covered in snow and ice.  North to Edmonton, south to Raley, east to Drumheller, west to Kananaskis.  That’s not too bad for getting around this province in the last couple of weeks.

The forecast says things will change after tomorrow.  Snow.  Freezing temperatures.  Basically what we would expect for January.  We always knew it couldn’t last, right?  Whenever we get a stretch of warm weather we fall into the collective trap of wondering if this is *finally* the year we get an early Spring.  I’ll never understand why we do it.  It’s like Canadians marking Groundhog Day; we know in our heads it’s all one big scam – after all, even six more weeks of Winter would mean Spring got here early – yet our hearts make us fall for it one more time.

Rather than lament the warm weather we will be missing, I’ll embrace the wintery weather which is coming.  I shall snowshoe through pristine snow in the blanket of silence that only the heavy blanket of winter brings.  Not only will I *do* it, I will revel in it.

But, before then, I shall take a quick moment to look back at some of the great travels I’ve had since Christmas.  (OK, I admit it – it’s just another excuse to post a picture from that great shoot at Raley.)

Raley, Alberta – December 27, 2011

Carbon, Alberta –- January 7, 2012

Porcupine Hills – January 8, 2012