Eterno Dia PhotographyStayCation Alberta: Alberta’s northernmost Badlands
Posted on July 26, 2023
It’s been a hot minute since I sat down to officially share thoughts and photos about my travels. Day jobs and living life certainly get in the way of documenting the things. I recently got to take an amazing day trip, courtesy of my husband as a birthday gift, and it really should be shared, so here I am.
When my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday this year, I couldn’t think of much in terms of actual physical gifts, so I asked for a day trip. I’d been reminiscing about a day trip we did last year to Hard Luck Canyon near Whitecourt. I originally found that trip on someone’s blog (which I’ve unfortunately lost track of), and it suggested a few other stops along the way, including Rocky Mountain Big Horn Distillery, to turn it into a day trip, and I had it in my mind to try the same type of trip, but head to a different location. I made this day trip request a bit challenging by asking for it to be multifaceted; I asked for part of the trip to include a historical stop that we might be able to metal detect at (a hobby I took up during the pandemic), possibly include some antiquing (I also became an old, old woman during the pandemic) some sort of hike (we all need to get out and be in nature), and maybe visit a local brewery (because beer is awesome). A final challenge to this request is that it had to be close enough to Edmonton, where we live, that we could leave in the morning after giving our senior, diabetic dog, her morning dose of insulin and be back in time to give her her suppertime dose.
Our first destination (“History”) was in the tiny hamlet of Duhamel. It was here that we stopped at St. Thomas Catholic Church, a historic Metis church dating back to 1883. We were surprised to find the church doors open and we were able to look around at the interior and some of the artifacts on display.
Up the road a short drive we found the church’s cemetery, with graves- some unmarked, dating back to the 1880s. This cemetery is the burial site of First Nations, Metis and early European settlers to the area.
After we explored the area, we headed to another part of the Duhamel area that was known to have early settlers and structures and did a bit of rainy metal detecting. We didn’t do much, as the day was rainy and the digging was muddy, but after a few bottle caps, nails and a drill bit, we did find a fancy old spike, that we think has some age, due to how far down it was buried.
After the digging and history lesson, we were ready for lunch, so my husband drove us to the next stop of the day: Donalda. I was aware Donalda existed, but I hadn’t yet had a reason to visit. This little village is particularly special, as it overlooks the Meeting Creek Coulee, which is the most northerly point of the Canadian Badlands (this is where the hike and nature portion will come in later). We initially drove around the area to take in some of the beautiful landscapes. We took some photos and chatted with some local cows before we headed into town to get lunch at the Coulee Tea House, an adorable café and restaurant in an old mechanic shop, with the most amazing selection of tea. We had a pot of tea, soup and sandwiches, and then did some shopping at the attached antique shop (yay! antiquing!) and local artisan market.
The thing that can’t be missed during a trip to Donalda, is the giant oil lamp on the edge of town. It can’t be missed, because it’s literally massive. From the village’s website: “Donalda has the largest oil lamp replica in the world. At 42 feet in height, it overlooks the coulee and lights up all night, every night. The Village Office across the street houses The Lamp Museum with the world’s largest oil lamp collection, numbering over 1000 lamps along with many local artifacts.” There’s a little walking area where the lamp is located, as well as the old railroad station, so after lunch, we headed there for selfies. I love lamp.
At the railroad station, you’ll find the signs posted for the Willow Canyon Hiking Trail. This trail (as per the sign) “leads to 129 acres of badlands offering fabulous sight-seeing from the top of the coulee rim to the bottom of the valley”. We strapped on our hiking boots and slathered on the bug spray and headed out to see the landscape up close.
We had a lovely 3.75km round trip hike, through forest, meadows, farmland and cow pastures that took us down to the bottom of the valley, where one could see what might be considered “baby” hoodoos. The hike is decently challenging, as it follows a lot of cow trails that were quite muddy from a lot of recent rain the area has had. While it was also pretty fun to hike along through the cow country, it should always be noted to make sure to never get between a mama cow and her baby cow. Even though the cows were generally avoidant of or indifferent to us humans, never make a mama of any species worry about her baby. In some cases, we had to hike through a bit of brush and avoid the main trail to give the cows a bit of space. The other thing to be aware of on this hike is the sheer amount of cow poop on the trails. But really, if you come back from a hike with clean hiking boots, did you really have an adventure?
I should add here as well that if you’re a birder (guilty) this is also a great area to find a good selection of birds, including American Goldfinches, the Wilson’s Snipe, Flycatchers, Vireos, Common Yellowthroats, and a variety of sparrows and Spotted Towhees.
The rain finally stopped and the day cleared up nicely during our hike. The area really is exceptionably beautiful. We were struck by the fact that the entire hike, we were the only two out there, so if you’re looking for a quiet hike filled with solitude – this one is for you.
Once we had our fill of hiking and nature and made it back to the car, our final destination, to celebrate successful physical exertion, was a local brewery. A 45 minute drive from Donalda had us at Battle River Brewery in Camrose. The brewery has a small tasting room and casual patio in town. After a few local beers and some chicken wings, we headed back to the city to tend to the elderly, diabetic dog.
I have to hand it to my husband for planning a very challenging request. We packed in a ton of activities into a single day trip, getting some local history, supporting some small town business, and getting in some good exercise in while getting out into nature. I highly recommend doing this trip if you’re looking for a quick getaway this summer. Feel free to get in touch if you have other suggestions for central Alberta daytrips as well.
Until next time, keep those hiking boots dirty.
L
Staycation Alberta : Lady Aurora
Posted on November 7, 2021
This past week, I was lucky enough I didn’t even have to leave my neighborhood to find something that people sometimes travel thousands of miles in an attempt to find and often never get to see: The Northern Lights. Aurora Borealis.
In northern Alberta, we’re more likely to see these magical magnetic solar winds than a lot of other places in the world, but often, it’s still luck. Finding aroura means paying attention to solar storms, staying up very late, usually in the fall or winter and often requires driving to a dark sky area in order to actually see and capture this magical phenomenon.
Last week we had some help from our local star in the way of some great solar flares and storms. The incoming storm was supposed to hit on the previous Saturday, and I was prepped and ready to go; camera ready, batteries charged, dark sky area chosen, but alas – the lady doesn’t always co-operate and no lights came out.
On Wednesday night, things were looking better, but the sky began to cloud over. It was a work night for me, and I’m not the type that can (safely) pull an all-nighter any more, so I went to bed. I happened to wake up at 4am (my new, annoying, middle-aged, trick) and stepped outside in the crisp autumn night, just to see if anything was going on, and as luck would have it, the aurora were there flickering above my head.
If you’ve never had the honor of seeing the Aurora, they really are simply stunning. They’re never the same; sometimes they slowly make curtain-like waves in the distance or overhead. Sometimes they flicker like they’re being turned off and on. Sometimes they’re soft and flowing and sometimes they move so fast and geometrically that they’re like laser lights in a club. They range in color from white, green, purple and pink. No matter how the Northern Lights appear, they’re mesmerizing and fantastic to watch. I’m never not awed when I see them.
I captured these from my back field. It’s not an ideal photography location. I live in a city of a million. The closest dark sky preserve is a 45 minute drive away. My neighborhood is very bright with a seniors home and school nearby that keep their lights on 24/7. To be able to see these lights from my field was spectacular. I knew if I’d headed out to a dark sky the photos would be spectacular, but I look my stroke of luck for what it was and snapped these photos in my pajamas from 4-5 am.
Many cultures and peoples including Canada’s First Nations people have deep spiritual connections with the Aurora and have legends and stories involving the phenomenon. Watching these lights, it’s easy to feel a magical connection to the earth and universe.
Lots of travelers make long, expensive, journeys to try to find these mysterious and magical lights. I feel very lucky to have captured these photos from my own backyard. Sometimes, you don’t even need to travel to find magic and beauty right where you are.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, safe and happy travels (when and if you can resume).
-L
Staycation Alberta: On the hunt for the Mysterious Mountain Bluebird
Posted on July 8, 2021
I’ll admit it – I’m officially a birder. I go to great effort to keep my backyard birds happy with a fountain, bird bath and a varied selection of seed and suet. Whenever I go out on a hike or find myself outdoors, I’m always interested in the birds I see. One of my greatest joys is just sitting outside and watching and listening to the birds.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a place called Ellis Bird Farm, not far from Blackfalds, Alberta. They came up in my facebook feed advertising bluebird tours. First things first – I didn’t know that we had bluebirds of any kind in Alberta. Secondly, I’d never hear of Ellis Bird Farm, but I was intrigued enough to immediately sign up for the free tour advertised.
Ellis Bird Farm began in 1982 to carry on the legacy of Charlie and Winnie Ellis, conservationists who originally owned the farm. The Ellis’ at the time operated one of the largest bluebird trails in Canada. The farm today is a haven for birds of all kinds, as well as rabbits, ground squirrels, beavers and many other types of wildlife. It also serves as a research centre for mountain bluebirds and other bird species.
I arrived for our guided Bluebird tour provided by Lucas, one of the researchers working at the farm. I knew nothing about bluebirds; I’d never seen one and thought they were a species that only lived further south or east than Alberta. The mountain bluebird is a small migratory thrush with the males being a vivid blue color and females a much less impressive shade of grey with a bit of blue on the wings. Their range is actually quite expansive, migrating down to Mexico in the winter and as far as Alaska for breeding in the spring and summer.
Many mountain bluebirds will nest in nest boxes, of which Ellis Farm has set up all over central Alberta. Researchers check these boxes and record data about population and breeding. Unfortunately, as was explained by Lucas, the number of bluebirds that came to Alberta this year, was significantly less than normal, possibly due to the bad storms Texas had earlier in the year.
Just because we were on a bluebird tour, I wasn’t confident we’d actually see any; nature can be fickle, and I’m a bit cynical when it comes to promised wildlife experiences. Either way, I was excited to get my bird nerd on and learn about a new type I’d never seen before.
Lucas took us out on one of the trails to a nest box where he said if we just waited patiently, the male and female mountain bluebird would show up shortly to feed the nestlings he knew were in the box. Just like clockwork, dad, and then mom showed up to feed the babies! They are absolutely beautiful birds who aren’t overly shy of human activity so they made excellent photography subjects. The tour took us to two other nest box sites a few kilometers down the road from the farm with more of the promised birds.
We were thrilled to actually see all of the bluebirds on the tour. Turns out the biologists who study the birds have a pretty good idea of their behavior, and therefore a high chance of successfully finding them. Yay science! After we’d had our fill of the bluebirds, we headed back to the farm and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring. We had lunch provided by The Peppered Elk food truck, found lots more birds and animals and checked out the information/gift shop. The staff were all friendly and knowledgeable. There is so much to do here. The grounds are gorgeous and one can just walk around for an entire day. A quick stop at the website will tell you about all of the fun activities for kids and adults; birding tours, photography workshops, bird banding demonstrations, birdhouse building, hummingbird planter workshops and kids camps.
If you’re looking for a great day trip in Alberta, I can’t say enough great things about this farm. It’s fun and peaceful and a wonderful wildlife refuge. Make some plans to visit this gem. I certainly plan on a return visit.
Until next time, safe and happy travels either exploring your own back yard, or the world beyond.
L
From Sea to Stars: A Weekend In The City of Angels
Posted on May 10, 2020
Back in September, we spent a whirlwind three days in California. Shawn turned 40 and as part of his gift I got him tickets to a double bill concert of Ben Folds and Cake, two of his favorite artists, playing at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. I wanted him to have a very special memory of his 40th year, so I booked the Los Angeles part of be bands’ tour. We took a long weekend and flew down to Southern California, a favorite destination of mine, despite the smog, traffic and general discord happening in America at the time.
Our concert didn’t start until the evening on our first full day, so we had the morning and afternoon free. As a landlocked Canadian, my priority was to get to a beach and Santa Monica seemed like a good option, if a bit touristy. I’d never been there but of course I knew of the iconic pier and carnival located there. We headed out from Glendale with our rented Kia Soul and her trusty GPS with WiFi. With traffic, it took about an hour to drive and we found parking just off the pacific coast highway. The famous Santa Monica pier was fairly far off in the distance from our parking spot, but we found bathrooms and water stations right away, which was great. As we made our way to the pier, we admired the cute beach houses and pretty landscaping and watched the bikers and joggers passing us by. The pier was busy; we’d passed some kind of street festival up on Ocean Avenue on our way down to the beach, so lots of people were filtering down over the pedestrian bridge. The day was so smoggy that for a while it was hard to tell if it was just overcast, but the smog did keep the heat down a bit and there was a nice ocean breeze to keep us comfortable.
At the start of the pier, there’s a small aquarium that we didn’t go into just due to time constraints. It’s dedicated to education about the bay and how to conserve and protect it. I sort of wish I’d stopped in, as it was a very reasonable entrance fee as well, so if you have time, stop to check it out. We made our way along the pier, looking at potential spots for lunch, checked out the amusement park and some of the souvenir shops.
A smoggy morning at Santa Monica Pier
There were lots of musicians and painters busking along the pier and a number of people were fishing off the side. Below us, beach goers splashed in the waves. We found some historical markers, artifacts and information about the pier and Route 66, which I was unaware we were on, at the far end of the pier. We found a cute, three-story restaurant with a rooftop patio for lunch and people watched and just took in being by the ocean. After lunch, we headed over the pedestrian bridge up to Ocean Avenue to check out what the festival was and have a quick look around. We checked out some of the cool architecture along the ave and made our way back to the car once we’d had our fill.
With time on our side, I was itching to check out the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and Hollywood, where my husband had never been before. We headed from Santa Monica to Hollywood. We parked and just started walking Hollywood Blvd down the Walk of Fame. 
We passed all of the hundreds of tour operators, the Hollywood Church of Scientology, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, and we investigated the stars on the sidewalks. We kept our sightseeing efficient as we got to the TCL Chinese theatre to look at all the hand and footprints of celebrities. If we’d had more time, we could have entertained ourselves for the entire day. There are private tours, group tours and self directed tours, if you enjoy ogling celebrities homes. I’m not sure how many of the tour groups are legit though, and a lot of the information we saw advertised was for celebrities that were big 20 years ago – maybe more fun for mom and dad than the kids….
After a whirlwind tour of Hollywood, we saved enough time to make it to Griffith Observatory. I hadn’t really done any research on it- I only knew that it had great views, and a telescope, which unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to look through, as we had the concert to go to that evening. We drove back to LA and navigated our route to the observatory. Parking was a bit nightmarish; the only parking left was parallel parking up along the winding, desert hillsides headed up to the observatory. It is metered pay parking for $10/hr. We decided two hours was about all the time we had to look before heading back to Glendale to get ready for the concert.
We hurried hiked from the car up to the observatory. It looked a hundred miles away but was probably about a kilometre from where we parked, which I definitely felt, hiking uphill in the afternoon California heat. The smog from the morning was dissipating, so it was starting to get warm (keep your sunscreen handy and bring some bottled water).
We explored Griffith Observatory (admission is free!), which was quite remarkable with numerous space exhibits, huge planetary displays, and of course a theatre named in Leonard Nimoy’s honor. We could have spent hours learning about the Tesla Coil, tides, moon phases, seasons, spectroscopy and looking through the camera obscura that peers over the city, but we only had time for a brief walk through.
We headed outside to the garden and outdoor area to take in some stunning landscapes of the city before leaving to head to the concert. This is a place I could have spent a full day (and evening) at. There is so much to learn here; they have star parties, theatre presentations and educational events and the outdoor views are stunning. I can only imagine they’re also stunning at night. Griffith Observatory is a must see when in LA and I was sad to have not had enough time to take it all in.
The Greek Theatre. I’d seen it in movies and I knew it had been designed in the style of an ancient Greek theatre. This was one of the most magical nights. The sun began to set as we got to our seats but the air was still pleasant and warm. As it got darker and the opening band was playing, I was actually pretty overcome with how gorgeous the venue was; crickets were chirping, the forest and hills around us were lit beautifully. Off in the distance where the moon was rising, the city lights were twinkling in the dusk and planes were landing and taking off at the distant airport. The whole atmosphere was just beautiful and I had a few moments of being taken aback at how perfect everything was in that moment. The bands were phenomenal and only added to how great the experience was. At the end of the concert, we did have to walk a ways down from the venue to find a taxi (I know, I know, but we don’t UBER) to get back to our little motel in Glendale…
Ben Folds at The Greek Theatre
On our final morning, we went for breakfast at Foxy’s in Glendale, which had a lot of greasy breakfasts to choose from (so much cheese) but a super gorgeous little patio. After breakfast we walked across the street to find The Americana at Brand, a shopping complex we’d heard was nearby, but hadn’t seen yet. We walked down a little alleyway, and a bit like walking through Diagon Alley in Harry Potter, we emerged in a gorgeous shopping plaza with stunning garden areas, cobblestone streets and adorable boutique shops. Only a few coffee places were open this early, but there were gardeners and maintenance workers cleaning the streets, stringing up lights and busying themselves with tasks. It was so quiet, peaceful and fresh.
Breakfast at Foxy’s
We’d scheduled in just enough time to head to Playa del Rey on the way to the airport before flying home. We parked and found a little lagoon, and then made our way to the beach. While we were headed through the burning sand to get to the ocean, I head distinct “borking”. I looked towards a rough concrete pier in the water where the “bork” had come from and watched a sea lion dive under the water! I was thrilled, as was my husband. He’d read that sea lions could often be spotted here, which I didn’t know. He didn’t tell me in advance, as he was afraid I’d be disappointed if I didn’t see one, so he was happy that I’d been surprised by the treat of seeing a sea lion in the wild. We continued to hear them bark as we made our way to a cute cafe, Playa Provisions, for lunch. We had a nice, healthy meal here before finally having to make our way to the airport and head home.
Three days wasn’t nearly enough time to spend in Cali, but we certainly did make the most of our time. At the time, we couldn’t have foreseen the coming pandemic events and this was our last trip, at least internationally for the time being. Even though LA is crowded and has issues with homelessness, poverty and pollution, there’s just something about it that I love. We made great memories in the City of Angels for Shawn’s milestone birthday and California will always have my heart. TTFN. ‘Til we meet again.
– L
Staycation Alberta: Siffleur Falls and the story about how I never made it there twice
Posted on August 31, 2019
I’m not much of a hiker, but I’m working on my irrational fear of bears and I always try to do things that scare me in order to deal with and conquer my fears. I’ve come a long way in the past few years with a successful 17 km round trip to both tea houses at Lake Louise three years ago and a successful hike to the gorgeous Grassi Lakes in Canmore last year.
About six years ago was one of my first attempts at a hike in bear country since my fear started. My husband and I and our pug Lexi, were on a camping trip at David Thompson Resort and Shawn wanted to try a hike. We’d heard about the popular Siffleur Falls hike nearby and it sounded doable. Back then, I didn’t carry bear spray and I was an ill prepared hiker.
I did okay for the first 20 or so minutes. We crossed the suspension bridge that crosses the Saskatchewan River. I began to get anxious when we got to the boardwalk area, which seemed like the perfect meadow area for bears to be at home in. My anxiety peaked when we reached a narrow closed in section of the trail where I couldn’t tell if my fear was overtaking me or if the feeling I was having of feeling “watched” was paranoia or was my instincts- it’s sometimes said if you feel like you’re being watched, you could be being stalked by a predator- and they have mountain lions here too. Even though I thought I could hear the waterfall ahead, my fear became too much with the trail being not densely populated and with my appetizer of a dog, I forced our little family to turn around. Even though I was alive, I was really disappointed in myself for letting my fear run wild.
The Saskatchewan River and suspension bridge
Fast forward to this June. I had the chance to redeem myself. We were camping nearby again and I decided I’d be amenable to give it another go. Better prepared with rain gear, bear spray, a few snacks and confidence from recent successful hikes where I didn’t get eaten or lost forever, we trekked out. I made it over the bridge, through the meadow and boardwalk and actually made it to the Siffleur River Bridge (that last time I’d mistakenly thought was the waterfall nearby). I carried in bravely even thought the trail was again, not very busy and began to close in with thick brush. We followed the trail and passed warning signs that we were now in back country. In quiet, densely forested areas, I requested that Shawn tell me very LOUD STORIES as we headed further back into the mountains. We came to a bit of a fork with 2 trails with a trail head marker that was not longer there. After some discussion we decided to take the trail that looked more “used”.
Crossing the Saskatchewan River
Suspension bridge at the Saskatchewan River
This took us up a steep trail and I realized we’d been walking for a while and was surprised to hear the sound of rushing water getting quieter, which I thought was odd, since we were hiking to falls. There were few markers and the obvious paths were getting less clear. My Garmin activity tracker told me we’d been hiking for well over 4km at this point so we checked the rudimentary map we’d gotten from the campground. It was then that we noticed the map (unlike the others we’d gotten for other nearby hikes) was listed in “hours” and not kilometers or miles. We didn’t have any idea how long we’d been hiking for, but guessed about 45 mins to an hour. The location of our falls was listed at 2.5 hours, which would make this at very least, a 5 hour return trip. Even though I’d prepared better, I hadn’t brought extra clothes or enough food to spend a night (worst case scenario in the mountains). There were very few other hikers and no cell service in case something happened. We hadn’t let anyone know we were on a hike, as we hadn’t expected this one was so long. We hadn’t set out particularly early and if we ate our snack on the way, we would have had nothing else for an emergency situation. Since we had no idea how much longer the hike would take (at this point we were starting to wonder if we were still on the correct path) and since we still weren’t prepared for a potential night in the back country, we decided to turn back.
Boardwalk along the first part of the Siffleur Falls hike
Getting into backcountry
Leaf miner damage on some of the leaves
Wild Orchids! Beautiful!
Round leaf orchid
I was again, very disappointed in myself, but at least this time I didn’t turn back because I let irrational fears get the best of me. Maybe I was over cautious about the potential things that could go wrong, but I also didn’t want to be a statistic and need rescuing from a mountain park. In my frustration about still not making it to the damn falls, I have to keep in mind that we didn’t have great information from the map or the trail information at the trail head and I can use that as a lesson for the next time. When we returned and checked to see if we’d missed something obvious, we noticed that someone had written 4.4 km by hand on the map. Obviously, that’s not the kind of information one can necessarily trust either; who wrote it? How did they track it?
A beauty day for a hike
Crossing the Siffleur River bridge
Siffleur River
Siffleur River
Hiking back after turning around
Star-flowered False Solomon Seal
Red Paintbrush. One of my favorite alpine wildflowers
So Siffleur falls wins again. At the end of the day, we’d had a nice hike, the views were stunning, we found gorgeous flowers and I’m happy that I made it farther than last time. Maybe the third time will be a charm, with an early start, a full pack and a big can of bear spray.
Have you made it to Siffleur Falls? How was your hiking experience? Have you ever encountered misinformation about a trail? Thanks again for stopping by to read. Feel free to comment or ask questions! Until next time, safe and happy travels!
-L
Eterno Dia Photography 