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Animals & Olympic
Only for the reason of doing this task quickly, these two categories are together.
Road side animals, especially elk and those 1000 pound grizzly bears, are prevalent. We saw no bears (one waiter said they were already hibernating). Tourists are cautioned to remain in their cars with windows up; and if out, then to be a minimum of 6 or more BUS lengths from bear and at least three bus lengths from Elk. (Our photos were cropped, making them seem closer than they were. But people pay little heed to the advice, and we many times saw folks walking almost right up to them, which is foolish.) The big bull here was watching the passing train with some interest but no alarm. He had several in his harem, as well as some young in the group. We saw these in early evening, right before sunset. This was in Jasper, right at the edge of town, just adjacent to our hotel.
In the country about 5 miles from Jasper, this sign tells all to maintain distance especially in fall. Among other things, "do not get between the bull and the cows!" it says. See also, another glimpse of beautiful mountains.
Also only a few miles from Jasper we found this bull elk, watching over a very large heard of cows and young (at least 2 dozen). This also was right at the edge of the road. Big guy, wasn't he!
Here is some of his group. Grazing right up to the shoulder of the road.
At another place we spotted this sign. You did not have to go far to see some type of warning. Note also the typical French translation added to the signs. It was there, but not as much as in eastern Canada on previous trips, where sometimes there was NO English on the signs.
We are pretty sure that these are wild life walk ways, specifically to get them across the freeway safely.
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As we approached city limits of Calgary again, we stopped at the well known site of Winter Olympic training. With Vancouver Olympics coming up soon, there were many Canadians in training right now.
Flags & pennants, at the beautiful entrance.
Also at the entrance, a map of all the various facilities on this large acreage.
The mural near the entrance, just behind the flags.
Behind the building where we had soup for lunch in their cafeteria, a partial view of the ski jump area. For a price, you can drive your car up-top and behind the jumps to view the city, as it is the highest point in the city.
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