Places:

Canada

Spent something like nine years living in Edmonton Alberta. A pretty all-right place. The Canadian economy is abysmal, but things are still surprisingly expensive. Go figure. I like Canada.

Some things to do there:

• The mountains to the west are nice. Definitely worth the time. Banff and Jasper are both OK towns, especially when not clogged with skiers. Mt. Edith Cavell has some nice alpine meadow stuff, and the foot of the glacier there is nice too (although it's melting really fast, so it won't be there for much longer).
  
  
• Elsewhere in that area of the Rockies, Malign Canyon is cool, and vaguely scary (well, I *was* a kid). Worth a stop.
  
  
• The Lake Louise Hotel is probably overrated, in my opinion. It's pricey, and I've heard some horror stories about the housekeeping (I knew someone who worked there). I don't want to get into libel territory, so just stay somewhere else.
  
  
• The Glenbow museum in Calgary is fairly decent too. Has some odd choices though -- like replicas of the British Royal Jewels. This is probably due to that whole Commonwealth thing -- it's like an advertisement for the British Tourism Association.
  
  
• Skip the "Canadian History" section of almost any museum in Canada. They're almost all the same, and Canadian history isn't very exciting. It's mostly farming, interspersed with political machinations. Heck, the "Riel Rebellion" was basically a bunch of guys getting drunk and shooting up a remote outpost. I mean, come on!
  
  
• West Edmonton Mall. Biggest mall in the world, and probably the weirdest. You should probably go here at least once in your life. It's like being in a sci-fi movie -- I always expected things to turn into Logan's Run or something. In any event, it's larger than the Mall of America, if that kind of thing matters. It's also better (in my opinion).
  
  
• Edmonton has some quality bike paths running in and around the river valley. In fact, Edmonton spoiled me -- I've always been disgusted with the state of bike paths everywhere else that I've ever lived.
  
  
• Expect bugs. Mosquitos are everywhere in the summer.
  
  
• As part of the British heritage, the Canadians have some interesting potato-chip flavors. My all-time favorite was "Cheddar-Jalapeno Hotdog" flavor. In case you're interested, you could actually taste the hotdog meat. Weird.