We started the day off with the Toyota Corolla. I was hesitant about its usefulness in off-road environments, but it proved to be up to the challenge. We drove a few hours to just outside Fort MacLeod where we began to see evidence of the Alberta beef industry. None of the places we stopped had actual slaughterhouses on them (it’s hard to tell from the satellite photos), but we did see plenty of feed lots. These raise the cows until they are ready for slaughter–sometimes raising cows on contract for their owners. The smell wasn’t as bad as I would have thought, and some of the cows roamed freely on a plain, as seen in the pictures below. Buffalo were also on some of the lots.

We then stopped at the original slaughterhouse, Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. An interesting place, with a beautiful view of the Alberta plains.

On the way back, we saw a wind farm–a probably good way to make money from your land if you’re a farmer in Alberta. The wind mills were really beautiful, and spinning when we saw them. In the pictures, you can see the control station with a microwave tower for telemetry. In some of the pictures of the plains, you can also see microwave towers. I also noticed some fiber optic markers, but it seems for these long distances over flat terrain, microwave was more common.

I’m not sure if I’m the only one who finds this funny, but Cisco’s VoIP phones (at least the ones in Banff), say “Are you there?” instead of ringing. I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or intentional, but I read somewhere that “Are you there?” was a common way to answer phones in Victorian days. Along with, “What is wanted?” or “Ahoy, hoy!” But why is Cisco trying to bring those back? What’s wrong with a regular ring?

I just got back from paying off my student account at the Banff Centre. The receptionist asked me, “when are you leaving?” The 22nd I replied. “Do you want to add more money to your meal plan?” No thanks, I replied. I told her I was vegetarian, and that I didn’t care for the dining options. I could tell this made her a bit upset. “We are an institution…” she said. “The new dining hall will be a lot better.” I’m sure it will be, I said.

My reason for writing about this story is that I find it interesting that the fact that the Banff Centre is an institution is an excuse for bad food or lack of options for people with dietary restrictions. If they had people with vision and attitudes of making the most of their role as an institution (e.g. volume discounts, buying in bulk to reduce costs, etc.), I think they could actually do better than most individuals. They do have professional chefs–most people don’t have those at home!

A few days ago, I walked around the town of Banff and took pictures of infrastructure. I didn’t get a chance to write about it, but I wanted to record some of the interesting things I noticed before I forgot. Or I guess maybe only one thing that I remember: what was on the train. It’s interesting to notice that the trains here carry a lot of wood (both lumber and plywood) and un-odorized liquid propane gas.

Investigating further, one finds out Alberta is actually Canada’s oil powerhouse with the oil sands. There are even a ton of direct flights from Calgary to Dallas. Wood, I would guess. But oil? Who knew Canada was rich with oil? I assume things are going to change between the US and Canada (politically) pretty soon…

More if I remember what I forgot…

Today I realized the Banff Centre isn’t as benign and “paternal” as they make themselves out to be. In fact, they are pretty sneaky. They have cookies at two of their dining services outlets–The Kiln and The Gooseberry. Cookies are $1.88 each at the Kiln, $0.98 each at the Kiln (albeit, a bit smaller). Soup is more expensive at the Gooseberry than at the Kiln. Props Pub (a third dining service outlet) has cheaper burgers than the dining hall. The maze of what’s cheaper where is actually quite complex.

It seems their scheme is to make some things cheaper at certain places, others more expensive. All the way around, the stuff on campus is only slightly cheaper than it would be in town, maximizing their profits, but ensuring people stay here to spend their money. Definitely crafty.