Photo: Legislature Grounds Fountain On Canada Day, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

 A huge Canada Day crowd encircles the centrepiece fountain at the Legislature Grounds in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 2007.

It’s about that time of year where Canada and the United States celebrate everything that is grand and admirable about their countries, so it is only appropriate to post a scene of my own from Edmonton, Canada. Here, we see a crowd of revelers, families, couples, and singles alike, enjoying a glorious summer day on the occasion of our nation’s birth, some 140 years prior.

This photograph also shows off another of Edmonton’s gaudy assets, enjoyed only by locals, tourists willing to linger off the beaten track (i.e. Highway 1), and Calgarians willing to risk the torment of their fellow office dwellers for daring to go to “Deadmonton” for something other than a clash between the Flames and the Oilers.

So if you’re considering visiting Jasper National Park and the Canadian Rockies, consider starting your adventure in one of Canada’s most underrated cities … as one of my blogger friends likes to remark, “you’ll never know until you go!”