Here we are in Vegreville, Alberta, home of the  world’s largest Ukrainian Easter egg.  It is right beside the city campground where we are staying.  Three times each summer, their main street is closed for a large market and one of them is tomorrow morning so we plan to bike over there and check it out.  We also want to hit the butcher shop that makes homemade Ukrainian sausage.  

We really enjoyed our time at Elk Island National Park, which is known for its bison (wood and plains) herds and its elk.  We saw the bison but not the elk –  in fact, we came face to face with a bison on a trail.  He did not seem interested in us but we turned and walked quickly back the way we had come!  We canoed on a beautiful lake with plentiful waterfowl, including a flock of white pelicans and took short walks on a few trails – loved the sunset over the lake and enjoyed watching a beaver’s wake as it swam across a pond to its lodge.  This morning, we played 9 holes of golf on the park’s course, first opened in 1936. After lunch at the clubhouse, we drove east a short ways to the Ukrainian Heritage Cultural Center (or some such name).  It is a group of buildings brought from around the region to celebrate the large Ukrainian pioneer community in east central Alberta – which included Shon’s mother’s family who settled in nearby Smoky Lake, AB.

Too many mosquitoes to write more tonight – hope to post this tomorrow at McD’s here in town before we move on to Saskatchewan.  

Next afternoon in Lloydminster – the only town in two provinces as the border goes right through town.  We haven’t seen that yet as we just pulled into the McD’s at Walmart to access free wifi.  The market in Vegreville was a disappointment as there were no produce stands, mostly merchandise like Tupperware, Watkins, Pampered Chef, etc.  We did find the butcher shop though!  The countryside east of Elk Island to here has been beautiful with very green rolling hills and numerous ponds – 4 lane all the way.   Gas mileage has been the same as on the Coquihalla Connector though – surprising to us but maybe the wind???

No photos this time as I haven't downloaded the cameras lately.

Hugs to Neko - hope you are feeling better and enjoyed the camping (you, too, Kynnan) and hugs to Mike - hope your nurse is taking good care of you.