On the road to Montreal - Jasper to Saskatoon

So I left Jasper a day earlier than I'd planned. Basically I was feeling restless and craving the monotony of the prairie-flat highway after the overwhelming hight and splendor of the Rockies. For a variety of reasons, I needed to get moving. So i headed east this morning on the Yellowhead Highway (otherwise known as Hwy 16). Once I cleared Jasper, the scenery changed very dramatically and very quickly. I had thought it would be more of a gradual transition from mountains to prairie but no. The sky suddenly opened up in the space of a few miles, the mountains being replaced by flat-bottomed mountains of fluffy white clouds on a giant blue sky. For a while I drove through rolling hills freckled with so many wildflowers it looked like snow. By the time I'd made it into the florescent yellow canola fields, I was chasing a dark purple storm way out on the horizon. I followed it for most of the afternoon but never quite caught it, although by the time I made it to Edmonton, the roads were wet and the smell of the storm was fantastic.

I'd hoped to camp in Elk Island National Park, just outside of Edmonton and Canada's oldest wildlife preserve (think elk, bear, deer and even moose), but it was full and I hadn't booked ahead. So I pushed on another 150 kms to the rather tiny town of Vermilion, which fortunately has a nice provincial park campsite where I am now. My first powered campsite in 3 weeks! I'm so terribly excited to be able to tap away at my laptop for an evening again.

The beauty of the prairies is more subtle than the Rockies and I'm finding the driving very soothing. But can someone please tell me why on earth there are seagulls this far inland?