I always love a road trip and enjoy finding new routes using a good old fashioned paper map. We drove to a family wedding in Lloydminster last weekend and we decided to take less traveled highways. I missed two sleighs being pulled along the side of the highway by teams of horses. That will teach me to put my camera away for a few minutes. But we did see some of Alberta's "Large Roadside Attractions" and of course I had my camera out to snap a view of those tourist attractions.
Wikipedia states that, "A large percentage of Vegreville's population is of Ukrainian Canadian descent. The world's largest pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg)[2] was created to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1974 and to celebrate Vegreville's ethnic heritage."
Hi Sheila. We saw the egg on one of our trips to Alberta. I took a photo from the car as it was raining hard. You should take time to visit the Ukranian Village near Vegreville. We spent a couple of hours there and it was so interesting. New Brunswick has a Giant Axe in Nackawic, a giant fiddle (Don Messer) in Harvey, the Lobster in Shediac and many others. I don't know how many tourists they attract. I thinks the lobster is the most popular as Shediac has it's famous Parlee Beach. Pamela
ReplyDeleteWe have a large statue of Paul Bunyan in state, but nothing else of that nature that I can think of. I'm probably forgetting something. What a beautiful church! Is that a Ukrainian church?
ReplyDeleteYes, this is the Ukrainian church in Smoky Lake. It's famous for it's pumpkin growing contest.
DeleteSheila,
ReplyDeleteI have seen this pysanka! When I used to live in Saskatchewan I would drive by it on the way to visit friends in Edmonton. That was a few years(decades)ago!
-Karen
Hmmm. The spacing looks a bit wonky in my comment. Not quite sure why.
DeleteHow neat and what a fun trip! Love seeing photos of things I will probably never get to see! Didn't I start visiting when you showed photos of a trip to Italy? OH MY! ♥♥♥
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that there was so many "large attractions" across Canada.
ReplyDeleteI can see being famous for having the World's largest decorated egg but the largest garlic sausage might not be the notariety that a town wants. I would have loved to have seen the sleighs. Sounds like a great route to travel.
ReplyDeleteThe last time we drove through Alberta we had to make sure to stop in at the hotel in Vegreville to have a feed of pierogies and sausage. They were delicious - well worth the detour.
ReplyDeleteThe little church brought back memories of Smoky Lake, where there was a beautiful little church, back in the 80's. We'd pass it on our way down from Cold Lake. I wonder if it's still there.
This is the church in Smoky Lake!
DeleteI'm like you in preferring the old buildings and the natural landscape. But those are some amazing "big" things! Reminds me of Biggar, SK, where a sign used to say (and maybe still does) "New York might be big, but we are Biggar."
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ReplyDeleteThe natural beauty of the landsacape and the old buildings are more to my taste as well Shelia, however still fascinating to hear about them.
ReplyDeletePart of my heritage is Ukrainian, so I enjoyed seeing the large Pysanka and the domed church, Sheila.
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