It’s probably the last hot weekend of the season, was my thought. Can’t waste it. So Saturday afternoon and Sunday were spent with my brother in southern Alberta. I told him when I got there I needed steak. I’m getting old. I need my protein.

Apart from a drive through the country roads and the best steak anywhere nowadays–at Alexander’s Steak House and Pizzaria in Airdrie (we keep coming back)–we visited friends with two dogs and two cats, sat on a deck overlooking a large back yard with a park beyond it (the advantage of small towns of four thousand people), picked late-season raspberries, called my aunt in Czech Republic, watched sci-fi movies and Star Trek, took a zip around town on my brother’s motorcycle, and visited Carstairs Heritage Centre before the storm-front wind picked up.

Steak at Alexander’s in Airdrie, AB

Lap dogs

Late-season raspberries

In front of Carstairs Heritage Centre

Bike Ride

Five o’clock on Sunday. Time to head home. The drive to Red Deer was interesting. What we thought was distant rain was actually smoke rolling in across the Rockies from the British Columbia forest fires–severe this year. I took the Greyhound bus from Red Deer to Edmonton, and the smoke got worse before it got better. Like something out of The Mist or Twilight Zone.

Smoke on Hwy 2, Olds to Red Deer, AB

Smoke on Hwy 2, Olds to Red Deer

What a wonderful way to spend the last of the truly hot days of summer. (Already some of the leaves are yellow and falling. It’s August 13th!) While I was headed south, my son and his friends had headed southwest to camp in Canmore. They experienced some of the warmest nights seen this late in August in the foothills.

Elevation (Alberta)

• Edmonton: 670 m (2198 ft)
• Calgary: 1,045 m (3,428 ft)
• Canmore: 1,350 m (4300 ft)
• Banff: 1,400 m (4,600 ft) to 1,630 m (5,350 ft)

See also: Fair Skies, Dark Skies

North to Red Deer, Alberta