Walkin in Sunshine

I keep learning lessons during this pandemic.

We figure it has been about fifteen years since we have been home for the whole winter…true ‘snowbirds’ we used to be.

I really thought I had seen most sections of our city and nearby cities but boy, was I wrong! I can’t believe how many interesting places I am discovering ‘in my own backyard’ as the months go by and we venture out to look for places to walk.

Dear friends told us about “White Spruce Forest” in the city of St. Albert. Honestly, even if I was driving by that area I would have never noticed it as it is near a bunch of new construction and no visible signage from the closest main road.

We weren’t even sure we were at the right place until we took a chance and went down a side road that led to a very small parking lot. Sure enough, there was the sign. As you can see, our walk took us to a long, cleared path /road and soon enough we were in the forest itself. We just had to take advantage of our short lived higher temperatures and we weren’t disappointed with the beauty we saw around us.

We didn’t have the luck to see the huge owl we were told about but we saw many bird watchers out and about with their cameras and giant lenses. People were spread out nicely and generally masked so I felt pretty safe to look around. We took a pathway into the treed area and it was like a fairy tale in its loveliness with the sun dancing sparkles off of all the fallen trees and snow covered mounds.

Terry is very patient with me as I cannot walk very fast and take way too many photos. But I persevere at a pretty even pace and we ended up walking about 2 1/2 kilometres. It was very slippery too as the snow was melting but if it’s this pretty in the winter I must return in the summer to see the forest then.

I still can’t believe that I had never heard of this forest and how close it is to our home. I feel truly blessed with the beauty here in Alberta.