More Canadian Patriotism

George RR Martin, in response to the version of "Oh Canada" I posted yesterday, pointed me at this fine Canadian patriotic song. And also this one.

I found this third one by myself.

Athabaska!

So here we are on the Athabaska Glacier, disembarked from our custom-made Terrabus. Of the 23 Terrabuses in the world, 22 of them take folks out on the ice The 23rd is at McMurdo in Antarctica, and its name is "Ivan the Terrabus."

That's your Antarctic humor for the day.

As you can see from the second photo, the Athabaska comes down in three huge frozen waves before forming a long ice river that stretches down into the valley.

Let me tell you, life on a glacier is cold. And slippery. There was a forty-knot wind pouring down the glacier, threatening to blow us all the way to Banff. I was the hardiest of our group, running on and off the bus either to warm up or take pictures, and even with frequent warming stops on the bus I couldn't take more than 20 of our allotted 25 minutes.

The glacier has been in retreat ever since 1860, and loses on average about 30 feet each year. Except that the loss has doubled since 2000, as a result of climate change.

Glaciers. See 'em while you still can.

Champ de Glace

This glacier feeds three different oceans, the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Arctic.

This is one of the three places on earth that have a three-way continental divide.

I don't know where the other two are.

Turquoise

We have spent the day surrounded by towering mountains, glacier-fed lakes, and douglas fir.

This is a picture of Bow Lake, which is distinct from the other Bow Lake, and also from Lac d'Arc, which means "Bow Lake" in French. (Though Kathy's theory was that Joan of Arc's family moved here, and the lake was named after them.)

The lake water is actually a bright blue-green turquoise color. This is because glaciers are full of finely-ground rock called "stone flour," which is carried by the water and which absorbs all colors except the turqoise.

We also spent time at another glacier-fed lake called Lake Louise. If you've ever seen a tourist brochure of Canada, the odds are good that Lake Louise was on it.

The perfect reflective water made Bow Lake tops on our list, though.

O Canada

I'm off to Canada and the World Fantasy Convention.

By tomorrow, I plan to be here.

(The link is a lot more impressive if you click it in the daytime.)