Running wild in Calgary, AB

For the record, Calgary is the eastern-most city I've been to in the vast and awesome country of Canada. It is indeed a sad record that, in my four years in the land of maple leaves, beavers and hockey fanatics, I've only traveled once beyond BC. "Beautiful British Columbia," says the license plate, and this is true -- the beauty of BC should not be underestimated. But come on, there is so much more (or, so I think there is) to Canada and it is a shame I didn't get to visit other visit-worthy places. Oh well.

Can you see me running wild? Well, imagine flat land. Slightly hilly, fairly dry, low clouds and a horizon, with the occasional thunderstorm and visible flashes of lightening. Such is a view unfathomable in Tokyo or Vancouver (the endless flatness, I mean). It's not quite the perpetual-fields-of-wheat as would be frequent in Saskatchewan or Manitoba, or the tornado-ridden Redneck-land of Kansas that I dreamt of, but close enough, eh? "Wild Rose Country" Alberta is Beefland, and the steaks here are tasty. We cooked some the other night. And the storms, the storms! I've missed them for such a long time, because they don't ever happen in Vancouver. They are so cathartic.

Alberta also lacks provincial sales taxes. That means every time I buy something or eat out, I don't get slapped in the face with a 14.5% sales tax, as was the case in BC. So Sohko runs wild in the shopping mall.