Alberta, Alberta

We drove to Camrose, Alberta from Bozeman on Wednesday. Uneventful drive, although the drive on MT Hwy 86 from Bozeman over to Hwy 89 was beautiful, as was the drive up Hwy 89 through White Sulphur Springs, Niehart, and Monarch (the Lewis and Clark National Forest) was beautiful. Then we drove the long, lonely and straight Hwy 36 in Alberta.

Before leaving Bozeman, I experienced my first earthquake. At about 10:30 pm on Monday night, I was finishing up my Malthus essay and felt the building shake a bit. Looked around and everything was moving slightly. I thought maybe a big truck was going by on the road outside, but that would have been strange, because the road was under construction and there was no entrance to it! I walked around the PERC office to see if there was any evidence of what had happened, and noticed the lights over the front desk swaying a bit. I thought: well, that might have been an earthquake! Sure enough, next morning I found out I was right. The epicenter was aways away, in Dillon, MT, but it was a 5.6 quake, and was felt across Montana and as far away as Calgary. Quite something, and I can now say I've experienced an earthquake.

I've spent time in Alberta with family and friends, so far. We have a family wedding today, and then some more time with family over the next few days. I'll also spend some time working on grant proposals due in September! And I'll walk/run some around the Camrose Ski Hill area. The hill is in a ravine that the city has developed into a great set of trails.