On the hunt for bison and the aurora borealis

Wow - talk about a feast. Just finished an amazing all-you-can-eat Alaskan King Crab dinner at the Sawridge Inn here in Fort McMurray. An excellent start to our Alberta Ice Road adventure.
True, it's a little different from SnowSeekers' usual slope-side outings, but we're all about the snow and enjoying winter to its fullest – and travelling the ice road definitely falls into that catagory – especially when you throw dog sledding, ice fishing and keeping an eye on the night sky for the famed aurora borealis - the Northern Lights.
Bill Rockwell, a local tour guide with Altacan Tours and expert on shooting the dancing lights, gave us a tutorial on the best way to capture the memory no matter what type of camera you have, and to a person, we are all stoked to see if we can match the images he's taken. Fort McMurray and points north are  suppose to be a hot bed for the lights - let's hope it clears by tomorrow night.
Bright and early tomorrow morning, we hit the road - next stop Fort Chipewan and on to Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories on Sunday. It's my first time being this far north and I am definitely excited. This entire area is part of the Wood Buffalo National Park which takes up a big chunk of Northern Alberta, sides into NWT and is Canada's largest national park. It's also home to the last free roaming herd of wild wood bison.
Can't wait to see these big bruisers, plus once we hit Fort Smith, we will be hanging out with Sonny MacDonald, a renowned carver who has carved pieces for the Pope and of for the Queen. I'm sure he has one or two stories to share.
Alas, internet is sketchy in these parts, so you will have to stayed tuned to SnowSeekers.ca to see how this journey ends and whether or not I survived Alberta's Ice Road. Top speed is 45k.
Hope you are finding some truly out-of-the-way snow adventures this weekend,
Barb


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