The travelling public has spoken – Trip Advisor’s 2011 Traveler’s Choice list is out and among the Top 10 Food & Wine Destinations in Canada is beautiful Banff>, Alberta.

It’s no secret – every year Canada blushes from head to toe.

If you think gold prices are steep, explore life perched on a cliff edge in the dramatic tunnels of the historic Mascot Gold Mine.

Once considered a ghost town after dark, downtown Edmonton has recently received a reviving jolt of energy. Stylish wine bars, sexy lounges and sleek restaurants have reached critical mass in warehouses and buildings that once would have met their fate with the wrecking ball.

Cowtown Beef Shack is a former drive-thru coffee shop on MacLeod Trail in Calgary, a postage-stamp space where Brad Johnson (somehow) dishes out hot, smoky AAA Angus roast beef sandwiches while you wait.

It takes extreme creativity to truly claim the title “greatest outdoor show on earth” for nearly a century. And as the Calgary Stampede approaches its 100^th birthday in 2012, the addition of extremely interesting new events is no surprise.

Walking down Calgary’s downtown Stephen Avenue Mall I spot at least a dozen belt buckles big enough to serve as dinner plates for Alberta beef. At ground level there are enough cowboy boots to kick plenty of – but few show signs of real manure. Wranglers and Levis are everywhere.

Geocacher Don Richards of Three Hills, AB had driven this highway hundreds of times before. But today was different. He pulled to the shoulder and checked the GPS on his smart-phone. Then he tramped a couple hundred metres off-piste and found something great. It was a “buffalo rub” – a rough wall of ancient rock-cum-scratching post.

 Spring may still mean skiing for some, but for most Canadians it means it’s time to haul out our bikes and go for a ride.

North America’s oldest and largest fringe theatre festival takes place each year in Alberta’s capital city. Over 200 performances from troupes around the world bring their best to Edmonton’s Old Strathcona district.