taking sides: Saskatchewan vs. Alberta

alberta: 3,059,100
saskatchewan: 1,017,100

these are 2001 figures, so probably still quite true today.

as for any discussion of which province is actually better, i care little for any talk of economics, history, or geography. who really cares?

all i care about is how cool the cities are. what is the hipster ratio? how many vegetarian restaurants are there? can i get a beer after 2a.m.? are there good local bands? can i spend my saturdays combing the city for used vinyl?

edmonton, my home for most of the last six years, meets these goals admirably. we are slowly turning this city into the culture capital of middle-canada, and soon even vancouverites will move here for its "realness" and "energy" (edmonton will be to vancouver as brighton is to london).

this is the most vital city in canada right now. i wouldn't want to live anywhere else because i would be afraid of missing something tremendously important. as a friend said to me recently "something fucking weird is happening in this town." i would tend to agree.

Eep yeah. If I do manage to do this prairie tour (right now thinking Winnipeg->Edmonton) will I starve?

I'm so sure they make the crust with lard. Anyway maybe I can just live off Kraft Dinner for a week.

As for whatever Paris of the Prairies FOS speaks of, I'd sooner nominate Wpg than Edmtn.

West Edmonton Mall settles all.

I moved from Fort Saskatchewan to the UK when I was 12 (with 1 year in Sherwood Park in between), but I still have regular dreams about West Ed. Well, it's West Ed and it's not West Ed in my dreams, y'know? Whenever I have generally fantastical dreams, they take place in new imaginary areas of West Ed. And The Mindbender makes regular appearances, Except nobody gets decapitated. The Mindbender is such a clever name for a decapitating rollercoaster.

I want to go to Alberta

how is this even a contest?

I need to go back to Sask.

https://i.imgur.com/IWJcHC8.jpg

I'm casting a vote for Saskatchewan, mostly because it's the one I've lived in.

Saskatchewan has a lot of bleak, windswept plains. The west edge of Alberta has a the Rockies Mountain range to marginally offset its own abundance of bleak, windswept plains further east. In my mid-20s I trekked in the wilder more remote parts of Banff Park and had ptarmigans feeding around my tent, watched pikas unconcernedly gathering hay while I ate my supper, and spent an afternoon stalking a local herd of bighorn sheep with my camera. I never saw another person for four days running. That was fun!

That clinches it for me. Voting for Alberta, in spite of Calgary and all it represents.

should be noted that there is boreal forest in the north of both provinces so not exclusively flat plain boredom, although i guess that's where 99% of the population of the provinces live.

i've never been to either of these provinces. my ex-wife is an edmontonian and i have lots of buddies from alberta so i'd probably vote for it.

Lol, I just remembered that I did also live in Jasper, AB, for a summer. Yeah, Saskatchewan.

Thought this revive would be about the children’s play that got in trouble for being “anti oil” in Sask