Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/40418
upfront TRAVEL, HOME, AUTO, MONEY — ama.ab.ca The Best of Dark and Bright "I can't wait until it gets dark" isn't what you'd expect to hear in Jasper National Park, but soon an increasing number JURASSIC LARK Those interested in all things dinosaur have long been drawn to southern Alberta's Badlands. But now there's a new destination for dino-philes: Jurassic Forest in Gibbons, a 20-minute drive north- east of Edmonton. Visitors can view 41 life-size robotic dinosaurs swaying among evergreens and prairie grasses, just as these ancient creatures did when they roamed the earth millions of years ago. One of the most popular dino-bots is Tyrannosaurus rex, but the Edmontosaurus also gets its fair share of onlookers. Interpretive signs help visitors identify various plants, animals and insects throughout the park. —Tracy Hyatt jurassicforest.com; 780-470-2446 10 WESTWORLD >> SEPTEMBER 2011 of visitors will be uttering these very words. This spring, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada named the park a Dark Sky Preserve – a prime stargazing location with minimal ambi- ent lighting and jewel-studded night skies. Jasper is now the largest Dark Sky Preserve in the world, at 11,228 square kilome- tres, and the only astronomy park in Canada to have a town within it (while the town generates some light, the society still characterizes the park's skies as ranging from "excellent dark" to "truly dark"). To celebrate the new designation, the town will host the Dark Skies Star Festival from October 21 to 24, with astronomy presentations, telescope demonstrations and interpretative walks. There's even a food component: Jasper chefs have teamed up with the Brazeau County 100km Kitchen Party, a local-food processing cooperative, to create a zucchini relish called Dark Sky Preserves that will be on the menu at select Jasper restaurants throughout October. –T.H. (top) Yuichi Takasaka/Blue Moon Promotions; courtesy Jurassic Forest