Exploring Lethbridge during the Pride month.

  When we talk about Alberta, we only think about Banff, or maybe Jasper? Just do a search here you will find tons of Banff posts, including one of mine. But that is expected, Banff has beautiful lakes, including one of the best places to visit in the world, Lake Louise. Sometimes we don't give enough value to where we live, and I live for 1 year now in Lethbridge, but what exactly is Lethbridge? Can someone visit Lethbridge? After 1 year here that I decided last week to explore a bit more our natural resources here and we had also a pride parade Downtown.

  Lethbridge is located in the South portion of the province, 2h South of Calgary and a little bit one hour drive to the US border in Montana. It is in the West- end of the Canadian Prairies, so we can drive one more hour to the West and we find the Rocky Mountains. So the city is mostly in plains, however, there is a river cutting the middle of the city, called Old Man River. This river created a valley that now is mostly nature preserved. Because of the river, the city is split in two, the West ( the newest portion) and East Lethbridge ( which has a downtown, South, and North neighborhood). There are only two ways to cross the river, the first one is through the highway outside of the town or through the middle which has an interesting way that goes down , passes through a small bridge, and goes back up through the valley. The way also brought an interesting name called Whoop-Up Drive, for sure it brings a " Whooooopp Up" feeling crossing that. It was pretty weird when it was my first time crossing it. In addition, there is an old rail bridge that crosses both sides, which is the "postal card" from the city, you can even see it in the tv show " Last of Us" which was recorded in Alberta.

  So like I said above the valley has currently some preservation but I only decided to go there after 1 year of living here. The Lethbridge Nature Reserve is small and has a Nature visitation center, called Helen Schuler Nature Center, which I couldn't visit during this time because of lack of time. It has some trails that could be reached by walking or biking, I decided to walk with my daughter, it is a pretty short walk that leads us to the riverside. The day that we went there was a bit smoky, some smoke from the north of the province was around there. Before reaching the Nature Reserve, there is a park called Indian Battle Park, where there is a small playground for kids and picnic spots to enjoy with family and friends, we stopped there also to enjoy summertime and have lunch in there.

  Como mencionei anteriormente, o vale atualmente possui alguma preservação, mas só decidi ir lá depois de 1 ano morando aqui. A Reserva Natural de Lethbridge é pequena e possui um centro de visitação chamado Helen Schuler Nature Center, que não pude visitar durante esse tempo devido à falta de tempo. Existem algumas trilhas que podem ser percorridas a pé ou de bicicleta, e decidi fazer uma caminhada com minha filha. É uma caminhada bastante curta que nos leva até a margem do rio. No dia em que fomos, havia um pouco de fumaça, proveniente do norte da província. Antes de chegar à Reserva Natural, há um parque chamado Indian Battle Park, onde há um pequeno parquinho para crianças e áreas para fazer piquenique e aproveitar com a família e amigos. Paramos lá também para aproveitar o verão e almoçar.

  In addition, we went to a pride parade Downtown. It is very important to support this type of event and show our kids some diversity that they aren't used to. In addition, we usually don't go much downtown unless it is for a restaurant. The parade was located right on the Avenue between the city hall and Galt Park, which has also a small playground but is not much populated by kids since there is a growing homeless population in there and drugs.

  Além disso, fomos a um desfile do orgulho LGBTQ+ no centro da cidade. É muito importante apoiar esse tipo de evento e mostrar aos nossos filhos um pouco da diversidade com a qual eles não estão acostumados. Normalmente, não costumamos ir muito ao centro, a menos que seja para ir a um restaurante. O desfile aconteceu na Avenida, entre a prefeitura e o Parque Galt, que também possui um pequeno parquinho, mas não é muito frequentado por crianças, pois há uma população crescente em situação de rua e problemas relacionados a drogas na região.

  At the end of my day, I went to a common place where I go most of the days to walk my dog. Sunridge Park, which is a nice place to walk near home, just crossing the quiet street where I live. It is a nice park to run or walk. It has two lakes with lots of geese and a kid's playground. The only problem there is the warning about rattlesnakes, but I only saw deer and rabbits in addition to the geese. So Lethbridge is a city that you can visit everywhere in a good and intensive day going to somewhere else, like the Rockies.

  No final do meu dia, fui a um lugar comum onde costumo levar meu cachorro para passear na maioria dos dias. Sunridge Park, que é um local agradável para caminhar perto de casa, apenas atravessando a rua tranquila onde moro. É um belo parque para correr ou caminhar. Tem dois lagos com muitos gansos e um parquinho infantil. O único problema lá é o aviso sobre cascavéis, mas eu só vi veados e coelhos além dos gansos. Portanto, Lethbridge é uma cidade que você pode visitar em todos os lugares em um dia bom e intenso, indo a outros lugares, como as Montanhas Rochosas.