Alberta is good

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Pulling trailers....recreational or for work purposes.

Moving things.

Carrying large tools.

Going off-road.

Lots of "valid" reasons.

You can do all those things pretty much anywhere.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Party Elephant

You can do all those things pretty much anywhere.

Ummmm...ok?

Not sure what you mean in regards to the original question though.

[FireGilbert]

Pros:
-Mountains
-Badlands
-Winter Sports
-Ginger Beef
-Caesars
-Liquor stores everywhere
-Wild Rose Velvet Fog
-Calgary Flames
-Bow river rafting
-Low traffic
-Stampede
-Sunsets
-Low property prices
-Gorgeous movie filming locations

Cons:
-Weather
-Edmonton as the capital
-Lack of big cosmopolitan world class cities
-Boom and bust economy
-No fresh seafood
-No nice lakes or beaches
-Lack of work life balance
-Short and expensive golf season
-Love of big trucks as a status symbol
-Country music

[Muffins]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Cons:
-Edmonton as the capital

I see that as more of a pro to Calgary. The less politicians, the better.

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by Muffins

I see that as more of a pro to Calgary. The less politicians, the better.

Good point. How about if I change it to something like this: The beauty of Alberta is ruined by the oozing puss filled carbuncle known as Edmonton.

[djsFlames]

The weird thing is people don't take advantage of those pros very often for living here.

Staycationing with delivery/alcohol and Netflix may be convenient but sure does not beat the satisfaction of a day of basking in our world renowned backyard.

There are 6-8 brutal months of winter for that ####.

[FireGilbert]

Considering the weather is mostly crap, house prices and rents are reasonable, homes have great central heating systems, internet speeds are decent, and at least in Calgary there are numerous tasty options for food delivery, Alberta might be one of the best places in the world for staycationing with delivery and Netflix.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Ummmm...ok?

Not sure what you mean in regards to the original question though.

I just mean that none of those things are specific to Alberta, and the original point was owning a truck was something Alberta specifically had going for it.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Party Elephant

I just mean that none of those things are specific to Alberta, and the original point was owning a truck was something Alberta specifically had going for it.

Ahhh i see.

His question though was about "suburban city dwellers".

[btimbit]

I enjoyed living in BC and Saskatchewan, Alberta is like you took the good parts of both and welded them together without the PST

Originally Posted by djsFlames

What 'real valid' reason do suburban city dwellers have to own big honking trucks again?

Is it a winter thing, cause they make good tires for cars and SUVs too.

Nevertheless, it's a great province.

Show me a car that can tow 15000lbs and I'll buy it tomorrow. Hell, some people just like the bigger interior

[Zarley]

I love the people here. For the most part unpretentious, friendly, and polite. There are certainly a few #######s, but I think that the a-hole ratio is lower here than other places where I’ve spent a lot of time.

[Calgary14]

Insurance (home and especially auto) - waaaaaay cheaper in Alberta compared to BC

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Pulling trailers....recreational or for work purposes.

Moving things.

Carrying large tools.

Going off-road.

Lots of "valid" reasons.

But we can only do those things in Alberta, or else you’re a poser apparently...

In addition to all those reasons, personally, just having goalie equipment makes it so worth it.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Insurance (home and especially auto) - waaaaaay cheaper in Alberta compared to BC

Waaay cheaper compared to Ontario too, evidently.

[81MC]

Alberta is dope. I grew up not here, but my family is from the area (mom was born in Banff). There’s a beauty to the province that’s hard to put into words. Driving across the prairies at sunrise, the clouds rolling off the mountains, the badlands etc. Lacombe County in the late spring is wonderful too. Then there’s the whole ranching, farming, agriculture, oil, real working aspect of the province. A pretty decent arts scene aided by some really stellar groups keeps the cities pretty fun too. CKUA is a national treasure in my mind.
I could go on and on and on. Really, this province is pretty dope.

[edslunch]

Sun year round. Just back from our annual two week vacation in BC and spent extra time in Vancouver this time. Sorry, BC tops Alberta on the average beauty scale and Vancouver makes Calgary look very much a second tier city. I couldn’t spend a second in their grey winter though so on balance am happy living here and visiting there. Also the Canucks suck.

[SebC]

Having lived in Vancouver and Calgary:

- Drivers that stop for pedestrians at unmarked crosswalks
- Drivers that stop for pedestrians at marked crosswalks
- Signalled crosswalks that signal as soon as you hit the button
- When a bus comes to your stop, it actually stops and picks you up
- When there isn't enough capacity on a bus route, more gets added
- Freeways
- Being able to see the Calgary skyline from just about anywhere that doesn't have a hill in the way, because there won't be a forest in the way
- Skies with visual interest
- When it rains, it stops shortly after
- Storms that have shape and sometimes lightning
- Vietnamese fast food that has more than a pittance of meat, and spring rolls instead of roll dips
- Grass that you can walk on without sinking into mud
- Not being feeling like you're sweaty and frozen at the same time

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Insurance (home and especially auto) - waaaaaay cheaper in Alberta compared to BC

have things changed since the late 90's when it comes to auto insurance? i was working in calgary in 1997 and bought my truck in brooks. i was going to insure it in calgary but it was insane. i think it was the single male under 25 thing so you pay thru the nose for alberta vehicle insurance. i brought the truck back to kelowna and got my insurance here for about 40% of what it would have cost me to insure it in alberta.

i do have to say - i LOVE coming to visit calgary - so much to see and do (and my wife has relatives in calgary so it's great to get to visit with them too). i can't wait for our kids to be a little older so they'll be able to handle the drive... maybe next summer... maybe??

the one thing in my opinion that kelowna definitely has over pretty much anywhere is the view - it's hard to top looking off my deck and seeing this - just gorgeous.

Spoiler!

IMG_3089a by bc-chris, on Flickr

^^grant it, right now we do have a some smoke in the valley - but it's not even from "our fires" - apparently it's from forest fires in greece, eurasia and ontario! weird!

[N-E-B]

I really think we have a beautiful province that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Everybody’s perception of Alberta is the “dirty tar sands” which could not be further from the truth. The amount of nature here is really special. The foothills are really under appreciated.

Calgary is a great city. Sure we need some newer faciilities for hockey, football, concerts and that stuff, but even the old buildings like the Saddledome have a certain charm to them. The downtown core is kept clean and in good shape. And of course it’s home to the reason most of us are on this site, the Flames.

I also don’t think the people here eat enough credit. We aren’t some old school racist redneck province. The majority of people here are kind hard working people, regardless of who they voted for last election.

Also we do have the nicest provincial flag in the country.

I love this city and I love this province. I won’t let anyone tell me otherwise.

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I really think we have a beautiful province that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Everybody’s perception of Alberta is the “dirty tar sands” which could not be further from the truth. The amount of nature here is really special. The foothills are really under appreciated.

Calgary is a great city. Sure we need some newer faciilities for hockey, football, concerts and that stuff, but even the old buildings like the Saddledome have a certain charm to them. The downtown core is kept clean and in good shape. And of course it’s home to the reason most of us are on this site, the Flames.

I also don’t think the people here eat enough credit. We aren’t some old school racist redneck province. The majority of people here are kind hard working people, regardless of who they voted for last election.

Also we do have the nicest provincial flag in the country.

I love this city and I love this province. I won’t let anyone tell me otherwise.

Sorry as someone who is interested in flags and heraldry I cannot let this pass. Alberta has the best Shield in Canada however putting that Shield on a blue background does not make a good flag.

The basic rules of flag design are:
1. Keep it simple so that a child can draw it from memory.
2. Use meaningful symbolism.
3. Use 2 to 3 basic colours.
4. No lettering or seals of any kind.

To be fair most Canadian provincial flags are pretty bad and do not meet these requirements with the exception of Quebec, Nunavut, and Newfoundland.