I made it safely into Fort McMurray, and my hotel even has Internet access! The tourism board’s slogan for the town is: “All that’s missing is you!” Apparently they’ve missed me here, glad to oblige!

Actually, this town is fairly well developed - I even hear rumors of a Starbucks in town that I’m going to have to check out soon.

I arrived at the Fort McMurray airport on Monday afternoon, and promptly took my Avis SUV out for a spin up north on an exploration. Here are some pictures (click on them for bigger versions):

My Northern Chariot:

The famous welcome sign! The same sign that’s on Wikipedia:

Followed shortly thereafter by this one from the local unions. As a budding socialist, I heartily approve:

A common theme to come, but when I first encountered this behemoth on the highway I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Check out the clearance on the left. This is part of a big truck being assembled for the oil fields, and it’s headed up north where I’m about to go:

About a half-hour north of the city, I got a whiff of my first oil sands operation. Literally. It smells like asphalt, mainly because that’s what the oil is around here - a tarry oozy blackish goo in the ground that naturally bubbles up to the surface from time to time and sits there waiting to be mined.

This particular site belongs to Syncrude:

Check out the massive shovel/truck operation on the side:

Apart from the mining operations, though, the land is starkly beautiful. I drove up to Fort Mackay, a small settlement of about a couple dozen houses on the banks of the Athabasca River, which is frozen solid this time of year:

It’s stark and desolate up here:

I made it back into town just before sunset (at 4 pm!!!), and I promptly set about buying clothes and supplies. No pictures yet of downtown, I’ll take some today and upload them later.

So far, I’m enjoying my Canadian experience. I must admit, I have probably been a bit more judgmental than I really should be: the land is beautiful, and the town is just another bustling industrial center. It isn’t exactly hicksville, and it isn’t as remote and inaccessible as I feared. My yuppie mindset is rearing its ugly head again, but I’m frankly enjoying being here. It’s different!!