Hi All
We are off for a bit of skiing in Jasper in March and thought we might take some time out to have a little drive around some residential areas near Edmonton just to get a feel for the place (even thought Calgary would be our first choice) in case we might find ourselves with jobs there one day.

Could anyone suggest some popular areas we could look at - I guess we would be looking for either Edmonton suburbs or commutable satellitle towns.

Also, does anyone know if the roads will be clear enough in March (generally) to drive up to Fort McMurray as we have heard that you can see the Northern Lights there. Are there any better locations that are drivaeable from Edmonton for this?
Cheers
Flossie

no idea about roads but surburbs for edmonton - sherwood park seems to be the poshest/expensivist (sp??) one as its sort of out of the town on its own....

thats said we're looking at inner edmonton (old strathcona etc) as missus doesnt drive and it might be a while for me to get a car (going on WP)

Head into Edmonton from Jasper by branching off down the Whitemud Freeway to the South instead of the Yellowhead Highway across the top. (The Yellowhead is an ugly industrial route and does not give you a good first impression of the city )

Like a lot of areas in Alberta there is an enormous amount of growth going on at the moment and you'll see a lot of construction as the city is ever expanding. Esp round the south at the moment as they are making a huge ring road extension.

As for nice areas to live................Sherwood Park !!!!!! We love it here. I never have to go out of the town as everything I need is here.
We live in a lovely spot, within walking distance of schools, shops, the mall, parks, lakes, trails...................I could go on and on. I could manage here quite easily without a car, depending on which part you live in. One thing Sherwood Park does lack is a definite centre, BUT, they are working on that at the moment with an area called "Centre in the Park" where they are building condominium units, pedestrian streets, with sidewalk cafes, all positioned around the theatre and Broadmoor Lake. We could walk down here on a summers evening when its all done. Would probably take us 20 mins. Should be nice.
Other areas that are worth looking at are St Albert, Beaumont and areas closer to the city such as Terwillegar.

Check out the river valley whilst you are here. Prettier in the summer, but still lovely now.

Enjoy Jasper. Not skiied there yet as kids are still a bit tiny, hopefully next winter.