As a former Edmontonian for many years, I can fill you in on there. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, located about 9 hours drive north of the US Montana border. Summers are generally warm (avg. 75-85 F) with long days and short nights in July.
There is the Edmonton Klondike Days festival which occurs usually in the 2nd-3rd weeks of July - it's a carnival celebrating the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, which Edmonton had a minor part in. It has a large midway, parade, outdoor events. In addition, Edmonton has a number of other festivals all summer long - they usually have a week long Busker fair (street performers), an ethnic celebration for 3-4 days around the end of July and others that I'm sure you could check out on the web. In all, there is generally some type of festival happening each week during the summer. Another great one is the Fringe Festival - an internationally known event with about 100+ different plays from all types of troupes - very worthwhile if you are into live theatre, but I think that is in the August timeframe.
If you like shopping, there is West Edmonton Mall (WEM) - the largest shopping mall in the world (yes, bigger than the Mall of America) - indoor amusement park, hundreds of stores, theatres, restaurants, ice hockey rink, world class wave pool and water slide park, etc. Also a pretty good hotel for a couple of nights - check out the theme rooms for some fun! But book early!
Edmonton is situated in the middle of the Alberta prairies, so is kind of flat, although the river valley running thru the middle of the city is beautiful in the summer, with end to end walking/biking trails, etc. You will find Edmonton to be very friendly, very safe, and very family oriented.
Other attractions - Muttart Conservatory if you like flowers, the Science Museum is great for kids, art galleries, the Provincial Museum and and they have a very good farmer's market in the older area of town along with your quaint craft type stores.
The Rockies are located about 4-5 hour drive away - either Jasper (which is way less crowded) directly west, or Banff (very crowded and expensive in the summer) which is southwest thru Calgary. If you are looking to stay in the mountains, go to Jasper over Banff. Scenery is just as pretty but Banff is a huge Asian tourist site - overhyped in my opinion. Jasper is less developed/spoiled, cheaper and less crowded as mentioned.
The glacier tours are located about halfway between Jasper and Banff - you travel up to and onto the glacier in a bus on some of the biggest tires you've ever seen! A nice trip for sure. But to get there, is the long way around from Edmonton to Calgary!
The "foothills" are halfway to the Mountains and give you great views, lot's of hiking trails and probably even cheaper. Check out Hinton and Edson as a couple of towns on the way to Jasper.
Calgary is a worthwhile stop also (3 hour drive south of Edmonton) - it does have the Calgary Stampede which is the biggest Rodeo in Canada and worth a visit. It usually starts the first Friday in July and goes for 10 days. (Klondike Days then begins in Edmonton the first Friday following the Stampede!) If you want to go to the Stampede to see the Rodeo events, I'd suggest booking some tickets soon as they go fast for the good seats. You can do that from any web browser - just type Calgary Stampede and navigate from there.
From Calgary - you can see the mountains and can be in Banff in an hour and Lake Louise is another hour's drive. And LL is one of the most beautiful sites in North America! Plenty of hiking trails, etc. Try for at least 1 night in either the Chateau Lake Louise (small rooms but a wonderful experience in terms of scenery and great food), or the next door Deer Lodge hotel (even better food in the attached restaurant).
Overall, Edmonton/Calgary is a very nice trip and introduction to western Canada. Since you're from Iowa, you will see alot of similarities in the land and the people - big blue skies and friendly faces wherever you go.
On the other hand, Quebec (Montreal, Quebec City) is a completely different experience and one not like anything else in Canada or the US. Quebec City is the capital of Quebec (the province), a very old city that looks and feels very European as noted by MoreMiles. Great food and drink, but very very French. They are more accomodating to Americans speaking English than they are to Canadians who don't speak French!
If you go to Quebec, definitely split your time between Quebec City and Montreal. Montreal is much larger (3rd largest city in Canada) and is very cosmopolitan in nature, more things to see/do in terms of sites, events, bars/restaurants, entertainment, etc. Quebec City is a much smaller and more provincial type city. But you can't go wrong in choosing either city if you want to eat well, see the history of French Canada and enjoy Europe without the costs!
Situated next to both is the Laurentians, which is the eastern mountain range - plenty of hiking, biking, etc out there.
It's really 2 very different choices you have to pick from. Either way, you should have a great time, especially with the value of the American dollar in comparison to Canadian - you will find prices to be the same number but you will have almost twice as much money in your pocket to spend!!
Enjoy yourself.
ps - email me if you have more questions about Alberta in particular. And if you do go to Edmonton, be sure and check out the Blue Pear cafe - some of the best food I've had in a long time (and not just because my younger sister is one of the chef's there - it's consistently ranked in the top 3 restaurants there!).
[This message has been edited by NeverAtHome (edited 02-12-2002).]
[This message has been edited by NeverAtHome (edited 02-12-2002).]