Lethbridge after midnight: snow, silence, and canadian zzzs

woke up at 3am to the sound of wind howling through the cracks in the motel walls. checked the thermostat and it reads -4.1 degrees but feels like -11.04 because of course it does. imagine breath freezing mid-sentence and your eyelashes gluing shut like some kind of speculative fiction nightmare. the neighbor’s dog kept trying to dig a tunnel to alberta using nothing but molars and spite.

this place isn’t the ‘alberta you’ve seen on tourism ads.’ sure, there’s a pretty river and that weird park with the metal wolf statue but mostly it’s just… surviving. i walked into the cambria hotel’s lobby wearing my hoodie backward because the wind kept blowing it forward and the front desk lady served me coffee in a mug engraved with a loonie.

browsed tripadvisor for things to do and realized i’m just here for the cheap gas and artistically useless parking garages. someone told me the public library has a secret art gallery downstairs where they show films about existential dread. haven’t found it yet. i heard a granny at the pharmacy saying the airport diner has ‘the coldest burritos in canada’ which is peak lethbridge priorities.

attempted to sketch in a sketchbook i grabbed from the motel lobby but my hands felt stiff as frozen cobras. instead i binged that jed smith documentary about touring in the ’00s while the wind rattled the windows. i miss the smell of fresh ink and leather but honestly this place needs more analog stuff.

from the 4th floor balcony, i saw a neon sign flickering for:
*’🕭 lighthouse liquor co.’*
like a warning. there were two cars parked outside in one of those rare montreal-esque parking meters from the ’70s. no other people. not one. even the crows took off.

peaked in lethbridge for three days and the only thing i’ve done is:
1. buy a toboggan from the dollar store
2. drive to the oldman river trail while the gps screamed ‘recalculating…’
3. photograph a scorpionfly (?) near the dumpster behind the shuttered gas station
4. eat 12 microwave burritos and hate myself
didn’t photograph the wolf statue because it looked like a junkyard project someone abandoned mid-tantrum. the trail had more puddles than pavement and the dog still thinks he’s a sled dog.

pro-tips:
• never trust the ‘locals only’ sign at the gas station
• bring mittens that actually close
• the 24/7 coffee spot has decaf. i don’t recommend this

i’ll miss the silence when i leave. the way the snow muffles everything and even the basketball hoop sounds like it’s yelling silently. someone once told me lethbridge is a town where ‘the stars get jealous.’ i didn’t get that until this morning. woke up, looked at the sky, and thought ‘yep. i think they do.’

if you’re passing through or stuck here for work or just bad choices, here’s what to do:
✓ check reviews on yelp before trusting the motel wifi
✓ eat at the rudy’s rally diner (soup is goddess-tier)
✓ don’t chase the urban legends about the coal mine ghosts
✓ tip the barista at ✓ lighthouse coffee even if they only have instant

img:

img:

img:

mapo:

lethbridge isn’t poetic. it’s not charming. it’s just… here. cold, sometimes cruel, but it’s a town where the wind keeps telling stories if you listen closely enough. also, the pharmacy sells good chocolate. don’t overthink it.

You might also be interested in:

• https://votoris.com/post/amman-is-it-actually-familyfriendly-parks-schools-and-safety-unpacked
• https://votoris.com/post/seoul-state-of-mind-dodging-rain-and-finding-kimchi-dreams-2
• https://votoris.com/post/portsmouth-a-city-thats-seen-more-than-you-think
• https://votoris.com/post/goinia-where-the-heat-meets-the-green-a-travelers-confession
• https://votoris.com/post/kanazawa-121-degrees-1864821-clues-and-a-ghost-hunt-gone-quiet