7-Nights Rainforest to Gold Rush Excursion Eastbound: GoldLeaf + Superior Room from $5,181

If you can, arrive in Edmonton at night. As you ride in from the airport, you'll see Edmonton's glittering steel-and-glass skyline rising on the far shore of the North Saskatchewan River. It's a dramatic introduction to the way oil money transformed this stretch of the north.

Founded by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1794, Edmonton today is Canada's most northerly big city, a provincial capital and an industrial center with an economy based on petrochemicals, biotechnology, engineering, forestry and agricultural goods.

Ideally situated between Canada's remote north and the picturesque Jasper National Park, Edmonton is gaining popularity as a sightseeing and tourist destination. Edmonton is Canada's fifth-largest city, with an educated and innovative workforce that fuels Canada's billion-dollar economy in its wealthiest province. The University of Alberta and the state-of-the-art National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton are setting standards in education and research, establishing Edmonton as the biotech capital of Alberta.

Reminders of a colourful past survive. Visitors will enjoy stopping at the original Hudson Bay Store (a log structure built in 1859). Across the street is a Cornish Water Wheel and boilers and iron parts from the first Fraser River riverboat to travel to the city. Then stroll the old Fraser River Bridge to west Quesnel. Built in 1928 the old bridge now serves foot traffic only. Continue through Riverfront Park and the walking trail that winds past historic points of interest and along the banks of the Quesnel River. Flower displays on streets and bridges add a picturesque charm to this modern thriving city.