10 Signs You Were Born and Raised in Alberta

2. You’ve drank your fill of AGD.

You’ve been familiar with dollarabeers since forever. Lucky is alright, and counting the rabbits on the Pilsner can is fun, but at the end of the day, it’s all about AGD. Some call it the best of the cheap beers, but Albertans know that it’s really just the cheapest of the best beers.

3. You love goin’ for a rip.

Being young on the prairies is about trucks, fields, AGDs, bonfires, and getting the hell out of there before the Mounties show up.

4. You know that summer is all about the mountains.

Summer in Alberta means loading the car full of food and friends and heading out to the mountains for some hiking, camping, and drinking. Grizzly bears ate your hot dogs? No problem.

5. You’ve scorned other people for getting cold.

It can be a balmy 5 degrees Celsius in the morning and by the end of the day, it could be an apocalyptical blizzard. We dress for the weather, but every once in a while, you get stuck freezing your ass off and you have to suck it up. When you catch someone shivering and complaining but their hair isn’t covered in icicles, you know they aren’t really Albertan.

6. You’re tired of getting asked where you’re from.

I get it. Almost everyone in Alberta is from somewhere else. You can’t go 10 seconds without hearing some Maritimer beaking off in the bar. But when you’re from Alberta, you feel like this is your home and every new person you meet questioning that gets a bit old.

7. You have one or more scars attributed to a tobogganing accident.

Seriously, toboggans are super dangerous, and let’s not even get started on GT Snow Racers. I remember one winter when three friends each broke their arms within a week of each other. But that didn’t stop them from caroming recklessly down the schoolyard hill every Saturday for the rest of the year.

8. You’re going up north for work (but you really wish you didn’t have to).

The lure of the north is pretty strong for us Albertans. We know the camp food is going to be shitty, the hours long, and the cold merciless. I think most of us even know that digging giant pits in the ground and filling them with toxic tailings isn’t so great. But at the end of the day, it’s where we all end up.

9. You proudly wear a decent pair of cowboy boots, a Stetson hat, and a pair of Wranglers on at least one day, or one week, of the year.

Whether it’s Stampede, Klondike Days, or your local rodeo, real Albertans love getting a chance to embrace their cowboy roots, two-stepping and yee-hawing well into the wee hours of the night.

10. When people ask about famous Albertans, you make sure to forget about Nickelback.

Because seriously, those guys are the worst.