Edmonton

You never realize how much you take the comforts of home for granted until you are away from it for an extended time. I can’t express how happy I was to be at Grant and Val’s in Edmonton. I could sleep without worrying about someone taking me things, I didn’t have to stress about being disturbed by others in a hostel during the night, about trying to get to the shower early so it was clean, …all the joys of traveling. No, here I was at Edmonton to spend time in Alberta with Grant, Val, Emily and Hannah (and Cielle) and find work until I travel to the East side of Canada.

If you have been keeping up with my previous blog entries, you will know that I had my pack stolen. Well, Edmonton has to be the best place to be to shop as it has the largest shopping and entertainment mall….West Edmonton Mall is about the size of 48 city blocks so it has just about everything you can think of. It’s only two floors high which make it easy to know your way around, I used the indoor skating rink as my base. There’s also a hotel, IMAX, Water Park, theatre, casino, mini golf, flamencos, ten-pin bowling, roller coaster etc. The first day I spent just absorbing all the shops and I went back for ‘round two’ the next day to buy my new wardrobe.

I have been in Edmonton since 19th June and have been enjoying the hot temperatures of summer. For a long period we were getting temperatures above 30˚C. I’m glad it’s starting to drop back to mid 20’s. The evenings were also long and stayed light until 11pm. This was very handy for sight seeing and also watching Emily’s soccer games.

Not long after we arrived Grant and Val took us to Elk Island to get amongst the Canadian wildlife. We drove through areas hosting bison and elk and saw beaver homes. Elk Island is a National Park just outside of Edmonton with many trails, camping facilities, lakes and golf course. The roads are fairly rough and it’s not overly busy. There are also Moose and coyotes in Elk Island, but you are fortunate if you see them.

One highlight for me was watching the fellow NZ competitors in a triathlon. The course was definitely geared up for spectators as I was able to walk for the swim leg, to the bike and finally the run and see all the action. I couldn’t believe that there weren’t that many people watching but I’m sure all my screaming paid off when Bevan Docherty ran through the finish line first, Kris Gemmel second, and two other kiwis 6th & 8th.

The Ruske family also took us back to the Rockies for a more extensive look at the Jasper area. It was interesting going back to the Rockies as even after such a sort period a lot of snow had melted and the landscape looked very different. We visited Jasper Park Lodge and walked around the grounds. The lodge surrounds a beautiful lake and we were lucky to see a double rainbow hitting the bottom of the lake. Maligne Canyon was also very impressive. We also saw some other very picturesque lakes, Pyramid Lake, Annette Lake and Edith Lake. Our time in Jasper coincided with Canada Day which was also the Jasper Centennial. The parade down the main street was more than expected and included horses, fire trucks, floats, candy throwing and water spraying. I particularly enjoyed Edith Cavell, which is an approximately 3,400m peak capped by Angel Glacier. It took about 40 minutes to walk too and also had a frozen lake sitting in front of the glazier and plenty of snow piles. In the evening, fireworks were let off. These were very impressive and went for at least 15 minutes to the sounds of Pink Floyd. On our way back to Edmonton we stopped off at Val’s parents in Edson and left with a full stomach of a home cooked meal and apple pie for dessert.

One thing Canadians love are Drive-Thru’s. There is a drive-thru for everything….the bank, Starbucks, Tim Hortons just to name a few.

Since I have been in Edmonton I have been to many festivals. It feels like Edmonton was born a festival as they are never ending. The street performers festival even had a kiwi contender, there was also the Taste of Edmonton which I tried many different foods. I think Canadians really love their food as the Heritage Festival had crowds over 100,000 people each day with over 65 different nationalities providing food and information on their culture.

Apparently everyone dreams of being a cowboy. So Cielle and I traveled to Calgary to find out what all the fuss was about at the Calgary Stampede. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, we forgot out cowboy hats so missed out on some of the prizes on offer. The grounds were massive and included a carnival, agriculture venue, tractor pulling, and a casino, beer tent with live entertainment, coca cola stage, Indian Village, indoor market, fashion shows, and Team Penning. Team Penning was better than what I expected. It involves a team of 3 horse riders who are given 60 seconds to separate specifically numbered cattle from a herd of 30 and then drive them into a small pen. One cannot go to the Stampede and not see the Chuck wagon races. It took a lot of effort to understand how it works; thankfully the people behind us didn’t mind sharing how the races work. The races ended with an evening show of fireworks and history of the Stampede, which was a bit over-the-top.

We have also been to the Ukrainian Heritage Village. This is set out like a community and staff in costume take on a role from the past and speak to you from their perspective of what ever year they are in (1930 or earlier). The Ukrainian’s first immigrated to Canada from 1891 to take up the government’s offer of homesteads in Western Canada. The museum and Fort Edmonton Park also captured Edmonton’s history very well. Fort Edmonton Park has the 1846 Fort and street of 1885, 1905, and 1920. I particularly enjoyed the Fort which was originally built as part of the fur trade with Hudson Bay Company. Throughout the park, employees were dressed in costume and were on hand to answer any questions in their respective house, wagon or shop. Without any warning Grant was part of the action. From nowhere, he was darting throughout the streets of 1905 in the back seat of an old motor car!

I can now say I have celebrated a birthday in summer!!! I had a lovely birthday party with the Ruske family and also went to the dinner theatre at West Edmonton Mall. We watched Greedy Rotten Scoundrels, which was about the death of Uncle Deckland Macmanus and his family all interested in a piece of his inheritance. They were all prepared to do anything to get it. During dessert, a woman approached our table with a sparkler and announced she’d do anything while it was lit. She got off lightly as Cielle and Grant suggested that she sing happy birthday to me. The first act after dessert everyone celebrating a birthday was invited on stage. Four of us were left to entertain the crowd to a 80s song. It was a bit of fun and I’m pleased that the photos Cielle took were not that clear.

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