Good times are always had in Edmonton.

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There is snow is Edmonton already yet the temperature is a nice -5 degrees. I guess this is what I get to look forward too in a month's time once I'm back home. Unless I'm off again somewhere else.

My time here was spent hanging out at my grandmother's house and exploring the wonderous West Edmonton Mall. I've been here many times already, and I'm fairly familiar with the city of St. Albert and the western part of Edmonton where the giant mall takes its name from. Downtown however I've yet to seen in my previous visits, so I finally puttered around when the weather was half decent. It was a good visit as my dad showed my some of places he grew up, schools he went too, and other hangouts that were still around. As far as cities goes, I quite like it compared to some other hulks of cement around North America.

West Edmonton Mall is the big attraction which I always enjoy heading too. Countless stores, an ice rink, an amusement park, a waterslide park with a giant wave pool, a hotel, penguins, mini gulf, and a ton of other things await any visitor to the massive structure dedicated to all thing commercial. Fun times can always be had, especially when one has the dough to blow. My favourites have always been the water park and the aquariums. Oh yeah, bigass slides where I can exercise my right to be a kid and show off my talents at splashing in the wavepool. The prices have skyrocketed since I've last gone (6 bucks for a locker??), but I could stay there all day until my skin prunes up so much that it hurts to walk. The aquarium didn't have any dolphins this time, but instead the main attraction was two cute seals. I wonder if they ever let those things in the waterpark? Seeing those and penguins go down slides would be pretty neat.

Speaking of penguins, can normal people like me take them home as pets? Seriously, they are really cute and my favourite bird. Waddling around all the time, I get giggly just thinking of them now. I'm envious of some of the keepers jobs, being near all those cool animals all the time. It sure beats what I do for a living.

After spending far too much time at every attraction, and wondering if I can take the pirate ship out for a spin, I really never did much shopping. Besides food here and there, such as that lovely crepe shop, I think I just bought a couple metal cds and an xmas gift.

Most of the time that wasn't spent exploring and at the mall was spent with grandma, or hanging around my cousin and aunt/uncle. I never get too see any of them very much, so this is always great. Sadly things like trips end far too soon as me and my dad had to return home. Hopefully I'll get another chance to head out soon.

Now some time to laze at home and think of what is going on next.

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Photos

Yarrr!
Ahoy Matie!

Yarrr!
Seeing this makes me want to take up pirating.

:)
What can I say? I like these things.

:D
So cute!

:D
Waddling around doing penguin things.

Rink
Not many malls have their own rink.

Wheeee
The roller coaster at the giant amusement park.

Mini golf
I havend played on this course in years.

:)
One of the sea lions who lives near the pirate ship.

Flamingos
Interesting creatures they are, sleeping on one leg.

Waterpark
One of my favourite hangouts at the mall.

Pirates!
A wide shot of the ship.

Edmonton
Kinda looks like any other city in North America eh?

Edmonton
Some cool looking building, which is an old hotel I think.

Edmonton
Another view of downtown.

Edmonton
An old my school my dad used to go to.

Edmonton
A glimpse of downtown.