Departure!

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Well, we're finally off! After an anxious two days of packing, cleaning house, clearing out our vegetable plots and storing the produce, and blocking four mohair scarves Katherine knit for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers sale (which will take place while we are away), we got away on the Red Arrow at 12:30 pm.

We decided, since we plan to move back to BC in May, that we needed to see the West Edmonton Mall before we leave Alberta, so we booked a room in the hotel in the mall. Nice hotel room, and the mall is certainly . . . some kind of cultural phenomenon (ahem). After settling into our room, we walked most of this monument to consumerism. There are some interesting artifacts here, including a replica of Columbus's Santa Maria, which you can tour for $1 (we didn't).

There's also a water park, amusement park, skating rink, movie theatre, and heaven knows what all else. Then we met Roberta's cousin Doreen for a lovely dinner at the Cactus Club, where we caught up on each other's news.

Tomorrow our train departs at midnight, so we will have a long day to spend here. We think we might visit the wave pool in the morning, then check our bags with the hotel concierge and take in a movie in the afternoon. After dinner we'll make our way in a leisurely fashion downtown to the train station.

Going to publish this now, though I'm not sure how it will look. I've added several photos but can't see how they are going to display. The user interface on this system has changed a lot since I last used it. I guess we'll learn by doing!

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