Edmonton - Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

After our two day Albertan national park road trip with Janice, we were back in Edmonton to visit with Peter and Ollie. Unfortunately it was a code purple air quality alert due to wildfires, and also a heat wave, so we couldn't do anything outside. We decided to visit the Muttart Conservatory, a series of glass pyramids with different plant biomes. It was closed for renovation when we visited Edmonton in 2020, and Peter hadn't visited yet. We considered taking the light rail, but decided against it due to the air quality and heat. The Conservatory was neat, and we enjoyed checking out all of the plants. There was a temporary exhibit about Egypt as well.

Cheerios snack for Ollie.

Merlin the wonder cat.

Yikes, look at that smoky air!

The glass pyramids rise above a landscaped park.

It was so hot they had trouble cooling the pyramids.

The special Egypt exhibit had papyrus and lotus flowers.

The arid biome.

Some nice flowers.

Peter and Paul.

The gardens around the pyramids.

Downtown through the haze.

We made a quick stop in downtown to get some bubble tea, then went back to Janice and Peter's place to hang out. That's when we discovered that our flight back to Atlanta, which was supposed to leave around midnight, was cancelled, likely due to the Crowdstrike failure. Delta was telling us we couldn't get back to Atlanta until Tuesday (three days later), but West Jet was able to connect us through Winnipeg, leaving the following evening. So, silver lining, extra time with our friends! We had some Vietnamese takeout for dinner and had a relaxing night.

The tallest building in Edmonton.

The bubble tea place had Atlanta on the screen.

Yummy dinner.

The next day, our bonus day, it was still hot and smoky, so we looked for another indoor activity. We decided on the TELUS world of science. This was a great museum, particularly the large exhibit on the people, animals, and geology of the Arctic region. There's a lot for kids, but more than enough to keep adults entertained as well. We assumed this was related to the Tellus Science Museum north of Atlanta, but noticed it was spelled different, and it turns out these are two completely separate science museums that just happen to have similar names. According to the website for the museum in Georgia, it's named for Tellus Mater, the Roman Goddess of Earth, also known as Terra. Meanwhile the museum in Edmonton is sponsored by Telus Communications, a Canadian company.

The TELUS museum.

Paul being a dinosaur.

Ollie doing his best to be an astronaut.

Who did it better?

The Arctic exhibit, which had a lot of interactive elements.

That afternoon we visited a park (but not for too long, since the air quality was still bad) and had some Colombian food before saying goodbye to our friends and heading back to the airport. We arrived in Winnipeg after 11pm, and went straight to a hotel that we had booked through the airline. That counts as an official visit, right? 😆  The next morning we were up early for our flight to Atlanta, finally landing about 32 hours later than we originally planned. 

Dinner of champions - airport takeaway food at a the Hilton airport hotel at 11:30pm.

Lots of wildfire smoke in Winnipeg too - this was our view of the sun from the airport.

It will likely be a while before we return to Edmonton, as our friends are moving! Stay tuned for a surprise future adventure when we visit them in their new home.

Exploring Edmonton

Last year our good friends Janice and Peter moved to Edmonton. We were in their wedding, visited them when they lived in Oxford, London, and Sweden, and traveled with them in places like Greece, Iowa, and Italy, so we immediately hatched a plan to go visit them in the frozen north. And what better time to journey to Canada's northernmost major city than February?

Our flight connected in Toronto, and we arrived in Edmonton at night. With the time change we were exhausted, so we hung out for just a bit before going to bed. We set out the next morning for the Old Strathcona Farmers Market, an indoor Saturday market. Strathcona is a cool area of town south of the river, packed with restaurants and shops. The market was surprisingly busy for winter. There were a lot of pre-made products (jams, soaps, jerky, etc) and local foods. After taking in the atmosphere for a bit, we had brunch at a nearby restaurant called Meat.

We walked back toward downtown across the High Level Bridge, which has great views across the city. It's also extremely cold and windy - probably the coldest we felt the whole weekend.

A huge mural in Strathcona.

Inside the market.

Sometimes we're still in middle school.

Walking the snowy path high above the river. It was cold!

View of downtown Edmonton.

Before walking across the bridge.

A little bit of unfrozen river.

Our next stop was the Alberta Legislature Building, where we went on a guided tour. The sandstone building was constructed after Alberta became a province in 1905. The tour was nice, and covered a bit about the history of the building and the province. We also learned that Canadian provinces have non-elected lieutenant governors (which they pronounced "left-tenant") that represent Queen Elizabeth. Fun fact of the tour: there are five 80+ year old palm trees inside the dome, and nobody knows where they came from. The rumor is they're a gift from California, but when asked that state denies it.

Next we walked a bit of the river trail, and took the automated funicular up the hillside back in to downtown. We made a quick stop at Craft Beer Market for some drinks before returning to Janice and Peter's apartment. We finished off the night with a lovely dinner at Woodwork.

The sandstone exterior of the legislature building.

The inside is nice, but a little plain.

One of the former lieutenant governors.

Palm trees in the dome!

The snowy grounds.

Nothing to see here, just David on a weird bench.

Inside the funicular.

Going up!

Blood red falling ice sign.

Downtown Edmonton.

Inside Craft Beer Market.

On our second day in Edmonton, we started out ice skating in front of City Hall. There's a rink in the plaza, and skate rental is free! Since it was early, cold, and snowing it wasn't busy and we had plenty of space to skate around. This was David's first time ever ice skating, and he did well! After briefly visiting city hall, we walked a couple of blocks to the Royal Alberta Museum, and spent a few hours exploring the science and history exhibits. It's a large museum with a lot of great exhibits. By now we were starving, and walked a short distance to Chinatown for lunch at 97 Hot Pot. It was perfect on a chilly day.

The view from Janice and Peter's apartment.

David on the ice.

Peter showing off his skills in the background.

Goofing around in front of city hall.

The interior of city hall.

Albertosaurus skeleton in the museum.

A big exhibit about the early history of the area.

Hot pot lunch. Yum!

After lunch we walked around the "ice district," a new area with a hockey arena, casino, and giant skyscrapers with hotels and condos. It's a nice area but was quiet because it was a weekend day without a hockey game. We walked past a street known as the "neon museum" where old neon signs from around the city are attached to a wall, and then stopped by McEwan University, where our friend Janice works. Finally, we had some happy hour drinks at Campio Brewery, which had our favorite beer of the trip.

Not the best face...

The two tallest buildings in Edmonton, finished in 2019, tower above Rogers Place.

Neon museum during the day.

Janice's work!

Janice and Paul at Campio Brewing. Great beer!

Walking back by the neon museum at night.

On our final day in Edmonton we took an Uber to West Edmonton Mall to visit Galaxyland, an indoor amusement park. It's home to Mindbender, the world's tallest indoor roller coaster. Paul had a great time riding, and Peter took a spin too. The mall is ginormous - the largest in North America. It was busy because it was such a cold day. We spent some time walking around, people watching, and checking out a game in the full sized hockey rink in the middle. We had some lunch before taking the bus back to Janice and Peter's, where we relaxed, played some games, and finished the night with dinner and drinks at Beer Revolution.

Ready for some fun!

Mindbender is intense.

The drops on Mindbender. Huge for an indoor coaster!

Peter and Paul in the front seat.

Paul getting those coaster credits.

Lunch time in the mall at a British restaurant.

There was a junior hockey game happening inside the mall.

Beer Revolution

That night, the temperature dipped to some of the coldest we've ever experienced. The Edmonton airport got down to -18°F. David brought his own thermometer from home, and recorded -12°F at Janice and Peter's apartment, so he now considers that his coldest temperature every experienced (beating out 5°F in Atlanta in February 2014). Fun fact, at around -5°F to -10°F ice starts forming on your nose hairs when you breath deeply. It was a little alarming...but was kinda fun too.

Goodbye, Edmonton!

We had a great time visiting our friends and exploring the northernmost large city in Canada. Now we need to come back in summer and go visit the Canadian Rockies and Calgary!