DAY 22-26 ~ EDMONTON, ALBERTA (June 8 – 11)

We spent 4 nights in Edmonton, Alberta’s capital city.  We stayed in a brand new RV park.  In fact they are in the process of adding 100 additional sites.  So there was a lot of construction noise going on.  But it is a very nice place.  There is no WiFi at the sites, you have to sit in front of the office and use the office WiFi.  Maybe on our next visit the RV park will be finished with Wifi throughout. 

One great thing about trailer traveling is that most RV parks have a book exchange.  Either in the laundry room or the office there will be a bookcase full of used books.  You take one or two and replace it with one or two of yours.  I brought along a bag of several books that I have already read to do just that.  I love to read and so far on this trip (3.5 weeks) I have read 6 books.  I now have several new ‘used’ books to read.

We have visited Edmonton before and we will be revisiting some of our favorite sites.  We had bad weather during our stay.  It was very cloudy, and windy with lots of rain.  So we had to stay indoors.

Our first stop was the West Edmonton Mall.  This mall is as big as our Mall of America.  This place is amazing.  It contains more than 800 stores, 19 movie theaters, 100 eateries and 9 major theme attractions; Galaxyland has 25 rides, Deep Sea Adventure has one of the world’s largest indoor lakes with a life-size replica of the Santa Maria; Sea Life Caverns contains @ 200 species of marine life; World Waterpark has 5 acres of indoor fun with a giant wave pool; NHL size ice rink, seal lion show, 2 miniature golf courses; bowling, billiards, etc.  We visited this place a few times during our stay in Edmonton.

We spent a day exploring Art Gallery of Alberta and the Royal Albert Museum.  The art gallery was mostly modern art; some very interesting, some just strange.

 A quilt made with ribbons

Wall mural

The Royal Albert Museum had an interesting and pretty exhibit called “Western Threads”. 

On our last day in Edmonton the sun came out!  It was sunny and warm.  Now we can be outdoors and visit the University of Alberta Devonian Botanic Garden.

Can you find “Slowpoke”

DAY 26 ~ GOODBYE ALBERTA (June 12)

We did an overnight stay at a small town called Valleyview, our final destination in Alberta.  There is nothing here to view or explore.  It is 350+ miles to our next destination.  Valleyview is at the 200 mile point, so we stopped to break up the long trip.  We are now heading into British Columbia.  On our way out of Alberta we drove through Beaverlodge, whose landmark is..well it’s a giant beaver. 

“The "Beaver Project" was initiated by a local entrepreneur Alex Lojczyc, who had always dreamed of giving Beaverlodge something to bolster town spirits and encourage tourists to visit our pretty little town.  It all began in February, 2004 when the idea took shape.”  It took 90 gallons of polyurethane to coat, approx. 13 gallons of paint, and 18 blocks of foam to make the sculpture.  The beaver & log each weigh 1,500 lbs.  The beaver is 18’ long & 10’ high.  The log is 20’ long & 5’ high.

Next stop; goodbye Alberta, hello British Columbia.