Edmonton 2015

We got back from spending the past week in a slightly cool but still pleasant Edmonton last night after a long day of flying.

Had a great trip out there, and Connie got to meet mom and dad. It was a busy and full week of driving around to visit people and seeing places.

On this trip, we also discovered that since our phones are on Sprint’s CDMA network (via Ting), they no longer roam while in Canada like mine did on my last trip (even then it was spotty). Future trips means we’ll have to pick up pre-paid SIM cards from somewhere for our stay if we want to stay in touch.

Didn’t go for dim sum quite as much as on my last trip in August, but we did make it out for dim sum at least once. My sister Sandi was able to join us in Edmonton for the weekend and Connie got a nice picture of us after we all went out for dinner Saturday night.

We made a couple of visits out to West Edmonton Mall, which we both enjoyed. It’s big, and while there are a few things that I remember, a lot of the mall has changed since I was last there.

The Santa Maria

World Waterpark

The Mindbender

I even went skating at the Ice Palace which was probably the first time I’d been on skates in over 20 years. Even though the skates I rented could have used a good sharpening, it was still a lot of fun being on the ice again. Wasn’t exactly the most graceful of skating, but I managed to stay on my feet. Connie got some pictures of me on the ice.

While we were walking through the mall, we spotted a penguin walking around checking things out.

The penguin is part of WEM’s Marine Life aquarium exhibit and is named Taz. Cool random encounter.

We made stops at Tim Horton’s (maybe a few), A&W (mmm, Mozzaburger), a donair place and had a couple of lunches at The Old Spaghetti Factory in WEM. Made it out for beer and wings with the guys, and showed Connie some of the city. We didn’t get to see or do everything I was thinking about doing, but we managed to cram in a fair bit during our week there.

Also, Alaska Airlines might be my new favourite airline. They’ll be starting non-stop flights between Charleston and Seattle soon, which means it will be easier for us to make it out to that corner of the country to visit my sister and brother and their families. It also gives another alternative route home (CHS-SEA-YEG). Plus they still offer snacks.

It’s a little sad that a 14g packet of dried fruit and pretzels is something to get excited about when flying.