Adventures in Western Canada: July, 2010

After much debate over trips such as a New England roller coaster tour, a journey to see the sights of the Dakotas and Montana, and an Alaskan cruise, we settled on a trek through western Canada which would include two amusement parks and some of the most beautiful Rocky Mountain vistas imaginable. It made sense, as it would provide a variety of enjoyable activities, not to mention that it would finally get me out of the US for the first time in 12 years.

Fri. July 23rd, 2010

We hit the road early, heading for the Albuquerque Sunport. Along the way, I saw a guy throw trash out of his car, and I about lost it – I’m so fed up with these people making a dump of our world, and I was so mad, I wanted to run him down and give him hell. What a way to start our trip! Luckily, I had calmed down by the time we got to the airport, and we settled down to await our flight, indulging on green chile stew (our last chance at this manna for about 10 days), and gazing out the window, watching airplanes go by. The first leg of our flight found us touching down in Salt Lake City, and it was such a joy to see the sights I used to know from above this time. I recognized so much of the area, particularly on our second leg, flying over the Uintah Mountains I used to frequent in my searches for pikas and flying squirrels. I knew all the roads and landmarks, and I almost missed it. Almost. It is beautiful country, I’ll give it that. I also tried in vain to spot my old cabin at the Ogden Bay Wildlife Management Area, but I was probably on the wrong side of the plane. I knew we must have flown nearly right over it, though.

Descending into Alberta, we noticed that it seemed incredibly flat. Lots of odd crops checker boarded the area, particularly something neon yellow that we later discovered was canola. Rainbows graced our downward glide in the form of perfect rings, reminding me of my descent into Singapore many years ago, and being a symbol of good fortune in my mind. We deplaned and walked through the airport, admiring all the bilingual signs, which allowed me to practice my French. At customs, we were greeted by authentic Canadian Mounties, which was exciting, though I had visions of Dudley Do Right. Once through, we were off to get our rental car, and then we visited the ATM to get our Canadian money. Anything under $5 is in change form, so we’d often be seen paying in change, which seemed almost obnoxious by American standards, but I guess it’s typical there. It reminded me of a psych 101 experiment in which they had us buy something in pennies to gauge other people’s reactions.

We left the airport and started our journey to find the hotel. Driving through Calgary, we noticed how polite the drivers were. They’d actually let you in without a fight if you needed to change lanes. The city itself had some topography, but it seemed as though much of it was due to the river cutting through a generally flat region. It seemed more lush than the American west, and the city itself was pretty spread out and moderately populated. We considered the area, and all of Canada for that matter, as “America lite.”

We eventually made it to the hotel, a Travelodge, which worried me because I’ve had some horrifying experiences at Travelodges in the past. Luckily, ours was relatively clean and pleasant (save for a snotty receptionist who was rude to the guy ahead of us) which made staying two nights bearable. There were a few questionable characters on our floor, but they stayed out of our way. One exciting thing about our hotel was that it housed a comedy club! We were so excited because our local club has been closed for over a year, and we’d been going through withdrawal. PLUS, hotel guests get in for free! We took note and got ready for the rest of our evening.

After changing into nicer clothes, we headed out toward downtown. Along the way, we passed the famous Saddledome, which, being shaped like a saddle, wasn’t domelike at all! Haha! This is on the grounds where they have the annual Calgary Stampede, a celebration of all things western and rodeo. Apparently Calgary becomes a madhouse whenever it’s going on, so it’s lucky we had just missed it, though we’d probably have checked it out anyway. Once downtown, we found a parking garage under the Calgary Tower (like Seattle’s Space Needle), and made our way up. We were a bit early for dinner, so we toured the tower, reluctantly standing on the glass floor that looks down to the street below. Not for the faint of heart! The lookout offered spectacular 360 degree views of the city and surrounding area. The Rockies looked so tiny and distant from our vantage point.

Eventually it was time for dinner, and we made our way down to the floor below. Our restaurant looked quite high end, though it was probably mostly for show, and it rotated at a slightly faster pace than the last tower restaurant we tried in Dallas, TX. My spaghetti was wonderful, and the sangria I had knocked me out. It was fun to talk to the waiter, who obviously thought we were Canadian (despite me referring to temperature in “Fahrenheit,” and he responding in Celsius (he must have thought it was pretty hot where we came from!). I inquired from where the shellfish was caught, and everything was from “PEI,” or Prince Edward Island (which I luckily knew – many Americans would’ve been like, “what?!”). Haha! Nate and I had a great evening, joking about a guy at a nearby table that “MUST” have been Paul Schaffer, and making up stories about the people around us. Oh, and we must have heard “aboot” a million times! Too funny! I genuinely loved it.

After dinner, we got stamps at the Marriott, and then headed back to our hotel to see the comedy club. The opening acts consisted of two awkward locals making references to things we outsiders found bewildering, such as a TV station that always shows burning logs. Huh? The headliner was Justin Leon, from Kansas City, and we totally related to him. He was great! Turned out we were the only Americans in the room (or anyone else wasn’t brave enough to raise their hands when asked…we didn’t either!). Other than the club trying to charge us despite being guests, and me not being able to keep the token they give us before we leave as a souvenir (don’t ask, I’m not sure myself), it was a great time!

Sat. July 24th, 2010

After a decent night’s sleep, we headed out around 9am to visit the Calgary Zoo. It was a much larger zoo than we’d expected, situated on St. Patrick’s Island in the Bow River. It just kept going and going! They even had a few animals I don’t recall seeing elsewhere such as the Japanese serow: a relative of the goat, and a musk ox, which I KNOW I’ve never seen anywhere. That was the coolest thing to me, as I’d always wanted to see one in person. My next goal is to see one in the wild. One thing we noticed about the zoo was the mouse infestation – almost every indoor enclosure had a serious mouse problem. We got a kick out of finding the mice more than finding whatever animal was supposed to reside within. Beyond that, the exhibits were huge and generally nice. They had a large section on Canadian animals, a butterfly house, and most interestingly, a huge dinosaur area through which you could walk amongst life-sized, and occasionally movable dinos. It was fantastic! They were in the midst of constructing a new penguin area, so we’ll have to go check that out again sometime.

After the zoo, we headed back into downtown Calgary to check out Brewster’s, our first brew pub of the trip. It was situated on the outskirts of downtown, but it still seemed pretty congested for my liking. Still, Calgary isn’t oppressively large, so it wasn’t a big deal. We parked a block away and headed over. I had an ok chicken quesadilla for lunch, and Nate and I shared two samplers because there were too many beers to try with just one.

After lunch, we headed west for Calaway Park, Calgary’s resident amusement park. It was a cute little park for a town the size of Calgary, but they could definitely stand to grow a bit. Upon entering, you’re greeted to a kiddie town that resembled a generic Bedrock. We climbed a large purple tower and surveyed the area. The park wasn’t very large, but they did have a roller coaster. Thanks to our late arrival and to waiting in line for the log flume for well over an hour, we only managed about 10 rides. We did get a credit on The Vortex, but I skipped the Super Jet, as it was a powered roller coaster. Vortex was a typical Arrow corkscrew, but it was exceptionally smooth and enjoyable. I rode a Chance Chaos with an older lady who handled the spinning quite well, and talking to her was a treat. Beyond that, the only other real ride of note was actually a walkthrough haunted house, which is a rare surprise. Other than that, being set amongst farm fields along the expressway, it really wasn’t outstanding in any way. Still, it is nice that a town like Calgary has a park…every city should!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped by the Canada Olympic Park which, unlike the one in Park City, UT, was basically abandoned. You could see the old ski hills and jumps, and walk amongst some statues, but beyond that, it looked like any touristy things like zip lines and such had been left to rot. So sad. We walked around a bit, taking some pictures, and marveling at how short some of those ski runs seemed. Really, despite how it looks on TV, a lot of those runs aren’t all that high up. Still, it was interesting to see…maybe it has more activity during other times of year.

For dinner, we ate at a pub near our hotel called Limerick’s. I tried a Canadian margarita, which was ok, from what I recall. Not much different from ours, really. Ok, not as good, but decent. I also had a shepherd’s pie which was way too filling and rather gross. Nate enjoyed his salad, however. After this, we were exhausted and had to rest up for our next exciting day.

Sun. July 25th, 2010

We had a wonderful night’s sleep and managed to amble out of our hotel around 11am. We drove west through some lovely green fields and rolling hills, and eventually we reached the mountains. We stopped for lunch in Canmore, a touristy town just within the Rockies, after finding a mailbox in a grocery store and nearly getting stopped for jaywalking. Eep! Lunch was had at the Bear Paw Brew Pub, which had some really good raspberry beer and god-awful nachos. We walked around town a bit, marveling at the crystal clear rivers and pristine scenery. Then we decided to head up one of the mountains to do the Grassi Lakes hike. We opted for the “hard up, easy down” method, which is usually my preferred plan of attack, and it turned out to be the best way. The scenery was amazing, the water was the most brilliant shades of blue and green, and we were treated to a gorgeous waterfall, too. The hike back down was quick and easy – a welcome relief from the near vertical climb up. (Ok, there were stairs, but still!)

From here, we headed off to Banff. To even get to the town itself, you need to pass through the national park gates and pay the entry fee. We were greeted with a “Hello, bonjour!” and I could almost feel the tenseness as if they hoped we wouldn’t say “bonjour” back. Haha! Maybe that was just imagined, since I’d have felt that way. My French is a bit rusty after 14 years. Once through the gates, we made our way through the gorgeous mountain scenery to the actual town of Banff.

Now, back before I ever got here, I envisioned Banff National Park to be a remote wilderness, far off the beaten path, where only the most adventurous of people would travel. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. For one thing, there’s the town of Banff. In Banff. And by town, I mean a fair-sized tourist town complete with hotels, shops, homes, castles, and people galore. It was bigger than I expected after hearing Nathan’s stories of nearly being run down by a grizzly bear near the town’s center on his last trip. The mere existence of this town would translate into having lots of tourists on almost every trail we would traverse. My initial worries of happening upon a large bear or wild moose were brushed aside. In fact, wildlife would be next to nonexistent during our trip due to a number of factors, not least of which including the vast numbers of people around. It turns out that summer is the off-season for animal viewing, as most venture off into the distant wilderness and higher elevations. Also, apparently Canada’s wildlife kill-off was even more extreme than that of the United States. While I was expecting to see much more wildlife due to the “remoteness” and lower population density, I would be quite disappointed. In fact, many of the animals that do reside within the Canadian national parks are transplants from the United States.

We made our way to our first night’s hotel, the Banff Caribou Lodge. It would wind up being my favorite of the three places we would stay in the park. The rooms were luxurious though not overly glitzy, and there was a spa area that was free to all guests. We checked in, and then decided to wander around town for a bit. We found two geocaches, one in town itself, and one just off a trail in the woods. We had to buy a souvenir pen to log our caches, having forgotten to bring one. During our second, wooded cache, we ran into another group of people caching as well. We tried to be as inconspicuous as we could. Between caches, we walked over to the Fairmont, the most famous hotel in Banff, and explored. It can’t be described as anything less than a castle, with winding hallways and large rooms leading to other large rooms. There were antique ball rooms, restaurants, museums, sitting areas, sunrooms, balconies, shops, a bowling alley (which we never found), and much more that just seemed to go on eternally. There were staircases that spiraled down into what seemed like dungeons, too. It was incredible. And the views of the mountains and river were astounding. Of course, after all our hiking we looked very underdressed for this place, but neither of us cared. Most people MUST be here for the outdoor adventure anyway, right? Right?? I was starting to not be as convinced…

After all of our adventures, including a quick spur to see where Nate and Eve witnessed the charging bear, we wound up at the Banff Brew Pub, which, excitingly, was so new we didn’t even know about it! To add to our delight, they gave us a coupon as we walked in. Nate and I shared the Hippy Fist Pumper, a vegetarian concoction of portabella, mashed potato, tofu, asparagus, and eggplant. They also had some decent beer. We were waited on by an Aussie with whom we chit chatted, too. It seemed most people who worked in Banff were from some faraway place. It’s so beautiful, I can see why.

After dinner, we walked around some more, getting ice cream (Nate had moople walnut, and I had butter pecan and mocha almond fudge because I can never decide on just one). Then we meandered back, stopping briefly at a small mall that had an interesting international food court. We also wandered by a hotel with a deer lawn ornament…or so we thought! Looking more closely, we realized it was alive!! Too neat. We got back to our hotel around 9 and headed over to the spa where we sat in the hot tub and relaxed for about a half hour. It was a lovely end to a busy day.

Mon. July 26th, 2010

We got up super early and were at Lake Louise (the second largest town in Banff, and quite dinky by comparison) by 9am. We made our way around the lake and looked at the enormous hotel, another Fairmont, though not nearly as impressive as the castle back in Banff, not bothering to go in. The first leg of our hike took us up to Mirror Lake, a small lake in the woods above Lake Louise. It was a trying hike, as I hadn’t really hiked much of anywhere in quite some time, but it wound up being a good workout. One of the things we noticed about the water in Banff itself was how opaque it seemed. Lake Louise was an icy blue chalky color, and apparently the color and opacity varies by season. Mirror Lake was slightly less opaque, but still not as mirror-like as I would have expected. We rested briefly before continuing up to Lake Agnes. Along the way, I was starting to wish we had opted for going on horseback, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as rewarding. It got really steep, and people around us were so slow. We passed everyone and left them in our dust, in fact. At Lake Agnes, there is actually a teahouse where you can buy breakfast or lunch, or just sit and relax with some beverages. It appears the only way to get provisions up here IS by horseback, it’s just that remote! But that little teahouse draws such large numbers of people that you really don’t feel like you’re that far removed from the rest of the world. It reminded me of how ants are drawn to sugar…there was just a streaming line of people coming in and out in such numbers, entering empty-handed and leaving carrying half their body weight in food, that they really didn’t seem that much different from ants. I’m really not sure how I feel about all that. But it was unusual!

After another brief rest, we continued on around Lake Agnes, viewing some pikas, much to my excitement, and a pine marten, which was an even rarer surprise. We continued even higher to a spectacular overlook from which you could see Lake Louise and its Fairmont, which, at this vantage point, looked like a Monopoly piece. It was still quite stunning, though.

Heading down from the viewpoint, we took a trail on which we didn’t pass a single soul. A bit wary of large wildlife, we took to singing TV theme songs to scare off any beasties. Diff’rent Strokes was our song of choice, though we threw a few others into the mix. Eventually we met up with another main trail which we took out to the Plain of the Six Glaciers. I had heard this was one of the few places you may be lucky enough to see a mountain goat, so we remained vigilant, but didn’t see any. I guess we really do need to come back another time of year. The hike out to the Plain itself was long and hot, a vast change from the forested mountainside from which we had come. About a mile from the plain was another teahouse where we stopped for a cool drink. Again, the people trailed like ants. The breezes at this point were quite odd…one moment they would be hot, and the next the glacier borne air would cool you off. We hiked out as close as we could get to the glaciers and even heard an avalanche in the distance. Finally, we turned back for the car after having hiked over 10 miles. It was a bit disconcerting when the signs for Lake Louise indicated our mileage (or kilometerage?) were going up and not down, but that must have been an oversight because we eventually did get back. Due to improper hiking socks, my feet were starting to blister really badly, although I only really noticed it after we would stop to rest for a few minutes. That made walking a bit tricky, and it only encouraged me to step up my pace and get back to the car as quickly as I could for some welcome relief. We walked back around Lake Louise and made it to the car a little after 4pm. On our drive back, we stopped at every short hike and overlook we could, and wound up eating at the Baker Creek Restaurant, touted to be the best restaurant in the park (though I’m not sure if they include the town of Banff in that declaration). We ate outside, and it was decent, although the service could have been better, and the food was a bit on the nouveau cuisine side. From there, we hiked to the Lower Falls, which was nearby, and as it was getting dark due to an incoming storm, we opted out of the Upper Falls. Sadly, we really saw little wildlife (due to our singing?). We checked into the Ptarmigan Inn (my least favorite of our three Banff hotels) just as the clouds were really starting to converge on us. We went down to the hotel’s restaurant and had a chocolate dessert to top off our night before nursing our wounds and hitting the hay.

Tues. July 27th, 2010

After having seen a large chunk of Banff’s most famous sites, we decided to mix it up a bit and headed over to see some of the other nearby national parks. We started with Kootenay, just over the border in British Columbia, where we did a short river hike, saw some ochre paint pots, and enjoyed some scenic overlooks. This wasn’t the largest of national parks, and I believe we saw pretty much all of it, save for what only backcountry travelers would reach. Sadly, the gift shop didn’t have any patches, so I settled for a pin, and we were on our way.

Then we drove south through Radium Hot Springs, where we ate lunch at Old Salzburg Restaurant, an exceptional German restaurant where I had some wienerschnitzel. It was so tasty that I didn’t even need extra lemon to improve it. Lovely. We continued on through the Columbia River Valley, which was strikingly and unsurprisingly like points south in Washington and Oregon. In fact, it was so obviously similar that I knew the nearby river was the Columbia just because it HAD to be. We eventually made it to the town of Golden, and I was so relieved when we did, as I was nearly falling asleep at the wheel. We switched drivers and continued on to Yoho National Park, also in B.C., where we hiked to Wapta Falls, seeing some ptarmigans on the way back. We attempted to find some hoodoos, or tent rocks, at one point, but couldn’t seem to find the access road. Then we did a hike around Emerald Lake, which was one of the most picturesque locations on our entire trip. Despite being surrounded by cabins and allowing canoeing, it was just so peaceful and serene. One side of the lake was forested and almost rainforest-lush, while the other was quite dry. The contrasts were incredible, and the reflectivity of the lake was amazing, allowing us countless incredible photo ops. If I were to go back, I’d love to spend more time there.

After Emerald Lake, we saw the town of Field, got a park patch, pinpointed the distant entrance to Spiral Cave, and headed on up to see Takakkaw Falls, arguably the highest waterfall in Canada. It is definitely the highest freefalling falls, but Della Falls is higher, though non-continuous. We hiked out as far as we could get, but the chilly evening air, coupled with the intense wind from the falls itself, made close approach quite unpleasant. We got within a quarter mile of the falls when the driving moisture from the falls started to encourage our retreat. It was so cold, I felt as though the waterfall mist would become a wintry mix before too long. We took some pictures and made a hasty departure for the car. My feet were so ripped up at this point that I hobbled most of the day, but again, once I was out and about, I could manage. It was just the first few steps after stopping that were awful.

Upon our return to Banff, we had dinner at an amazing sushi restaurant which featured a train. The chefs would make sushi and place them on color coded (by price) plates and send them around on the train, so you could pick up what you’d like. You could also make requests. Our chef (a female!) made the best darned saba I have ever had, and I made it a point to tell her so on our way out. You could tell she was pleased to hear it. It really was a fun experience, and the food was exceptional. Plus, for some reason, sushi seemed to be more affordable than most other restaurant foods in Canada. Granted, the US dollar wasn’t doing well against the Canadian dollar and everything seemed to cost a ridiculous amount, but at least in terms of sushi, prices seemed comparable.

After sushi, we got some drinks and retreated to our room where we relaxed to watch some America’s Got Talent and Robot Chicken. Oh, and speaking of our room, we spent our final night in Banff at the Rimrock Hotel, another one of the fanciest hotels in town, just slightly less so than the Fairmont. Located in a remote part of town, the hotel is situated on a hillside, so you can only see the top two floors from the road. I imagine it looks much more impressive from across the river. Our corner room was incredibly spacious with a separate seating area for watching TV, several couches, extremely high ceilings, and an overall air of poshness. The hotel itself was very stately, with every detail emitting class, from the piano in the sitting room, to the dark woodwork, to the views. It wasn’t my favorite hotel because it was a bit more than we really needed (and because they had the nerve to charge for internet when it was already expensive enough), but it was a fun way to treat ourselves for one night.

Wed. July 28th, 2010

We began our day with a nice tour of the Rimrock Hotel, discovering what a challenge it was to find a way outside. We explored every floor and felt rather out of place, wearing our hiking clothes while surrounded by people wearing their finest garb. I somehow managed, in my typical way, to touch something gross and wet (probably from a bird) out on a balcony. So much for being on top of everything, fancy hotel! After our tour, we headed back through Banff for the last time, stopping for gas and Pop-Tarts on the way. We drove north through Banff, stopping at the Crowfoot Glacier and numerous pull offs along the way. We hiked to the Peyto Lake overlook and admired more chalky blue waters before doing a longer hike overlooking some incredible ice fields. We saw numerous waterfalls and the famous Columbia Ice Field (which was much smaller than Nate remembered from 8 years ago…due to the fact that it was summer, or to climate change, we weren’t sure…a little of both, probably) which is located at the triple point of the continental divide. This means that water that flows from this area can travel east, west, or north toward the coasts. We toured the visitor center at Jasper National Park before continuing northward. We did hikes at Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls, each impressive in their own right. Toward the end, I was starting to fade, and my blistery feet weren’t too happy with me. Nate wanted to do a final hike out to Mt. Edith Cavell, but I was miserable. Still, I agreed, not wanting to miss anything, and I’m so glad we did. We came across an incredible glacial lake, glacier still intact, that looked completely unreal. It looked just like the fake glaciers they make at polar bear exhibits, but here was one, pure and natural. We hiked down to the water and got up close to some large chunks of ice. It was a breathtaking experience, and rather sad, too, knowing that in a few years, this may all be gone.

After this last hike, we continued on to the town of Jasper, another bustling metropolis, despite my visions of Alberta’s remote Rockies. Just outside of town, we saw a cow elk up close, so that was exciting. At least we saw SOME large wildlife. Once in Jasper, we made our way over to the Jasper Brewing Company, which was actually the same brew pub that operated the new one in Banff. Fist Pumping Hippie was still on the menu, but we decided to try other things, which slip my mind at the moment. The beers were a bit different, though they had run out of a few of the more interesting selections. After dinner, we got some ice cream. It seemed like there was a monopoly on this, seeing as how every shop only served Nestle Ice Cream, which wasn’t really that great. Oh well. We wandered around town a bit, enjoying our cones, and then hopped in the car to our next destination: Maligne Canyon. It was nearing 9:30, but being so far north, daylight was on our side. We hiked down to bridges one through three, but had to turn back as dusk was setting in. Interestingly, it wasn’t even entirely dark by 11, which made our drive to Hinton, AB a bit more bearable. Exhausted, we pulled into the Days Inn around 11 and promptly locked our keys in the room! Haha! It was a smelly room, on top of it, but we were exhausted, so we tried to ignore it. We had to get some rest for another big day ahead of us.

Thurs. July 29th, 2010

We decided to sleep in a bit and didn’t hit the road until about 10:30, driving east. We made sure to stop and see the world’s largest dragonfly sculpture located in Wabamun, AB, on the way. We finally reached Canada’s famous West Edmonton Mall around 2pm and checked in at the Fantasyland Hotel, a place I’d wanted to stay since I’d first read about it back in the 80’s. Each floor has a different theme, and the rooms go out of their way to match these themes. We made it a point to stop on every floor so we could at least see the hallway theming. Themes included Hollywood, Roman, African, Truck, Western, Arabian, Igloo, Canadian Rail, Sports, and Polynesian (ours, of course). Our room was incredible. The bed was themed like a fancy raft, and the Jacuzzi had a volcano. All the furniture was thatched. It felt so tiki! Our view on the 7th floor looked out on the city of Edmonton, as well as the IMAX pyramid across the roof from us. I was impressed!

After we’d explored the hotel, we decided to check out the mall: another location I’d been itching to see since the 80’s. Larger than the Mall of America, it was a lot nicer, too. In many ways, it felt like a regular mall, only larger. Unlike Mall of America, repeating stores weren’t common. There were various themed sections including Europa Blvd., which is themed like a European village, Chinatown, which has Asian shops, a koi pond, and a huge Asian supermarket, and Bourbon Street, which hosts a large number of sizeable restaurants and entertainment venues. On top of that, infused throughout the mall are a variety of amusement areas including Galaxyland: the indoor amusement park, World Waterpark: the largest indoor waterpark in the world, Sea Life Caverns: an aquarium and sea lion show, a large ice rink, a lemur display, bumper boats, a replica of the Santa Maria, and two miniature golf courses. You could also see the remains of a submarine ride that used to tour the pond and peer into Sea Life Caverns. It really was a spectacle, and we hardly knew where to begin. We walked around the entire mall, stopping to buy a bathing suit because the one I had brought had seen better days. We admired the amusement and water parks, taking lots of pictures now, while we were not riding. We visited the rather small aquarium which featured sharks, a collection of reptiles and amphibians, a touch pool, and penguins, and then saw the sea lion show from afar. We played a round of mini golf at Professor WEM’s Adventure Golf, walked aboard the Santa Maria (which was pretty lame – luckily, it was only 50 cents), and ate at the amazing international food court. Nathan had a gyro and I had some Indian fare. Later, we bought some sushi (once again, amazingly inexpensive compared to most other foods) from the Asian market and feasted upon that back at our room. To top off our evening, we went to the comedy club, which was enjoyable, and feasted on some Quebecois cuisine…namely poutine. In case you’ve never heard of it, it’s a pile of fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy. It sounds atrocious, but it’s actually quite tasty, and the comedy club really did it well. I was happy to get some truly Canadian cuisine while on our trip. The mall had so much to do; you could live in Edmonton and never get bored. We looked forward to the adventures in store for us tomorrow.

Fri. July 30th, 2010

We slept in a bit before packing the car and running over to the World Waterpark for a morning of splish splashy fun. As hotel guests, we got in for free, and we stayed about 3 hours, enjoying the large number of slides, including a few that incorporated lazy rivers. Nate did the speed slides, which I’ve never liked, and he said they were painful, so I didn’t regret not doing them. I also opted out of the toilet bowl slide, which freaks/grosses me out. They also had a sled slide on which I nearly flipped backwards. It was fun, though. We did all the other slides, enjoyed the hot tubs, and hung out in the wave pool throughout our visit. It was fun, but 3 hours was about enough for us.

We had some time to kill before heading over to Galaxyland, so we decided to explore Edmonton for a bit. We headed over to Devonian Botanical Gardens, where we asked about the bright crops around Alberta and found out they were canola, nearly crashed a wedding, got to enjoy the company of cedar waxwings, explored another butterfly house, and were nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes. Then we headed downtown where we checked into our room at the Coast Hotel. The hostess made sure to tell us how much she hated West Edmonton Mall. If only she knew! Haha!

We then headed back to the mall to finish our evening with some roller coasters. We gained three more credits (almost four, but they wouldn’t let me ride the kiddie coaster, looking at me like I was nuts for even asking…this made me come up with the plan to try and ride every operating coaster in the US/Canada – if I had a sponsored goal like that, perhaps these parks would allow me on the kiddie coasters at last. Yes, I am that credit crazy!). Anyway, I really liked Galaxyland – it was huge! Much larger than the park at Mall of America, and it had a better energy to it, too. We rode a good number of rides – almost all the flat rides of any note, the dark ride/shooter, and, of course, the infamous Mindbender.

Mindbender is an incredible masterpiece of a rollercoaster, built by Anton Schwarzkopf, and known for its unyielding intensity. It actually was the source of a fatal accident in 1986, during which some cars disengaged from the track. After riding it, I could almost see why. The g-force and power behind this ride was unparalleled to any other I’ve ridden (and I’ve been on nearly 400 coasters), and I could feel myself graying out throughout the ride. I absolutely loved it and feared it all at once – it was truly incredible and wonderful and terrible (in a good way). The only complaint I really had were the restraints. Schwarzkopf’s coasters are designed to operate without shoulder restraints, despite having inversions. Unfortunately, after the accident, shoulder harnesses were incorporated, but the design was awful. They came down in such a way that your arms were pinned under it, so you couldn’t really reach anything on which to brace yourself. The points aim right for the insides of your elbows, and with the jarring movements and sudden changes of direction, you run a good risk of injuring yourself on the harnesses. On top of that, I bashed my head on them pretty well, too. Yeeowch! It was an undeniably incredible ride, but those restraints made me fear for my welfare, and so I only rode it once. It is definitely something you shouldn’t pass up, though. There’s nothing like flying by those rafters and seeing the world flit by you in a blur. Amazing.

After getting our fill of rides, we had some awful Chinese food for dinner at the food court, grabbed a Galaxyland keychain, and headed back to our hotel for our last night in Canada. We stopped at the hotel restaurant for some dessert and a drink before calling it a night.

Sat. July 31st, 2010

We headed out early for Calgary, driving south and enjoying the glowing fields of canola, while laughing at the extremely cartoony deer crossing signs. We only stopped briefly in Red Deer to have lunch at the Toad & Turtle Pubhouse and Grill. It was pretty “meh,” but at least Nate got some more Canadian beer. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and headed through security where I got a pat down. I guess I look suspicious – it happens a lot! While waiting at our gate, we decided to get rid of whatever Canadian money we had, so I went to the newspaper shop and asked what I could get for a little over a dollar. I got a candy bar and decided to use the remaining change in any geocaches we wind up doing down the road. What fun.

Or flight was mostly uneventful until we approached Salt Lake City. We wound up circling for a long time, and the pilot wouldn’t tell us why…that is, until he informed us we were running out of fuel and would head to Pocatello, Idaho to fill up. I guess there was a pretty nasty storm going on over SLC, and we just couldn’t land. So we went to Idaho, and sat there for what seemed like an eternity, before heading back to SLC. Once back, we more than missed our flight to Albuquerque, and there weren’t any others going out that night. So we got a voucher for a discounted stay at a hotel and wound up going there. I have friends in SLC, but the timing was so bad that we couldn’t have even seen them – it was just too late at night to bother anyone. What a shame. Still, Nathan and I were still in vacation mode, and another day on the road wasn’t something to which we were averse. We got our room, ordered a pizza, and kicked back, watching some Saturday Night Live.

The next day, we headed out early and had an uneventful flight home. While it would have been nice to have a full day to recover after our adventure, we still managed to relax and catch up on the things we needed to. It was an enjoyable trip, as always, and we are already looking forward to our next one!