As plans go with my Dad, everything is last minute. The night before he had called saying that he might come and meet us in Edmonton for the weekend but would not be able to make a decision until the next morning. This was fine for us as we were planning on going there anyway the next day. So that morning we woke up and about an hour later I received a text with his flight info that day. He was coming and we were on our way!
His plane didn’t come in until the late afternoon so after eating some breakfast we took another stroll around Jasper. One of the things we had missed from our stroll the previous evening was a motorcycle tour company. They would take you around the park in the sidecar of a motorcycle. How cool is that! Next time we are here we will be doing this! We walked around Jasper picking up a few souvenirs before jumping in Bubbles and making our way towards the city.
As the drive from Jasper was around 4 hours we had some time to prepare for a few days in the city. For Bubbles the most important thing is, does the hotel have a parking lot (not a garage) and if they don’t can we find a parking lot? After about an hour of looking and calling we found out that no, Edmonton could not accommodate Bubbles. That’s ok though, we went on to our plan “B”, reserve a spot in an RV park and take an Uber into the city. We arrived in the RV park a few hours before my Dad’s flight arrived, packed a bag, prepped Bubbles for a few days by herself then called the Uber and headed into the city.
Going into the city is pretty neat. Central Alberta is pancake flat so you can see the city from miles and miles away. At first the buildings are just specs in the distance but as you get closer they get bigger and bigger. Edmonton is also the largest, northern city in North America. It is the last major city going north if you are on your way to Alaska as we are. We got to the hotel and checked in. Shortly after my Dad arrived. It was great to see him for two reason, 1st we had not seen him since Easter in Florida and second, it just worked out that it was Fathers day the last day that he was here with us. Sometimes the planets align to work out well and this time was no exception!
The hotel where we were staying had a great patio over looking the North Saskatchewan River so we all grabbed a glass of wine and caught up for a bit while watching the sunset. We then walked into downtown and found a great little place to eat called The Blue Plate Diner. We had a great time here with more conversation. Our two waitresses here were also great (it helped that we were the last customers of the day). Cezanne and Nicole who was from Newfoundland. We talked to Nicole for a while about being from Newfoundland and our time there. They then suggested a place for drinks called the Cask and Barrel just a few blocks away. When a local tells you a good place to go…you must go! We walked over to Cask and Barrel and had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel and going to bed. We recommend the Cask and Barrel, great atmosphere and drinks!
The next day we woke up and after our first hot breakfast in a long time (eggs & bacon) we were good to go for the day. Our first stop was the Alberta Capitol building or as its called in Alberta the “Alberta Legislature Building”. As it was a Saturday there was quite the line to see the building. Just as we had done in Quebec & British Columbia we had to sign up for a time slot for a tour. Luckily we only had to wait about half an hour before our tour started. The building was beautiful and the tour guide was super enthusiastic, which is always a plus when you are going on a tour.
After the tour we decided to go and check out a few of Edmonton’s neighborhoods. Normally when touring a big city we spend the 1st day touring the downtown and the 2nd day in the neighborhoods. As Edmonton’s downtown was mostly corporate buildings and hotels we thought that its neighborhoods might have a bit more going on. My Dad had rented a car so we did not have to drive Bubbles around looking for parking….so off we went!
Our first stop was one of Edmonton’s largest neighborhoods of Strathcona. This neighborhood had it all, shops, restaurants, bars, coffee shops. Everything that you needed (or thought you did) it had. We stopped at a Japanese restaurant, Izakaya Dorinko for lunch. When we walked in the door we thought we were walking into a sushi restaurant. Turns out it was a Japanese street food restaurant. Even though we had never had Japanese street food before we all really enjoyed the meal.
From the Strathcona neighborhood we drove through the Glenora neighborhood checking out the houses then stopping by the Oliver/Brewery District area. Here we stopped at Two Sergeants Brewery for a flight of beers and played a few card games and had a fierce game of bubble hockey (I won J). We then drove around the Westmount neighborhood before going back to the hotel and having a great meal in the hotel dining room.
The next morning we woke up and it was Fathers Day. This was really neat for me because we were thousands of miles from where we started this trip and in another country yet still able to see my Dad. We had tried to make reservations for the hotels Fathers day brunch but were told that they had been fully booked for weeks. The normal restaurant brunch buffet was still available though, so we took that. We had gotten a Fathers Day card in Jasper before we left so both Julie and I wrote a bit in it, then gave it to my Dad during breakfast. It was a great meal and awesome to be able to spend it with family.
After brunch we packed up and all drove back to Bubbles at the campground. Unlike Julie’s parents my Dad had never been with us during any part of our journey up to this point so it was neat to show him a little bit of RV life. We walked around the campground explaining the process for coming in, setting the RV up and really how we live in it. We then sat down and talked until it was time for him to go to the airport. Goodbyes are always hard but at the least we knew that we would see him again in Seattle in a few months time. After he left Julie & I did some laundry, made dinner and relaxed the rest of the night.
The next morning we woke up ready for our last day in Edmonton. Today was our last day before the start of our drive to Alaska. We had some preparations to do. In the morning after giving the van a good look over we drove over to the local grocery store to stock up. There are grocery stores on the way to Alaska but they are small and would not have everything that a grocery store in a big town would have.
After stocking up there was one more thing that we wanted to see in Edmonton…the West Edmonton Mall. I know what your thinking…why would you go to the mall? We wanted to go to the mall because its not big, its supersized. It’s the largest mall in the North American continent, larger than The Mall of America in Minneapolis. When I had come to the mall back in 2007 it was the largest in the world. While it has gone down in world rankings now to some malls in Asia and the Middle East it is still huge. It has everything from its own amusement park, aquarium, hotel and even a wave pool and water park. Like I said, its huge!
First things first though; back when we first entered Canada we embarrassed ourselves a little by trying to pay for coffee with change and found out that Canada had phased out the penny years ago. As we had about 70 Canadian penny’s we thought that we would find a fountain, throw the pennies in and hopefully bring some good travel luck for ourselves as we traveled north. As luck would have it there turned out to be a fountain just after the entrance that we went through so we made all our wishes there!
We then strolled through the mall seeing the Waterpark, a few animals in the Aquarium, the wave pool and about 500 stores. We found their restaurant wing (yes an entire wing of good restaurants) and settled on Earl’s a mostly Canadian upscale chain. After a good lunch we stopped by a few stores for products that we knew that we would not see for weeks (Lush lotion for Julie) and we went back to the campground to rest and relax the rest of the day. We had driven roughly 4800 miles to get to Edmonton and had another 1900+ to get to Anchorage.
Next up…The drive to Alaska begins!
