Visiting Edmonton

[feepa]

you didn't miss much by not swimming in pigeon lake.

[Coldrsx]

You did A TON and more than most do in 5 years.

What was the good, bad, ugly?

[Hallsy's Toupee]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

I had kovasa from a Ukrainian restaurant Downtown, and I got a shawarma from a pizza place Downtown.

May I assume the Ukrainian restaurant is called Don'ya?
I'm also curious about which pizza joint you hit up.

[xzmattzx]

It might take me a while to post all my thoughts, but here's a start, with just Monday evening and night:

~ I really liked the town of Beaumont. The church up on the hill was cool. I thought it was great that the town preserved the side of the hill as just grass specifically for sledding. A lot of municipalities or governments seem to overlook how much kids want/need just a regular sledding hill, and the hills get developed or used for something else.
~ Beaumont seemed like a great little suburban town. It's too bad places in Alberta like that are relatively new, because a few old 1800s farmhouses in the middle of town would balance things out even more and give some old to counter with the new.
~ As with the sledding hill, you can tell that the town cares about giving kids a good place to grow up. The skateboard park was in the middle of town, and there were some trails for kids to get around town without having to ride their bikes in the streets.
~ Seeing Edmonton's city limits all the way out by Beaumont was interesting. Edmonton seems a lot like town in the American west that is expanding its limits outward, like Las Vegas or Boise or Phoenix. I figured the way it was across all of Canada was that municipal limits were pretty strict and hard to move, like how in Ontario you don't really see annexation of land.
~ It seemed strange to me that there wasn't a little more freeway access into the city center from that beltway coming from the south. There seems to be better freeway access from just about all other directions, especially from the east and west. It seems natural to me that the Highway 2 freeway connects with the Highway 14 freeway, and then you can take surface streets into Downtown.
~ I found it really bizarre that there is no direct public transportation link between the airport and Downtown. The bus route has you transferring out in the suburbs. That was one reason why I rented a car, because I could save over 30 minutes each way with that car, much less have more access to more areas with the car. I've flown to Montreal, Quebec City, and Halifax, and in all three of those cities, there were direct bus routes between the airport and Downtown.
~ Peter's Drive-In was nice. The milkshake was good! The hot dog was alright; the bun was maybe a little too big for the dog, and it wasn't a regular hot dog roll, but overall it was fine. The burger was very nice. The special Peter's sauce tasted like meatloaf ketchup.
~ Whyte Avenue was nice. There were a lot of people out for a Monday night! A bartender said she thought it was because the weather was so good and Edmonton didn't really have much of a summer, so people were taking advantage of that. I'll have to explore that neighborhood by day if I'm ever back!
~ Parking was easy, and I was able to park overnight for free, right in the middle of Downtown.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

~ Seeing Edmonton's city limits all the way out by Beaumont was interesting. Edmonton seems a lot like town in the American west that is expanding its limits outward, like Las Vegas or Boise or Phoenix. I figured the way it was across all of Canada was that municipal limits were pretty strict and hard to move, like how in Ontario you don't really see annexation of land.
~ I found it really bizarre that there is no direct public transportation link between the airport and Downtown.

On the contrary, Canadian municipal borders are regularly changing, and annexation is quite frequent. Toronto has annexed something like forty neighbouring municipalities in its history. Ottawa and Hamilton have largely taken over government of their surrounding rural hinterlands as their former counties became amalgamated. The same happened in Halifax, and then there are also more nebulous super-municipal bodies, like in Vancouver, Victoria, and Montréal, which are more in the UK or Australian style. Municipalities in Canada exist at the pleasure of their provinces, so it's much easier to change them, relative to the US where cities and counties are more rigid entities.

As for the 747 Airport bus in Edmonton, it takes you right to the light rail station at Century Park, which will whisky you into the city centre, so it's quite useful. I usually do that when I'm arriving in town though the frequencies can be frustrating at times.

[xzmattzx]

Next are my thoughts and observations from Tuesday morning, walking around Downtown and whatnot:

~ The Legislative Building is nice. I just wish is was open for tours while I was there! Alberta's now goes with Ontario's as the only legislative buildings that I have seen but not been inside. I have been inside the ones for Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia.
~ Downtown reminded me a little bit of Anchorage. It is more hodgepodge than a more established city further south, like Denver or Seattle. I noticed the motels and houses scattered amongst the office buildings a little more fluidly than in other cities. I got the feeling that like Alaska, there is a wealth of land, so the city can afford to have small buildings Downtown, like what you can see in Anchorage as well.
~ The river valley is impressive! Even though I saw the Google Maps satellite imagery, I was not expecting it to be so wide or so high.
~ I did not swim Downtown at Accidental Beach or elsewhere on the river, partly because I had tentative plans to get to an actual lake, and partly because someone mentioned how the river is not that great after a rain, and I wasn't sure what had taken place recently.
~ For food, I did eat lunch at Don'Ya. I liked it! The food was pretty cheap for a Downtown location. My guess it that this ultimately like what I thought with the resemblance to Anchorage, and how maybe it doesn't cost quite as much to rent street level space in an office building.
~ I got dinner early to go from Cosmic Pizza. I got a chicken shawarma with sweet sauce. That was nice!
~ I'm surprised how many homeless there are in a city so far north. Many people think of Los Angeles, San Diego, or maybe Miami as homeless destinations, since the weather is better all year, so I don't know how the homeless put up with temperatures down as low as -40.
~ It seems obvious to me that Downtown is migrating northward to where the Ice District and arena are.

[Hallsy's Toupee]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

~ The Legislative Building is nice. I just wish is was open for tours while I was there! Alberta's now goes with Ontario's as the only legislative buildings that I have seen but not been inside. I have been inside the ones for Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia.

According to their webpage, the Legislature is open for tours except for Mondays and Tuesdays.

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

~ I'm surprised how many homeless there are in a city so far north. Many people think of Los Angeles, San Diego, or maybe Miami as homeless destinations, since the weather is better all year, so I don't know how the homeless put up with temperatures down as low as -40.

Almost all other Canadian cities are in same boat.

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

~ It seems obvious to me that Downtown is migrating northward to where the Ice District and arena are.

Welcome to the Bank District!

[s211]

Comparing Edmonton to Anchorage. OUCH.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by s211

Comparing Edmonton to Anchorage. OUCH.

Hey, if someone has been to Anchorage and Edmonton, they probably can make comparisons and contrasts.

[s211]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Hey, if someone has been to Anchorage and Edmonton, they probably can make comparisons and contrasts.

Yeah, I've been and ouch.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by s211

Yeah, I've been and ouch.

Mind you, you would have the same reaction if he dared trying comparing other elements to other cities he has been to. As you have done endlessly before. If you have experience with Anchorage, actually engage with him on that instead of endlessly wallowing in cringe.

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by s211

Yeah, I've been and ouch.

South Anchorage, I like it!

[s211]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

South Anchorage, I like it!

[xzmattzx]

I don't know if a comparison between Edmonton and Anchorage is seen as some sort of slight. I have been to both and I see similarities. Both, of course, are under 125 years old (without looking it up), and in places where land is not at a premium like it is in, say, Massachusetts or New Jersey, the ability to spread out and have some random things in a Downtown is more feasible. You're less likely to see SFHs with yards (Edmonton and Anchorage) just a few blocks from Downtown in a city that's a few hundred years old like Boston, Philadelphia, or Montreal. I just see similarities in younger cities that are pretty far up north.

[xzmattzx]

After exploring Downtown, I drove to West Edmonton Mall. I had to see it, even for an hour, since it used to be the biggest mall in the world (although there seem to be different parameters for that).

We actually have a pretty important mall here in Delaware. Christiana Mall apparently has one of the highest volume of sales of malls in the US. The Apple store in the mall also apparently sells more iPhones than any other location in the world.

After going through a lot of construction work on Stony Plain Road, I got to the eastern end of the mall. I went in on the second floor, so I could look down on everything.

~ Is there a main facade anywhere? It's good that there's a two-level garage, but I figured there would be more prominent entrances. Of course, our main mall here has unimpressive entrances, so maybe that's par for the course.
~ I was impressed to see a car dealership on the east side as soon as I walked in.
~ The mall itself seems much smaller than I figured it would be. The footprint is smaller than I expected. Of course, that is because it is two levels all around. I figured it would take me 45 minutes to walk end-to-end or something.
~ The hockey rink was impressive. It seems uniquely Canadian that you put a hockey rink in a mall; I guess it would be a football field in a mall in the US or something. In another universe, I can see the Oilers hosting a public practice or a scrimmage on that rink for fans.
~ The casino entrance in the middle was impressive. I didn't go in.
~ The west end of the mall is the cash cow, it seems. You have the water park with the zip line over top, big pirate ship section, and even the seals. That was the most fun to walk around. I was tempted to go into the wave pool, but my suit was in the car, and I wanted to get outside the city.

I'm glad I saw the mall. I can see why it was the biggest in the world at one time, although I picture malls with either one level and very spread out, or multiple levels like a highrise on a small footprint, like the Eaton Centre in Toronto. This was kind of between them both. I can imagine with the waterpark, casino, rink, pirate ship play area, all the stores, and other stuff I didn't see, that someone could spend a weekend in there.

[itom 987]

All that construction along the way getting to the mall is for the LRT. When the LRT opens the mall station might be the busiest LRT station in the city. The Oilers did to practice there once but that was a long time ago. You are right about the west side being more interesting than the east side. The mall started off as a regular mall before expanding to what it is today. The east side is the oldest side.

[Hallsy's Toupee]

The Oilers practiced at WEM during the Gretzky/Messier era. At that time, they were the NHL's version of Beatlemania, therefore I can only imagine what the crowds at the mall were like! These days, the Oilers have an autograph session at WEM about once a year, and they have special rules in place for those lining up for autographs by McDavid and Draisaitl.

WEM is a tale of 2 department stores. The east end has Hudson's Bay, which were all permanently closed a few months ago after 300 years. The west end has Simons, which is an ultra-trendy Canadian department store from Quebec.

[xzmattzx]

After the mall was Elk Island National Park. Hallsy's Toupee mentioned it, and while trying to contact Coldrsx about possibly meeting on very short notice, I re-read his post. I decided to be spontaneous (again, because the mall was a last-minute decision), and decided to drive out to the park after seeing that it was pretty close.

Google Maps told me to drive on the beltway the whole way from the mall to the highway to the east. I took Highway 16 through the city, since it seemed to be only 8 minutes longer, and I figured it must be because of a little slowdown or something. It turned out that it was because of construction. It's good that they are upgrading that highway to an expressway, since traffic lights are pretty pointless at that point. The speed cameras and really slow speed limit (80 kph on an expressway?) as I got off of the beltway onto 16 threw me off. I think I may have gotten caught once, but I'm not sure. I guess we will see in another few weeks. (Maybe they won't bother sending a ticket to Delaware, if I got caught.)

~ Based on Google Maps, I figured Elk Island would be this huge swath of forested land that hadn't been developed. In reality, it is a mix of new-growth forest and some bison pasturelands. It was all very nice, and the bisons were a bit of a surprise.
~ I was excited to see that wood bison were in the park, and I was hoping I would see one. It was only after reading later on the park brochure that the wood bison are south of Highway 16, and regular plains bison are north of the highway. I saw one plains bison up close, and one off behind a fence from the highway after leaving.
~ My plan was to swim in the Astotin Lake in the park, in order to get Alberta in as one of the provinces that I have swum in (I only have Ontario and British Columbia so far; I never thought of it when in Quebec or Nova Scotia in previous Augusts). A park employee at the visitor center advised against it, because of algae leading to swimmer's itch, but he said the wind was blowing to the west, and the algae should be pushed to the other side of the lake. But, when I got there, there was a ton of green algae on the lake surface, all surrounding the beach and dock, so I passed.
~ Park fees were waived on the day I was there, until September 1. I can't remember why that was, but I appreciated it.
~This was my first Canadian national park! I enjoyed it and wish I had more time. I wish Canada did the passport stamps like the US National Park System does.

On another note, I saw the cemetery in the median of the Yellowhead Highway, since I noticed the strange separation on Google Maps ahead of time. Incidentally, there's a great view of Downtown Edmonton head west into town if you look straight down the line of the short diagonal eastbound section. HERE

[Hallsy's Toupee]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

~ Park fees were waived on the day I was there, until September 1. I can't remember why that was, but I appreciated it.
~This was my first Canadian national park! I enjoyed it and wish I had more time. I wish Canada did the passport stamps like the US National Park System does.

The Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, initiated a Canada Strong Pass that allowed for free access to the national parks all summer (June 20 - September 2). This was due to newfound Canadian pride in the wake of the American president's idiotic 51st State rhetoric and his hard-on for tariffs.

[xzmattzx]

After Elk Island N.P., I still thought about going to Pigeon Lake. But while driving, reality set in, and Pigeon Lake was too far away to get a quick swim in before going to the airport. But, I had a little bit of time, so I drove past the airport and went to Leduc. I walked around the lake a little bit, and walked around town a little bit as well. I was hoping that lake would be swimable, but it was brown and marshy. But seeing another Alberta town was nice.