My Kind of Town (Chicago) & Reentering Canada, eh? – Day 11 - 13 - Saturday – Monday

After the last night ended at 4am, Jenn and I got back in the car (a bit begrudgingly), for the 4 hour drive to Chicago. The roads of Wisconsin looked a bit like ribbon candy: rolling hills in front of you with the road in a perfectly straight line over each curve, dotting the candy. The sky looked like an egg crate, with gray covering the sky and clumps evenly distributed. Neat! We grabbed a quick lunch at a gas station as we were trying to make a 2pm musical in Chicago. It became evident the closer we got to the city as the number of lanes, potholes, and tolls increased. We could see the Chicago skyline and were either just going to make the show, or be a half hour late depending on traffic. Luckily with our GPS, it wasn’t too hard to navigate in the city, we found our parking garage, and ran (as fast I could in 4 inch heels) the 3 blocks to the show.

The broadway show, the Book of Mormon, was funny, and as the creators of South Park often do, once you start to feel uncomfortable, they push the joke further until you are cringing and can no longer look. They do so with wit, amazing songs, great dancing, intelligent lyrics, but the end result is always laughing turned to uncomfortable chuckles. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I could in good conscience recommend it, though the conclusion was humorous: the totally crazy things they said were metaphors and anyone who couldn’t get that was a moron. The crazy things they said though did make you stop and take notice and consider what they had to say: that your specific religion doesn’t matter, only being a good person, finding inner peace, and doing good things for the world, an agnostic’s message I think.

Then Jenn and I walked a few blocks through 50 story high rises with a store or two at the bottom, to meet my aunt and uncle. We got in their fancy car and had a lovely driving tour of downtown Chicago. They showed us the ‘bean’ (a 3d reflective mirror 2 stories high in the shape of a bean), all the museums, water towers, Buckingham fountain (renamed Bundy fountain because of it’s appearance on ‘Married with Children’), and all kinds of neat buildings. It was especially great because when I was driving, I was too focused on the craziness of drivers to consider any of the incredible sights.

My Aunt Mona and Uncle John took us to the 67^th floor of the Sears tower, to a nice club where they are members for cocktails. We had to pass security and my heavy necklace and shoes kept setting off the metal detectors. I have never had to plan my wardrobe before expecting metal detectors…. The club had a spectacular view and we had an even nicer conversation. Jenn was excited as well because Stedman (Oprah’s man) was on the Board of Directors of the club so she took a picture with his picture, haha.

We then took a cab to the Atwood Café, a quaint restaurant inside a historic building that had been converted to a hotel. The menu was full of seafood and the dishes all served with small portions but very rich and beautifully decorated. Needless to say, I was not hungry after my plate of ceviche with a red pepper sorbet, followed by whitefish from the local harbor with crabmeat cream sauce, and a scrumptious dessert. The meal ended much too quickly as we were enjoying the company but as it was getting late and we had just finished driving 36 hours in 2 and a bit days, we were ready for bed. We walked with Mona and John part of the way, bid them goodnight and headed to the parking garage to retrieve our bags from the car.

We then went to check into our hostel – a really nice looking family establishment right downtown, only to learn that our room was oversold so a very nice attendant took us to the University housing down the street, where we stayed. Yes, we stayed in the dorm for the night. A terrible mattress (actually worse than the Kenyan mattresses) but with a beautiful view from the 14^th floor. Also, we shared a bathroom with the neighbors, causing frustrations on more than one occasion. All in all a fun night, and gosh did those 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep feel nice!

The next morning, I headed to the lounge to catch up on email, as my phone had been turned off since entering the States, and was amazed at the view. There were 180 degrees of windows overlooking the city. There are a number of universities that use this center for their housing, and I wonder how many days it takes for the view to become blasé. I was in awe. We had a lazy morning reading and resting, then wandered around Chicago with our light luggage. We went by the park, saw the enormous sky-scrapers, and wandered down to the water. My mom suggested we go look for a boat in the harbor, and sure enough, the Abegweit, the PEI ferry, was docked there permanently! This is the boat my grandfather worked on for most of his career and here it was in Chicago! A really neat find!

Jenn and I (not very enthusiastically) climbed back into the car and started the drive to Toronto, happy to be nearly done of driving, but a bit sad as our adventure was clearly coming to a close. Now no longer on a tight schedule we could stop at interesting places along the way, and came across an outlet mall in Indiana. We actually ate in a restaurant (instead of takeout) and I enjoyed some Fiesta Lime Chicken and buckets of ice tea from Applebees. By the time we got near the border, it was already 11pm, so we decided to stop in Ann Arbor, where hotels were still inexpensive before entering Canada.

We stayed at the nicest Motel 6 you have ever seen! I’m not being facetious either. This little $50 room was 60’s retro themed with a massive flat-screen tv, hardwood floors, neat lighting, two comfortable beds, fancy comforters, and even one of those round shower holders in the bathroom. We’re not talking 4-star, but I’m telling you we were impressed! We had a nice long sleep, got up the next morning, found a Sonic Drive-In so I could get my ‘fix’ before leaving the country, and headed the last 4 hours to Toronto. We drove through the sad barren wasteland that is Detroit, through an underground tunnel to Canada, before entering Windsor. While in Detroit, I tried to find a Motown station to get in the spirit, but there was nothing! I was very saddened. You could tell once we entered Canada (aside from the ‘Welcome to Canada’, customs, and lack of street signs) by the green landscape. Detroit is such a concrete monster with dilapidated buildings, Windsor was a lush green contrast. The four-hour drive to Toronto crept by, one second at a time, but eventually we arrived at Jenn’s sisters’ house. We had a lovely eating relaxing, chatting, eating pizza, and watching a bonfire before retiring. Tomorrow is our last full day and Jenn and her sister have much wedding planning to do while I’ll be visiting friends and relatives around Toronto. We’ll have to enjoy this last day of our big tour!

The Plains, the plains – Day 9 & 10 - Thursday – Friday - May 16 and 17

After the excitement of Carrie Underwood, it was hard to fall asleep. I woke up Thursday morning early to go get the rental car. Instead of taking transit, I decided a nice walk would be in order, since the next few days would be full of long car rides. 8km later, I walked into the Winnipeg Airport. That’s not something you tend to walk into so it was a bit awkward. We got a great Dodge Dart and I had a nice conversation with the woman who was helping us (silly PEI friendliness). I’ve been talking to so many people, one person in Chicago actually rolled their eyes, like, ‘who is this country bumpkin!’ I was so excited for the reaction. ‘Me! I’m the weirdo friendly person!!’

I picked Jenn up, we happily said goodbye to Winnipeg, and started our long drive. After a few hours we crossed into the States and I got a surge of energy, just bubbling to be back. I must have talked for 5 minutes straight about everything I missed about the US – Cheeze-its, Sonic Drive In, Chick-fil-a, Applebees, Chipotle, Target,, the dollar menu actually being a dollar at McDonalds and Wendys…hmm, these all seem to revolve around food. Nonetheless I was happy to be back in the land of cheap food, cheap gas, and out of Winnipeg.

We arrived at Mall of America, now the 5^th largest mall in North America by a few thousand square feet. It was so much nicer than West Edmonton. The layout made sense, there was a much better selection of stores and they were all a really great size. Jenn had a lot of success and it was fun to introduce her to places not in Canada (that we’ve found): Wet Seal, Charlotte Rousse, Rue 21, DSW shoes, etc. I managed to restrain myself (as my bags were full from our last few days of shopping), but couldn’t resist 2 amazing new pairs of shoes. We grabbed dinner (Chipotle!!!!) and headed on our way to South Dakota.

Driving through North Dakota was a bit boring. It was pretty barren, though nice and warm. Minnesota was similar. The grass was tinged with brown but with more green than you’d see in Texas. There were trees and hills, but we were clearly in a new area. In South Dakota, it was clearly the plains. Long stretches where you could see for 100 miles in any direction, perfectly flat. Nothing really in the distance until you came close to the Black Hills (Western South Dakota). The scenery changed then. Ponderosa Pines littered the mountains in the distance, with pine cones creating the effect of black hills. There were steer on both sides of the highway for nearly the entire distance. South Dakota is big, taking probably 6 hours to cross it. The skies were incredible: baby blue with just a touch of clouds. It only increased the expansive feeling of the plains. You could occasionally see a deep drop-off, more familiar in Arizona or a small version of the Grand Canyon. Totally picturesque.

We drove until 3am and stayed the night in a clean, safe, fiscally frugal Motel 6 in Mitchell South Dakota. Sadly the next day came only 5 hours later and we were back on the road by 8:30am. We stopped next in Wall, South Dakota. This is a corny Old West town exudes fun. We ate at the Cactus Cafe, and I enjoyed frybread – an amazing bread associated with Native Americans. Oh and pie. I had pie a la mode for brunch. Then we wandered around the Old West shops with cute storefronts like you’d see out of Tombstone, wandering past moccasins, dream catchers, and old cowboy rope. A bit kitchy, but fun. We got back in the car and drove into the Black Hills towards Mount Rushmore. It was surprising as we got closer to the mountain to see Washington’s head pop around the corner. We knew we were close. The monument was well organized, as so many national parks are, with information, not too much education but some, and interactive displays. You could push an old style detonator and cause explosions on the screen, depicting how they carved out the heads from the stone. The four presidential heads were a few stories off the ground, maybe 100 ft? and showed George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. All presidents that did something great for the country, as well as expand its borders. I was pleased to relay what each president to Jenn (as a Canadian she shouldn’t know each person’s claim to fame just as I don’t know any prime ministers of the past). History has been my least favorite subject for years, yet I actually remembered in detail what each president did. We then walked by a ranger talking to a group of 2^nd grade students and listened in as he confirmed what I said. Success! Jenn and I took a bunch of silly photos, including me doing handstands but Jenn couldn’t get us all in so there are just my legs and their heads, haha. The site was majestic and totally worth the drive. We had a blast.

Then we travelled 17 miles to Crazy Horse, the Native American carving that has been taking place for 60 years or so. It will eventually be substantially larger (40 times or something) than Mount Rushmore and depict a Native American’s torso with his arm extended, flowing hair, and the head of a his horse. Right now it’s his face and the beginning of his armpit. Should be neat, but I can say, I was there when…. The motivation for the sculpture is that the Black Hills are considered sacred to the Sioux Indians. Carving Mount Rushmore there wasn’t the most politically correct move.

We then drove down through the national forest and came across fields of prairie dogs. They were adorable! Popping their heads up, just like in pictures, from their tunnel of holes. Once you stopped and looked, they were everywhere, but these little Timons (from the Lion King – close cousin, anyway) blended into their surroundings so well. There were also a lot of bison, within 5 feet of the car. After a bit of research I learned that bison are actually what we have in North America even though we call them buffalo, which only exist (outside of zoos) in Africa and Asia. So, these shaggy, giant beasts were neat to watch for a short while.

Then we drove into Nebraska and headed over to Chicago by way of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Fun drive. At one point, it started to pour. As we were driving on the straight, flat plains, you could see a dark grey sheet in front of us, and a lovely pink and orange sunset behind us. There was clearly a dividing line on either side of the highway. We drove into the storm, just heavy rain and fantastic lightening, and passed through it after a few hours. We could then see the now black sheet behind us, with the occasional lightening burst, and a beautiful pink and blue on the horizon in front of us. We drove through the storm, and it was still sunset! A neat experience.

While exiting McDonalds in a po-dunk town in South Dakota, a cop pulled me over. I haven’t been speeding and just couldn’t figure out the problem, when I realized my headlights weren’t on. Now I found this funny because I hadn’t been driving a quarter of a mile and clearly these guys were bored. They came up to my car, I pulled out my PEI id and the cop, a friendly guy by the name of Deputy Powers, asked me to sit in the patrol car while he ran the license. Apparently PEI is not online yet (shocking), so he couldn’t tell if I was wanted, a murderer, a regular speeder, or just having a blonde moment. We were having a nice easy conversation and a ticket for the lights would have been silly, so he let me go. Meanwhile Jenn was in the car waiting as a dust storm blew through. She thought she was in a Tornado, and a bit freaked out. I just felt bad for the deputy that had to stand outside while I was getting my ID run. Nonetheless everything was fine and we drove until 4am and slept somewhere in Wisconsin in a Super 8.

The next day (Saturday) we were set to drive to Chicago and see a show, have dinner with my aunt and uncle, and tour the city. Sadly, tomorrow would begin in only 4 hours, so we made the short time count.

Whelming Winnipeg – Day 7 & 8 – Tue and Wed

Our second 24 hour train ride flew by, going through Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba! We arrived on the train after midnight, and everyone was already asleep. It was difficult to put all of our (growing) luggage up in the top bunk and sleep with it all night. The woman below me was making noises you would expect from Goofy as he slept. The cartoonish ‘ahhhh wooo wooo wooo’ was not really snoring but it was like deep sighs or something. Interesting. These characters were quite different than the Vancouver-Edmonton leg. On that ride, there was a woman in our section who sounded like Wanda Sykes. In fact, it was a few hours before we met her and were surprised that she looked nothing like Wanda.

We met a few neat people during this ride, and gosh if I didn’t talk to them for a long time, learning their life stories. (Silly PEI, teaching me how to enjoy being friendly). One woman travelled to the village in NY in the 60s and clearly had some fun as she was telling me about the romance she had until she found out he was married and her parents arrived from Winnipeg to bring her back! That was just part of her story. I met a young man touring the world from France who just spent the winter in Australia and was headed to Montreal. (Oh crap, did I say young man? He was only 24….that makes me sound soooo old!). We sat at dinner with a man who was interested in the braid in my hair as explained that he braids his wife’s hair each day. Aww! So sweet! There was one couple from Australia, but it must have been the Jersey of Australia. My gosh they were annoying. Each word was like a knife, sawing at my brain. I wanted to stuff my ears with cotton to avoid the cacophony of noise they claimed was speech. It wasn’t just their accent, they were the most ‘obnoxious Americans’ I had ever met, and I don’t think they’d ever been to the States! The whole time I was in a car with them (10 minutes that felt like 6 million), I felt like I was in ‘My Fair Lady’. I turned the music on and enjoyed the following lines trying to drown them out (unsuccessfully), but giggling ironically the whole time: ‘Why can’t the English set a good example to people who’s English is painful to your ears.? The scotch and the irish leave you close to tears. And there even are places where the English completely disappears. In America they haven’t used it for years.’ Hehe.

We arrived Tuesday evening in Winnipeg, got into a Prius cab, and drove to our hotel, ‘the Marlborough’. The hotel was built in the 20’s and though it had some nice history it was just odd. The beds were unbelievably comfortable, which is all that really matters, but there were workers talking loudly early in the morning, locals hassling us in the lobby, and no remote for the TV, not that that really mattered. We did get free hot breakfast which was nice and the location was very close to Carrie Underwood. Oh that’s right, did I mention we were in Winnipeg to see Carrie? Hmm yes. We basically just stalled on Wednesday touring around Winnipeg, waiting for the 730pm show.

Winnipeg was whelming. I’m not sure if that’s a real word, but it’s one my sister and I have used to describe those things that just make you go ‘huh’, without too much emotion involved. They’re not great, but you care so little about them, you don’t care at all really. Winnipeg was whelming. There were more drunk and crazy people wandering around than any other city we have been to, the buildings were dilapidated and old, the tourist locations sad with no one there, and people were unhappy. It was quite ironic as the license plates said ‘Friendly Manitoba’, but I can’t imagine they were thinking of Winnipeg-ians when deciding on a slogan. Winnipeg reminded me of the people of Albuquerque, as there is a very large 1^st nations population here, but the streets and buildings were more like Detroit: old and nearly abandoned.  We walked through Chinatown, the Exchange, Forks, the Legislature, the art area, all over really. The Forks Market was pretty cute where I enjoyed my first bubble tea and Jenn got some really cute shoes. Mostly we were happy to go back to the hotel early to get ready for the big show as Winnipeg was…well you get it.

Our hotel was less than a 3 minute walk from the concert….and let me just skip ahead to tell you…it was amazing! Carrie Underwood performed like this was the only show she would do all year. She held high notes for seconds longer than she even does in her songs, and the ballads, oh the ballads. Her energy was crazy high! There was a floating/flying stage where she went all the way to the back of the audience. Beach balls 5 feet high were bounced all over the stadium. She had 5 costume changes. There were massive moving screens stories high that were integrated with each song. If you’ve seen the show Nashville, think way bigger, cooler, and more integrated. Technologically, it was a marvel. Musically, it was incredible! Her showmanship was astounding. I’ve been a fan of Carrie Underwood, but only in the 'buy her cd’s' kind of way. I am now a repeat fan and will look for upcoming concerts. The playlist did not disappoint as she sang a bunch of the new ones with the great old ones ‘Before he cheats’, ‘Last name’, and she adapted the ‘All-American Girl’ for Canada. An incredible 90 minutes. Little Hunter Hayes performed before her for 40 minutes or so and looks a bit like Frankie Munez from Malcolm in the Middle. He was sweet but clearly green, especially in contrast to Carrie.

Our journey is now half over. Tomorrow we are off to the States, to the Mall of America and Mount Rushmore, and to sample North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and arriving in Illinois on Saturday. I suspect with the amount of hours we’ll be in a car, it will be a few days until the next blog. Should be fun though! I have all the fast food joints planned! 

All of Alberta, well mostly – Day 5 & 6 - Sunday and Monday

After arriving in Edmonton very late on Saturday night, we woke up in time for me to Facetime with the family for Mother’s Day before heading out. We stayed at the Ramada because it was close to the train station and also to the Hertz where I would pick up the car the next morning. I did not know that it was a stealth Hertz, that made great efforts to ensure it was not found. I wandered up and down the street behind our hotel for an hour, and even called the Hertz to find their location. It turns out it was in an unmarked building with no sign anywhere near it. Oh obviously that is a great marketing scheme. Well done Hertz. I picked up our little tin can that had the great price of $15 a day, only 45 minutes behind schedule, met Jenn, and we headed to downtown Edmonton for drive-by sight-seeing. We stopped at the legislative building and wandered around the grounds, drove by some really quaint parks separated by a massive river running through the city, saw the outside of the Royal Alberta Museum, rolled down Whyte street filled with adorable retro shops, and finally stopped stalling and went to the West Edmonton mall, the largest mall in North America! It was a great way to see the city though, as we saw a lot and got a nice sense of the town. Edmonton reminded me of Missouri – kind of flat, spread out, middle class houses, constructed with stucco or siding, but very friendly people and somewhere you could envision living. It is a bustling city with decent public transportation, but a big suburban area as well.

Onto the mall. This was the first activity in which Jenn expressed interest during the planning phase of the trip. She was so right to ensure we went! There was a sea lion show, an entire water park, a big kid amusement park, ice skating rink, 50+ restaurants, and every store I could hope for! I have been to many malls, outdoor and in, but West Edmonton Mall was really was massive and diverse. It was as if they polled kids on their favorite thing to do and jammed all of that in between stores. We went to a number of our favorite stores, dashing in and out so we could get to as many in as possible. We watched the skaters and saw the sea lions, but we were really just counting the minutes until the roller coaster. As a thrill seeker, I have enjoyed many coasters. This one…. was good. Very good. Although it’s packed into two stories and a confined space, there were more loops and (for the first time) I nearly blacked out while on the ride! I’ve been to all the parks at Disney World, Disney land, Eurodisney, Busch gardens, Universal Studios, a couple of Sea Worlds, a number of Six Flags, and even been sky diving twice, but never have a I nearly blacked out! It was a total rush worth saving to the end of the Edmonton adventure.

We grabbed some fast food and drove the 3 hours to Calgary, encountering beautiful flat plains with bright vibrant colors. There were some rolling hills but mostly a lot of farms, cows, and a lot of wind!!  Jenn and I parted ways in Calgary after supper as Jenn stayed with a friend and they spent the next day driving around Banff and Lake Louise. I left for Banff that evening to spend the next day skiing. The drive to Banff was breathtaking as I reentered the Rockies from the flat terrain I had spent the day in. The sun was setting and there were some of the pink and orange colors you see in Arizona, but a lot of purple added to the mix. Really nice colors bouncing off the big fluffy clouds with the Rockies in the background. I spent the 90 minute drive rocking out to some girly music and was sad to get to Banff as quickly as I did. As I pulled into the skiing village, it was clear that this was more like a skiing city, very different from the quaint Jasper. Banff clearly had a skiing industry with cutesy buildings constructed to look like a ski town, whereas Jasper had the effortless look of a ski town. It looked a bit like a façade, but still a nice place to hang out.

I pulled up to a hostel and paid $32 for a bed in a shared female dorm – and that included breakfast! In the room were 3 bunk beds, one bed occupied with a woman trying to sleep (as it was 11pm), and a few beds clearly ‘claimed’. I crawled up to one of the top bunks and put the new sheets on the bed, changed my clothes, and turned in, without making too much noise. While falling asleep three more girls came in and made their way to bed, without fuss. I never spoke with any of them, except for the girl who talked in her sleep in French all night; we had a nice conversation, though I doubt she remembers it. The next morning I woke up and layered on most of the clothes I brought to go skiing. I had tights and yoga pants, a tank top, long-sleeve tee, scarf, gloves, and spring jacket. This would have to be enough as it was all I had. I was thankful that my jacket had a hood as I didn’t bring a hat, and I had to purchase sunglasses once I arrived on the mountain, but I’m jumping ahead.

For breakfast in the hostel, after dropping your used sheets in the hamper, I went downstairs to the industrial kitchen and chose from a selection of bread, cereals, and eggs. It was a neat feeling to stay in a hostel like this, as clearly this was a home for some of the local workers, not just a hotel for people passing through like me. There was a sense of community and shared struggles of people trying to get work and just enjoy life as it came. This hostel felt authentic, compared to the hipster hotel of Vancouver. I can’t imagine this being my life: staying in a hostel and working during the day to get enough money to go to the next town, but it was interesting to ponder.

Back to skiing: I missed the exit to the Sunshine ski resort, only a few miles from Banff, so I took it as an opportunity to continue on to Lake Louise. It was raining, though not quite pouring as I made the short walk to the beautiful water scene. Lake Louise is a vast collection of water surrounded by the spiky peaks of the Rockies. There was ice over the water, with varying thicknesses, evidence of Winter melting into Spring. You couldn’t see the top of the mountains as the clouds were so low, it looked like the heavens were nearly close enough to touch. I got back in my car and headed to Sunshine to ski ski ski! On the drive, one of the overpasses had an elk standing in the center inspecting the cars that passed on either side. It was so exciting that for a second, I thought it was fake. It had a rack with at least 8 points and was just majestic!

At Sunshine ski resort, I rented skis, got in the gondola, excited for the 15 minute ride, but was a bit put off with only seeing 20 cars in the parking lot. It had been years since I skied, so I was just excited to get the chance. As soon as I got off the first chair lift, the familiar burning feeling in the thighs came back quickly, the slight fear at the top of a hill for what is in store, the rush of the wind in your hair and cold icing your cheeks. Ahhh skiing. There was no one on the mountain. It was a very weird feeling to do an entire 5 – 10 minute run and not pass another person. At first it was hard to tell where the runs were, as I realized most of the time, I’m just watching where other people go. Plus the visibility was pretty poor as the top of each run was inside a cloud. This was my first chance to try spring skiing, and it was different. As I would come to the bottom of a hill with a slight rise in front of me, normally you would lean forward to try to build up speed so you could get to the top of the hill with little effort. With spring skiing, there is often slush at the bottom so you are slowed down quite a bit. Every time I hit slush, I was a bit surprised. The runs were nice and it was neat to ski alone. Typically I ski with my family so this was different to do whatever run at whatever speed, with no breaks. Funny though, it got old quickly. I probably did as many runs in 3 hours as I would do in a whole day. Only once did I have to wait for a ski lift because there was one person in line in front of me. Guh. It was a fun cold day, and I had nearly enough clothes but not quite. It sleeted, snowed, cleared up, rained, and powered. It was like the weather had ADD on the mountain and just couldn’t decide what to do.

I enjoy skiing because there are so many analogies between skiing and life. You can start off at the top of a mountain with a basic game plan on which runs to take and where you want to end up, but on the way down, the runs may not be clearly marked, you find a run is closed, or a different run looks more exciting. Rarely do you take the path you planned. Life, though you can plan where you want to end up and how you want to get there, will rarely follow your plan. Oh – second analogy, you may see a sign claiming a run is blue (intermediate), but it turns out it’s more like a black diamond due to the conditions or a disappointing green. Quite often, life has twists and turns and your expectations are not equivalent with reality. There’s nothing like skiing alone to have hours to ponder life.

I had an opportunity to take some silly pictures while skiing. During my last few vacations, I have taken a few minutes to do a yoga pose in front of a random scene. For this adventure, the most random yoga pic would be while wearing ski boots with the mountain behind. However, I didn’t have anyone to take the picture. So, I set up the camera, turned it to timer, ran to the spot, tried to get into the pose, find peace, then reach the final extension, while in ski boots in thick snow, all in 10 seconds, haha. Needless to say, this process took a lot of takes. It was fun though, and if it were easier, I wouldn’t have laughed nearly as much as I did.

After a few hours of skiing, the required chili and hot chocolate for lunch, I left the mountain and drove back to Calgary. I spent another 90 minutes rocking out to girly music and arrived in Calgary around 4:30pm. Armed with advice from a former local, I drove through the quaint shopping area of Kensington, with hipster joints and fun cafes. Then I parked near Stephen Ave and saw a bridge that looked like a Chinese finger trap, some cute parks, a neat 3-D head that looked computer animated and was at least 1 story high, the Olympic park, and a cute downtown district. This area had the feel of Phoenix. It was incredibly dry, sunny, nice art randomly in the center of the city, and had massive buildings jutting from the center of a flat area. (Only Phoenix does have some mountains in the city).  It was nice to spend a few hours stretching my legs before meeting Jenn and driving back to Edmonton to catch our train.

All in all, Alberta was a fun place to visit, and I can’t believe how much we did in 2 days. Edmonton, Calgary, Banff, and Lake Louise. Skiing, shopping, roller coasters, and 9 hours in the car. Coming up: 21 hour train ride, then a big concert in Winnipeg, and a turn south into the States!