A 60 Degree Kind of Day

If you recently were in Hawaii, or Mexico for Spring Break, then Seattle or Portland felt downright cold today. But to us? Balmy! We gained 60 degrees in a short 1.5 hour flight. It was 0 degrees F and blowing this morning. Brr!!! It was clear and sunny, but that hardly made up for the temperature. Add a grande frappuccino to that and I was literally frozen. If I had stayed any longer I would have had to switch my Starbucks drink! Ahhhh!

We had a great trip -- here's our "Best Of" list:

Favorite Experience:

Mom: I think driving to Jasper and the extreme temperatures. 

Erica: I can’t decide between that and holding that penguin.  Both were incredible. 

Favorite Movie:

Mom: The Greatest Showman

Erica: Me too. This is me!  

Ramada or Westin?

Mom: (E: She actually laughed out loud!) No contest. 

Erica: Me too. However, Ramada could earn a few points if our car is still there. 

Favorite Food:

Mom: I’m going to say Louisiana Purchase. It was Bon Poulet. (E: There was also lobster sauce!!). 

Erica: Going to have to go with High Tea at the Fairmont. Nothing beats a good, warm, scone. 

Your favorite LOL moment:

Mom: Disappearing under water many times. 

Erica: Mom was a bit of a splash zone magnet. First the beer, and then the water slide drenching after we had changed clothes. 

Favorite Louise Penny character:

Mom: I actually like Gamache. 

Erica: Me too. You’ll love him even more as the series goes on. 

Favorite Penguin:

Mom: The name? 😳 It has to be Skadu. No-actually the one I kept herding around, Tweeblik. 

Erica: I also liked Tweeblik. The trainers said when she walks the mall, she pops into the shoe stores! ❤️

Favorite Oiler:

Mom:  McDavid is the only one that I can remember. 

Erica: Was he #97? Then, me too. 

Favorite Accent:

Mom: The girl at Joe’s place. What was her accent? Strictly Canadian? 

Erica: The guy behind us at Muttart. French and British? 

Garmin or Apple?

Mom: (E: Another audible laugh!) Siri all the way. 

Erica: Me too. Even with Siri there were some confusing directions! That darn river (North Saskatchewan) really got in the way. 

Favorite Beverage:

Mom:  Mango Lassi

Erica: Watermelon lemonade

Favorite Tim Bit flavor:

Mom: Buttermilk. Our was it sour cream? Whatever that one was. 

Erica: Birthday cake. I don’t believe you were able to try one of those as I hoovered them down on the way to Jasper. 

Favorite road sign:

Mom: Well, I don’t remember any! 

Erica:  😂 I just wanted to say “Goats & Glaciers” (actual road sign) again. 

Word you couldn’t pronounce:

Mom:  That one sign in Jasper that was three ways: English, French, First Nations. 

Erica: That hockey player whose name started with a D. That many consonants don’t belong together. 

Most surprising bathroom:

Mom:  Joe’s Place with the hand dryer in the sink. Faucet, and dryer all in one!

Erica: I’m surprised I went in to the airplane  “bathroom” and not at all happy about it! 

Wildlife count:

Wood Bison: 1

Prairie Bison: 0

Magpie: 1

“Puffy” deer: 2

“Normal” deer: 3

Caribou: 0

Elk: 16

Penguins: 19

Beaver: 0

Beaver “homes”: 8ish

Mountain goats: 0

Moose: 0

And that's a wrap! Next year is the 25th Spring Break trip for T & L. We're planning something awesome!! 

A Boy Named Sue

Possibly, we left the best experience for last. Inside West Edmonton Mall is a small aquarium called Marine Life. We spent the afternoon with the penguins.

There are 19 African black-footed penguins in the aquarium, and we met them all today! They have an experience called "Penguins on Parade", that they normally do two times a day, but since it was Spring Break here, they had a different schedule. Luckily, they fit us in, and mom and I had a special experience this afternoon.

We started by preparing the food for the penguins. They eat capelins which are small fish from the smelt family that they get from the North Atlantic, specifically off the coast of Nova Scotia. They had to be rinsed, and then sorted through to find any irregularities. Michelle told us that if it didn't look like we would want to eat it, it isn't right for the penguin. Um, I didn't want to eat any of it, but I did jump right in and handle all those slimy fish! As you all know, I HATE to get my hands dirty, or sticky, or slimy, so this was huge. And then (AND THEN), we had to stuff some of the fish with vitamins. Penguins at Marine Life take 2 multivitamins and they have to be hidden INSIDE the fish. You pop one behind each gill and shove it down. So gross.

Then we went in to the penguin habitat, and helped feed them. Their habitat is actually the display, so lots of people had their faces pressed against the glass watching.  No matter how amazing you think being with penguins might be, it was better. 

Sophia

Tweeblik

Michelle fed them, while I recorded who ate, and how much. Mom was tasked with sort of herding the penguins from around us. They are allowed to walk all around, but, for instance, not chew on our pants! I was wearing floral jeans, and Tweeblik was fairly enamored with them. They don't want to "teach" bad behavior, so Mom just gently herded her away. Sort of. Tweeblik has a stubborn streak that reminded me of Winnie Foster!

They eat several times a day, which is why the feeding schedule is kept. A few penguins had one or two, but some ate a whole lot. Channel ate like 6 (plus her vitamins!).  As you can see in the picture above, they have small tags on their flippers which is the naming convention. For instance, the one in the foreground has an orange, and blue band. That is Yeti. The tags are colored zip ties which are super loose. The trainers didn't really need them though. Each penguin has distinct spots on their stomachs, and pretty unique personalities too.

After the feeding, we went with another trainer, Sarah, and the day just got better. We learned a little bit more about the penguins, and then we got to hold them!!! One of the things we learned was about Skadu.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but Skadu has a curved beak. It's a trait that is in his family (his father's name was Toucan), and could be deadly in the wild. The top of his beak curves over the bottom one, making it hard for him to eat. At Marine Life they can sand it down (sort of like dog's toenails) if it gets too long. They will only breed Skadu and his sister with other penguins that don't have that trait in their bloodline. There's a specific name, but neither of us can remember! It has to do with the over-growth of the keratin. 

Skadu was just a little love. He and his twin, Tweeblik, were rejected by their parents (twins are rare), and they were raised by the trainers, and have an affinity for people. If Skadu could have taken Sarah back to a nest with him, he would have! He was also very pleasant with us. We got to first pet him, and then we got to hold him on our laps. 

A-mazing! He was such a good penguin, and it was magical to interact with him. Before he went back to the habitat, we went on a little parade. If you say his name, and walk in front of him, he follows!! Apparently they take parades around the mall every now and then. Skadu can walk the length in an hour (his sister in about 45 min!). How adorable would that be to see?

And then we met Doug. A boy named Sue, or a girl named Doug. Penguins usually lay their first eggs around the age of four. Until recently, that's how they determined the sex, as a blood test wasn't available. When Doug didn't lay an egg at four  or five years, they assumed they had gotten the name right, and he really was a boy. And then, around 18 years later, SHE laid her first egg at age 22. African penguins live to be around 15 years old in the wild, but can live upwards of 30 years in captivity. They don't know why she didn't lay for that long, as she's perfectly healthy, but Doug is a girl. She's also quite the painter. ;)

This was such a special day. I held a penguin!!!  Maybe I'll go back to school and be a zoologist. ;)

Tomorrow is our travel day. As much as I have loved the snow, I am ready to go home where it will be a lot warmer. We woke up to a blizzard today, and a balmy 10 degrees. Plus my body is starting to reject the cold and the dry. I'm past lotion in to a state of chapped coldness.  The only way to be warm is to jack up the seat warmer in the car. LOL!

Tune in tomorrow for our Best Of list! 

x 9/5 + 32

Using the above formula, I have discovered that it is approximately 10 degrees F outside.  10 2/5 to be exact. Whatever. It's COLD!  However, we spent the day enjoying the 31 degrees (C, of course),  at the World Waterpark (that's approx 87 degrees F, you know give or take).

We rented a cabana, played cards, bobbed around in the wave pool, and just generally relaxed. Even after showering, I can still smell the chlorine! I think my dry skin just drank it all up.  I haven't been in a wave pool since...I don't know -- youth group at Wild Waves? It's been a while. Man was it fun! You have to get the hang of it though -- jumping just before the wave hits and counting them so you know where you are in the series. Wave four always came a little stronger and faster than the others. Well that, was my strategy anyway. My travel partner though, is several inches shorter than me. Her strategy was more of a jump, bob, bob, try and survive strategy. After the series of waves was over, I'd look around and she'd be 15 or 20 feet down the "beach" having ridden the wave out since she couldn't touch.  We laughed ourselves silly! Almost like putting flippers on at Kaanapali beach. 

We've also watched a couple of movies, last night enjoying "The Greatest Showman". 

I mean what else are you supposed to do after an inspiring circus show, but do your own stupid human tricks? Our only prop was the mini-foam roller I had to purchase.  And today, I am all about the soundtrack. "Make no apologies, this is me!"

I know - like I needed some more blind confidence. "Battle of the Sexes" threw some gas on that fire too. I feel unstoppable!  You know, which is so necessary at the end of the day when you are heading to bed.  But seriously, if you didn't live that moment -- see the movie. I couldn't look away. I mean I'm a HUGE Billie Jean King fan, and a fan of  tennis in general, but I think it's a must see even if you don't go in as a tennis super-fan.  

Goodnight travelers! Thanks for journeying with us, even to this strange destination choice. I know you're all wondering. We had a waitress the other night practically fall over when we told her we came here on vacation, as a choice. She was from Calgary, and couldn't understand choosing this "small town". Um, first of all, it's a HUGE city. And second of all...vacation is vacation! We love to travel, and find new places. Whenever we hit the road, we turn up Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again". This time we were tooling down the Yellowhead Highway, and laughed as we were singing:

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again

Definitely this is a place that we will probably not see again. I would love to see Jasper in the summer, but there are so many places I have yet to see at all. Edmonton can be checked off the list. We came, we saw, we explored. 

And then there's this:

We have the immense pleasure of living at our favorite vacation spot. We live there! I'm willing to travel anywhere once, as long as we get to come home to this beach. Happy sigh. 

Tune in for tomorrow's adventure. We have one more cool thing up our sleeves!

An International Kind of Day

We started the day in a French bakery in St. Albert, which is just outside of Edmonton. In a different life I may have been able to tell you which direction outside of the city, but this is not that life! As it was, we turned off Galinda, or Estelle, or whatever her name was, and have turned back to Siri. She knows her stuff, even in a different country. To heck with the data plan! LOL.

Macarons & Goodies is a sweet little bakery selling...macarons and more! We arrived for breakfast and I ordered a pan au chocolat, and some sort of coffee, and Mom had a spinach and goat cheese...frillet? frieullet? feullet? Honestly we cannot remember what it was! Except for that it was delicious. We also ordered some macarons, just the most perfect macarons: chewy, flaky, creamy...YUM!

Then we explored St. Albert's a little more. It's a very sweet town, doing a heck of a job at keeping their history in tact. The town was founded by a Father Lacombe in the late 1860s. Not being well versed with all things Catholic, some of the history sort of washed over me. We did walk the grounds at the mission, which was very beautiful.

Then, we did the most important thing one can do on vacation. We napped!! One needs adventure, fun, good food, and LOTS of sleep. :) 

A day that started in France, ended in the Ukraine! We signed up for a pysanka egg decorating class at Muttart Conservatory. 

Pysanka is an egg decorating method using wax-resist. Obviously I have copied part of that sentence from Wikipedia... We started the class with an egg, a candle, some wax, and tool that looked like a mini hatchet. 

The small tool turned out to be a "kistka" which has a point on one end and a small funnel on the end for the wax. Fun fact: it auto corrects to "Kristin".  You put the wax in the funnel end, and then the entire head of the tool in the candle flame to heat it up. Then you draw on your egg. 

The black wax is actually the part of your egg that will be white in the end.  After you draw on your egg, getting perhaps the first part of the design down, you dye it in a light color. They suggested yellow first, or going light to dark. With each layer, you added more wax, thus sealing the new color on to the egg. Honesty, I was confused nearly the whole time. The teacher had her two teenage daughters there to help, who sneaked me helpful information along the way! I would tell you their names, but I couldn't pronounce them, far less spell them!

The final dye was black. And then came the process of un-waxing the egg. I'm sure there's a better term, but that's sort of what we did! You put the egg in the flame, waited until you saw the wax lines turned glossy, and then you wiped the wax off. 

What was revealed were the layers of colors under the wax. Also, what was revealed was a complete surprise! I had almost no idea what I had created until I rubbed off the wax. 

Aren't those just the coolest! This was just a random class I saw posted on Facebook, and what a treat to be a part of it! There are so many different cultures here in Edmonton, and we loved learning something brand new.

The evening ended with a tour of Muttart (and the obligatory garden tour of the trip - ha!). Muttart is four pyramids that feature three different biomes and a feature garden. The biomes were tropical, arid, and temperate, and there was a candy themed garden in the final pyramid. 

Our vacation goals are quite simple for the evening -- go to bed at a decent hour! It's only 11, so we have a chance! ;)

Tuesday (for real this time)

At first I thought my pillow was radioactive. Well, to be fair, I thought there might be some sort of glow-in-the-dark bug trapped beneath the pillow case. In any event, I threw it off my bed in the night and tried to forget about it. And in the morning, I dragged mom in to the bathroom, trapped us both in there with the lights off to show her. Nothing. But now I get it. Static electricity. We're like electric eels in here. I could power the city with my body and the carpet. And my skin. It's like sand paper. Anyway, I tell you all this to explain that it's a little dry here!

We woke up to a snowy wonderland. It snowed all the way back from Jasper last night, but apparently continued to snow all night. It's beautiful!

After the long day yesterday, we were content to just relax for the better part of the day. We walked to get coffee (and our improved Tim Bit order!), and then snuggled in to our hotel, where we watched some tv, colored, read etc. I finished my latest Louise Penny book, which meant I cried a little too. It's my newest reading obsession (Pat -- I just got Mom to start the first one!).

Then, we did a very Canadian thing, and went to an Oilers game! When in Rome, right? Roger's Place (the stadium) is a short walk from our hotel, and it seemed like a fun adventure! The Oilers are not in contention for the playoffs, being last in their division, and we may have seen why this evening. The first 10 minutes or so were great, and "we" were up 3-0, but ended up losing 3-7. It was still very fun. We had great seats, and it was fan night, so there was a lot of spirit in the stadium. 

The people in back of us arrived late, and tripped and dumped popcorn and beer on to us. I was digging popcorn out of my hair for a few minutes, and my travel partner was wet. Real wet. There was even a splash zone on the glass in front of her! The above photo was taken after that event, but before I realized that my Oilers flag was sopping wet. We held this up and got soaked all over again! We blended right in smelling a little bit like a mug of beer. ;)

And then we went to Joe's Place and drowned our sorrows about the game (or pretended to!), with loads of other fans. Really fun to do something local!

Winter is No Joke

When planning for this trip, we specifically decided that Jasper National Park was too far for a day trip. So this morning what did we do? Piled in the car and headed out. These are the adventures that trips are made of.  And when packing for an impromptu adventure, always take your penguin/neck pillow.  

Jasper is 4 hours from Edmonton, give or take a few road stops. This is a trip that should have started earlier in the day, but...vacation is about whims, right? And who can road trip in Canada without a box of Tim Bits? We would like to perfect our order before we leave. Next time no filled ones or cruellers. More sprinkles. But I digress...

The road (Yellowhead Highway) between Edmonton and Jasper is straight, flat, and mostly without significant towns. We had lunch in Niton (map included for your amusement), in an old A&W that looked like it belonged in the Cars section of Disneyland. 

The road was straight and flat for HOURS. And then these babies popped out of the landscape.  Hello, Canadian Rockies!

The north end of the park offers breathtaking mountain views and clear glacier fed rivers. 

Since we arrived late, we were pushing it to drive to the south end of the park to the Columbia Icefields. So glad we did. You know how Crater Lake is beautiful and then when you peek over the side to the crater, you are speechless? This is what the Icefields were like. It was already gorgeous, but then... But then, it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

 

There are four glaciers that come together to make up the Icefields. They are special because together they drain in to three separate oceans: Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic. What an important water source for us!! (Eva - I think this is the lesson for Monday! Who knew?).  

We stopped at the Athabasca Glacier with the intent to take the trail to the edge of the glacier.  But Mother Nature had other plans. I have never been in weather that severe. We made it just past the interpretive sign and knew we had to turn back. In just a few minutes (5?), our faces were chapped, and I couldn’t feel all my fingers. It was dangerously cold. But also, just one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  

After that we just took short hops out of the car for pictures until we got back to a normal weather pattern at a lower elevation. It took a little time to feel normal again. Even warmed, breathing was a little labored. Luckily I had my inhaler, but I cannot get the hang of the new spacing. Shot one spray squarely on my cheek!😂

And now we are driving back. It’s snowing, and darkish. But what an adventure we had.  You know it’s a good adventure when no one else is having it. That advice does not apply to restaurants...

While the driver is working her magic, I’m blogging, keeping the music going, reading all the road signs out loud at different decibels based on font size, keeping the snacks coming, and taking pictures of the penguin neck pillow like it’s Flat Stanley. I’m not sure if it’s actually helping her, but I’m enjoying myself. 😉

I can’t sign off without our usual T&L plea: #findyourpark. Even if it’s not in your own country. The world is full of beautiful places. ❤️