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Think I'll go out to Alberta ...
Apr. 29th, 2018 10:11 am... weather's good there in the spring. On Tuesday, it actually got up to 20 degrees in Edmonton.
Knowing that Edmonton is quite far north, I was a little doubtful about what clothing I should wear and take with me for my short stay in Edmonton this past week. The Canadian travel section in our local bookstores is distinctly lacking in touristy stuff about Edmonton. There's plenty about Banff and Jasper and Lake Louise and even Calgary, but Edmonton? Or Alberta in general? Not so much. And that's a pity, because Edmonton has a lot to offer, and I could happily have spent a few more days there playing tourist.
But just to clarify a bit, my immediate reason for going to Edmonton was not to play tourist but rather to attend a one-day conference on the politics of libraries. Here is the conference website, which also includes the schedule:
https://politicsoflibraries.github.io
It was a very small (one-room, no registration fee) conference involving perhaps 35 people and that was a large part of its charm. The organizers do plan to make it an annual (or at least regular) event, however, and I certainly hope that it doesn't eventually get hijacked by commercial interests, as tends to happen with such meetings. I came away from it with a lot of thoughts, a few notes, and a list of books, articles and websites to add to my professional reading shelf. I'll probably elaborate in a future blog posting but for now, here is How I Spent my Mini-Vacation:
In planning how to get there, I looked for a direct flight at a relatively convenient time. Some time I may attempt some cross-Canada train travel but not at this time of year, when the weather can be highly unpredictable. So I booked a Westjet flight leaving Ottawa at 5 PM Sunday and returning at 2:30 PM on Wednesday. I also pre-booked a Skyshuttle trip from the airport to my hotel and back again at the end of my trip.
Things occurred fairly efficiently in that both flights were on time, as was the Skyshuttle. They did mess up my meal order on the Ottawa to Edmonton flight (I ordered a main-dish (vegetarian) salad and they gave me a chicken one. However, when I showed the flight attendant my receipt, she was able to find me a suitable substitute - a snack box with crackers, cheese and fresh fruit - and when I e-mailed Westjet later, they refunded my money. I will say that unless you want to splurge for first-class travel (which I didn't), they do rather shoe-horn you in there (three people across, although on my Edmonton to Ottawa flight, there was no one in the middle seat); they also make you pay extra if you want to check any baggage, so I made sure I could make do with one carry-on bag of allowable size and weight that didn't contain any prohibited items.
It meant that there wasn't a lot to unpack once I reached my hotel room and although it was not yet 9PM by Edmonton time, I felt ready to call it a night as it felt 2 hours later than that. Next morning, I decided to treat myself to their breakfast buffet and then headed out to the University of Alberta campus for the conference.
The campus area was interesting, as university campuses often are. It wasn't exactly a hive of activity - classes seemed to be over for the term, although there may still have been some exams going on. There were some interesting art exhibits though, mainly around the theme of environmentalism. On that note, the university recently came under heavy fire for opting to award David Suzuki an honorary degree and while I don't doubt that there may be some other more worthy recipients, he certainly has done a lot over the years and decades to put environmental and other scientific issues on the public radar.
The campus is right on the LRT line but I discovered after the conference was over that the North Campus at least is quite a comfortable walking distance from downtown. Street names are pretty boring (mostly numerical) although they do make it easy to get one's bearings and get around, once you've sorted out the difference between an "avenue" and a "street" (one runs north-south, the other east-west) and realized that most of the city is in the northwest. And when a street actually has a non-numerical name (like Jasper Avenue or Whyte Avenue), you know immediately that it must be fairly significant!
So what did I do other than attending the conference? Well, I made it to the public library of course. I also went to the Art Gallery of Alberta (open Tuesday and Wednesday evenings till 8PM) which has a reciprocal arrangement with the National Gallery, so as a member of the NGC I can visit for free any time. I saw a Gloria Mok exhibit (which I found a little disorienting as it involved so much feeling my way around in the dark!) and one on "painting Alberta". Unfortunately on the ground floor, they were in the process of changing exhibits - had I been there a week later, I could have gone to the opening of a new one.
In light of what I wrote earlier in this post about not liking conferences that are too commercial, it may seem ironic that I wanted to visit West Edmonton Mall - but I did!
I guess the reason I wanted to go is simply that it's so famous, and quite unique in Canada if not in all of North America. In fact, the book "Weird Edmonton" devotes 11 pages just to the various attractions at West Edmonton Mall (or WEM as the locals seem to call it). As well as being a shopping mall, it's also an accredited zoo, has a large waterpark with a huge wave pool, a replica of the Christopher Columbus "Santa Maria" ship, a "Galaxyland" (think the Ex) and maybe some other attractions I don't know about. I mainly just gawked at those things, but I did poke about some of the more interesting shops in the mall (a British place, a western-wear shop where I bought a pair of Wrangler jeans and a new belt), a liquor store where I sampled a rhubarb wine made locally in Sherwood Park, West Edmonton Coin and Stamp, and Chapters (where I bought the aforementioned book "Weird Edmonton"). I also had a very nice lunch at Hudson's in Brbn Street.
Aside from my conference, I really only had one full day to play tourist. If I get back to Edmonton some time, I'd really like to visit the Royal Alberta museum, which is still in the process of moving to a new location. Meanwhile, though, this was my first-ever trip to Alberta, so I can cross one more thing off my bucket list!
Knowing that Edmonton is quite far north, I was a little doubtful about what clothing I should wear and take with me for my short stay in Edmonton this past week. The Canadian travel section in our local bookstores is distinctly lacking in touristy stuff about Edmonton. There's plenty about Banff and Jasper and Lake Louise and even Calgary, but Edmonton? Or Alberta in general? Not so much. And that's a pity, because Edmonton has a lot to offer, and I could happily have spent a few more days there playing tourist.
But just to clarify a bit, my immediate reason for going to Edmonton was not to play tourist but rather to attend a one-day conference on the politics of libraries. Here is the conference website, which also includes the schedule:
https://politicsoflibraries.github.io
It was a very small (one-room, no registration fee) conference involving perhaps 35 people and that was a large part of its charm. The organizers do plan to make it an annual (or at least regular) event, however, and I certainly hope that it doesn't eventually get hijacked by commercial interests, as tends to happen with such meetings. I came away from it with a lot of thoughts, a few notes, and a list of books, articles and websites to add to my professional reading shelf. I'll probably elaborate in a future blog posting but for now, here is How I Spent my Mini-Vacation:
In planning how to get there, I looked for a direct flight at a relatively convenient time. Some time I may attempt some cross-Canada train travel but not at this time of year, when the weather can be highly unpredictable. So I booked a Westjet flight leaving Ottawa at 5 PM Sunday and returning at 2:30 PM on Wednesday. I also pre-booked a Skyshuttle trip from the airport to my hotel and back again at the end of my trip.
Things occurred fairly efficiently in that both flights were on time, as was the Skyshuttle. They did mess up my meal order on the Ottawa to Edmonton flight (I ordered a main-dish (vegetarian) salad and they gave me a chicken one. However, when I showed the flight attendant my receipt, she was able to find me a suitable substitute - a snack box with crackers, cheese and fresh fruit - and when I e-mailed Westjet later, they refunded my money. I will say that unless you want to splurge for first-class travel (which I didn't), they do rather shoe-horn you in there (three people across, although on my Edmonton to Ottawa flight, there was no one in the middle seat); they also make you pay extra if you want to check any baggage, so I made sure I could make do with one carry-on bag of allowable size and weight that didn't contain any prohibited items.
It meant that there wasn't a lot to unpack once I reached my hotel room and although it was not yet 9PM by Edmonton time, I felt ready to call it a night as it felt 2 hours later than that. Next morning, I decided to treat myself to their breakfast buffet and then headed out to the University of Alberta campus for the conference.
The campus area was interesting, as university campuses often are. It wasn't exactly a hive of activity - classes seemed to be over for the term, although there may still have been some exams going on. There were some interesting art exhibits though, mainly around the theme of environmentalism. On that note, the university recently came under heavy fire for opting to award David Suzuki an honorary degree and while I don't doubt that there may be some other more worthy recipients, he certainly has done a lot over the years and decades to put environmental and other scientific issues on the public radar.
The campus is right on the LRT line but I discovered after the conference was over that the North Campus at least is quite a comfortable walking distance from downtown. Street names are pretty boring (mostly numerical) although they do make it easy to get one's bearings and get around, once you've sorted out the difference between an "avenue" and a "street" (one runs north-south, the other east-west) and realized that most of the city is in the northwest. And when a street actually has a non-numerical name (like Jasper Avenue or Whyte Avenue), you know immediately that it must be fairly significant!
So what did I do other than attending the conference? Well, I made it to the public library of course. I also went to the Art Gallery of Alberta (open Tuesday and Wednesday evenings till 8PM) which has a reciprocal arrangement with the National Gallery, so as a member of the NGC I can visit for free any time. I saw a Gloria Mok exhibit (which I found a little disorienting as it involved so much feeling my way around in the dark!) and one on "painting Alberta". Unfortunately on the ground floor, they were in the process of changing exhibits - had I been there a week later, I could have gone to the opening of a new one.
In light of what I wrote earlier in this post about not liking conferences that are too commercial, it may seem ironic that I wanted to visit West Edmonton Mall - but I did!
I guess the reason I wanted to go is simply that it's so famous, and quite unique in Canada if not in all of North America. In fact, the book "Weird Edmonton" devotes 11 pages just to the various attractions at West Edmonton Mall (or WEM as the locals seem to call it). As well as being a shopping mall, it's also an accredited zoo, has a large waterpark with a huge wave pool, a replica of the Christopher Columbus "Santa Maria" ship, a "Galaxyland" (think the Ex) and maybe some other attractions I don't know about. I mainly just gawked at those things, but I did poke about some of the more interesting shops in the mall (a British place, a western-wear shop where I bought a pair of Wrangler jeans and a new belt), a liquor store where I sampled a rhubarb wine made locally in Sherwood Park, West Edmonton Coin and Stamp, and Chapters (where I bought the aforementioned book "Weird Edmonton"). I also had a very nice lunch at Hudson's in Brbn Street.
Aside from my conference, I really only had one full day to play tourist. If I get back to Edmonton some time, I'd really like to visit the Royal Alberta museum, which is still in the process of moving to a new location. Meanwhile, though, this was my first-ever trip to Alberta, so I can cross one more thing off my bucket list!
