When I was visiting the Strathearn neighbourhood in Edmonton with my younger son last month, we stopped to enjoy a lovely little corner of the world. It is a parking area behind a strip mall, and a container garden, and a sculpture gallery all in one. I suspect the sculptures are the work of the […]
Category: Exploring
Elk Island In All Her Glory
Elk Island National Park near Edmonton was in all her glory today. I enjoyed a delightful 4 km walk beside Astotin Lake and even saw a Wood Bison near the road on the way home. Perfect.
Wrapped Dinosaurs and a Worried Little Girl
In Borden Park this morning, workers were preparing for an exhibition of animatronic dinosaurs which will be open to the public September 24-26. Today’s park visitors were drawn to watch the hive of activity from behind red metal fences. We peered through the spaces to watch dinosaurs, wrapped in plastic, being carefully manoeuvred into place […]
Sun And Shadows
Today’s morning walk took me along the North Saskatchewan River from Louise McKinney Riverfront Park to Irene Parlby Park. I enjoyed seeing the play of light and shadow on the ground and through the leaves of the trees. I also enjoyed watching a group of about ten women learning to use Segways. When I first […]
Balancing Appearance and Access
As I was walking in Strathearn, Edmonton yesterday, I discovered an interesting protest. Outside of a small strip mall there were wheelchairs, walkers, canes, strollers, children’s tricycles, and crutches on display. There was also a tent on which I was invited to put my signature in support of the protest. In order to understand how […]
Operation Genesis
In 1997 the former Canadian naval vessel HMCS Saskatchewan became an artificial reef east of Nanaimo. This mural on Front Street by artist Jeff King portrays that vessel in situ, continuing to be of service.
Departure Bay, Vancouver Island
While visiting Nanaimo, British Columbia this week I spent a morning at Departure Bay. The bay and the neighbourhood surrounding it were incorporated into the city of Nanaimo in the 1970s. The Trans-Canada Highway on Vancouver Island terminates at Departure Bay where the BC Ferry Terminal is located. The ferry connects the island to the […]
Three U-Turns In The Night
Imagine for a moment that you are a seasoned solo traveller. You have been to a lot of places and done a lot of things, and you have pretty much figured out travel by road, air, and sometimes train. You also have a good handle on computer and cell phone technology so you can do […]
The Lay of the Land
In my explorations this week, I checked out Parksville which is north of Nanaimo. I went there because I was told it was a place that was popular with retirees. I probably should not have gone there right after seeing Cathedral Grove because that was a sight that was hard to beat, but Parksville was […]
The Magnificent Cathedral Grove
Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park on Vancouver Island is glorious. The tree canopy in some places is eighty metres high and some trees are as wide as cars. When I was there this week parents delighted in taking pictures of their children sitting on huge fallen tree trunks and climbing over vast root systems. […]
Tired, Hangry, and Lost
Yesterday I started out on a little adventure. I took a trip to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. “How lovely!” I hear you thinking. Well, it may be lovely eventually, but yesterday was a bit of an ordeal. My first flight took me from Edmonton to Vancouver, and then an hour after I landed there I […]
Strathcona Science Provincial Park
K and I enjoyed a nice walk in this new-to-me park today. As we approached the park we passed a golf driving range, a nordic skiing area, and a snowboarding park. Because of the season, the winter sport areas were not in use, but when we arrived at the parking lot for the Strathcona Science […]
LaMarchand Mansion
A couple of years ago I took some photos of the lovely LaMarchand Mansion on 100th Avenue in Edmonton. At the time I promised myself that I would take a look inside one day, and today was that day. I had a few minutes to spare before an appointment nearby and so I went in […]
The Interesting High Level Bridge
Edmonton’s High Level Bridge takes traffic southbound on 109 Street. It is an unusual bridge because cars and small trucks use the lower level, not the top. The upper level is reserved for the Edmonton Radial Railway Society‘s historic streetcars. One of these days, I want to take a ride in that streetcar.
Views from the Dudley B. Menzies Bridge
Edmonton has some magnificent bridges and one recently caught my attention because it has a shared used pedestrian/cyclist path underneath the track for the light rail train. I had seen pictures of it and I wanted to walk across it to see what the North Saskatchewan River looks like when you are right in the […]
The Mystery Continues
A couple of days ago I wrote about a building near my home which has no name. It is a three-storey brick building on a large city lot in a residential neighbourhood, but there is nothing to indicate what it is used for. Yesterday I took another walk in the area and it seems clear […]