Yesterday was sunny and almost hot but this day I wake up to cold rain. And I thought the weather was fickle on the Gulf Coast. Dark and depressing. I load the car and point east to Edmonton with no special plan except just to get there, check out the town, and lay low (I'm getting a little road weary, I guess) until the football game on Sunday which is my real reason for going to Edmonton. There's something about coming out of the mountains and onto the plains that I find disturbing. It's kind of a let down, and I don't just mean in altitude. It's the transition. I've never liked transitions, professional or personal. It's just that uneasy feeling of being in flux. So I fly off the slopes and onto the plains as quickly as possible - honestly, this looks like West Texas only green. A Canadian once told me that Alberta is just Texas on the other end of the weather spectrum. He may be right. I include a few landscape shots. Oh yes, the bright yellow stuff you see in the fields in the last pic is canola. I had no idea what that looked like or where or how it grew. Apparently it's quite the cash crop in these parts cause it's everywhere and is beautiful in contrast to the green of the windbreaks and the occasional barley field. As it turns out I like Edmonton. Another Canadian told me that I would be disappointed in Edmonton cause there's "nothing there." But I find it kinda like San Francisco without the Golden Gate Bridge, or the Pacific Ocean, or earthquakes, or Haight Ashbury. OK, I guess it's not that much like SF, but the streets really roll like SF and driving there is kind of a roller coaster ride. The city is centered on the North Saskatchewan River and has loads of lovely parks and green spaces. I check into the hostel which is in Old Strathcona, the historic part of the city, and find a joint where I can get the oil changed. The guys there are so kind and helpful and don't try to sell me an air filter and extra stuff I don't need like they invariably do in Houston. They are a little incredulous that I drove all the way from Texas to Edmonton to see a CFL football game (in fact, I think they think I'm daft), but they wish me well and hope that my team wins. Oh yes, they reset their computer to print my receipt and windshield sticker in miles rather than kilometers. :-) A word on Old Strathcona. As I said, this is the oldest part of the city. It now consists of zillions of funky little shops housed in historic buildings - lots of vintage resale shops and small ethnic restaurants and coffee houses and small venue music joints with the occasional high end shop thrown in. I liked the hodgepodge look of it and if I was a shopper, this is the sort of place I would go. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics. At the hostel they note that the annual Edmonton Street Performers Festival is happening downtown so I decide to hit that. It was pretty cool - sword swallowers, jugglers, dancers, mimes, street food, etc. I didn't take the camera (yeah, I'm brain dead) so I include a couple of poor quality pics taken with my phone. First is a guy from the states who swallows swords, knives, and other sharp objects. He was screamingly funny - quite a comedian besides the sword swallowing. Second is Mr. Spin, an Aussie juggling, unicycle riding, comedian. I coulda watched him all day. Take a look at the unicycle - he calls it the suicycle. He's totally bald except for a small patch of hair on the side of his head which is twisted into a cone shape. Some people have bald patches. He rode the suicycle while balancing a glass of water on his head and juggling three aluminum baseball bats. Just Google Mr. Spin and you'll find lots of good pics and a U-Tube video from the Edmonton festival. He was truly amazing - far and away the best performer that I saw with the sword swallowing guy (Thom Sellectomy - get it?) coming in second. Early night for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment