DAY 2 OF VACATION 2007...

The second day of our adventure started off on a bad note with me.

Seeing as I was "old", I was given special treatment at Chelly & Chane's house, and was given the spareroom which had a double size air mattress that sat on this expandable frame...you know one of those "bring your own bed" sort of things! Once I closed the door all was quiet and I couldn't hear a thing! I sleep on an air mattress at home, so this "wonderful bed" was heaven for me as regular mattresses just kill my back! Being super exhausted from the day's event I had no problem falling asleep!

2 hours later I awoke to agony!

Seems my "wonderful" bed had a slow leak and I found myself laying on the expandable bed frame...with one of it's metal posts digging into my back! Being stiff and sore from the "unused to" physical activities of the previous day, I had an extreme hard time getting out of that "torcher type" frame! Thankfully my air pump was close at hand and I was able to inflate the mattress quickly and was able to get back to sleep!

2 hours later I awoke again to more agony!

This happened like clock work...finally at 5:00 am I couldn't take it anymore and got up!

What does one do when in someone else's home with no access to their computer? Thankfully Chelly likes to read and I found a story I could get into!

PoD got up "finally" at 8:00 and we decided to get an early jump start on the day! Chelly and Chane had been up late with Jaydabug so we kept it quiet and left them sleeping.

After a quick breakfast at the "Golden Arches" we headed out for "Storyland Valley Zoo"...which by the way, hadn't moved either, since the last time I visited it with my sister in 2003! Although upon arriving there I noticed that all looked different from the last visit! Seems the Zoo had dropped it's "Storyland" theme and is now just called "The Valley Zoo"! They have kept some of it's original theme but it lacked it's old fun type... child-like atmosphere! This was not an improvement in my mind!

It was fun for me to be able to relate to my grandchildren what this zoo meant to me when I was a child. I think I wrote about it in one of my earlier posts [I will relate it again for my new fans who might of miss it] that this zoo was relocated to this site from where I used to live!

As a child I had figured that everyone had a zoo in their park that was close to their home! So my sister and I had classified it as "our" zoo!

They move the park in 1958 and it opened it's doors to the public July 1, 1959. The Edmonchuk's Visitor Guide Book from that year explained it's theme as a "Story-Book Zoo, with small animals and fowl, which may be safely approached by small children, living in whimsically designed houses straight from a child's fairy tale book. Designed to appeal to children, this little land of fantasy is meant to provide a happy atmosphere in which small children and small animals may get acquainted and feel at home with one another"!

Why they strayed from this "original" idea is a puzzlement to me?
It has now become just like any other zoo that you would find anywhere else in the world!

The fantasy is gone!

It started out covering 5 acres and now it's spread to over 70 acres and the only interaction with kids is is the TINY petting zoo!

I must admit it is still a beautiful place and you can see a bigger variety of animals but they are very had to see as the cages are overgrown with weed-like vegetation...they expanded but cannot take care of what they have now! We took a few pictures but not very many as you cannot see the animals because this wild vegetation!

We also didn't stay there very long! We had gotten there early enough to enjoy a mild amount of people but after a couple of hours the place became over crowded! It still collected the tourists but in my mind...the children lost out!

Keeping history in mind we decided to visit the Alberta Museum next.

They hadn't moved that area either and I was able to find it quite quickly as it is pretty close to the Zoo.

The museum was more for PoD and me. The kids have seen many a museum through the school trips so it held very little interest to them...the only part they liked seeing was the dinosaurs and the creepy bugs!

This a very beautiful building and it looks like it has lots of money for it's upkeep. The displays are very well done and some are even interactive with the public.

The only photos we took in there were very beautiful colored butterflies and some colorful moths! It's had to believe that there are bugs out there in these colors. Finishing up our "History Tour" we decided to do some shopping before heading out to my younger sister's place in "Dear Horn" Lake.

PoD wanted to get some "Solar" powered lights for her back yard in Dodge and I wanted to get a new air mattress for home and be able to use it a Chelly's place that night...no more sleeping [what sleep?] on their bed for me! Backaches had made me cranky all day!

More construction and changes in scenery made it hard to find anything and we wasted a lot of time "back-tracking"! Which made me even more cranky!

Finally we found my sister's [Eener] place and had a nice visit with her and her roommate...Bor! They fed us a wonderful supper and then we had to leave...before the sun set! Construction makes it impossible for the visitor to traverse in the dark!

Making it safely back to Chelly's place we were able to spend some visiting time with our hosts before heading off to bed. Chane show us his idea of "fantasyland" that he set up in their back yard for his daughter Jaydabug! That's where PoD got some good ideas for solar powered lights. Their yard is magical looking when the sun goes down...it's all sparkly with solar dragonflies and fairies sitting on solar lit stumps! Very impressive and pretty!

We had decided that we should go back early and get a jump start on the work back home that was waiting for us! All of the walking and the intense heat had also did a number on us! So we opted for an early start on Sunday, before the heat of the day got too bad. It had been so oppressively HOT in the city and with all of it's construction problems made us not want to stay any longer or visit anyone else!

I was also starting to feel not so well!

We had a wonderful send-off the next morning as we said our goodbyes and thanked our hosts for their patience in putting up with us!

I drove PoD's car for the last time as we rushed to get out of the city...once far enough away from the construction and madness, PoD reclaimed her right as driver! Which was OK with me...I had enough of driving and feeling sicker by the time!

On the way home we stopped to take our photos of some of the fore-mentioned odd sights....

"Boot/Shoe Fence"....which stretches 2 miles! It seems some farmer got tired of finding old boots/shoes in the ditches where he was trying to cut down the grasses for cattle feed/bedding. He nailed them on the fence posts that run parallel to the highway. Story has it that he then used his family's old one and had some donated by others...thus the oddity of the "Boot Fence"!

Seeing as we lived in "oil country" the site of an old wooden pump jack also caught our interest and I just had to get a picture of it. It can be seen as you enter "Wainwright" from the west end of the highway...they are doing "fund raising" to help restored the ancient structure!

My last photo taken of our "Historical" trip was of PoD and the kids sitting in "Ruby Flash".

AJ wanted to call her "Ruby Red" and JD wanted to call it "Red Flash"! PoD combined the two names and that's how the 2004 Seabring got her name!

We finally reached home around 5:00 pm [we shopped in a few places on the way back] and I was happy once again to see my cats and put up my poor aching feet!

My only regret is that this wasn't the family-get-together that we had originally planned in June. I would have like to see my brothers and their kids but our time factor made it too hard for us to keep. The rest of the summer is booked solid for the kids as they are taking swim lessons right up until school starts.

Maybe we can squeeze another visit back there in the fall?

THE CONTINUATION OF VACATION 2007...

We finally finished up Ft Edmonchuk and found we still had daylight left so we figured to squeeze in West Edtn Mall...like walking 158 acres wasn't enough!

Again lots of construction made driving thru traffic hell but we managed to find the place we were looking for...I guess it was too big to move also!

Entering this large mall was exciting for the kids as the first thing that met our eyes was the pirate ship that sits in the water world area. Both kids love pirate shows! It's too bad they don't let anyone on the ship as it would have been a neat thing for all of us to experience!

The next thing we saw was the mass of people in the mall...more than any I have ever seen on previous trips! Right away PoD's and my paranoia set it and demanded that both kids hold our hands and never stray away! This didn't go over too well as both kids are getting too old for that but hang on we did! I was sure glad we did because maneuvering through that mall was near to impossible!

I wanted the kids to go on the rides that they have there and figured I would be able to find it right off...wrong! We had to back track A LOT in order to find what we wanted and managing that with all those people made tempers pretty short!

In our wanderings we came across one of their live displays...Flamingos. Both PoD and I have never seen this bird up close and were amazed that the birds weren't more bothered by the vast amount of people looking at them. PoD managed to get a few good photos of them because they were behind glass and figured the flash would make it impossible.

We finally found the ride area and spent 28.00 for 20 tickets. I figured that would be lots until you saw that each ride per person ranged from 3 to 6 tickets each...what a rip off! There was also a height restriction to some of the rides so the kids were limited that way also! They were still able to ride a few and had the most fun on the kid's rollercoaster.

Both PoD and I figured we'd be able to sit and watch while they had fun [resting our poor tired feet] but found that we couldn't just sit and watch as photos had to be taken! Neither PoD nor I like rides anymore so the kids got all of that fun!

One of the things that we did do together was go through the "Haunted Castle"! I had gone through this attraction in 2003 with my sister and found that it was okay for the kids to experience as it was really tame for me...actually kind of boring! I could do a better job than they did!

For the 4 of us it cost 28.00! But it was well worth it!

I went in the lead and got to watch how scared the kids were...it was lame for me but not the kids! Both wrapped themselves around their Mom and made it difficult for her to move! At one point JD couldn't get past the "Wolfman"...PoD said she could feel him wiggling around and going agh, agh, agh alot! Laughter made it harder for her to move! Half way through the haunt is an exit point and you could leave if you wanted to, which AJ wanted to do, but like sick parents we are, made them continue. The final scare was the huge spiders in the end and that made all of them move faster as we finally exited through a revolving barrel that had strobe lights. That part bothered my senses...so I just closed my eyes and walked through it.

On the outside the kids said that they enjoyed it but didn't want to do it again. The attraction also has a photo-op area where you can take pictures of just your head. I don't normally show my families faces but there is a large "Orb" in one of shots of AJ as a vampire...near the right arm area.

We were done after that and decided to go eat before getting back to Chelly's.

All of us had sore feet and tired legs so after visiting a bit with Chelly and Chane we went to bed!

Stayed tuned for our next adventures...in day 2 of our vacation!

MORE PHOTOS OF FORT EDMONCHUK...

The main big house was called "Rowan House" after the commander that ran the fort. This house was built just for him, his family and servents. He did use some of it for office space and held meetings in the big room but other than that I thought it was over much for one family to live in when there could have been room for other officers. While the others had to live in small shacks!

Most of the "Married Men's Quarters" buildings had sod roofs and we thought it was funny to see trees growing out of them.

In front of "Rowan House" there was a sun dial that they used to tell the time and the year. There also was a quote carved into the sides that said..."Tak tent o' time ere time tak tent o' thee". As to the meaning...?

The Indian site had two women there to relate how the indians lived way back when and what it looked like inside a Teepee with the fire and beds.

JD saw that their blankets lay on a pile of pine boughs and made a comment about how sad that they had to lay on prickily branches and how uncomfortable it must have been. PoD had to tell him that they where there to keep them off the ground and it was actually soft to sleep on.

As mentioned in previous blog the round barn really impressed me and that it was in really good condition and the old style house was one of the houses that I had remembered from my childhood. Another one was a house that PoD had read about in one of her "Haunted House" books of Alberta that reported that this house had ghosts in it and they were reported to have been seen upstairs. I asked a house attendant and she told me that none of the buildings were haunted! Of course I didn't believe her! This place was another place that felt familiar to me!

MORE ON THE 2007 VACATION...

Well...we got to Edmonchuk around 4:00 pm and ran into our first excitement!

We had planned on turning at the first set of lights on the highway to get to my niece's [Chelly]place and found that new construction made that impossible! Seems the 3 years that we have been away, Edmonchuk decided to change it's look! Roads that we once used are now being developed into overpasses and made into new Freeways!

PoD had been driving [her new car and I wasn't allowed to drive it...yet] and had wanted to get used to BIG CITY DRIVING but coming into that "Construction Hell" made her change her mind quick! There was nowhere for her to turn off and let me drive so she had to contend with all of the excitement of the "Fast Paced" city! Needless to say by the time we found Chelly's place she was DONE!

We stayed and chatted with Chelly for a bit and got to meet Jaydabug. Chelly had company at the time so we decided to go and visit FortEdmonchuk but we had to hurry as it closed at 6:00 pm. With her new experience of the city still strong in her mind...PoD handed me her car keys!

Thankfully Fort Edmonchuk was still in the same place where I had seen it last and finding it was quiet easy, although we still had massive construction to contend with!

The beginning starts with a train ride to the fort. The first train ride for the kids!

Fort Edmonchuk has some history with our family. My great, great, great, great grand father helped build the fort!

We are not sure what part of it but we do know that he did some of the construction. I guess that's where I get some of my "Jill" abilities from. In the pamphlet, that they give you for the tour, it stated that the Fort's construction design originated from Middlesex, England and that's where my ancestor came from!

I have toured through this place before and always feel a kinship for the place...kind of like I belonged there? This time was no different!

Fort Edmonchuk is a living history site that covers 158 acres and displays over 75 original and reconstructed historical buildings. The site traces the development of Edmonchuk from the early 1840's to the 1920's highlighting 4 historical periods. The fort that is recreated now represents the one in 1846 as it's been moved 4 times with different changes. The fort shows a "Trading Store", the "Married Men's Quarters", "Rowand House", "Blacksmith Shop" and a "Boat Builder's Shop".

I did manage to take some photos of the places and found that the kitchen in "Rowan House" [commander's residence] had some "Orbs" in it! Other than that it felt pretty empty of ghostly spirits.

Leaving the Fort you came upon the "Native Camp" which showed the long association between the "Cree" [also part of my heritage] and the "Hudson Bay Company Traders". The traders depended on the natives for food and the natives depended on the traders for manufactured goods.

Beside the "Native Camp" was their garden and it showed how the natives planted and shored up their plants. I had a "deja vu"moment when I saw this method and flashed back to a site in our garden when I was a young child. The shoring-up of their plants reminded me of how my parents did their garden and I have never seen anyone else use this method. It gave me kind of warm feeling!

The rest of the Fort acres were covered by a "1885 Street" which showed how the settlement began and the "Hudson Bay Company" selling it's land to the Canadian Government in 1870. The next area was called "1905 Street" which depicted "A City Is Born"...between 1900 & 1914 it became the capital city of Alberta and then "1920's Street" where the city entered into the roaring 20's.

Some of the interesting sites were the houses that moved on site instead of being demolished...one in particular looked familiar to me and PoD though she remembered reading somewhere about being haunted! I asked one of the staff in this house and she said that none of the buildings where haunted! I didn't believe her for a moment! They were probably told to say that!

One of the houses had a barn that I found to be quite unique in that it was "round". It was reported to be one of the strongest designed barns.

We had to hurry through most of the sites as it was getting ready to close for the night. Another note made was to make time next time to leave more time to see it all and get to see some of the displays as they went on...we got to miss that part!

This is a great place to go and see if you are into history! The kids weren't too interested as they couldn't relate to history....yet!

The other thing is to carry lots of cold water for hot days and go when it's not too hot/sunny out...and be prepared to walk A LONG WAY!!!

Gluttons for punishment we decided to hit another well known site for Edmonchuk..."West Edmonchuk Mall"...another story to be told!

WERE BACK!!!

Holiday was fantastic and spending it with my daughter and grand kids made it priceless!

The weather was great...a little too hot and sunny for me...and we got to see the new addition to our family...Jaydabug [my niece's daughter]. My grand kids just loved her and I found out that they would made great babysitters when they get older!

We left Friday morning around 9:00am...but before PoD arrived, my cats and I had a visit from a cute little bunny with huge ears. He came pretty close to the house and Thumber got pretty excited...I'm sure she would have chased it if I had let her out...Suki was interested but not that excited! The bunny stuck around for a few minutes before deciding to cross the road and nearly got hit by a car! The bunny really ran [hopped] after that! Thankfully I didn't have to see that happening before leaving...it would have been a poor start to the weekend! A few minutes later PoD and the kids got there.

I have a tendency to over pack! With all of the trips/vacations I have been on I pack for anything that might arise! So loading my excess into the car filled up any space left for any shopping items! I got razzed by PoD for that...seeing as hers and the kids bags were quite thin! Although my excess was due to tent, air mattress, bedding and swim towels...see...all explainable! But I do have to admit that I went overboard on the clothing!

I digress....

The trip was pretty boring for the kids [4 hr drive] and there was lots of "are we there yet" but for PoD and I, the scenery and talking made it shorter for us. As we travelled we passed a few odd sights and I made note of us stopping to get photos on the way back...which we did. One I was able to get on the way there was a shot of an old elevator at an abandoned old town. I don't know if it was an original town or not of if someone had a sense of humour but it was called "Dirty Shorts"....the name is kind of faded in the shot but it is still recognizable.

Still...it was sites like this that made the time go faster!

I have to get to work now....but stay tuned for further exciting [?] stories...