Great Alaska Adventure: Edmonton Play Day

Since leaving Bloomer last Thursday, we’ve logged more than 1,400 miles. Time for a day off for a little R&R and to launder the burgeoning bag of dirty clothes. We did all that and more.

Marilyn and Hanna slept in while I packed up the laundry in the Ultra’s tour pack and headed for a laundromat a mile down the road from our hotel. The laundry facility was next to a coffee shop with many choices of choice pastry, so everything worked out fine. Three people times four days multiplied by a little rain equals a heap of dirty duds. But the commercial washers and dryers had me finished by nine and it was time for the recreation part of the day.

We decided yesterday to head to the Telus World of Science because we learned that their premier exhibit was “Body Worlds and the Cycle of Life,” a show I’ve wanted to see for years. It’s a show that uses more than 200 real cadavers and body parts preserved in a process known as “plastination” to reveal all the internal workings of the human body and many of the frailties that afflict and affect us as we age or abuse our bodies. It’s hard to describe, but you can learn more if you’re interested by clicking here. I expected the exhibit to be good and it was better than I expected. What an amazing way to learn about who we are and how we work, at least from a physiological perspective. There are several traveling exhibits using this process; if you get the chance to see it, go.

One of the things I saw was a real aortic valve. That was dear to my heart, given my implanted titanium valve.

But the Telus World of Science in Edmonton had much more to offer than this one fabulous exhibit. We also visited four other galleries in the museum that ranged from the environment to crime detection to space exploration. Much of the exhibit material is geared to kids and today there were several visiting school groups, but there was also much that adults could learn and enjoy as well.

In all, we spent more than six hours at the World of Science and it was a good non-riding day.

When we left the museum, we headed for the West Edmonton Mall. I’m not much of a mall person and almost never go to the one three blocks from my house, but the WEM is pretty special, eh? It’s similar to the Mall of the Americas in Minneapolis. In addition to 800 stores/kiosks (36 of which are dedicated to footwear and another 45 are categorized as “Ladies Wear”) there are more than a dozen sit down restaurants plus several dozen fast food outlets. And did I mention the skating/hocky rink? And the Galaxyland Amusement Park. And the world’s largest indoor lake? And the ropes course? And the waterpark. And the bowling alley. And the hotel attached to the Mall? Holy Crap! It’s the Mecca of indoor shopping and entertainment. I think I heard they also have the world’s biggest parking lot. Two hours, including a pretty good dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory was enough for me. I really am ready to get on the road again.

Fortunately Marilyn and Hanna were content with a single shopping foray into Bath and Body Works and I only had to sit and wait on the Man Bench in front of the store for 20 minutes. While I was there I noticed that Edmonton really has an international cosmopolitan flavor. Not what I expected from what is basically an oil town.

The bikes are gassed, we’ve got three packs of clean clothes, and tomorrow we continue motoring west to Grande Prairie, Alberta. Rain is a possibility by the end of the ride, but we’ll start out dry.

Thanks again for following along on the Great Alaska Adventure and for your various blog comments.

“I can’t wait to get on the road again.”

Location:Edmonton, Alberta