Jurassic Park, Drive to Jasper

Good day everyone! Jon and I woke up to a wonderful Chinese lunch made by his auntie. We had dumplings, sticky rice and wonton soup noodles. For dessert, we had moon cake and Filipino fruit salad. We really enjoyed our stay with Jon’s uncle’s family. We wished we could stay there longer but we need to return home.

Jon’s uncle treated us to Jurassic Forest. It’s a park with life size dinosaurs within the forest. They move and make noise. Jon thinks some of them sound like car engines. It was quite neat. Jon’s auntie told us that the owners brought the dinosaurs in by plane so you would see a dinosaur “flying”. My favourite dinosaur was the one with spiky amour. Jon liked the “little dinosaurs that were attacking the big one”. It’s explained in the picture.

Afterwards, we drove to get an oil change. Then we were on our way to Jasper. We saw 2 elks on the side of the road. We arrived at 7pm and walked around town. The main streets were Connaught Drive and Patricia Street. We had dinner at KFC because it was toonie Tuesday. We ordered a toonie combo and 2 classic sandwiches for $5. Then we drove to our hostel. We’ll sleep early tonight because tomorrow will be a long day. Our estimated time of return will be September 4th.

Good night everyone!

Fort Edmonton, Whyte Avenue

Good day everyone! Jon and I had a wonderful Filipino breakfast. We had mini sausages, maple syrup coated bacon, garlic rice and eggs. After, we went to Fort Edmonton with his cousin and her son. Her son was so adorable. He’s 1 year old. Fort Edmonton is Canada’s largest living history museum. They had 4 different periods: the fort, 1885, 1905, and 1920. It was quite large. In 1905, the increasing housing demands lead families to live in tents. Apparently, it was quite warm. We took a wagon tour back to the train station where we started.

We then drove down to Whyte Avenue which is the equivalent of 4th. There were several cute shops and restaurants. We had a teriyaki chicken crepe there too.
Afterwards, we drove to see a large boot and a large bat. Then we drove to visit my grandpa’s gravesite.

We had a delicious Filipino dinner. We had chicken, vermicelli with vegetables, stewed beef and fruit salad. Jon’s relatives all came for dinner including the 1 year old and the 4 year old. They were both very cute. The 1 year old would say “up” or “down” when he would go up or down the stairs. We had such a wonderful time here. Jon’s relatives were very kind and welcoming.

Have a good night everyone!

Edmonton Mall

Good day everyone! Jon and I woke up early to drive to Edmonton to meet up with Jon’s grandpa’s uncle (great uncle) and his family for dim sum. They were all so nice and welcoming. There were two little boys, one was 4 and the other was 1. They were so cute. The 4 year old would hide under the table and gently rub my leg which of course would startle me. We went to Jumbo dim sum restaurant. It was quite good. Jon really liked the beef rice rolls.

Jon and I then went to West Edmonton Mall. We walked through Galaxyland which is their theme park. They had a few good roller coasters. Of course, we’re too cheap to go on. We then went to the guest services desk and redeemed our coupon for a West Edmonton Mall coupon book. We found the coupon in a BCAA travel guide. The lady working there gave us a coupon book without taking our coupon because the coupon book was going to expire on August 31st.

Inside the book, there was a free $5 slots coupon. We went to the casino to redeem it and played blackjack. Jon won $7.50. We cashed it out and bought Purdy’s ice-cream. We shared a dark chocolate dipped ice-cream bar with almond. It was tasty.

Since we still had our coupon for a free coupon book, Jon tried to get another West Edmonton Mall (WEM) coupon book so we can get an extra $5 slots coupon. He did get the WEM coupon book but the person working there took our coupon. We lost the entire $5 coupon to blackjack.

In the mall, there is an NHL -size ice rink, a theme park, a water park, a pitch n putt, and a big pirate ship where they have sea lion shows. We watched the sea lion show. They were so cute. One of the sea lions were dancing to the tune of the music and another one gave a little girl a kiss on the cheek.

I didn’t buy anything at the mall because the stores they had were very similar to those at home. They did have Abercrombie but there wasn’t anything there. After we finished shopping, we went to T and T, my favourite supermarket, to buy a cake for Jon’s great uncle and his family for letting us stay with them.

During dinner, we realized that Jon’s grandpa’s brother is his great uncle. It’s weird saying it but I think it’s funny and his great uncle laughs when we call him that so I’m sure he enjoys it. Jon’s great aunt made a delicious dinner. We had stir-fry with noodles, Asian salad, grilled meat and rice. It was nice eating a home cooked meal. Tomorrow, we’ll be having Filipino food. It’s my first time so I’m excited.

Tomorrow, we’ll be going to Fort Edmonton with Jon’s aunt and her son. I shall look for coupons tonight.

Good night everyone!

Manitou Beach, Saskatoon, North Battleford, Cut Knife, Vegreville

Good day everyone! Jon and I drove to Manitou Beach first thing this afternoon. Manitou Beach is 3 times saltier than the ocean and allows swimmer to float effortlessly. Jon and I had the intention of going in the water but as we were driving by, the water looked dirty and there was white foam floating on the surface which the children at the beach were playing with. This scared us a little so we only dipped our feet in the water. We were also wearing flip flops at the time and we did notice that our flip flops felt more buoyant than normal. We also ate a smokie for lunch. There was also a dance floor that was built on top of horse hair. We couldn’t see the horsehair because carpet and hardwood floor

I drove for 45 minutes from Manitou Beach to Saskatoon. It was nice being able to drive again. We arrive in Saskatoon and dropped off a gift for Jon’s grandpa’s friend. Then we went to Pizza Hut for a second lunch. I thought that the pizza was a little sweeter than normal but Jon didn’t think so. An hour later, Jon and I felt sick. AIYAH!

As we were waiting for our pizza, I picked up a joke pamphlet. Our favourite joke from the pamphlet went as follows: “Don’t swallow these pills,” the doctor said, handing the overweight patient a bottle of pills. “Instead, spill them on the floor three times a day and pick them up one by one.”

We drove to Spadina Crescent to partake in a Ukrainian festival. It was bumping. We saw a Ukrainian pop star who was trying to get the crowd to clap their hands but to no avail. They had craft tables and a face painting station for kids. They also sold crafts too. Jon wanted perogies but were too expensive. We then walked on 2nd avenue. There were quite a few stores there as well as a shopping centre. As we were walking, we saw 3 parking ticket officers. They were out in full force today. Saskatoon was larger than we imagined. However, Saskatoon berry pies were not as abundant as the travel book made it seem.

We were going to take a picture of a big rack by Allan’s Landscaping Store but it was on the other side of the highway. We tried twice to get to that side but couldn’t. So we had no choice but to take a picture from afar.

Jon saw a porcupine but it was sleeping on the side of the road with spilt cranberry juice around it. It makes me sad but luckily, we haven’t hit anything larger than a dragonfly yet.

We drove to North Battleford to take a picture of a mountie and bison statue. The highway that we’re on had construction. So in order to slow down our car we like to roll down the windows and stick out our hand for added friction. However, when Jon stuck out his hand, he managed to hit a bug at 100km/h. There were bits of the bug still on his hand. It was quite gross but not as gross as the one I accidentally squished while taking our mountie picture. I forgot how many bugs there are in the prairies. I have at least 8 mosquito bites. Jon has at least 5.

We then drove by Cut Knife to take a picture of a big Tomahawk. We’re in Alberta now. We’ll be staying at Vegreville which has a large Easter egg. Tomorrow, we’ll be seeing Jon’s grandpa’s brother and his family for dim sum.

Have a good night!

Riding Mountain National Park, Russel, Churchbridge, Esterhazy, Yorkton

Good day everyone! Jon and I woke up to several mosquito bites. UGH! Anyways, we drove to Neepawa, the Lily Capital, and stopped by the gas station to buy a calling card. Our previous calling card ran out of money because we would use it on pay phones. So we bought a “Cin Cin” one and used the gas station’s pay phone. We were calling Alberta from Manitoba. I guess they charge more for calling different provinces while using the pay phone because we talked no more than 10 minutes and we only had a $1.50 left on a $5 calling card. It would have been cheaper to use our cell phones.

Anyways, we drove up to Riding Mountain National Park to see a herd of bison. We first drove to Wasagaming to visit their tourist centre. There were little stores along the main road as well as a nice beach. We drove about 60km to get to the Bison Enclosure. The enclosure was fenced off and as we approached, there was a sign that told us to stay in our cars because the bison are wild animals. We drove to the Bison Exhibit. Jon was afraid to leave the car because he wasn’t sure if bison were there.

We were quite lucky because as we were driving to the bison site, the bison were near the road and were about to cross it. We parked so close to the bison that we could hear the bison grunt, burp and possible fart. We weren’t quite sure what the noises were. One bison even crossed right in front of our car.

We took a nap in the parking lot in Wasagaming then went on our way to Russel. We thought that there would be a large bear but instead we found a large, quite disturbing bull. It looked like it has mad cow disease.

As we were driving, we were listening to Mariah Carey’s cd. For those who don’t know, she can sign 5 octaves. Jon bet me one dollar that he can sing 5 octaves too. Of course, I knew he was up to no good but I wanted to see what he would do. He then proceeded, in a baritone voice, to sing “fiveeeee octavesss”. Ha ha. He’s so silly. I still owe him $1.

We have crossed into Saskatchewan. We visited Churchbridge where we saw the loonie for Canada’s 125th anniversary. The designer of the image lived in Churchbridge. We then drove to Esterhazy to take a picture of Potage Pete. He wasn’t as big as we thought he would be. Then we drove to Yorkton to get dinner.

It was our first time going to Wendy’s. I ordered a Jr Cheeseburger, baked potato with sour cream and chives and root beer. Jon ordered chicken nuggets, fries and coke. Jon didn’t mind his food. I thought it was okay too but when I lifted the lid of my potato, there wasn’t any sour cream. All I got was a potato. It was not appetizing. The only way I could eat it was to imagine it was a PEI potato. It could have been from PEI because Wendy looks like Anne of Green Gables. Ha ha.

We are staying in Watson where there is a big Santa. We’ll be going to Saskatoon tomorrow. Good night!