Wednesday, August 8 – Ramada, West Edmonton

Feeling revived after a good sleep and ready to start our day after a good brekkie at the hotel.  My wish for fresh sheets every night is coming true already and I'm not even rich or famous!

First stop is the West Edmonton Mall which was built shortly after we left Edmonton late 1980, so I missed it.  At the time it was the biggest mall in the world but I think it is now the biggest mall in North America.  It is huge regardless and where 'would rather not' shoppers (ie husbands and kids) can while their time away in a huge variety of ways.

Could try the Blue Thunder Wave Pool in the World Waterpark or one of the 17 waterslides, the Galaxyland Amusement Park with 27 exhilarating rides, some seriously scary, the Deep Sea Adventure which has a replica of Christopher Columbus' flagship Santa Maria.  There’s mini golf and a petting zoo.  There are separate theme streets ie Chinatown, Europa Boulevard and BRBN Street with nightlife, food and specialty stores.  I’ve missed some highlights so reading off the brochure now, Deep Sea Adventure, Sea Life Caverns underground aquarium (we didn't even see this with it's 100 species of fish and mammals), Sea Lions with a show every day, Ice Palace to try your skills at ice skating, Ten Pin Bowling and arcade games galore!

Blue Thunder Wave Pool

Beachview Bar in the foreground and waterslides behind - all in a shopping mall!

Kim is keen on winning a Lambo, have to come back to pick it up in January

After the mall we tried to do some sightseeing in the city but it befuddled us, we couldn't get to where we wanted and then there was no parking so we dipped out.  Plan B was to find the famous Scoop n Roll icecream place, Kim wants to bring the idea home if it's not already there.

Brilliant idea, its like tempering chocolate except this is on ice plates!  Might be a good idea for home!

Mmm, how does one go about demolishing this icecream delight?

Murray and Terri very kindly invited us for supper tonight, it hadn't met Terri before, she is lovely and we also got to meet their daughter Nikki, boyfriend John and the dog Jack.  Murray made his signature ribs, and very good they were too, I have to say!

It was great to pick up the threads of many camping weekends at Lake BJ (Big Johnson) 20 years ago with these guys (hence the moniker BJ bunch – not what you might have been thinking).  These boys were all mostly bachelors when we went camping and now they are all married with children and grandies.  It was so nice to meet the wives!  We must be getting on, it was only a 'couple' of drinks over the evening, not like the good old days!  Fuzzy came alone but I would have liked to meet his wife Jen, a long standing kindergarten teacher, she sounds delightful.  Mitts’ wife Margaret was a hoot, and Rolfe’s wife Sharon did seemed familiar, so I think we did meet before.  Our hosts Murray and Terri were lovely and made us so welcome.

Crazy BJ Bunch!! Back left to right Murray, Terri, Sharon, Margaret, Mitts, Rolphe, front me, Fuzzy and Kim