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Meeting Jojocan in Edmonton
"VT Meet"
Let me say right here, "I like Canada." My father was born in Toronto so I have ties to Canada but I have not really had many opportunities to spend time there.
I had to go through 3 airports to get to Edmonton. LA to Vancouver, Vancouver to Calgary and Calgary to Edmonton. The people I encountered , the help I received from Air Canada and the airport ground crews made traveling easy and enjoyable. I have the greatest of praise for these hard working people who graciously helped me navigate the airports and customs.
I had the pleasure of meeting VT member, Jojocan in Edmonton. We stayed 2 days in Leduc where she had a business meeting, we almost got evicted from the hotel and I had to interupt Jo in her meeting to remedy the problem. We had a good laugh!
Then we moved into the West Harvest Inn for another 2 days. We went to the massive and jaw dropping "West Edmonton Mall" which is considered to be the largest shopping mall in the world. It boasts a water park, IMAX theatre, an amusement park replete with a roller coaster that rivals 6 Flags, submarine rides, sea lion show, minature golf and an ice rink!
But Edmonton is more than just the mall. Edmonton is an eclectic mix of oil refineries, parks, museums and the Universities. It is a vast grassland with blue spruce trees and groves of poplars and white birch trees. And car washes! There are more car washes in this town than anyplace I have ever been and with good reason: the dust and mud that is present in the spring from all the sand and gravel on the roads from the snowy winter months.
Jojo introduced me to IKEA too. A seemingly endless display of furniture and household items. We were there for an hour and a half. Jo said that was her shortest trip ever! Clearly my taste differ from Jo's but I was still able to find a couple of things I liked.
On Sunday we were joined by fellow VT member, Darby2 (Dave or "Darbs" as I like to call him). A benevolent soul, Darbs treated us to brunch at the "Sawmill" where a lot of his graphic art is on display. Darbs joined us and became our tour guide as Jojo popped the top on the 'stang and we tooled around Edmonton.
"The Muttart Pyramids"
We visited the Muttart Conservatory. Jo had never heard of it before and I was quite interested to see it. Darbs took us there on our tour. Four large glass pyramids housing a variety of foliage: Temperate, Tropical, Arid and Show.
I brought an American Flag T-Shirt for Jojo and what does she do? The silly girl wears it to a business meeting, the sme one I had to roust her from when we almost got evicted from the hotel. Prior to that incident she attended a luncheon where there were Canadian ranchers who, shall we say are not so sympathetic to the American Flag. Needless to say she zipped up her sweatshirt quickly.
No worries I snapped this shot when we were out sightseeing in the pouring rain.
