9 June - Saskatoon to Edmonton - Day 36 of TCE

I made the earliest start to a day of the TCE this morning, leaving the homestay before 6.30 pm after breakfast. One of the reasons for it was a full Chinese household. I presumed that the bathroom would get real busy once they woke up. The other was that the sky had got lit up bright and nice early. Being a Sunday the road was super free and the getaway to the highway was fast too.

Farmlands abound with the sowing/planting just having been completed. Farms and retail stores that provided support services to them could be seen on both sides of the road. Warehouses, silo storage and petroleum tanks, some served by railway sidings, were visible in most of the farms or adjacent to it. That the farms are large in size can be gauged by the fact that the machines in use are huge and serve to leverage economies of scale. Another sight were large tracts of land where used vehicles are parked, most of them in completely run down and unusable condition. They looked like large graveyards for motor vehicles. Why they are not recycled or the scrap melted stumped me. When I was passing by Vegreville the Pysanka Festival was prominently announced, which aroused my curiosity. Later I came to know that it is a large Ukrainian settlement and the Pysanka is an annual festival to showcase their culture, art forms, music and food.

During the course of the day's drive I moved from Saskatchewan province to Alberta, with just one more province to go before the expedition completes in Victoria Zero Mile on 12th. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, which was carved out of Northern Territories in 1905. It had started raining by the time I checked in to Ramada. I had to limit the day's activities to what could be done indoors. When I checked in I was told that the weather may not good enough for a visit to the Fort as there was a lot of walking around to see the attractions there. 

After a brief rest in the room I visited the Costo outlet that was almost bang opposite the hotel. I had to drive around a fair bit to locate a free slot. When I did and walked in to the store there were hundreds of people there with large carts overflowing. I wondered if I would be able to get through the billing counter if ever I bought anything. I stood and watched how the queues moved and was surprised to see them all moving fast. That explained, to a great deal, the amount that store was able to sell. I have seen well stocked stores doing lousy business due to inefficient billing queue management in India. The store was in fact a warehouse with it almost never running out of stock. The second aspect about the store is a wholesale experience. When I saw a person with 20 toilet paper rolls in his cart I thought that either he must have a large household or a medical problem! I was tempted to pick up this and that, but mostly chocolates. I put them all back on to the shelf after I had the visceral experience of having them in my cart! When I got to the head of one of the billing queues I came to realise that one must have a membership card to shop in there. Fortunately, a couple of ladies behind me in the queue agreed to let me use their membership card and the billing was completed quickly.

  

The next halt was the West Edmonton Mall, which was an experience of a different dimension all together. It was the largest mall in the world between 1985 and 2004. It occupies over 5.5 million square feet of mall space with over 800 stores, numerous entertainment centres and theme parks. The water theme park with the largest indoor wave pool in the world and beach are much in demand. The animal petting area and the sea lions enclosure are equally sought after. The two hotels and over 100 dining venues showed signs of being busy. More than 24000 people are employed at the venue and facilities exist for parking over 20,000 cars in one shot. My nose led me to the Cinnzeo outlet that has been baking cinnamon rolls since 1987. The large variety stunned me and I took my time to order one with apple and caramel. That the offering was delicious can be guessed from the fact that in five minutes the large mound in front of me had moved into me. The adventure golf area had many kids practising and getting familiar with the game that has biggest corporate pull. The couple of hours I had spent inside the mall taught me that even with large crowds the place can be neat and tidy.

The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is in Edmonton and has had its sessions ever since the province came into being in 1905. The legislative assembly complex is known to local Edmontonians as The Ledge.

The large park around the complex has many memorials and flames such as the Centennial Flame and another to honour the fallen braves of the RCMP. One of the memorials was to Catholic Sisters of various congregations who are remembered for their contribution to health care, education and social care. Another, known as the Francophone Imprint which combines the fleur-de-lys and the Wild Rose, recognises the sizeable contribution of the French to the development of the region. A very large bronze captures the contribution of the Ukrainian people in the province. As I wound up my visit of the Assembly complex dark clouds gathered. Soon thereafter, the skies opened up and I had to forgo any more outdoor activity.

Two pegs of the Baron Samedi spiced rum and Coke preceded a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant. Beni, the girl from Nagaland, suggested a stir fry beef with noodles. The food was good and it was also time to introspect on the five weeks that had gone by. It has been a great learning experience and a tremendous visual delight.