After another night on the train we eventually arrived in Edmunton, Alberta.
FYI, the slide scanning was done at CostCo and I’m not really impressed but the quality. Yes, the slides are old but they were stored in plastic bags that were tied shut and stored in a box. But it’s CostCo, I probably could (and should) have gotten a refund and tried them somewhere else.
In Edmunton we stayed at the Sheraton Caravan. Most of the hotels we stayed at on this trip were pretty nice, if I recall correctly.
It was Canada Day so I mentioned that “most stores were closed”. But I did buy a poster at a mall, but I have no idea what kind. Was it of Edmonton or nothing to do with the trip at all?
I have an assortment of key souvenirs from this trip.
From my “journal” which is really just some pages of loose-leaf paper –
Noon: Explored the city when we were supposed to go on tour because others were late. Turns out everyone eryone else didn’t go on tour either. Found LOTS of arcades. (If I recall correctly, I think some of the kids took off since we were tired of waiting, but since the tour fell through, I don’t think we got in much trouble).
Later on that day we went up to the observation floor of the of Telus Plaza which was called Vista 33 and it also happened to be a telephone museum. I really don’t remember much from the telephone museum, but I obviously thought it was cool enough to purchase two of the souvenir coins they had. I was into tech then, so I’d have thought it would have made more of an impression. Speaking of tech, I’d had my first computer job all lined up for my return. As soon as I got back I was to start work at the Family Computer Center selling computers and teaching classes (which was owned by the same folks who owned The Doll Hospital and Toy Soldier Shop).
I specially mentioned that it was a “great view but I only had my 110 pocket camera” so this means there are more photos than just the slides that I have. I know where there are a few B & W prints from the 33MM camera, but I wonder where those shots from the pocket camera are?
We did a “tour” of town via subway which I thought was “stupid” and since I generally (at least now) like trains and subways I’m assuming it was stupid in that it was something put together quickly to make up for the earlier screwed up tour and it wasn’t much of a tour.
The other thing that I remember is there seemed to be huge amounts of construction of tall buildings downtown here and in Calgary (we go there tomorrow). This made a huge impression on me, Detroit had a lot of tall buildings by where I lived (Berkley and the surrounding area) most building were only one to three floors, tall buildings were the exception, there were lots in these cities. Even now in Detroit if you go up in a tall building there are so few tall buildings in the distance you can generally figure out where the are located.
If you’re reading this post out of context, this is me re-journaling a trip to Alaska from when I was a kid. You might want to click the “trip to Alaska” link and go to the bottom and read them in order. I’m posting each entry on the same day that it happened years ago.
