Day 16 - Edmonton

It was with some regret, and with a little wrench (no not that sort of wrench) that we left Peace River this morning. In fact we left it twice, because the sat nav got all confused and initially took us out on the Henry Fuller Davis gravesite road, believing we could drive from there, along a train track for a while, and onto Highway 2 south.

No.

So we drove back into Peace River and found our own way onto Highway 2.

Before we came away to Canada there was a semi-serious joke with the guys I work with that we would park near one of the Alberta roadcams and see if they could see us on that camera. So round about 10am I pulled H into Township Road 810, just south of Nampa (20 minutes south of Peace River). We waited 15 minutes, then drove on, wondering if we'd been photographed. Check out the Flicker site to see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27605180@N06/

We then drove a little further south to the town of Falher, known as the honey capital of Canada, and home of the world's largest bee. Another photo op, and another added to my collection of "big things in Alberta".

After that it was a long drive, a lot of the times in the rain, that we shared down to Edmonton. We stopped a number of times at places we hoped would offer fuel (I'm starting to think of "fuel" as "gas") and toilets. Most of them seemed to be places where people only stopped to turn their vehicles around. We finally found somewhere that offered both, and was open, about an hour from Edmonton.

As we approached Edmonton, the sat nav finally proved its worth again, directing us easily to our hotel. And here was a wonderful surprise. I must have figured - when I was booking this hotel - that we would be tired and worn out after two very long drives, and a weekend in the middle of relatively nowhere. So I guess I thought I'd book us something a little more luxurious. And that's what this hotel is. We actually have a suite, three rooms (bathroom, bedroom, and sitting room). There are two TVs, it's fantastic. As I write this, Sandra is in the sitting room, fast asleep on the sofa (haha, it's like being at home).

We unpacked, and then went for a quick walk around to try and get our bearings. First impressions of Edmonton are that, even though population-wise it's smaller than Calgary, it's physically a much bigger and busier city. It's amazing to think that most of the development here has only happened in the last 100 years.

The weather looks like it's going to be pants tomorrow, so we'll most likely head out to the West Edmonton Mall, which is a must-see according to our guide book. It's one of the largest shopping centres in the world. Can't wait...