For Labour Day my boyfriend and I took a little road trip to Edmonton - mostly to go to West Edmonton mall and IKEA (the boy had never been there before!?!?!)
We left early-ish Saturday morning, and had a fairly uneventful drive (in this case uneventful is good! Seeing as how my car already had hail damage from a storm a few weeks ago...but details on that at another time!)
When we got in we were told our hotel room wasn't ready yet (1/2 an hour before official check in time). So we went for a drive. Now I'm familiar with parts of Edmonton because my sister went to school there for 2 years but because back then I wasn't ever driving, I really didn't know anything :P We went the only way we could (gotta love one way streets :P) and soon ended up at my sister's former school. I decided we should go exploring!
This is me in our traditional dancer pose, with bad turnout and my weight too far forward. And yes, Grant MacEwan Arts Campus is ORANGE on the outside!
I found these neat art projects along one of the walls
The assignment was called "Dreamscape" and was a first year project based on surrealism and aboriginal culture.
I was particularly drawn to this one
How cute is this?!?!
Eeeee! Baby cakes (not just a term of endearment anymore :P)
The artist here was Katie Miller.
Other things of note: This giant guitar!
Anyway, it was a good trip down memory lane, I'd been to the school many times before when visiting & to see my sister's performances.
By the time we got back we could check into the hotel. It wasn't long before we decided to hit up the mall.
If you've never been to West Ed it is probably worth your time. It's big, and there are definitely some neat things, but I do have to admit I was more impressed by the Mall of America.
THE highlight of the mall for me was discovering there was an Anthropologie store. I had no idea. And I found out it is as wonderful in person as it is online. Actually, even more so.
It's one of those bloggy things where you spend so long idolizing it that when you finally get there you think you're going to die. Like if I were to meet Jen of Tatertots and Jello in person.
Even Adam liked it! Although his degree is in Anthropology, so I don't know if there's some kind of connection ;)
When it was time for supper we checked out the restaurants there, but they were all packed and had a wait. Adam had overheard the front desk girls talking about the hotel restaurant being really good, so we decided to head back and try it.
If you've never been to West Ed it is probably worth your time. It's big, and there are definitely some neat things, but I do have to admit I was more impressed by the Mall of America.
THE highlight of the mall for me was discovering there was an Anthropologie store. I had no idea. And I found out it is as wonderful in person as it is online. Actually, even more so.
It's one of those bloggy things where you spend so long idolizing it that when you finally get there you think you're going to die. Like if I were to meet Jen of Tatertots and Jello in person.
Even Adam liked it! Although his degree is in Anthropology, so I don't know if there's some kind of connection ;)
When it was time for supper we checked out the restaurants there, but they were all packed and had a wait. Adam had overheard the front desk girls talking about the hotel restaurant being really good, so we decided to head back and try it.
We were not disappointed!!
It was called Home Fire, and when we walked up to it (it is detached from the hotel) it smelled like campfire due to the wood burning stove - I'm already sold at this point!
We normally aren't "appetizer people" but when we saw that bannock was an option, we had to try it. It showed up warm & with maple butter! YUM! I thought I was going to die of amazingness and happiness!
Adam went with the pork ribs which were incredible!
I decided to try something that I'd never had before - bison meatloaf with Saskatoon berry sauce!
Who orders meatloaf at a restaurant?! ME! And it was DE-LIC-IOUS!!
Other things that I liked about the place? I overheard them telling other people that they don't serve fries! Now that's refreshing!
The next day we went to IKEA and hit up the mall again!
No big purchases at IKEA, but we started the day off with meatballs! (We missed $1 breakfast :(
The next day we went to IKEA and hit up the mall again!
No big purchases at IKEA, but we started the day off with meatballs! (We missed $1 breakfast :(
Thanks for checking out our Edmonton adventure!
Those baby cakes are adorable! How cute! Great photos! Looks like you had a great time!
ReplyDeleteAnd you didn't even call... :(
ReplyDeleteFun!!! Although....you didn't buy ANYTHING at IKEA??????? How is that even possible???
ReplyDelete