Time for breakfast on our last full day in Canada. That is tragic, isn't it? I can't believe that it's already over. Back to the stupid European life again. Dammit!
Anyway, what a nice breakfast I have today - Taco Time and Orange Julius.
12:44:00
As promised you now see the Moose fully dressed and he's ready to hit the mall!
13:16:38
This is the Moose in "The Bay" (the Hudson's Bay Company) just hanging out while we do some shopping with my mom.
13:19:55
We're taking so long that the Moose takes a nap on a Hudson's Bay blanket. These blankets are absolutely 100% distinctly Canadian with their blue, yellow, red, green stripes.
14:29:03
This is the Moose at the World Water Park. (Notice all the people in the wave pool in the background.)
14:31:11
This is where the Dolphin show used to be. It was an exceptionally good show but for some reason they got rid of the dolphins. Now there are sea lions instead, and a show which sucks. But for like $10 you can get a picture taken with a sea lion.
And so we're off to the World Water Park to do some watersliding. As you can see from this map it is shaped like a small lake with a kind of beach at one end where the waves from the wave pool come rolling in. Surrounding the lake are many different waterslides all over the place, most of them pretty daunting.
17:00:53
And perhaps the most daunting slide of all is this one... The Sky Screamer. This boasts a near vertical drop, as you can see. (Notice the guy going down it in the right-hand slide.)
17:02:24
But here's the thing about this slide.... after dropping nearly vertically down you are gently curved out of the drop before sliding along a very long straight-away where you spray water all over the place, which of course slows you down gradually. So, in actuality the slide is not as hardcore as it looks.
Take a look at the purple slide BEHIND this one, however. That is Nessie's Revenge and unlike the Sky Screamer it looks pretty harmless. But it's not. The Sky Screamer gently curves you from vertical to horizontal, but Nessie's Revenge drops you down fast and then launches you into the air when you reach the next drop. It's terrifying and painful, to be honest.
It's funny to sit in the pool at the bottom of these two different slides and to see people's reactions to them after riding them.
People get off the Sky Screamer and they don't really say anything to their friends who are waiting below. But people coming off Nessie's Revenge have a totally different reaction. The most common post-Nessie's-Revenge reaction goes something like this: "What the $%@& was that?!?!???!? Jesus!!!!"
18:18:23
After the water park we go out to dinner with the whole family to the Old Spaghetti Factory at West Edmonton Mall. On this final night in Canada I once again have the Spaghetti with Meat Sauce on one side and the Browned Butter & Mizithra Cheese on the other... the same as I did on the first night in Canada.
19:38:46
After dinner we decide to try once again to see mooses at Elk Island Park. Maybe we'll get lucky and see them at dusk, which is when they tend to be more active. And so we drive out to the park and begin out Moose hunt.
19:50:28
20:04:39
20:14:19
20:15:14
No mooses thus far, but a nice sunset.
20:16:30
It's getting dark though. We might want to head back to the car.
20:24:41
This picture just has Canada written all over it, I think.
20:31:33
The moon rises over the park and it gets a bit freaky out here because there are Bison roaming around, and popping suddenly into view out of the dark.
Look at the right half of this photo... there's a bison there, barely visible in the dark.
20:32:06
A Bison silhouetted by the moon.
20:34:29
There are many Bison blocking the road, so we wait for them to get out of the way.
20:39:52
20:40:32
Hey! A porcupine!
20:40:56
See him? He looks like a beaver, sort of. But it's a porcupine, I promise.
20:42:06
Man! This is freaky! Let's get out of here!
22:44:56
And so we reach the end of another day and take one final walk around the now almost deserted West Edmonton Mall.
Tomorrow we return to The Netherlands and leave happiness in Canada behind us. Very sad.
Today's Travel Information
Taco Time
www.tacotime.com
Orange Julius
www.orangejulius.com
World Water Park
www.westedmontonmall.com/play/waterpark.asp
The Old Spaghetti Factory
www.oldspaghettifactory.ca
Elk Island National Park
www.parkscanada.com
Fantasyland Hotel
www.fantasylandhotel.com
1-800-737-3783 / (780) 444-3000
Polynesian Room $169