The coldest place on earth

This was a top story in Edmonton 2 weeks ago on Dec 8, 2 days after the coldest day ever in life. The video of boiling water turning instantly into vapor may give you some indication of how cold it was. But to put it into perspective, here are a few stats (mostly) from the article:

-42      the wind chill in Edmonton.
-40      the temperature in Leedale, just south of Edmonton. This was the coldest place on earth on that day.
-39.8   the temperature in Manning, northern Alberta. The next coldest place on earth.
+52     the temperature in Santa Elena de Uaren, Venezuela. The warmest place on earth that day. That's almost a 100C difference!
-5        the temperature in Siberia that day. It was warmer in Siberia than it was Edmonton. Siberia!
4,242  the number of service calls logged by the Alberta Motor Association, mostly for battery boosts.
16 hrs, 39 minutes  the average wait time in Edmonton for a tow or a winch.
+14     the temperature in Ontario that same week. Jerks.
5         the number of times I've shoveled in the last 3 weeks. 5 more times than I've ever had to shovel in my entire life.

I can't believe we live here. I can't believe we moved here. On purpose.

That Friday, the coldest day of our lives, was also the day we stood outside for as long as we could to pick out our very first Christmas tree. David is very picky about his Christmas trees, so we went to the only place I could find in Edmonton that sold Fraser firs which was only about 20 minutes outside the city, but you would have thought we were halfway up to High Level, especially when we told people where we got it. They only had about one of each size in the Fraser fir, so we had to settle (and pay exorbitantly) for an 8ft tree, cut down to 7ft to fit into our house. We definitely overpaid, but the results are worth every penny.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Our house is finally starting to look and feel like a home, even if it's only in this room.

In keeping with the winter (and holiday) spirit, check out this new Apple commercial that was filmed in snowy Edmonton, in the Cloverdale neighbourhood.

To accompany this video, the Edmonton Journal has a pretty lengthy piece analyzing the Apple ad as well as dubbing Edmonton as "The Official Home of White Christmas." That's a pretty big claim, but it might be true. It's great that the biggest, newsworthy stories are all about snow and the weather. Only in Canada. And in this case - Edmonton.

What happened since our last post?

First off, we went back to Ontario, and this happened.

And then we came back to Edmonton, and this happened.

We managed to squeeze in some of this.

Before officially getting this.

And now, we are dealing with some form of this.

And that's what's happened in the last 2 weeks.

Light the Bridge

I stumbled on this through those ads on the side on Facebook that no one ever looks at, but I'm happy I did cause it's a really cool thing.

A small geography lesson before we delve in: Edmonton is divided into the north and south sides by the North Saskatchewan River. Actually, the city kind of looks like a no smoking sign, with the Anthony Henday ring road around the city and then the river cutting diagonally through. There are 19 bridges or crossings that allow you to walk, bike, drive or LRT from one side of the river to the other. One of these is the High Level Bridge.

During our first trip out here in July, we walked over the High Level Bridge from Garneau (south side) to the north side of the city, which I believe is considered the downtown core or CBD (central business district) if you're from outside of North America. This southbound-only bridge made up of "steel trusses on concrete piers" (à la Wiki) turns into 109 Street on either side of the river, is 777m long, and was opened exactly 100 years ago this year. Still a young buck. Not just a bridge for vehicles, there are pedestrian walkways on either side of the lane ways, which double as 2-way bike lanes, and the upper deck is where the High Level Streetcar runs along in the summer.

While walking on the bridge that first time, we thought: wouldn't it be cool if this thing lit up? Actually, we had heard from someone somewhere that they do light the bridge and that there might even be a waterfall-type fountain off the bridge at some point. We had never actually found evidence of either, but always the engineer, David actually looked for the lights and only found some pipes where water may have potentially spouted out from.

Spouties where we think water for a fountain would come from.

And then today, I find this. Which then leads me to this: http://www.lightthebridge.ca.

Basically, Light the Bridge is a completely donation-based initiative to outfit the High Level Bridge in thousands of smart, programmable LEDs. This will not only literally make the city a little brighter, but also bring together Edmontonians to support their city one bulb at a time. What a cool concept. What's more is that they're encouraging people to donate a bulb in memory or on behalf of someone who has lit up their lives in some way. Those should be reasons enough. But if you needed another: they will also be able to tell you where to locate your exact light bulb once it's completed. Umm, that's pretty freakin' cool.

Wouldn't it be awesome to see this thing lit up at night?! Ya, it would.

So like it. Share it. Donate.

Now if only it had a fountain...  

Reasons the rest of Canada should be super jealous of Alberta

He's riding a stick horse for God's sake. How can you not like this guy? Image taken from The Edmonton Journal.

Read this: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/22/calgary-election-edmonton-alberta-2013_n_4142715.html

I think that title is pretty self explanatory. Seriously, our new mayor is 12. We couldn't have timed our move from Toronto to Edmonton any better. I think part of why I like Iveson is cause he's so much like David. It's actually uncanny.

Check it:

• Both into politics.
• He looks 12 but is really over 30.
• A Star Trek/Wars nerd.
• His wife is Asian and named Sarah.
• (and the kicker) from Reddit:

From Iveson's Reddit AMA.

Our friends have actually said David's is Phil Dunphy. Not A Real Man.

Speaking of which, Iveson's AMA on Reddit is also worth a skim though.  Besides the fun city stuff like the LRT expansion, there are bits on Star Trek, the Oilers and who would play him in a TV movie.

Also noteworthy is the slideshow at the end of Huffpost article of the Silliest Questions Tourists Ask in Alberta. My favourite may be "At what elevation does an elk become a moose?" Made even more absurd by trying to sound academic and posing it like an exam question.

The traffic rant

There are typically 3 things people say to us when we tell them we just moved to Edmonton:
1. Why?
2. Just wait til the winter.
3. Don't speed.

The conversation goes a little something like this: The "why" is usually said in an incredulous tone, almost as if I said puppies are an abomination. This tone is not unlike the reaction we get when we say we like the West Edmonton Mall. We counter this by expressing how much we really like Edmonton. They then bring out the big guns (no. 2) accompanied by ominous bad-guy background music, followed, without fail, by our nervous laughter. "Aha ha ha... it can't be that bad.... Riiiiiight?" When that passes and they've accepted that we chose to move here, their best Droopy dog slow voice comes on and goes, "Well... then... don't....... speeeeed." It's like the slowest drawl you could possibly say the word speed.

There's no doubt we'll write about the winter here, but since we've been experiencing unusually high temperatures, warm weather, and a beautiful fall (all of which, we're told, is not like Edmonton at all) unlike what's happening in southern Ontario, let's expand on no. 3 in what we like to call Driving Mr Chuck.

Since we only have 2 months of driving experience in Edmonton, below is an excerpt from an email we received from a seasoned Chuck driver (ha, get it?), our buddy Ian who also moved here from Toronto. I'm gonna preface this by saying: it's all true. Take heed, people who have never driven in Edmonton. Especially the part about pedestrians walking onto the street in the middle of traffic.

Edmonton driving, per Ian. Key points bolded, per me:

Do not kid yourself. You will need to accept the fact that you will be driving everywhere. It's just not possible to work around it. With drastic weather changes and a poor transit system, you cannot live without a vehicle. This is coming from us, a couple that lived in Toronto and never owned a car until we got here. We resisted buying a car for as long as possible but it was inevitable and truly, our lives are better for it and it should've happened sooner. All vehicles come with engine block heaters. Find yours under the hood and buy a long power cord to plug in the block heater. Plugs are virtually everywhere. Even on the side of the street and in public parking lots. Do not rely on taxi/cab service like Toronto either. Most of the time, you can't just flag one down. You have to call them and order one which really isn't so bad. They'll arrive 10 minutes later if they're not busy.

Do not speed. Alberta has traffic cameras that ticket you and you'll receive a letter about a month later. They're positioned at intersections AND IN HIDDEN TRUCKS. This is much different than Toronto. You are not safe to do 20 km/h anymore. Only 10 km/h over or less. The highways are different though. Generally 110km/h is the actual, legal limit. Doing 10km/h over that is standard. Even the elderly drive at about 125km/h. Doing 20+km/h over the limit (total of 130km/h) is pushing it. There are much fewer speed limit signs too. They don't have provincial police, it goes from Edmonton Police Service straight to RCMP so if you get caught on a highway, they don't use the trucks/cameras and it'll be an RCMP officer that you'll see.

Crosswalks are the devil. In Toronto, when someone jaywalks, they'll at least have their head up. Here, people just walk and vehicles will suddenly come to a dead stop at any time. There are designated zebra markings for crosswalks however there are no overhead lights flashing. Always check the crosswalk edges for people. They cross without looking. My wife and I have had MANY close calls. I'm not joking.

Alberta drivers are extremely over-cautious. To a fault. They cause accidents. People try to merge extremely early as well. To the point that they will stop traffic behind them, forcing people behind them to stop in the middle of intersections despite a couple hundred metres of room before the lane ends. Again, I'm not joking. Brush up on your merging skills. I used to drive like a proper cab driver in downtown Toronto and I still do. It's served me well. Other drivers might get angry but I don't care. Just be careful doing it and don't gun it down the open merge lane.

Rush hour is from 7:30am to about 9am, light traffic from 11:45 to 1pm, and 4pm to 6pm. During these times, avoid the Yellowhead and Whitemud at all cost.

Go shopping on a weekend once and then learn from the mistake. It's insanity. The Costcos, West Edmonton Mall, any shopping centre. It's all packed on weekends. Good luck finding parking.

Two things about getting tickets I'd like to add to this: First, you may not even know you were violating anything. The ticket will just magically appear in the mail and your day is ruined. This is the biggest fear of Edmontonians. Secondly, you can also get caught on a double whammy meaning $300 for running a red light + another $150 for speeding through to catch said red light. Both of these suck.

To end this segment of Driving Mr Chuck, I leave you with two cautionary tales about getting ticketed. Did these actually happen? Who are these dudes? No one really knows. Maybe these are just urban legends passed down from generation to generation told to scare newcomers. You decide.

Cautionary tale 1: This dude started getting multiple tickets at work for the company car. This was perplexing as he wasn't aware of any violations he'd committed. Some tickets were especially concerning cause he wasn't even driving the car at the time of the ticket. No way was he going to pay for tickets that weren't his. Except he would have to pay. Cause the mysterious bad driver of his car was actually his wife.
Moral of the story: It's embarrassing enough to get tickets through work, but even worse when it's your spouse.

Cautionary Tale 2: There was another dude and he drove to work. Everyday, he would take the same route from home to the office. Everyday, he would roll through this one particular stop sign. Unbeknownst to him, there was a traffic cam at this stop sign. Fifteen or so days go by and he's none the wiser. Day 16 rolls around and he receives a ticket in the mail. And then again the next day. And then the next. And then the day after that. You get where I'm going here.
Moral of the story: Surprise tickets suck. But 15+ surprise tickets suck even more.

#Alberta1x1

My friend Carrie, who resides in Sydney but is a Calgarian at heart, posted a link to the Canadian Tourism Commission's webpage, where they did this photo project called Alberta1x1. It's too amazing not to share. Basically, they got 7 Instagram super users to go on a 7-day road trip around the Rockies in Alberta and document their trip on Instagram. You can view the pictures on their tumblr page, on Instagram or search using #Alberta1x1. They also did a similar thing in the Yukon, called (surprise, surprise) Yukon1x1, with 5 Instagrammers exploring the Yukon over 9 days.

For those Canadians wanting to discover more of Canada, the CTC webpage and these pictures will inspire you. For everybody else around the world, these are a good start to see what else Canada has to offer and will for sure make you want to come visit.

Seeing these amazing, stunning, breathtaking, magnificent (and other such adjectives) pictures of Alberta was quite timely as I was looking through them while we were in Kananaskis, just before our road trip from Banff to Jasper to Edmonton this past weekend.

If these pictures don't make you want to come see Alberta (and visit us), you're dead inside:
http://canadakeepexploring.tumblr.com/instagram-alberta-1x1

Breathtaking. Image taken from Canada | Keep Exploring Alberta1x1.

There's Something About Markets

We love markets. I especially love markets. We try to hit up local markets (farmer's and otherwise) wherever we go, which is always fun to see how locals do in the city and what cool foods and items people are selling.

Lucky for us, there is no shortage of markets in Edmonton. Since we've moved here, we've been to the City Market, Old Strathcona Farmer's Market, and the Boyle Street Flea Market. Two more on the list are St Albert's Market on Saturdays and 124 Grand Market on Thursdays.

Our second Saturday with Chuck, we walked down to the City Market located on 104 Street between 103 and Jasper Avenues. We were pleasantly surprised, ignorant Torontonians we are, that it was actually fairly big.

We got there a bit late that day and kind of rushed through the stalls, but not before sitting on the curb to eat our bison-shaped bison burger. Being that it was bison, it was a bit too lean and dry for me but overall, tasted pretty good. And, come on - how cute? -->

We've been back to the City Market one other time since then, and really got to take our time, walk around and see the vendors properly this time around. There was an Art Battle going on where a bunch of artists had 20 minutes to create a painting and the spectators were to vote for the best painting. We didn't stick around for the vote, but ours would have gone to the dude at the far end of the street, by himself, painting his heart out but wasn't invited to the party. Poor guy.

Besides this art battle, there was also a dude on a guitar singing and playing for people seated under the hot sun on patio tables in the middle of the street, people eating tubes of kettle corn from the mobile popcorn vendor, people carrying pepper plants they just purchased, people just having a pleasant day shopping for the week's groceries from their local farmers. David had a little organic orgasm. Besides produce, there are tons of local clothing vendors, people selling homemade goods (jewelry, purses, and accessories), a variety of local, organic meats (fishies, chickies, piggies, and all the Alberta beef, bison and elk you could want), and oh my the pies. I love pumpkin pie, and what could make pumpkin pie better? Obviously nothing, but packaging it into a mini tart shell; pure genius, pie lady.

Final thoughts on the City Market: we like it. Lots of cool stuff to look at, buy and eat, and a nice way to spend a beautiful, sunny Saturday strolling through a closed, downtown 104 Street. This market is also apparently still in full swing in the winter but located in City Hall. Bonus: like 2 markets in one.

Last Saturday, we last-minute decided to go to the Old Strathcona Farmer's Market just off Whyte Ave on 83 Ave and 103 St. Again, we sort of rushed through as we had a 1pm engagement, but, and in keeping with tradition, not before having a yummy local delicacy: dumplings stuffed with potatoes and cheese fried with butter and onions.

After stuffing our faces with this yummy goodness (I had mine with the side of bacon, while David went for the sausage fest), we walked through the market, unfortunately not being able to buy any of the yummy-smelling, tasty-looking treats assaulting our senses.

Might be too premature to provide a final thought on the OSFM, but we're gonna give it a solid 2 thumbs up. The crowd seems a bit of more of the local folk variety ("folk" being the operative word here) than at the City Market, which is more downtown peeps. But definitely going back there, and again, awesome that it's open all year round, even in the deadmonton of winter.

Last but not least, Boyle Street Community Centre apparently puts on a flea market one Saturday every month, so last Saturday was that chosen Saturday and we decided to check out and check off this new market. I so wish we had taken a picture of it cause it was probably the best thing we'd ever seen. We walked into this beautiful new building and turned into this small hallway where a lady had her tables set up. We breeze past her thinking she was an intro to the goodies awaiting us, and walk towards the gym area excited to browse the rest of the stalls.

Only there were none.

The lady in the hallway with her two tables filled with collectible Cadbury tins was the market. She may have been less than pleased.

Watering down her own words, it seems that the centre went ahead with the "flea market" (I use that term loosely as it was more of a flea table than a market, really) even though only one person confirmed.

Final thoughts: It might have been the most awkward 2 minutes in life; David and I walking snobbishly past this lady to look for the good stuff, and her having to tell us that she was it.