The Sharks Tour enters it's second season with the northernmost stop on the trip, Edmonton. Sadly, it's missing a special guest. My mom was meant to join me on the visit to Canada, but a recurring foot problem has left her at home. Thus, I soldiered on, solo.
The flight out was marked with a special surprise. Captain Jim Ritchie, the pilot on the fist leg of the trip, was making his final flight as a commercial pilot. He was greeted with water cannons and police (and an announcement for us not to be worried by their presence) upon landing in Long Beach. Accompanied by his family, including his son as the co-pilot, he flew us to Seattle, where his was greeted by fellow Alaska Airlines pilots. Congratulations to Captain Ritchie.
After settling into the Hotel Varscona, I took a walk around the Old Strathconia part of town. I step into O'Byrnes's Irish Pub for a bite to eat. The burger was decent, nothing to write home about. However, the atmosphere was wonderful. It reminded me of good times living in London.
I thought that might night would end there. It was a long trip, there was a lot I wanted to see the next day. Not super tired just yet, I decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood, and my night flew in a totally different direction.
As I walked by a bar called Stolli's, someone shouted, "Cool book man". I stopped to chat, and was enticed by a 25 cent drink to go in. There were only two other people in the bar. Good thing my new friend Sharkie (ironic, eh?) decided to come in and drink with me. There were more drinks, shots, drinks, and suddenly it was a party. Sharkie's friend Rudi joined us, and we were soon hanging with some cool dudes, too. After more shots, drinks, medicine, it was time to move on.
Rudi had to work early the next day, so she took off. The rest of us ended up at some sort of club called Pawn Shop. It wasn't very crowded, the music was only alright, but at that point it didn't matter. More shots, drinks, medicine. Good times. One would think that would be the end of the night. One would think that, indeed.
A short walk from the club, and thankfully my hotel, was the house of one of the dudes we were partying with. He has just moved in, and the place was a bit of a wreck. No matter, though. With gin, something horrible called cherry whiskey, and more medicine the night moved on. Eventually, full of joy and tiredness, I stumbled back to the Varscona. Somehow, I didn't get lost.
Plans for Thursday were put on hold until after noon, because I didn't wake up until after noon. Somehow, I managed to rally, and set off to see a bit of Edmonton. The first stop was the Muttart Conservatory, a multi-pyramided building housing all sorts of plants. The conservatory was divided into four zones: temperate, tropical, arid, and showcase. My personal favorite was the temperate zone, especially the shaggy, smallish redwood.
After the Muttart, I took a walk along the river. The River Valley Park System is the longest stretch of urban riverfront parkland in North America, and it's beautiful. The leaves were in full autumn color, and the brisk air was tonic for my hangover. I walked for a few miles, and felt the better for it.
Shortly after, I was drinking again. Rudi picked me up, and we were off to Rexall Place for the opening of the 2007-08 NHL season.
Rexall is one of the older arenas in the NHL, with a lived-in feeling. It's a no-frills, concrete building, seating around 16,000. There's no need for cheerleaders or fancy food joints here, hockey is the religion of the city. (Side note: it was an amazing site indeed to see people wearing their jerseys during the day, excited for the opening of the season.) The rafters are filled with banners, reminding us of the Oilers' glory days of the 1980s.
The game was tight and intense. Coach Ron Wilson rolled out the new lines, most notably the Thornton/Cheechoo/Marleau 1st line. Boy, these guys might do some heavy damage this season, and, indeed, Patty Marleau scored the 1st goal of the game, early in the third period. The Oilers answered quickly, with two rapid-fire goals of their own. Things looked lost, until "Jumbo" Joe Thornton knocked in a 6-on-4 goal with 11 seconds to go. After a scoreless overtime, the Sharks lost in the shootout, with "Little" Joe Pavelski scoring the lone goal for the Sharks. Some things never change.
Overall, the Sharks played well. The power play could have been sharper, but I'm sure that will happen. The grit factor is up early in the new season, Ryan Clowe clearly being the captain of kick-ass. Everyone stood up for one another, and Douglas Murray won a bang up fight. The new away jerseys look great. I especially like the gold stripes! The Sharks end the game with a record of 0-0-1.
Special thanks to Rudi for being a kick-ass game buddy. It was sad not being there with my mom, not only because it would have been nice to have another Sharks' fan there. Rudi did her best to make up for that, even going on a post-game mission to find an extra opening night bandanna for me to bring back home to her. Despite her cheering for the wrong team, it was a lot of fun. Not only is she a super-cool chick that likes beer and hockey, she has a killer spirit too.
My final full day in Edmonton was a chill one. I was surrounded by Canadian school children at the Royal Alberta Museum, was given special milk oolong tea by the owner of The Urban Teahouse, who was impressed with my tea knowledge (wonderful tea!), checked out the provincial capitol, nearly lost a lot of money playing craps, but ended up winning a few bucks, and ate some good smoked ham at Smokey Joe's Hickory House. Smokey Joe's is run by two wonderful women who make you feel right at home. Really, they even make their kids work there!
The final night was mellow. The only number I had was Rudi's, and it seems her boyfriend didn't really approve of her going to hockey games with random Americans. It's all good, Rudi's boyfriend. A walk around the block, a beer, and inside to write this special blog. Tomorrow it's an early start- going to the Farmer's Market (Update: AMAZING!), then to the airport and home.
Here are a few things I learned in Edmonton:
- I forgot how interesting it was to travel solo. It takes a lot of balls, but the reward is a bundle of random experiences that would be hard to find elsewhere.
- Edmontonians might be the worst drivers in the world. They make old ladies in Florida seem like safe drivers, and Minnesotans seem like aggressive drivers. Maybe they need a few feet of snow on the road to really shine.
- With the weak U.S. dollar, food is really expensive here. Drinks, however, are still really cheap. $3.50 for a shot of Jager? Oh Boy.
- The women of Alberta rival the women of Ireland in their drinking prowess.
- Overall, people here are amazingly friendly, without being at all fake. I felt really welcome wherever I went. That being said, as an American I did have a lot of explaining to do. Being out of the country forces one to be an ambassador of sorts, defending certain national policies, and explaining that we don't all agree with others. People were good listeners here, and I didn't feel any resentment at all, especially once we were engaged in conversation.
- Edmonton is a big city, so they say. I'm not sure I agree with this one.
- People here actually like, no love, hockey. It leads the sports broadcasts, it's on the front page of the paper, people watch it in bars- hell, you're lucky in the U.S. to get in on a small TV in a bar, even during the playoffs. It was swell indeed to be in a hockey town.
- There is a level of racism here that I'm not at all comfortable with. There seems to be a lot of prejudice, especially toward the native peoples and to Asians. The casual use of words that anywhere in the U.S. would be considered hate-filled, and the lack of diversity in most locations was a pretty shocking to me. Sure, "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," (I had my Avenue Q moment when I commented on the fact that everyone working the concession stand was white...), but this was more than a little bit. Listen, I'm no hippie, we ALL don't need to get along, but hatred of someone for their color/culture is never justified.
- Bathrooms here are called "washrooms".
- I LOVE HOCKEY!
