Learnin’ Twitter

 Well hello hello adventurers!

Just a quick update on what’s going on with Where I Roam! While I am definitely not a social media guru, I’m trying my hand at twitter. Where I Roam’s twitter will be filled with updates of my adventures and reminders about what’s bumpin’ in Edmonton!

Where I Roam’s twitter is @Where_I_Roam, and our feed is looking a little bare! Only one tweet so far, bear with me for now though 🙂 feel free to follow and I’ll follow you back, I want to hear about all of your adventures!

You can find the Twitter widget on my sidebar!

Roaming Edmonton: Neon Sign Museum

So I think it been exposed to one of the most interesting attractions in Edmonton. The Neon Sign Museum. Look in’ for the bright lights of Edmonton baby.

This past weekend, the boyfriend and I went to the Edmonton Art Gallery, and when we were done we decided to explore the downtown area. Never before have I felt like such a tourist in my own town. Since I’m never in the downtown area, everything is a new experience.

The boyfriend wanted me to see the new downtown arena, soon to be the new home to the Edmonton Oilers. He brought us on a slight detour to 104 Street, where the Neon Sign Museum is.

The Neon Sign Museum is pretty simple – neon signs on the side of an older brick building (hence totally free to visit). It is an attempt by the city to revitalize the area and preserve part of Edmonton’s past. According to their website, this museum is the first of its kind in Canada, which makes it a must-see if you visit Edmonton!!

The signs are iconic for Edmontonians and are meant to reflect the character of Edmonton’s past.

A few years ago, my mom and I were incredibly disappointed to see that Bee Bell Bakery had been closed down. So many good memories of weekend trips to go get fresh bread or other goodies. I can guarantee you that there is unfortunately no where else in Edmonton that made better baked goods than Bee Bell. Wherever we saw the big neon sign from the distance it always brought warm feelings. It’s funny how small things like that can jog your memory and matter so much.

That being said, I got all the warm fuzzies back when we walked down the Neon Sign Museum street and saw the old Bee Bell sign! There are some super old signs up on the wall, some that I even recognized (like Call the Kettle Black)! 

Definitely one of the cooler places in Edmonton. A hidden gem in good ole Edmonton. Next time you go to check out a hockey game, drop by!

Anywhere in your towns that have hidden gems like this?

Country roads, take me home…to Boyle?

Every summer, my family and I go camping at our lake lot out near Boyle, Alberta. We’ve been doing this for almost 10 years, and what an adventure it’s been. Unfortunately, it looks like this might be our last year enjoying the beautiful Alberta weather out at Skeleton and Amisk beaches, so I want to try to take full advantage of the opportunity I’ve been given.

For 10 years, we’ve passed signs for the Boyle Rodeo and always joke about going, but my boyfriend and I decided to finally make it a reality. The Boyle Rodeo is put on by the Boyle AG Society and is apparently pretty legit. My friend and I dropped in one year as a joke, thinking it was just going to be like a teeny tiny petting zoo and maybe a horse, but it’s more like a mini Stampede! Since we were only there for about an hour, I never felt like I got to have a full experience of the rodeo so I was pretty excited to be there this year!

The rodeo lasts all weekend, but we decided to take a day trip out for the Saturday festivities. The rodeo portion of the day was from 1pm-6pm, and although we arrived a little late we did miss much! The day was full of bull riding, barrel racing, sheep riding, chicken chasing, bronco riding, calf wrestling, and calf roping. My favorites definitely were the bronco and bull riding!

On top of all that, the weather was gorgeous! Couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon!

Being out in the area made me realize how much I’ve missed the lake and camping this summer. I think I’m going to try to head out there for a few more day trips and maybe spend some time out at the beach to even out the tan I got at the rodeo!

Any local rodeos near any of you explorers? What’s your favourite event? 

Roaming Edmonton: Jurassic Forest

Ok ok, so it’s not technically in Edmonton, but it’s about a half hour out which is close enough for me! And if you’re a dinosaur fan then the drive is totally worth it.

Jurassic Forest is a 40 acre prehistoric preserve. It has life sized automated dinosaurs that move and make noises, which is pretty entertaining. To be completely honest with you, some are amazing, while some are a touch cheesy and are in need of some touching up (I’m looking at you giant sloth…).

The entrance to the forest is super reminiscent of the Jurassic Park movies, so from the second we got there I was impressed. The pictures online don’t really do it justice, so I was expecting the park to be a little lame, but boy was I wrong! From there, you buy your tickets and follow the boardwalks through the forest. In the lobby they have a couple of small dinosaurs that move and roar and get you hyped for the actual park itself. 

As you walk through the forest, you can hear different dinosaurs roaring and moving in the distance. My favourite was the Tyrannosaurus rex; he was massive and suuuuuper loud!! The section with the flying dinosaurs was pretty interesting as well, as the park tries to stay pretty true to the textures and materials of the dinosaurs. 

There was also a pretty strange, but interesting nonetheless, section with what I would call “misfit dinosaurs”. It basically was a whole section with dinosaurs you didn’t even realize existed. 

Definitely an interesting date! Maybe next post I’ll tell all of you dinosaur lovers about my trip last summer to Drumheller and their dinosaur museum. Basically, if you want dinosaurs, you want to go to Drumheller. 

Any of you dino fans ever been to Jurassic Forest or the dinosaur museum in Drumheller?

Out and about, gathering things I don’t need.

This past Sunday I dropped by Whyte Avenue for an event I’ve never had the opportunity to go to before: the Edmonton Art Walk!

All up and down Whyte Ave they have booths set up for the different artists to display their work. 

It was looking like it was going to be a pretty crappy day weather-wise (it had been pouring allllll morning!), so I came prepared in my cute rubber booties and rain coat, only to have the day clear up and I basically died because over preparedness. Thanks a lot weather app!! 

But anyways, Art Walk is a great opportunity to get outside and connect with local artists. Since it’s in a public area (Whyte Ave) it’s totally free to go to, and the art is priced for almost any budget.

After talking myself out of some art from one of my faves (Katylyne of Kay Pop Art; I’ve bought her stuff as Christmas presents) because my bedroom is totally the wrong colour now, we managed to find a couple of prints that will look lovely in my room!

First, I bought the iceberg print by Jared Robinson (jaredrobinson.ca), pictured above. Then I couldn’t resist the draw of the mountains and ended up with a print from Dallas LaRose of Freebird Art & Design, pictured below.

Unfortunately for me, I have a pretty small room and almost no need for more art, but I also have alarmingly low self-control. Oh well, at least what I bought is beautiful!

Block 1912 is open again and looking amazing, so the boyfriend and I had to stop in for a chia and an iced vanilla latte!

Have any of you ever gone to Art Walk? Any of your cities have anything similar? 

In the pursuit of adventure.

“Adventure is out there!” I declare while filling up my new mug and settling in for an afternoon in my office, because adventure may be out there but it’s sure not showing its face in here.

I’ve been MIA for a while here, but now I’m back! I’ve been focusing on making some mad dolla dolla bills to help fund my adventures, and now I’m ready for some excitement. 

I spent Canada Day out and about in Edmonton, so I’ll have to make another post to fill you all in on that!

But for now, I need to geek out a little bit. 

While planning out our summer adventures, the boyfriend and I stumbled upon an Instagram post for Travel Jasper. Apparently, the Dark Sky Festival is coming up, and the post said that George Takei would be there. That got my boyfriend interested so I looked up all the details, and was initially pretty disappointed, because it isn’t happening until October.

Their website is lovely, hey?

While I was scrolling through the event page though, I found something even more exciting! Bill Nye the Science Guy will be headlining the festival on October 14th, my birthday!!!

So our newest planned adventure is to hit the road the morning of my birthday and head out to Jasper to see our favourite scientist! I’m beyond excited!

Bill Bill Bill Bill, Bill Nye the Science Guy!
Any of you guys planning on going to see the Dark Sky Festival? And more importantly, are any of you going to go see Bill Nye? Let me know!!