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!

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? 

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!!

Roaming Edmonton: What to do on a Rainy Day

Edmonton is so rainy right now. Everything is wet and I hate it. At first it was fine, a little rain is always great, but now it’s just a constant sad drizzle with intermittent downpours. I’m ready for the sun.

But since I’m no magic man/rainmaker, I thought I’d put together a list of things to do in Edmonton when it rains:

1.  Strathcona Farmers Market: open on Saturdays, the farmers market is great if you’re looking for something fresh, or if you’re partaking on a dinner experiment like we did last weekend. It’s busy busy busy so go early!
2. T&T Supermarket, or the Italian Center: once again, great if you’re looking to experiment with food. My advice is to go on Pinterest and find a recipe you’ve never tried before. That’s what we did when we made pho and we’ve done it countless times at the Italian Center. Both places are super fun to roam around and check out foods from different cultures!
3. Whyte Ave: go out your raincoat on and explore Whyte Ave! I bought a lovely canary yellow, t-swift style raincoat the other day to get over this depressing weather. You can shop-hop the whole way up and down, and stay out of the rain for the most part. There are bookstores, music stores, pubs, clubs, and shopping all throughout. 
4. West Edmonton Mall: it literally has everything. If I remember correctly, it’s one of the biggest malls in North America. There’s shopping, a skating rink, a seal show, an aquarium, Galaxyland, a movie theatre, and a water park. The choices at literally endless.
5. Any mall: Edmonton has plenty of malls if you want to avoid the hustle and bustle of West Ed. Southgate, Capilano, Kingsway, and Bonnie Doon will all give you something to do on a rainy afternoon.
6. Telus Space & Science Center: along with their normal science displays and interactive rooms, the Space & Science center usually has a feature exhibit going on. Last summer, we went to the Indian Jones one, and it was hands down one of the best dates I’ve ever been on. My boyfriend went to the exhibit that’s currently on display (Sherlock Holmes) which is apparently pretty good too. There’s also the massive imax 3D movie theatre.
7. Cinema: speaking of theatres, a movie is always rainy day material. There are a literal shit-ton of theatres in Edmonton. We recently also got one of the upgraded theatres where you can order food or drinks and they’ll be delivered right to your seat! That’s on our to-do list!
8. Comedy Club: lately, I’ve been super into stand up comedy and I’ve been watching a ton of it on YouTube. I’ve been to a couple of comedy clubs in Edmonton before, and they’re a great experience! Also a great date idea, laughter always breaks the ice 😉
9. Paint Nite: I’m in love. Go to paint nite. Doesn’t matter if you can’t paint, they show you a step by step tutorial, and the instructors are great at helping out! Hit me up if you want a 50% coupon code. We’ve done paint nite quite a few times, and learning and laughing over your masterpiece is always such a hilarious night!
10. Leave Edmonton: escape the rain. Like literally just leave. I’m going to Calgary to escape this weather, and then to Banff to escape it even more. Find an online radar map and go where it’s dry!!

Sorry for the lack of pictures guys! I assumed from the get-go that this post would be more text based than photo based. But since I’ll be visiting Banff, I can guarantee some lovely pictures in the next few posts 🙂

Did I miss anything that you love to get up to on a rainy weekend? Let me know!

Roaming Edmonton: Strathcona Farmer’s Market

Holy crap. 

So we went to the Strathcona Farmers Market, which is near the end of Whyte Avenue. The market is only open on Saturdays, so for once we actually planned the day out. It was my first time ever going, but definitely not the last!! If it weren’t for the fact that the boyfriend and I will be traveling for the next two weekends, I’m sure we’d be back. 

We got there around noon, and it was already packed and stalls were already sold out. The bread and bakery stalls must have been particularly good, since they were completely sold out. 

As we wandered around, we thought we would make a game plan and figure out dinner for the night. After having a million amazing samples, we narrowed down our options.

Elk on the right, bison on the left.

We ended up with elk and bison steaks (which were fucking awesome), as well as some pesto to put on pasta. It was so garlicky, so it was basically heaven. I’ve never had bison, or elk, or homemade pesto before, so this was a really nice treat. 

We bought some rhubarb wine, which was waaaay better than I expected it to be! The Birds and Bees wine stall had some tastings, so we tested raspberry, honey, rhubarb, and cherry wines. All of them were knock outs, but the rhubarb was our favorite. Also had to get some cheese to go with our wine!

By the end of our trip, we had wine, cheese, meat, macaroons, pesto, and olives. So basically, our dinner was the best we’ve made in a while. We always like to try new things, so I was pretty impressed. 

We’re already planning out our next trip there!! 

Next weekend I’ll be in Calgary visiting my sister, and then the weekend after that I’ll be dragging my boyfriend to Calgary to do some touristy stuff. Might go back to go to the Calgary Stampede with one of my friends later and visit my big bro. Probably the most I’ll have been to Calgary in one summer ever!

What do you guys like to do in Calgary?? What’s something that o can’t miss out on when I go?

Roaming Edmonton: T&T Market

The other night the boyfriend and I did one of our favorite kinds of dates. We decided to try to cook pho together!

Most of the ingredients for the Vietnamese soup can be found at normal grocery stores, but for fun we decided to find some of them at T&T Market.

I absolutely love markets that have food from other cultures. There are so many unique foods there!

We bought delicious fresh sushi, and grabbed a couple of spices for our pho. We also walked up and down every aisle. I’m a fan of the candy aisle 😉

It’s impossible for us to go to any grocery store without visiting the meat section, and this one definitely didn’t disappoint. You can get fresh crabs, fish, lobsters, and clams. I played with the crabs, they’re snappy and amazing. 

The pho we made was so damn good. To cook the meat, you pour the hot broth over top, which was pretty interesting. Quite yummy, would definitely make again.

Want to know what I’ve been up to so far in Edmonton? You can check out my other adventures here, here, and here!

Let me know where else there is so explore in Edmonton!

Roaming Edmonton: the River Valley Walking Bridge

  
By far the best place to watch a sunset or a sunrise. The Edmonton River Valley is amazing in the summer time.

The River Valley is quite a large area. When I was around 8 years old, my grandparents used to take me there to toss pine cones around for my puppy, something I remember very fondly. Now in my 20s, I think of the River Valley as both the place that 8-year-old Kelsey used to play, and where 20-something Kelsey escapes from university. 

I’m not going to make this post too in depth about the River Valley – that can always come later in the summer when there’s a bit more to do, but I just wanted to share this sunset with you all. 

I think that when you spend your whole life growing up somewhere it’s really easy to take it for granted. I always want to be on the move because “Edmonton is boring.” When I started university 5 years back and was in the downtown area more, I guess you could say I gained a bit more appreciation for it. Once I started dating my boyfriend though, Edmonton became a lot more interesting since we’re always on the look out for date ideas and places to explore.

I think it’s easy to get restless when you’ve been somewhere for so long. There are a lot of places I’ve been in my life that have had an overwhelming feeling of being home… Granada, Banff, Summerland… But in the end Edmonton is always the place I’m drawn back to. Even though I’m so young and don’t have any commitments keeping me here, I feel like I’ve put down roots here. Edmonton is a pretty special place if you start paying attention to it.

 
Tonight, my friends and I decided to watch the sunset from the walking bridge that’s underneath the Highlevel. Every time we try to find it, we get ridiculously lost, but that’s mostly because we’re lazy and try to find the fastest way there from campus. It always involves a lot of straying from the paths and slugging through mud or bushes. Not very successful, but interesting nonetheless! We were lucky enough to find the bridge just in time to see the beautiful sunset behind the Edmonton skyline. I think the sunset looks different in the spring, a little more pink? But maybe I’m just crazy haha

This summer I’ll definitely be checking out the River Valley area more and experiencing more of it than usual! I’ll also stick to our Canada Day tradition of watching the fireworks from the Highlevel, while the city puts on a light show on the bridge.  

Any places around the River Valley that I’m missing out on that I should check out this summer? Let me know!! 🙂

Check out my Roaming Edmonton series intro here, and bookstore adventure here!