The West Ed Mall!

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

START:  Shakers Acres Banquet Hall and RV Park, Edmonton, AB - 11:45 a.m. (& left Edmonton at 2:45 p.m.)

STOP:  Sagitawah RV Park, Whitecourt, AB - 6:45 p.m.

WEATHER:  Overcast in the morning; cleared up by early afternoon; beautiful for the rest of the day

The power really whomps at Shakers Acres (or Shady Lady if yer Maw).  We basically have to sit in the darkness, staring at the wall so that someone can use the hairdryer for 10 minutes.  And God forbid you should want to iron your shirt while someone's having a shower.  Speaking of shower, Dad had his first go in the mailbox this morning.  I don't know what you sound like when you shower, but Dad sounds a little something like this:  *@^*#*!  *@^!!  @*#^*^#!!!  As much as the idea of staying here one more night causes us zll to silently weep, the prospect of tracking down ANOTHER park in the area is enough to provoke downright sobbing.  But in the meantime, it's off to the West Ed Mall for some good old fashioned fun for the masses!

We made it to the mall from start to finish with not one wrong turn (applause) around quarter to 12, befriended a hotdog- and hamburger-like couple who pulled up in their big rig beside us (and left their truck running the whole time they were inside to keep their two puppies cool) and then made our way inside.  Our first stop outside the norm of one's usual day at the mall was the Galaxyland Amusement Park that was done up like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.  The biggest ride they had was the Mindbender roller coaster that goes up higher than you even want to look and involves three major loops.  Dad was considering it at first, but after watching it go once there were a lot of "Yeah right"s and "No fuckin' way"s happening, haha.  But Mike and I manned up and went for it, as you can see above (before take off) and I screamed my head off the whole way like I usually do while Mike held on to his glasses, and for dear life.  We made it through alive but just barely.  Mike:  "You can feel your own mortality come knocking at your door." Mom couldn't even bear to watch the rides never mind contemplate getting on one, so after that we moved on to the next.  The next was a huge skating rink in the middle of the mall, which of course we were not prepared for, and the World Waterpark, which was enormous and like it's own resort, plus bungee jumping if you were in the mood to have your life flash before your eyes.  Lastly was the marine life and Deep Sea Adventure which involved little bumper boats you could drive around in and spray each other with, sea lion shows, and an underground aquarium (where Mike wanted to free all of the creatures.  Stay tuned to the evening news.)  All in all, we were only in there for a total of three hours but it's obvious that you could set up shop in there for days and never get bored.

After the mall, there was a change of plans and we decided that we might as well hit the road since it was still early instead of returning to the dim bulb that was Shakers Acres.  We stopped in Whitecourt, AB where Dad was connected with his long lost BFF who worked at the auto parts store.  He basically mapped out our whole route once we start heading to B.C. to make sure we hit the most scenic parts and was wiling to sit there all day answering Dad's questions if he'd wanted.  Thanks auto parts man!

So by this time it's become tradition to find a useless campground before ending up at yet another RV park.  Imagine if we planned ahead?  I'd have nothing to write about.  On our way to Carson-Pegasus Provincial Park, just outside of Whitecourt, AB, Beula took on another persona, Bellowing Beula, in light of what appears to be her latest problem - some kind of muffler issue.  We sounded like a Nascar trying to rev our way up a hill, which got us all real excited for when we have to drive through the mountains.  Alas, we pulled up to the park and were DENIED since, "Well, no, we don't have any power sites on a SATURDAY."  Excuse you, park lady.  So we backtracked about 15 minutes to Sagitawah RV Park (complete with petting zoo) and settled in for another night.

Some highlights:

Mike:  "Do you have any of those white, plastic hooks that you stick on the back of the door?"
Mom:  "No."

Mike:  "Awwwwwwwww."

Mom:  "What?  I'm not a plethORA of dollar store items!"  (Mom thought you'd like that one, Val.)

And a little back story for this next highlight.  Mike likes to "pwn" Mom every chance he gets.  For anyone not in the know, "You got pwned" = "You got owned."  If you still don't know what I'm talking about, you're beyond any help I can offer.  ANYWAY, Mom was off doing yet more loads of laundry and came back to report, "That woman in the laundry room got owned because she didn't move her laundry along and now I took her dryer so I left her a note saying, 'YOU GOT PWNNNNED!'"  Mind you, this was done in her very best Mike impression which caused laughter until tears on my part.  Maybe you had to be there, but it's worth documenting just for our own purposes, haha.

So provided we don't get stuck here an extra day if Dad can't fix Beula's ailments, and until the RV repair shop nearby is open for business on Monday, it's off to GRANDE PRAIRIE tomorrow to see LAURA AND SLOAN!

Keep your fingers crossed that Beuls doesn't kick the bucket somewhere deep into the heart of Grizz territory.

Letting the good times roll,