Edmonton’s Swimming Pools

Posted on May 23, 2012 by debbie

After running and riding in the Edmonton River Valley, my next most favorite place to be is Kinsman Sports Centre’s 50m Competition Swimming Pool. Edmonton has a ton of pools of all shapes and sizes.

Kinsmen Sports Centre  was built for the Commonwealth Games in 1978. It has a 50m competition pool, two 25 m warm up pools, a dive tank and a shallow teach pool. The water in the 50m pool is cooler and is much nicer to swim in. The lanes are wide and hardly ever crowded. Between the 50m pool and the two 25m pools there is always lane swimming available. There is a great drop in Swim Training program, with a coach, held from 6 -7 am everyday and 9:30-10:30 MWF.  Just pay admission to the facitlity and join in for a workout! On the grounds is the brand new outdoor pool  Queen Elizabeth and Kinsmen Spray Park   which has a 25m pool with zero depth entry and a spray park.

Another 50m pool is located at Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre  on the west end, but not too far west. Check the schedule for lane swimming times. When we swim there, we go at 10 am as there is an aquafit class until 10 and it uses the whole width of the pool.

All the neighbourhood pools are 25m and have scheduled lane swim times.  Some of the pools are warm, so if you do not like swimming in warm water, stick to the Kinsman Sports Centre.    We recently swam at O’Leary Pool when the Water Polo Olympic Qualifiers were on at Kinsman and found the pool to be a really clean, friendly and sunny facility. Bonnie Doon Pool is showing its age. Hardisty Pool has just been renovated. Haven’t swum there yet as the lane swim times are not at times when I want to go.

Most pools have both drop in and registered classes, such as aquafit, aquabox and swim training.  Most pools have kick boards, pull buoys and fins for the public to use. During public swims, there are various water toys available for kids to use. A combination of whirlpools, saunas and steam baths are in most locations also.

Check out the City of Edmonton website  for locations, hours, admissions, schedules and classes.

I should mention too that most of the pool facilitates have weight rooms also.  Kinsman, Commonwealth, Millwoods and Terwillegar are large facilities with weight rooms, gyms, tracks, courts etc. So if you want to do a multiple workout, head to one of these.

Grab your swim suit and head to a pool when visiting Edmonton!

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Edmonton River Valley Running Trails

Posted on May 17, 2012 by debbie

I wrote about the trails in Edmonton’s river valley from the viewpoint of a bicyclist. Today I write as a runner. There are great trails – both paved and unpaved – all through the valley.

The Running Room has a great website listing various distance runs from a number of locations.  Here is the link:

http://www.runningroom.com/hm/inside.php?id=2341

My favorite runs are through Goldbar Park on a forest path next to the river going from 50 St west to the Goldbar/Rundle foot bridge.  Once across the river, turn right into Rundle Park and find the unpaved path close to the bank top.  Follow the path around to about the tennis courts, turn around and retrace the route.  It feels like running in the forest, not in a large city.

My running partners and I love to run up and down the hills along the north edge of Goldbar Park.  These are also the hills we cross country ski in the winter.  It is amazing how different these trails look between summer and winter.

There are also unpaved paths near the Kinsman Sports Centre that run along the north side of the river into Hawrelak Park.

If unpaved paths are not your idea of a run, then run on the paved paths that I described the other day.  They are well maintained and are great to run on. Just be alert for cyclists!

Running solo, if you are a female, on the unpaved trails has to be up to your comfort level. People are generally safe on these trails. I have a friend that runs them all the time by herself. She says that as long as she sees one other person she feels safe. Other female friends do not run by themselves along these paths. I stick to the paved paths and the more central parks where there is more foot traffic, when by myself.

Grab your runners and head to our fabulous river valley for a run! As my running friend always says “Happy Trails”!

 

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Edmonton’s River Valley Trails

Posted on May 14, 2012 by debbie

We are in that long period in between trips.  We ride and swim, do household chores, fix up the house (ugh) and dream of Africa. Not much to blog about. Then I remember that one of our premises for the blog is to write to the world. And the world needs to know about Edmonton.

Edmonton has fantastic river valley trails for walking, biking and running. The paved trails extend for kilometers and kilometers. They run on both sides of the river and go east and west and north and south.

The City of Edmonton has a great map of all the bike trails and routes.

Over the last few weeks, I have ridden the trails a number of times. There are always numerous routes to be taken. You have to be prepared to descend and ascend the river valley at least once, if not multiple times. Some of the hills are steep and some are not so bad. I now know which ones I like to ride up and which ones I actually avoid.

As you ride along, you find yourself in a leafy treed forest one minute and a trendy neighbourhood the next. There are spots along the trails that give a fantastic view of the downtown. Try the south side of the trail west of James McDonald Bridge or along Saskatchewan Drive between 109 St and 99 St or the top of the trail after Dawson Bridge next to McNally High School. Great places for a rest stop!

The trails have a yellow line painted down the center, just like a highway. You should stay to the right of the line at all times, especially on hills and around blind corners. It’s a safety thing as some riders travel very fast on the descent of some hills.

Riders need to have bells on bikes or warn runners/walkers as they are approached. Passing should be done only when it is safe.

There are washrooms on the trails and also the occasional water fountain. Plus the trails are not far away from civilization, so a corner store could be found if an added snack is needed.

If you are visiting Edmonton rent a bike and enjoy our great trails.

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The Storm Subsides

Posted on May 2, 2012 by murray

Many years ago, in architecture school, I would go through emotional ups and downs and not know why. I would be irritable and happy, happy and irritable. Many years later I realized it was part of the design process. At least part of MY design journey. I start a project with a minimum of knowledge and no idea where I might be headed over the next few months. The volume of knowledge builds along with a good helping of frustration. All the while my subconscious is working out a plan to make all the bits and pieces fit together. I become irritable and difficult. Then out of the blackness a solution presents itself. From that point on each bit of info gathered is fit into the concept. If the concept holds true, each question will be answer by the proposed overall solution.

It’s funny that I did not realize the system I used to solve design problems has become ingrained into the puzzles I have to solve. Debbie mentioned in one of her posts that there is a lot of tension and angst involved in our decisions. I have been trying to solve the system of flights required to get to where we need to be to do what we want to do in Africa.

When I started, there were no parameters to the problem. We are going to Africa, generally in the fall, generally we are headed to East Africa, one spot is Zanzibar,  we think we might want to go on a safari, maybe guided, maybe by ourselves. The hardest problem to solve is one with no parameters. I forge ahead learning what airlines go where, what times they fly and how much they cost. I also find out that the task is very complicated. Since we do not intend to charter an aircraft for the two of us we must fly when the schedule says and of course the times are not ideal for us. The tension starts to build. I get edgy.

We add to the mix. L and R think that Africa would be a good place to see and we have company. They are easy going but now it is four that have to be satisfied. It does however fix a parameter and will in the long run make the puzzle easier to solve. Then our daughter tells us that her graduation ceremony is on Nov. 3 in Langley. Another point is fixed and the puzzle has one more edge piece in place.

Big step, one of the safaris is fixed and that automatically fixes the other. I now have enough to start some serious flight research. True to myself, as the amount of information grows and no solution is clear I get more frustrated. I’m irritable and my temper is short. Debbie avoids me.

There are still too many loose ends for the solution to be clear. I think about how to go about solving the problem and the more I think the less sleep I get, increasing the bad mood thing. We need to fix more of the variables. There are two possibilities. Work from the middle out. Choose the critical African flights and then work the ends around what arises. Or, work both ends against the middle. Choose the long haul flights and fit the intervening flights into what remains. After some discussion we choose to fix the long haul flights.

On our last trip we learned that it was a good idea to break up very long flights with a rest stop at a central point. Africa, as it turns out, is going to very expensive so we decide to tough it out and fly right through, saving a bit of cash in the meantime. Another decision made and the edge of the puzzle is about complete.

From my web surfing I think that British Airways has the most civil flights there and back. We book the trip with them. Very close to the best price and definitely the best routing. The concept is chosen, we are going to work both ends against the middle, and the solution is becoming clearer. With the booking of these flights a good portion of the built up tension is dissipated and I start to sleep better.

A couple of days later Debbie and I sit down at the computer and start booking the flights we need to flit around the African continent. By this time we have a calendar with all the important dates and different flight paths worked out and plotted. We chose the one that seems to suit us best and start. Four different airlines, four websites, mostly return flights but a couple of one ways. Each booking in succession and they all seem to work out. One glitch when a credit card payment would not go through but that was easily solved by switching the method of payment.

Last night I slept. Slept in, in fact. The design problem is complete. I am happy again.

Posted in Planning and Packing, Tanzania and Botswana | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Trip Planning Tension

Posted on April 25, 2012 by debbie

Tension and anxiety build as decisions come to a critical juncture. We narrow the possibilities for Tanzania down to two tour companies and the decision is a hard one. When there is so much money on the line, we cannot just “go with it”.  We try to eliminate the unknowns but there still many. It’s a big commitment and it is so many months away.  But there is also excitement – for the animals, for the beauty, for the traveling.

On Friday, we finally get closure on the safaris we are looking at. We sign up for a private safari with L&R for 10 days in Tanzania, visiting the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Park.  Murray and I also sign up for a 10 day safari in Botswana heading to the Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Delta and Savuti. Although we still need to send money and papers, a great weight has been lifted.  Murray says the shroud surrounding his head has cleared a little.

Now that those dates are set, we can concentrate on our flights – both long haul and domestic flights. The flights are quite complicated so the tension builds again. Once those are done, the tension and anxiety will ease substantially.

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Retirement Busy

Posted on April 16, 2012 by debbie

We have been remiss in out postings lately. I had often heard retired people say that they are busier in retirement than they were during their working lives.  Right now, I agree with this statement.

On top of planning a trip to Africa, which we will update you in the next post, we are starting to do some much needed work on our house. I think what happens is that this work is ignored while full time jobs occupy time and energy.  Once those are gone, there is time to think about and actually do these house projects.

Murray and I are not the eager house repair kind of people.  We would much rather be out skiing or riding or traveling. We finally checked one item off our list of must dos.  We put in a new bathroom sink last weekend.  Looks pretty darn good now.  Took us most of the day, but it got done!

Next on the list is to replace the drywall around the downstairs shower with cement board. The contractor who had done the renovations in the house did not do this properly and now we have to tear it apart and do it right. Murray was funny because as soon as we were done with the sink upstairs, he wanted to go downstairs to check out where the studs were in the bathroom.  He was already thinking about how to do the downstairs bathroom.

We are also planning on replacing the flooring upstairs.  And while we have all the furniture etc out, we might as well paint. The house is decorated in early 1990’s decor from my previous life and it is time to make the space Murray’s and mine. So, we need a concept.  I am taking the lead on this project while Mur takes the lead on Africa. I am fighting with the concept right now. Murray says design is frustrating, and it is. I think I have a concept and will test it with floor samples etc this week. It is a grain of an idea and hopefully it will flower nicely.

Murray has been hauling up all the old unused stereo equipment from the basement that got relegated down there when we combined our households. No use having two stereos. He is testing it all to make sure it works and then will list it on the web to sell it. If it doesn’t sell there, we will sell it in the garage sale we plan to have in June, which is a result of the purging that we have done since retiring.

All this on top of working abit and exercising alot and trying to post to the blog. Who ever said retirement was boring??

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My Own BCD

Posted on April 13, 2012 by debbie

Our packing philosophy is going to get tested severely on our next dive trip. You see, I bought a BCD and we are not 100% sure we can still get all my gear in one carry-on bag and a “purse”.

When we were in Utila, I had numerous challenges with rental gear. The first BCD was too large, even though is was a “small”. The second BCD was not in good shape and the buttons were sticky. The third BCD kept self inflating. After the third BCD, I went back to the second one. For a dive specific resort, I was surprised at the quality of the gear.

In Utila town one afternoon, P&V dragged me into a dive shop and had me try on a Cressi Aqua Pro 5R in an x-s.  It fit like a glove and P said it was perfect for me.  She also said I should just buy it right now so I could use it for the rest of the dive trip. It was so tempting, but I resisted the $405 US plus Honduran taxes of 11%. Instead I decided to wait until we got home to see if I could get it cheaper. There was a risk in doing this as the need for a working BCD would decrease rapidly once we got home, and I may not follow through.

Once we got home, we got right on the web and started searching. I found a couple of other BCDs that looked interesting and were made to be light for travel.  The Ladyhawk and Litehawk by Scubapro.  The Litehawk looked interesting but some reviews said it did not last for more than 50 dives. One of my lesser criteria for buying a BCD was that it had to last for at least 10 dive trips (10 years), so this lack of longevity concerned me.

My most important criteria was fit. I knew the Cressi fit me and we would be buying these other ones without trying one on. There was too much uncertainty in this, so I decided to go ahead with the Cressi. It turns out the Cressi x-s weighs just as little as a Litehawk x-s/s. So as far as packing weight, I did not loose anything by buying the Cressi. Although I may have lost some packing volume with the Cressi over the Litehawk.

Cressi Aqua Pro 5 R BCD

Cressi Aqua Pro 5 R BCD

Murray, my intrepid great bargain finder, found one from Dan’s Dive Shop, in St Catherines, Ontario for $338, including shipping. He is such a great shopper.  (I would have bought the one in Honduras!)

Cressi Aqua Pro 5 R BCD

Cressi Aqua Pro 5 R BCD

I now am the proud owner of a great little BCD that fits and actually works! I am looking forward to our next dive trip to test it out and to test our carry-on only packing philosophy.

PS I am also going to purchase my own octopus.  Will let you know how that goes!

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Africa Progress

Posted on April 8, 2012 by debbie

I am of the belief that things happen for a reason. We ended up on our Bhutan tour with L&R from Sherwood Park. We traveled and got along together like old mates. There was a reason for us meeting up in this fashion.

Last week, as Murray and I were discussing safari tours in Tanzania, I quipped” These tours sound like something L&R would like.  Maybe we should email them to see if they want to go with us.” Meanwhile, in Sherwood Park, L&R were looking at going to Europe in the fall and L commented to R “”Maybe Debbie and Murray would want to go to Europe in the fall.”

And that is how we found ourselves, once again at the Second Cup on Baseline Road, having coffee with L&R. They were excited about our travel plans to Africa and wanted to learn more about what we had planned. We sketched out our plan to safari in both Botswana and Tanzania and then hop over to Zanzibar. We talked about some travel preferences and we all agreed that we should go explore the Serengeti together.

After coffeeing with L&R, Murray and I narrowed our field of about 13 tours down to six possibilities. We sent these to L to peruse and we will be sending out some questions about dates, private tours for the four of us and doing some bush walking. We are getting closer to a decision and it is thrilling.

We are both pretty pumped about traveling with L&R again.  Who knew that first time we met for coffee that we would become traveling companions exploring the world. Kismet.

Posted in Planning and Packing, Tanzania and Botswana | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Toronto

Posted on April 2, 2012 by murray

Every year Debbie and I lay out a household budget that is suppose to include what we expect to spend. It includes everything on tap for the entire year. New carpet, medical expenses, car repairs and gas, food and anything else mundane or exciting. Travel is one of the biggest expenses. Then out of left field an opportunity arises. An opportunity that has to be followed up. That’s why we are headed for Toronto. Toronto isn’t even on our list or in our budget. It’s a big city and there is probably loads of interesting stuff there but there are many places that hold far more interest to us.

This all started about two months ago. I was listening to CKUA http://www.ckua.com, my favorite radio station, and one of the announcers was talking about the band ‘Dead Can Dance.’ http://deadcandance.com A band headed by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry from Australia. They were together in the 1990’s and disbanded. Debbie and I have been big fans for a long time, in fact when we visited Australia in 1998 we kept our eyes open for posters that might indicate an upcoming concert. We didn’t find any. So, when I heard the band’s name my interest was tweaked and I stopped computering and listened. After a 10 year hiatus Ms. Gerrard and Mr. Perry have a renewed interest in playing together and a world tour is in the offing. I thought ‘We’re going.’

When Debbie arrived home I told her what I had heard, the deal was sealed. Her first words… ‘We’re going.’

Now, this proposed trip is not accounted for in our budget so we may have to cut back on something (maybe I won’t have to paint the house this year) but this is an opportunity that will not come again and it must be acted upon.

The first step was to browse the internet and see what we could find. Not much except that on Brendon Perry’s web site it confirmed that a tour will take place and if we left our email address we would be kept informed about the progress of the arrangements. Debbie put her email on the list and we were indeed updated as information became available.

A month ago the dates for the European leg of the tour were announced and we talked about crazy stuff like going to Porto, Portugal or Berlin to take in the concert. Going to Europe would of course mean that not only would I not have to paint the house but I would also be spared the task of moving all the furniture because we would also have to forgo the new flooring. Debbie really wants new flooring so we opted to wait for the announcement of the North American tour dates.

The dates are finally announced and it requires some quick decision making. An email arrives on Wednesday outlining the days and places that the tour will hit. We are preparing to leave on a ski trip on Friday around noon. Tickets are to go on sale March 31. We think we will have a few days to let the information gel in our minds and book the concert tickets when we get back in Edmonton. Thursday morning an update email arrives telling us that because we are on the email list we get first kick at the prime seats for the concert. Both Debbie and I are busy Thursday morning so we do not act immediately. We get home about 2pm and checked the status of the ticket sales. The tickets are selling fast so decisions have to be made.

The Vancouver show dates conflict with the Edmonton Folk Music Festival http://www.edmontonfolkfest.org and since that is a mainstay in our lives that venue is out. We can make the Salt Lake City show and it might be less costly because we would drive and camp, but it would mean a minimum trip of 10 days and we do not know if that would work out. I want to go to New York but that would also be a longer trip. We have not visited NY so there would be a few days there and we would also want to spend some time with our NY friends in Syracuse which would involve at least a week and NY would be very expensive, again getting me clear of all that furniture moving. Montreal is our first choice but when we check out the venue for the concert we realize that it is to be held in a hockey arena. I am not traveling all the way across the continent to watch and listen to music being played in an arena no matter how good the sound system. Toronto arises as the obvious choice. In the time it took us to make that decision one whole pricing tier of tickets for the Toronto show sells out. We immediately put in our request for 2 tickets and that is how we end up with an unbudgeted trip to Toronto.

Before we left for the mountains we had a look at the price of the plane tickets. We left that purchase until we returned and had time to mull it over. The day we returned we brought up the AC website and the ticket price had increase $20 each way.  Again we felt as though we need to decide fast. What day do we leave? What time of the day? Which airline? We leave it over night, think about it all day and book our ride.

Debbie looks at accommodation. The Bond Hotel has a room for $99 a night. We both think that is a good price for a hotel in the centre of downtown Toronto. We look the next day and the price is no longer available. Rats, snookered again a third time. We do a bit more research and book a room through a booking site for $76. The trick is, we book it blind. It’s a great rate but we have to book it without knowing what hotel it is we are booking. The only info offered is the ‘general area’ where the hotel is located. A bit of fun. After we commit, the name of the hotel is revealed. We are staying at the Metropolitan. http://www.metropolitan.com/toronto It looks fine. We’ll see when we get there.

Last piece to the puzzle. The transport from the airport to downtown. The Toronto Airport Express http://www.torontoairportexpress.com is a bus that takes about 1.5 hours and damned if it doesn’t stop at the Metropolitan Hotel. This one is a slam dunk and I book it right away. I’m sure the local bus is cheaper but I cannot imagine how long the ride would be and how many time we would have transfer. Sometimes the convenience is worth the money.

Toronto, not even on our radar, but we’re going and we expect to have a good time. Sometimes you have to follow your whimsies and see where they take you, regardless of the annual budget.

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Utila Photos

Posted on March 30, 2012 by debbie

We got waylaid by a couple of trips to the mountains, but finally I have posted the Utila photos on the blog!

Click on “Photos” on the Menu bar. Click on “Utila, Honduras 2012”. Click on the first photo and then use the “Next” button that appears over the photo to scroll through them. There are 3 pages of photos, so click on the “Next Page” to go the subsequent pages.

Enjoy the fish and sights of Utila, Honduras!!

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