When Jodi’s parents visited us this past summer, there was one place they were itching to get to… the West Edmonton Mall. While the idea of visiting a mall normally induces dread akin to an upcoming visit to the dentist, the idea of a prairie road trip with family to a city that’s really grown on me sounded like a great way to spend a weekend. Another plus for me? You can’t really road trip in Canada without pulling over somewhere beside a roadside attraction, so on the way to Edmonton, here we are in Vegreville in front of their famous pysanka. Unbelieveably, at three and a half stories high and more than 5,500 pounds, it is only the second largest pysanka in the world due to some deft one-upmanship from Kolomyia, Ukraine.

Later that same day, we headed to the West Edmonton Mall and I actually had a pretty good time. We did some shopping, had a tasty meal, and Jodi and I found our true calling as Canada’s next figure skating sensations.

We kicked off Saturday morning in Edmonton visiting not one, but two markets. The City Market downtown provided me some good finds, including a delicious low alcohol beer from Blindman Brewing in Lacombe, AB. We drove from downtown to the Old Strathcona Market and I was pretty much able to eat my entire lunch from the copious number of samples provided. While I don’t miss much from larger city living, having access to exceptional markets like these every weekend is something I wish I had in Saskatoon.

Later that day, we drove out to the University of Alberta Botanic Garden in Spruce Grove.  After a chillier than normal morning and road trip day where we all wished we had packed gloves (in August!), the sun came out and provided a beautiful afternoon to wander around the gardens.

The Aga Khan Garden was stunningly beautiful, and as you’d expect, made for a busy place for wedding pictures on a Saturday afternoon.

Once we got back to Saskatoon, and for the rest of my wife’s parents visit, we showed them a few of our old favourites including taking them for a feed of what I think are the world’s greatest nachos at Amigos.

We also explored some new to us places around Saskatoon as well. With fall like temperatures begging us to get outside into the fresh air, we spent part of an afternoon hiking at Beaver Creek. When you enter the park, they give you seeds that you can use to have chickadees eat right out of your hand.

Judging by this picture, I think everyone had a great afternoon, and now Beaver Creek is on our list of places to go when we need some nature and scenery.

The next afternoon, in the same spirit of outdoors and fresh air, we went for a hike at Cranberry Flats. The hiking here is a little more rugged, but no less beautiful as you wander through the fields down to the river.

And for the last of the new to us places, we spent an afternoon at Wanuskewin Heritage Park just north of the city. This cultural and historical centre puts on activities to help increase public awareness and appreciation of the Northern Plains First Nations people. We watched a tipi raising and traditional hoop dancing before heading out for a hike on another spectacular fall-like day.

While not touring my wife’s parents around Saskatoon, we found ample time to get in some games of Yahtzee, a traditional family favourite. At least it is a favourite of the two-legged family members as our dog managed to fall asleep with her head on our kitchen table.

While all of the sightseeing was wonderful, just having family around was the real highlight of the two weeks and has us already looking ahead to the next time.