"Did she just think we were prostitutes?"

We left from Jasper pretty early in the morning. We seemed to be the first ones awake on the campsite as we pulled away on the frosty road, slightly bitter at the site of warm campers and RVs lining the road. So we were back on the road, back on bear watch, and heading towards Edmonton. We didn't know quite what to expect from Edmonton... what we sure didn't expect was the heat wave that encompassed our car as we drove on the highway. It was almost unbearable in our land rover with no air conditioning. Even with all the windows open, it's hard not to hang your head out the window just for the extra breeze - I get the dog thing now, I really do.

We made it safe and sound, but very hot, to Edmonton. It was still early and we could check into our hotel yet, so we decided to visit the famous West Edmonton Mall.

Without having to pull out a map, the mall is a big attraction and as many signs are leading you to it, as they are leading you to any major metropolis. We saw a sign off the road that read "West Edmonton Mall, next 5 exits" and took one at random, hoping it would take us to a good parking spot. We wondered whether we were going in the right direction, when we realized that for the past 5 minutes, we had been driving right beside the mall. It's just that big.

We found a parking spot on the roof, entered through one of the many entrances and found ourselves in the West Edmonton Mall! It didn't seem very busy, but we assumed it was because it was an early Thursday afternoon. Denise and I met up with a friend from high school who was in Edmonton for a while and just happened to be at the mall the same time as us.

That's when we realized that we were in the "boonies" of the mall. The side no one goes to. We jokingly made several comparisons to Vancouver equivalents (I dare not offend anyone right now...) and made our way to the ice rink, where we would meet our friend, Farah. We made our way into civilization and the 'urban' centre of the mall, but we were still a little confused. Somehow we couldn't figure out which direction we were going... which floor we were on... and which side of Zellers we were walking towards. How is it that we can navigate our way to Edmonton, but we can't find our way in the mall?

Walking around, I noticed some interesting similarities to a small municipality, like a chinatown, swimming pool and waterpark, marine aquariums, sea lion shows, an ice rink and much more.

Although we were only there for a couple hours, I was in awe at the rows and rows of stores and repeat stores and the excess of teenage girls travelling in packs.

Eventually we left to check into the Beverly Crest Travelodge in East Edmonton. It seemed like a nice area, kind of like an area where people go to retire and play bocce all day. There was an "Olde Town Beverly Crest" side above the road when you got off the highway and grey-haired residents roamed the streets with walkers and linked arms.

The best part of the Beverly Crest Travelodge is that it sits across from a Tim Hortons. In fact, we could see the Tim Hortons drive through window from the window of our room. After we checked in, we spent a good 10 minutes devising a plan in which we would make a reaching device in which we would give money and receive Timbits with.

Denise has some friends in Edmonton and she called them so we could meet up one of the three nights we were to stay in town. It was then that we found out we were staying in Prostitute Central. We looked outside, and maybe it was a biased view now, but things started to look a lot more sketchy. We noticed dark dressed men standing on the corner, groups of men talking amongst themselves and an extremely sketchy motel across the street. Well, we'll just leave that part out for our parents.

We decided to eat at the cafe in the lobby and were easily the youngest people there by at least 40 years. I had some of the saltiest cream of brocolli soup I've ever had, and Denise had some of the saltiest beef barley soup she's ever had. We washed it down with some delicious Tim Hortons donuts.

After a day of sightseeing, we met with another friend from high school going to the University of Alberta and went bowling. Upon our return around midnight, we found the side door locked, so we made our way through the lobby. There was an older woman at the lobby and as we passed, we smiled politely.

"Um.. are you... registered here?" she asked, with a suspicious look on her face. We paused, and she looked us up and down.

"... Yes"

"... in what room?" she looked even more suspicious.

"... 118"

"... ok." We turned to walk down the hall, and could hear her typing into her computer.

About halfway down the hall, Denise leans my way and whispers, "Did she just think we were prostitutes?"

"I think so." I replied. "I think she's looking up our room right now to see who's checked in." We got into our room and burst into laughter. Fortunately, that's the first time that's happened to either of us.