On The Meandering Road: June 5, 2017 - Spurce Creek, Stony Plain, Edmonton & Acheson, AB Canada

Steve, the wagonmaster, came over with jackets, notebook and a list of daily trips, explained about the Milepost. Tonight there will be an informal gathering for pizza at the reception hall in the campground.

Lots of useful information

Itinerary

We went west in 16A to check out Truck/RV wash in Stony Plain. We wanted to see what it is like and to find out the price. The wash is self-service and is $2 per minute. The manager said it usually takes half an hour to clean a motorhome. That would come to about $60 CD (about $45 US). Not too bad, but we wanted to check one more place this afternoon.

The Chip Wagon food truck was not too far from the Truck /RV Wash station. We decided to pick up lunch there, got hot dogs with medium sized French Fries. $11 CD ($8 US).

I needed SD card reader for my new notebook, so I can download pictures taken from my digital camera. We shopped at Staples in Spruce Creek to see what it has. I got pocket card reader, picked up a portable HP printer for $29 (regular price was $59), extra ink cartridge and 2 reams of printing papers.

While in Stony Plain, AB we decided to give the Jeep a good bath, went to Chrome Carwash, a self service station. There are bays with the partitions, and there is a machine that takes cash or credit card. Each bay has a water hose with different applicants, such as soap, was, etc. After the wash is over there is a air dryer, but it did not really dry off the water spots well. The Jeep came out of the station looking like new!

We spent the afternoon exploring parts of Edmonton. Our first stop was to visit Chinatown, but the town was not so lively. However, there was a Chinese grocery store that Erwin wanted to go in to see if they carry ginseng tea bags. Yes, they do have it and he bought a box. When I was sick with sinus infection last winter our friend Edna gave me few bags of Ginseng Tea. I tried it, and boy, it really helped clear up the sinus infection. Ginseng tea is traditional healing drink, has antioxidants that boost one's immune system.

The Gateway to Chinatown

Never seen this sign anywhere. Very interesting!

Chinese grocery store

Mural

Chinatown stores

Beautiful mural

Marble Lantern
In the past, Vietnamese people often put oil lamps in
decorative spherical and hexagonal lantern shares in the
eaves and on both sides of their door to bring them good luck
(Interpretive sign)

Not too far from Chinatown is St. Josaphat's Cathedral, a Ukrainian Catholic church. It was completed in 1947, is the best example of Byzantine style architecture. We walked up the steps to see if we can go inside the cathedral, but the doors were locked. As we were on way back to the parking lot we were approached by a guy, named Terry, who was tending the lawn on the premises. He asked us if we would be interested in going inside the church, and we could not say no to his offer. He had the keys to unlock the door, but before we went inside he explained that we needed to follow orders by not going in "sacred" places.

Wow! Our eyes widened once we went inside the church. The murals, mosaic tiles, stained glasses were absolutely beautiful. We could easily sit and admire the artwork for a long period of time, but we had to keep moving and following Terry. He led us to the basement where there is an Ukrainian museum. We were introduced to Billy, the curator of the museum, and she showed us some artifacts that were brought in from Russia.

Terry

Egg Lathe

Billy, the curator

Statue of Nykta Budka
The first Ukrainian Catholic Bishop

Back at the campground we rested a bit, meet other caravan members who had just arrived today while we were out for the day.

Steve and Karen;s rig had a whiteboard with
information for each day

Newmar Caravan rigs

There was an informal gathering at the meeting room where we met with Newmar owners, had pizza for supper. Steve & Karen, the wagonmasters, and Gary & Wanda, the tailgunners, introduced themselves, explained about the Alaska/Yukon Caravan trip plan.