Edmonton to Yellowknife

I really felt like an Oilers fan this weekend. I felt like a hockey fan. I don't think I'd ever watched an entire NHL game (at least not by choice) before Game 6, but hanging out in a pub just off Whyte Ave was about the best way to get properly introduced. The game itself rocked (Oilers creamed Carolina for anyone who spent the game in a cave) and the party afterward was insane. Whyte was just jammed with people, and yet the street wasn't blocked off, so cars were crawling by and honking and people were screaming and hollering and everyone wanted to smack everyone else's hand, no matter what was in the way. It's probably one of the few times I've been in a city and the people are actually acknowledging there are other people around them, and in fact seem to be happy about that. We only feel connected in times of shared happiness and excitement.

Some people were lined up to get into pubs or buy hotdogs, or ice cream or whatever, and the rest just seemed to keep circling around up one side of the street and down the other. Cops lined the sidewalks, keeping people crushed together, so there were intersections where we just couldn’t move once we’d crossed the street, waiting for the swarm of people to inch its way forward. I’m glad I don’t have claustrophobia. I actually enjoy being in the middle of huge towering crowd, having to move with the tide or be shoved over. There’s a lot of power in numbers, you can really feel it when you’re in the middle of it.

So that was our personal encounter with Edmonton. Very cool. But while Game 6 kinda dominated our stay, we also managed some cool interviews with Marshall, the guy who put us up on his couches, and his girlfriend, Stephanie, both of whom are going to university to become teachers. And Neil has been thinking of that path himself, and he’s back considering it again.

We also managed to hook up with Frank at the 11th hour. Frank started up the 5 Days for the Homeless campaign with a friend while they were business students. They spent 5 days homeless, unable to leave the campus, sleeping outdoors with only sleeping bags, with no money or food except what was given to them during the five days, and this was done in Edmonton in March. Not the warmest time of year. They also had to attend all classes during the 5 days. No bed, no showers, no shelter. By the time all was said and done, over $5000 had been raised and presented to YESS – the Youth Emergency Shelter Society. They even managed to get one of the professors to hunker down with them for three nights. We got a great interview with Frank – he is a really inspiring guy, and I hope that the campaign finds students who are willing to take over now that these guys have graduated. I wish it would spread to the rest of Canada’s universities . . .

Now we're back on the bus. One of the longest rides of the trip - 23 hours - and we get in late tonight, so it will be our first chance to see the midnight sun!

I must admit, I slept through most of northern Alberta, though I remember Peace River was really pretty. We were in there for an hour and a half for breakfast at about 6:30. So I fell back asleep once we were on the bus again. We stopped again not long after we entered NWT, and my first impression - the bugs are big. REALLY big. When people say the bugs are huge up here, they aren't exaggerating. And the crows are huge, too, but they didn't divebomb us like the bugs did, so I didn't mind them.

The coolest thing so far has been getting off the Fort Providence ferry and being greeted by a bison. Granted it wasn't nearly as impressed seeing us, it just kinda munched away at the side of the road. But it was a real, wild bison.