It’s a lazy morning and after reading the Edmonton Journal blog posts by Kristin Annable and Otiena Ellwand 50 Things that Define Edmonton, I sat and pondered, came up with a few things, and wondered if I had 50. I made a list while having my morning coffee, and I do have 50! I could have made the list double that size if I wanted to share the negative side, but decided we have heard enough about pot holes, twitchy eyed machete-wielding savages, and crime.
- 104th Street Market aka City Market (because it’s outdoors makes it awesome)
- 105th Street Hill (although the hill is a beautiful feature and fun to drive up, while walking up I am usually cursing a blue streak)
- 106th Street Hill (my thrill driving home is the steep hill and wondering each and every time if the brakes will hold)
- Alley Kat Brewery (try the grapefruit one!)
- Bibo Wine Bar (best best best best wine bar ever)
- Cally’s Teas (a pot of Earl Grey and one of Laurel’s savory mushroom and feta bread puddings please)
Tea at Cally’s new place. Pretty, isn’t it? - Canada Day Fireworks (we have a coveted view from our balcony)
Canada Day fire works with dramatic smoke. - Cask & Barrel (great music, cool peeps, many obsessed with James Bond)
- CAVA (fabulous local artists show here)
- Corso 32 (if you are lucky to get a reservation)
- Credo Coffee (I like supporting independents)
- Cross Cancer Institute (we are really lucky to have this here people)
- Devaney’s (I believe its been renamed Duggan’s Boundary Irish Pub, but it is still the epitome of a neighbourhood Irish pub, in the middle of a French neighbourhood, in the middle of Edmonton)
- deVine Wine and Spirits (hit this place when they have wine tastings)
- Duchess Bake Shop (yummy!)
- Family (that means you)
- Friends (that means you)
- Fringe (this is when Old Strathcona comes alive with all its oddness, quaintness, unusual, and of course beer gardens)
- Furusato Japanese Restaurant (best tuna shashimi in Edmonton – but I go for the saki if I’m honest)
- Garden Bakery (Michael and I like the edge of your seat danger element of the 106th Ave area. We keep our eyes averted and bodies on the ready to show off our Ninja moves if provoked)
- Groat Road (I’m the one that pokes along slowly and you have passed me in a rage)
- Hairpin turn from Saskatchewan Drive to Queen Elizabeth Park Road (sad that this will be probably taken away with the new bridge)
- High Level Bridge (it’s high!)
- Hotel Fairmont MacDonald Patio for drinks and view (Go. Take me with you)
- Italian Centre Shop (Hoorah to Theresa Spinelli and all those involved for making this place THE place for GREAT food).
- K & K Foodliner (liver sausage in a jar people!)
- Leaf Roller Caterpillars (these green creatures keep me out of the river valley this time of year because of their creep-out-stick-in-your-hair factor, but they are ubiquitous so I post)
- Legislature grounds (absolutely love going here on my lunch break during the summer and pretend I’m on holidays)
- Listening to coyotes howl in the valley (Keep your dogs safe. The coyotes were here first).
- Low Level Bridge (it’s low!)
- Millcreek Ravine (Gorgeous trails. If you get tired and slow down the mosquitoes will swarm you and get you motivated to keep moving)
- Old Strathcona (my ‘hood. This picture says it all).
- Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market (get out of my way at the pesto sampling counter)
- Our view
Sunny summertime view of Edmonton - Royal Lawn bowling Club (located at the south lawn of the Legislature grounds. Don’t be fooled by the seniors – it looks like grandma and grandpa, but let me tell you the language can be salty, it’s much more a cut throat game than it appears)
- Sugar Bowl (great patio, popcorn and beer)
- The Bothy (south side location has a great patio. Great wines)
- The Marc (consistently delicious)
- Tienda Latina (Argyll Foods) (for all your Mexican food needs)
- Traffic Circles (LEARN TO DRIVE THEM PROPERLY)
- Transcend Coffee (pretentious, takes forever to get a cup, but damn the coffee is good)
- Tree Stone Bakery (new owners have done well keeping the bread the same, but really, really miss Pomegranate Cafe)
- Uncle Ed’s Ukrainian Restaurant (perogies with saucy service!)
- University of Alberta Campus (love wandering the lawns)
- Vienna Bakery (excellent cheap treats for tea!)
- Walterdale Bridge (some say Waterdale, I call it the Hum Bridge. It will be missed).
- Watching cricket in Victoria Park (bring a lawn chair, grab a beer from the driving range shack, breathe deep the pot being smoked by the Jamaicans, listen to their loud pulsating Caribbean tunes, and r e e e e e l a x for an entire afternoon).
- Watching people on/in boats on the river. (Including the River Queen).
- What the Truck Events (portable delicious food – draws huge crowds and fun!)
- Yellowhead Brewery (because they are cool and local and engage in the community).
Walsh Cooks - An Edmonton Food Blog 
Thanks!!! I have a friend visiting from Switzerland in August and I’ll keep this list to remind me of all the fun and tasty stuff I need to show her about Edmonton 🙂
Oh no! We’re going to lose the hairpin turn down to the Walterdale Bridge? First the Rat Hole, and now this. As a twitchy-eyed, machete-wielding savage, I’m ticked off.
Thanks Cathy We appreciate YOU!!! Happy Canada Day! Cally
HAPPY CANADA DAY TO YOU and your team Cally!
This is what I understand to happen. I think a little inconvenience is alright for a bit of uniqueness and charm.
Edmonton shows best in August! Yay!
nice post!
i can and do relate to and agree with almost all of your picks-EXCEPT the 105 street hill – i HATE THAT HILL- and it’s 67 steps up! ha ha ha
tho i must admit that it makes the summer squeeze taste all the better after a work out like that
cheers!
Reblogged this on Edmonton Journal.
You have THAT view from YOUR house?
WOWSA!
Thanks for this, Cathy. I like your choices but what I love is your effort to come up with 50 things of your own. It’s inspiring! I have been finding the latest round of Edmonton boosterism a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. But a list of one’s own of the charms of home? That’s something I can get behind. I’m starting now with, off the top of my head, the Lee Pavilion in the Citadel, where you can smell earth and water and green, growing things even on the fiercest winter days.
I love your list! I’m actually surprised at
1. How big it is, and
2. How much more stuff I could add!
(Like Cobbs bread. And how green everything is in the summer. And the open tennis courts. And the rec centers that are interchangeable. And all the bike routes. And all the random dog parks. And the cute little zoo. And Fort Edmonton. And the fact that, although we’re colder than Calgary in winter, we’re actually warmer and greener in the summer, so hah!)
By the way, to drive downhill, you shift your car into 2nd gear and the engine will keep you slow. You don’t burn brakes, and you use zero gas. It’s the safest way to travel downhill whether you’re in an automatic or manual.
A nice divert is to take the steps on 104th street instead. But from they bottom, they still go UP no matter how you look at it. I have to stop and inspect the scenery a few times on that climb.
Thank you for the inspiration Kristin!
The Lee Pavilion is beautiful. There are many hidden gems in this city. I try not to let them sneak by me when doing the same old routine day in and day out. There is still lots to discover!
I can’t wait to drive home tomorrow and try the 2nd gear thing. I hate to admit but I have often wondered what the heck that gear is for on my automatic. I thought it for towing trailers or something. *blush*
The bridge is being replaced, but the hairpin turn is safe for now, as far as I understand.