[List]: The Quintessential ‘This-Is-What-I-Want-To-Do-This-Summer!’ List!




This summer I don’t expect to travel too far out of Edmonton in terms of summer activities and vacationing, but that doesn’t mean my summer can’t and won’t be fun-filled and packed with day excursions! :D I have compiled a list of the places/things I’d like to attend/do this summertime. As they get checked off, I’ll add more posts about my experiences! ;)

  • o1. Visit the Royal Alberta Museum (museum website)



    I used to drive past the Royal Alberta Museum every morning and afternoon for two years going to and from school. (This was when I went to the west-end Grant MacEwan campus for Journalism!) Every day I drove past but not once did I ever actually enter the museum. I saw as the different billboards outside of it went up every few months that showed what special exhibits the museum was housing that particular season (the one that pops up most in my mind is a big red heel, when they were doing an exhibit about the history of high heels, I really wanted to check that one out!) but never did I go into any of those exhibits. I’m not going to lie though, I did have to visit the museum once, about two years ago. There was a press conference happening just inside the museum and I had to cover it for the newspaper I was interning for at the time. I was probably in there for a half hour tops. I wouldn’t exactly call that a museum experience. This summer I fully intend to go to the Royal Alberta Museum for the first time!

  • o2. Visit the Muttart Conservatory (conservatory website)



    There is a picture of me from when I was a wee little girl where I’m standing with my mom surrounded by flowers and a lot of green shrubbery. Later on in life I found out that picture was taken at the Muttary Conservatory. I was too young at the time to really remember the experience and since then I’ve always wondered what the insides of the “triangles” in Edmonton would be like. I’ve always also wanted to have a little photoshoot outside/near by the triangles too! It’s just a very unique design that I don’t think you can find anywhere else. Also, now that I’m working at the Sun I find myself driving to and from events in downtown a lot and the way to get there is always via 98 Ave., passing the Muttart triangles. This summer I will visit the Muttart!

  • o3. Go to the Old Strathcona Farmers Market (farmers market website)



    I used to eat at the New York Bagel Cafe in Old Strathcona a lot with my brother. It’s in the same vicinity as a large building with the painted words OLD STRATHCONA FARMERS MARKET on it. I never, ever saw the market ever open, but then I realized it’s because it’s only open for a few hours every Saturday. I have been doing more grocery shopping lately and I’d really like to stop at the farmers market and see what it has to offer, both grocery-wise and just community-wise. I feel I rarely do things that are community-centric and I think taking a trip down the Old Strathcona Farmers Market couldn’t get any more community-centric!

  • o4. Watch a scientific IMAX movie at the Telus World of Science (science centre website)



    I could have said that I want to visit the Telus World of Science in general (which I do), check out some exhibits, such and such, but I have done that before (class field trips and what not). What I don’t think I’ve ever done (or can really remember doing) is checking out one of those scientific IMAX movies that they play exclusively at the science centres. My only IMAX experience ever was watching Avatar, so I think it would be really cool to see what an educational, scientific IMAX movie would have to offer. I shall see this summer.

  • o5. Go to the dinosaur museum in Drumheller (royal tyrell website)



    Dinosaurs are my favourite extinct animal and the Royal Tyrell museum is the ONLY museum in CANADA devoted to dinosaurs!!! Apparently I was taken here when I was around 5 years old but, as with other destinations I’d like to hit up this summer, that’s too young an age for me to actually remember the experience so I’d like to visit this museum and I tell ya, I can’t wait. Roar!! (That was a dinosaur roar).

  • o6. Go to a beach… in Alberta



    I love the beach! Last summer I laid out on the sands of Huntington Beach for like four hours. (I fell asleep listening to music) It was great! I have never been to Alberta Beach (I hear it’s not that great) but if it’s an excuse to lie out on a towel by the water in a bathing suit (given that I am in shape by that time and am not embarrassed to wear a bathing suit lol), then I want to go!

  • o7. Go on a roadtrip



    I’ve only ever been on family roadtrips but I’d like to go on a non-family one! This summer I’d like to roadtrip outside of Edmonton to the different rural communities in this province. I know there are really weird, different monuments in rural Alberta like giant sausages and mosquitos and stuff, and I’d love to see them and take a picture there! :) I’ve also never been to Calgary, which is strange for people to hear living in Alberta for 20 years and never stepping foot in the other major metropolitan city, but with these roadtrips I’m hoping that I can cross a visit to Calgary off my list too!

  • o8. Go to the Art Gallery of Alberta (art gallery website)



    The Art Gallery of Alberta opened just a few months ago and it looks really incredible on the outside. The architectural design for the AGA is really one-of-a-kind and I really want to see if the inside of the AGA proves to be just as pleasing. I also particularly would like to go to the AGA on the last Thursday of the month (probably not in time for the month of May, but definitely the last Thursday of June!) because the last Thursday night of each month is free admission! Hehe. I’m still technically a poor student, can’t you tell?

  • o9. Swim at the West Edmonton Mall Indoor Waterpark (waterpark website)



    Edmonton is home to a lot of pretty cool and unique places and I’d say having the world’s largest indoor waterpark, is something to brag about. Despite the waterpark being only a 20 minute drive away from me, I’ve only ever been to it probably a total of two or three times in my life, and that was years ago. I think the last time I went was when I was ten years old. I’d love to go to the waterpark this summer (pending working out and making my body look good in a bathing suit!)

  • o10. Go to a baseball game (edmonton capitals website)



    Last summer Edmonton’s baseball team was renamed the Edmonton Capitals and heavy advertising started to try and get people to come out to the baseball games! I’ve started seeing those familiar billboards popping up around the city again (“HAVE A BALL FOR JUST $10!”) and I have to say, I really would love to go to my very first baseball game! The first game starts June 1st and I think even going to the first game would be quite an experience. I am not a very sports-y person but I do have good times watching sporting events with friends and I think i’d quite enjoy watching baseball live, even though watching it on TV is fairly boring.

  • o11. Go to Edmonton and area summer festivals (edmonton festival calendar website)



    Edmonton is called a few things. City of Champions is one. Festival City is another! There are a lot of festivals that take place throughout the year, especially during the summer and I’d like to hit a lot of them up in the coming months! There’s the Rainmaker Festival at the end of May, the Streetperformers Festival in the first part of July, a Taste of Edmonton Festival that runs the same days that Capital Ex runs and the Fringe and Heritage festivals in August! Phew. I’m sure I’m missing a ton, but those are just the ones that I could name off the top of my head. And of those six festivals, I’ve only been to three of them before! So Summer 2010 could definitely be the summer to check the other six off my list!

  • o12. Go to the zoo (valley zoo website)



    I’ve never been to the Edmonton Valley Zoo. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to other zoos and animal-related centres (a zoo in Portland, an aquarium in Chicago), but I’ve never stepped foot in the one nestled in my own city. I hear bad things about the zoo though, like how it’s so small it makes people sad because you feel bad for the animals trapped in there, but I’d still like to experience it for myself. And I shall!

  • o13. Go to the Calgary Stampede (stampede website)



    I debated adding the Calgary Stampede to the “festivals” point but I felt the Stampede can stand on its own. I don’t really care for rodeos, well, I wouldn’t know, I’ve never actually been to one, but going to the world’s largest rodeo at the Calgary Stampede would be great! Plus I really want to wear a cowboy hat and jean shorts with a plaid button-up shirt! Ha ha. And driving to the Stampede would allow me to cross off “road trip” as well.

  • o14. Go to Fort Edmonton Park (fort edmonton website)



    I think by the end of the summer I’ll probably be exhausted of trying to go to all of these touristy city spots but I would like to take at rip to Fort Edmonton Park. I vaguely recall going there on a field trip in elementary school, but I’m sure I had a good time and I’m sure I’ll still have a good time if I went this time around. I like learning about the past, old-style clothing and looking at historical things though so I think the experience should prove excellent. Plus, how could it not when it’s billed as North America’s largest interactive historic park?

  • o15. Watch a summer meteor shower



    I kind of watched my first meteor shower this past November. When I say “kind of,” I mean because it was FREEZING outside, the skies were super overcast, and we waited until close to 2 a.m. without actually seeing much star action. I swear I spotted a shooting star but Mike says I was just lying to try and make it seem like I had a successful first meteor shower experience. Anyway, I’d like to try again, this time in the summertime, this time, when it’s super nice out with clear skies! There are two meteor showers slated for this summer — one at the end of July (The Southern Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower) and also in August! (The Perseids Meteor Shower). Apparently the Perseids Meteor Shower is one of the best ones you can witness too! So yes, I hope to have a meteor shower picnic and viewing this summer and I fully intend to actually see stuff this time! (btw, my cold november meteor shower experience was still super special <3)

So there are 15 things I’d like to do this summer. Of course it’s not the overarching, absolute list of everything I want to do but it’s certainly a pretty solid list (in my opinion). Surprising how many cool things there are to do in and around this city over the summer hey?

Linda ♥

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