Lazy day to explore local museum

July 29^th, 2026

Edmonton, Alberta

Slept in today.  While the alarm woke me at 8:00am, I went back to sleep for at least another 1.5 hours.

Once awake, got showered and dressed and went down to the motorcycle in the garage to put the cover on.  It was too wet last night when I arrived, so left it off.

I then called the motorcycle shop that I wanted to get the bike into, but they were unable to get me in anytime in the next 3 days.

I did more research and found another non-dealer shop and called them.  While they normally would schedule a week out, the guy said he could get me in first thing in the morning tomorrow.  So will need to get bike there by 9:30am, but only about 8 miles away.

My Hotel

I then decided to walk over to the Royal Alberta Museum which was only about ½ mile away and see what it had to offer.

The walk over was through downtown, which is much like other downtown areas of a large city.

Lots of tall buildings, that look nice from a distance, but up close are crumbling, graffiti covered and surrounded by run down infrastructure and trash.  About every block I had to hold my breath from some dude sucking down a marijuana cigarette which smells like the ass end of a rhino after a dinner of rotten food.

The roads in downtown Edmonton are also going through some major constructions. Not sure you can even get into town without having to go through some section of it, probably half the streets are partially or fully closed for construction.

This includes detours for sidewalks as well.

On the walk over saw a few older buildings with interesting architecture and in front of the city hall was a huge water works of a low shallow pool with dozen fountains in it.  Its setup to allow people to play in it, but was a bit cool this morning, so no one had yet come down to get wet.

Found the museum and bought my ticket.

Two levels with several sections across them.

I started in the corner in the Bug Gallery, which is a small, very humid and warm room, filled with several displays of various insects from around the globe. 

Some interesting species and was intriguing to watch the few that were active.  Many though just sat in a corner not moving, mainly the spiders.

Giant Guadaloupe Island katydid

Few tanks with fish in them as well talking about how bugs work in the ecosystem.

Once done with that, I skipped the kid’s gallery which was just stuff for small children and went into the special exhibit room.  The current exhibition is about Death. 

The displays inside talked about the concept of death, the biology and science of it, and the spiritual aspects of death from the view of several different cultures and faiths.

Overall was a fascinating exhibit and probably spent more time reading there than in the rest of the place.

Next, I went to the history of man gallery, which focused on the history of human occupation of the Alberta region.  It has sections on the early human migrations into the region during the Ice Ages and then First Nation peoples who still occupy the region today.

Also covered the European expansion into the region and the impact that had and moved onto the modern world and the way locals dealt with global and local events. (Wars, weather, and other socially important times).

I then went upstairs to the natural history section.

This gallery had a few parts.

First was a general background on the geology of the region and how it has formed over millions of years.  Next to that was a gallery full of rocks, minerals, and gems.  Showcasing the various types and categories of rocks and focusing on those found in the local region and within Canada, but there were samples of rocks from all over the globe.

Then it moves into the early animal life that was in the area, with diorama displays and artifacts including several complete animal skeletons.  They had a few dinosaurs and bit more ice age era animals on display.

Then it covered the local wildlife still in the region with various displays and information boards.

A small room off that had a special exhibit on memories, showing objects with personal stories behind them.  Most of them were vary locally focused, so did not mean much to me, but interesting concept.

Once done with all the galleries, I went out to the main hall to photograph a few items out there, and then went up to view the meteor on the 2^nd floor display area.

This rock from space has a very special link to the First Nation people and has a history going back many generations with them.  It was removed from its original impact site in the 1800s by a European businessman and spent time in a few museums out east before being returned to Alberta.

Its current home is temporary while discussions are held to figure out a final spot to place it that will serve the spiritual needs of the local First Nation peoples and still allow others to view and experience it.

Technically it is just a small iron meteorite remnant that is not unique in any fashion, so the rock holds more value to the local First Nation people as the spiritual object they hold it to be.

Once done, I then perused the gift shop and bought a few rocks, then left the museum.

I was starving at this point, not having eaten anything yet, so researched restaurants in the downtown area on a bench outside the museum, then once I found a place I walked over to there.

Chose a Donair sandwich shop called Top Donair

They were not very busy and was a nice place inside.

Guy at the counter took the order and cooked it up.

One of the best chicken shawarma sandwiches I have every had.  Also had a few samosas as well.  Overall, a very good lunch.

From here I walked back to the hotel and spent time in the room editing video.

I was thirsty, so walked a few blocks over to a local bodega selling basic foods and such.  Bought a bag of chips, some water to refill my hydration pack and a few drinks.

Later in the evening, I decide to eat dinner at the restaurant in the hotel.  It is on the top floor (24^th) and is a revolving restaurant, doing a full revolution every 1.5 hours.

Got seated with a good view and then watched the scenery for a bit while it moved.

Then I ordered an iced tea and decided to have the wild mushroom soup for appetizer and the lobster ravioli as the main course.

   

When done, I talked myself into a desert with a chocolate ganache gateau.  3 layers of chocolate in a cake with a raspberry sauce on the side.  Very delicious.

When done I returned to the room and did more video work.

See you tomorrow.