The last day of our Victoria Weekend 2026 vacation is here! The plan for the day? Do a tour of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, take in a few last sights in the downtown core, and head to Fort Edmonton Park -- all of which we checked off. We had arranged a 4PM checkout from the hotel, so we returned to do that before heading to West Edmonton Mall as the last stop. From there, it was on to the airport. We hung out at the Premium Plaza Lounge until our flight to Halifax boarded at 10:30 PM. We left a little bit early, landed in Halifax 20 minutes early, and were home by 7:20 AM -- time for Pam to get a couple more hours of sleep than the airplane provided, before she headed off to school at noon.
We packed a lot into four days, but we loved what we got to see in Vancouver and Edmonton, and we enjoyed some really good catch-up conversations with old friends. By the way, hats off to Jill Scott, an Edmonton-born former work colleague and good friend, who provided all the key ideas for our Edmonton visit!
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
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| The fountain in front of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. |
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| The building's dome. See those palms at the top? They are over 100 years old! |
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| The grand staircase up from the building's foyer. |
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| Alberta's coat of arms is deep with meaning. The doors to the Legislative Assembly, below the coat of arms, were originally to have been made of brass. Cost overruns led the builders to use a hardwood from Belize instead. |
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| Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Her statue stands in the foyer of the building. |
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| A portrait to each Premier is in a corridor on the second floor. Danielle Smith's portrait isn't there yet, as they consider it bad luck to hang the portrait of a sitting Premier. Thus, the latest portrait is of Premier Rachel Notley. |
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| The Legistlative Chamber, with the Speaker's chair to the right. |
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On the Legislature's grounds is the Periscope, a 1980s art installation that uses reflective glass and mirrors to provide views of the Legislature's grounds. |
Some Final Edmonton Downtown Sights
 | | Edmonton is a city of 1.2 million people. It's need for a light rapid transit (LRT), such as the one Calgary has, has been growing. Much of the downtown is under construction, making way for the LRT's expansion. |
 | | Sir Winston Churchill Square is in front of City Hall. |
 | | The Art Gallery of Alberta is, perhaps, Edmonton’s most unique architectural design. Although the gallery has existed on this site, adjacent to City Hall, since 1969, it wasn’t until 2007-2010 that it underwent this design enhancement. |
 | | The statue of Sir Winston Churchill, on the edge of Sir Winston Churchill Square. |
 | | Roger's Place is home to the Oilers! Since the Oilers are no longer in the playoffs for the Stanley Cup, things were rather quiet. |
 | The J.W. Marriott Edmonton ICE Distict was built eight years ago and is connected to the Roger's Centre, home of the Oilers. It was a very luxurious stay!
Fort Edmonton Park
Fort Edmonton Park, southwest of the city, is Canada’s largest living history museum. It includes both original and rebuilt historical structures representing the history of Edmonton. I’ve never seen any living museum so impressive!
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 | | Streetcar that transports visitors from the park entrance to the fort. |
 | | Clydesdale horses providing wagon rides. |
 | | One of the streets in the recreated townsite. |
 | Fire station.
 | | Capitol Theatre. |
 | Catholic Church.
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 | | One-room schoolhouse. |
 | | Historic harvesters. |
 | | Car dealership. |
 | | Gas station. |
 | | Aerodrome. |
 | | By 1907, Edmonton was booming. But demand for housing far outstripped the housing supply. (Almost sounds like post-pandemic Canada!) As a result, many people lived in tents. Can you imagine -25C in a tent in Edmonton's winters? |
 | Livery.
Scenes from Fort Edmonton, which is a highlight of Fort Edmonton Park |
 | | We ended our visit by taking a steam train around the park. |
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West Edmonton Mall
No trip to Edmonton would be complete without at stop at West Edmonton Mall (WEM). It's the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre, the 29th largest in the world, the second largest shopping mall by square footage in North America. WEM currently counts over 800 occupants, including nine attractions, two hotels and over 100 dining venues. More than 24,000 people are employed at the property.
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| Pirate lagoon. |
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| Sea lion theatre. |
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| Ice rink. |
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| Wave pool. |
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| To ensure a few hours of sleep, given that Pam has to work when we get home, we purchased business class seats for the flight from Edmonton to Halifax. We actually slept for two hours! |
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