From Oregon to Alberta, Across Sheets of Ice and the Ages: A Trip to the Royal Alberta Museum

Like other "photo overload" posts on this blog, I am focusing images based on some informal sections. The Royal Alberta Museum is the obvious highlight, but I also captured some cool images of a frozen river running across town and the ice castles.

Please, please, please keep reading until you find the object located in this museum that has traveled from Oregon to Alberta. It represents this blog really well!

Before letting loose with my usual collection of photos, I would like to share some general impressions of my time at the museum.

Most significantly, I had been recommended this museum by a family friend who also lives in the city. I also saw the museum in passing when going to the MacEwan university (which I was not fond of). Yet it took me *three* months to get here.

Most simply, I got an opportunity when a friend informed me that we could not do a parliament tour. Given that my mom is in town, I saw the chance for us to see the museum together. Despite having been to this area before, I saw the city from a new angle, as we approached via the roadways. So even the museum exterior scarcely seemed familiar despite entering my direct view just a month prior!


Royal Alberta Museum


 

The two below images are incredibly pretty, as if this were an art museum! Well, nothing wrong with a natural and human history museum fooling us into having a sensual experience!

So....why is there an image of the Cafe here? Honestly, this is an inside joke for a friend. He knows who he is.

At $19 CAD, the museum was easily more expensive than I expected, clearly earning its "art museum" impression!

But when you get sights like wooly mammoth displays, you really cannot help but admire the museum. Yes, it's not even sort of rare, but it does add to the experience pretty greatly!

The greatest discovery of mine was a piece of obsidian that traveled from Oregon to Alberta. If you've been asleep reading this blog, please look alive! This piece of obsidian is literally my predecessor, so maybe it should get the Fulbright scholarship too. Amazing that I could find an object that perfectly encapsulates what this blog is about!

The next three images are just for some friends of mine who like military history way more than I ever could.

There were some very silly WWI posters, like below. Lots of stuff about capitalism to support war, as you can imagine! They kept mentioning victory loans, or victory bonds, or liberty bonds. War euphemisms make me tired, so I won't try to remember the names!

In case you can't tell, it was the natural history side of the museum that kept me completely engrossed here haha.

I will always enjoy seeing indigenous canoes.

See? I've already slipped in another image of the same canoes lol.

I am not much of a hockey person, but being a *true* Canadian, I of course photographed this honoring of the Edmonton Oilers! (Definitely was not expecting this, being honest.)

There were many awesome displays of skeletons in the museum on the second floor. Truly, this second floor of natural history section was the undisputed highlight of the entire visit. Well, I say undisputed, but it was just my mom and I agreeing. (My friend had to receive an important phone call, so unfortunately she did not see this part of the museum)

Truly some marvelous shadows with the 2nd floor skeletons! Another big highlight for me.

The anatomy of this creature (whose name escapes me) was an incredibly surreal sight to see in the museum. Wracking my brains leaves me nothing for the question of "what was even close to that level of weirdness". But that made it quite memorable for me!

Someone please think of the poor bison!

Below is an image you can absolutely see my mom pressuring me to pose in front of (For a photo). To her credit, it did happen!

Natural history is alive and ongoing, which makes it exciting! A turtle in a tank was both a welcome surprise and entirely fitting for this purpose. It helped the museum feel dynamic and still in motion.

Below might be hard to see, but it shows many birds of Alberta!

And then a cool replica of a bear den.

The turtle was not the only living creature shown as part of this history. You are not mistaken; there was a live fish in a tank at this museum. I suppose it's another testament to the living nature of history!

Next was a display about the geological features that arise from ice -- this is quite relevant to Alberta, as you might imagine.!

Many cool minerals -- far too many to properly display. Below is just a sampler!

The minerals from India caught my eye both because of their aesthetic and their retrieval from Maharashtra State, where I have a friend living right now!

Of course, the Royal Alberta Museum had gems from Alberta!

Below are a couple shots of a T-rex ancestor -- given the ubiquity of the T rex, to see a distant relative was a rather exciting experience. I marked this display for further photography just upon entry, after all! There is a great power to this display even compared against the more 'impressive' dinosaurs.

Going with my friend (and my mom by car) let us see a side of the city that is scarcely accessible by public transit. Though not all the roads were particularly great (looking at you Groat), there was some beautiful scenery, especially as we moved to and from the city's core (dominated by tall buildings).  The frozen river was perhaps the best sight.

Isolated shots of the frozen river splitting Edmonton:

Lastly, we decided to forgo paying for the ice castles -- it was both nearing sundown, letting us grab a beautiful sunset, and the entrance fee was $17 per person for what seemed to be just a few icicles and some sculptures. In the end, it was much more of a bucket list item than a delight. But a bucket list that includes the Ice Castles as a minor attraction surely is exciting!


Some Shots of the Ice Castles from far (alas we chose to just take some photos from afar, rather than enter)