Gibraltar

Introduction:

Hello world! This post is about my experiences in Gibraltar. I will start with a little history of the region. The history of Gibraltar has been driven by its strategic position near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a narrow peninsula at the eastern side of the Bay of Gibraltar, 6 kilometres (4 mi) from the city of Algeciras, Spain. Gibraltar is on the far south coast of Spain at one of the narrowest points in the Mediterranean, only 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the coast of Morocco in North Africa. The territory’s area measures only 6.7 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi). Most of the land area is occupied by the steeply sloping Rock of Gibraltar, which reaches a height of 426 metres (1,398 ft).

This place has a history going back to 950 BC with many different powers having control of the region throughout history. The Moores had a significant impact on Gibraltar and had control of the region from 711 AD going to 1462 AD. In today’s world Gibraltar has been controlled by Great Britain since 1713 when the land was ceded from the Treaty of Utrecht.

Travel Itinerary:

For my travel itinerary, I traveled to Gibraltar from Morocco. I had to take a ferry from the port of Tanger, Morocco, and the ship will take you to a village in Spain called Tarifa via the Straight of Gibraltar. The trip was only roughly an hour by sea but the weather was overcast from the Morocco side and the waves were large. Ideally, I wanted to take a boat that went directly to Gibraltar from Morocco but there are no travel routes. I found it strange how close these cities are to each other that they would be better connected with multi-modal transport but they are not and it is probably because of the colonial history of Gibraltar and fortification of the city. After I arrived in Tarifa there was a black bus that took us to the Spanish port city of Algeciras. Then from Algeciras port, I had to take a taxi to the Spain/Gibraltar(UK) border which was about 30 Euros and then exit the taxi and walk through customs. Once I crossed into Gibraltar there were no taxis around the border at that moment and it was hot there. I was pretty frustrated and just hopped on the local bus and it took me near my hotel.

 

I stayed at the Rock Hotel which sits right on the base of the giant Rock of Gibraltar. This hotel was amazing and beautiful and you can see the pictures of many UK celebrities who visited this hotel. The hotel is beautiful and I recommend staying here. The hotel costs about $180/ USD(150 pounds/Sterlings) per night. I only stayed for one night because I had other plans to visit Barcelona.

 

 

 

 

I took a cable cable car up the Rock of Gibraltar. It took about five minutes and it is a beautiful view of the Straight of Gibraltar. You can see Spain and Morocco from the top of the summit.

 

 

 

 

After I went Up to the top of the summit there is a nature trail which you can walk down to the bottom of the rock but it will take 3 hours. There were wild monkeys at the top of the rock which surprised me. I decided to walk to Saint Michaels’s Cave which took about 30 minutes of downslope hiking man it was so hot out there I was drenched in sweat.

 

 

 

 

St Michael’s Cave is a site known for one of the world’s deepest caves. The cave here has a nickname of being the bottomless pit because of how deep the cave reaches underground. Also, the cave is known for having a tunnel that connects to Morocco via under the body of water. There are many ancient stories about these tunnels. When I went in I saw this rock that contained this figure that looked like a spiritual entity. People call the statue St. Michael since many believe that it looks like the archangel Michael. It was a bit unsettling in that cave I felt looking at that rock formation that it looked like something was petrified into that rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the cave, I went to grab some food realizing that I did not eat at all that day, and found an Italian restaurant and ate a pizza. After that, I went back to my hotel room and watched the sunset on the Strait of Gibraltar and watched the BBC news on TV just to see what was going on in the world. At the time the UK was having riots from some white supremacist groups out there and those groups were beating the brakes off of the police and setting their cars on fire. I guess since Gibraltar is part of the UK it’s natural all of the news would be British news. I ultimately had a great time visiting Gibraltar even though it was a quick 24-hour stop, it was worth the visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Zanzibar

Hello everyone and welcome. In this post, I will talk about my Zanzibar experience. On my second day in Dar Es Salaam, I decided to go on a day trip to Zanzibar from Tanganyika. A round-trip ticket is about $70 USD and the ships leave roughly every hour. The journey from Dar Es Salaam takes about 2 hours each way. Zanzibar is known for its many beautiful beaches and crystal clear waters. I did not go to any beaches because I wanted to use my day in the most efficient way and see as much of Zanzibar as I can see in a day.

Zanzibar is a beautiful island with a population of around 1M people. It is a unique island off the coast of Tanganyika. Tanganyika is the original name of Tanzania’s mainland. Zanzibar functions like an autonomous country. Zanzibar has their own elected president, and customs when you arrive. I traveled and was greeted by my friend at the port. The boat was a high-speed boat and they packed that boat way past its passenger limit. I was thinking to myself I hope nothing happens to this boat because there are not enough life jackets for everyone. I realize that East African public transport is very disorganized. You cannot find timetables online for any type of transport you just have to go to the transportation company and ask or ask people on the street.

When we were in route the wind was blowing very hard and I sitting on the top deck near the back edge of the boat and my left ear pod flew out my ear. I just remember the way it happened it flew off my ear and bounced three times off the boat floor and slid off of the boat into the Ocean. I saw everybody’s eyes following the ear pod as it moved and fell and they all looked at me and I was like oh damn oh well. The Port of Zanzibar is really small there is not much space at the dock for people to board and egress however there are plans to upgrade the Port of Zanzibar to handle more capacity for passengers but you have to pay close attention to what is happening at the docks because it is so chaotic and a foreigner would struggle to find the proper boat to board.

My friend welcomed me to Zanzibar.

The streets of Zanzibar are very narrow. Many of these buildings were built in the 15th century and you can see the different architectural buildings there. People were still driving Bodabodas through these narrow streets. I was scared that I would get run over. My friend and I walked around Stone Town which is the older buildings. These buildings were built so long ago that they used some type of limestone mortar mixture to build these buildings. I learned that it is forbidden to build buildings in Zanzibar with concrete because of its ability to absorb heat which increases the air temperature in an urban area, which in engineering terms we call the Urban Heat Island effect. Zanzibar is a very hot and humid place also it sits close to the equator.

 

These were some old castles built by the Portuguese.

East African Slave Trade

My friend took me to the slave castles in Zanzibar which is now used as a memorial. First I would like to state that this experience was so much to process being in that castle breathing in that stuffy hot dungeon seeing claw marks everywhere on the stone walls and seeing and reading about what went on. I cannot even express the whole spectrum of my feelings while there in this post. Some feelings are so great that it is beyond language.  I know that these types of emotions are something that only other African descendants of slaves would be capable of fully understanding because of our history. I strongly recommend that all the descendants of the Atlantic Slave trade go to this place in Zanzibar. There is so much information there that you will find answers to questions that you did not even think about.  I started to connect the dots between the Eastern and Western Africa Slave trade and realize that they are not independent of each other despite never being talked about or discussed in a meaningful depth.

An important part of Zanzibar’s history is that it was the biggest slave trade hub in the world. The East African slave trade is the longest slave trade to ever exist in this world. It even started before the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and helped fuel it also. Over 100+ million Africans were brought to Zanzibar from the mainland and enslaved and sent to Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. During the 18th century, Zanzibar was a British Protectorate but was managed by the Omani Sultan who became very rich from human trafficking. At one point the capital of Oman was Zanzibar. Tanzania itself has been under many different colonial rules from the Portuguese, Germans, Omans, and British rule.

 

 

Going through that castle brought up a lot of mixed emotions. I learned a lot about the details of what transpired in the Eastern slave trade which is not even talked about in the US education system. They hardly taught us about the Atlantic slave trade when we were in school. I think now with social media people are starting to learn more about these human atrocities because information is so easily accessible now. When you walk into the castle the first thing I saw were monuments of the enslaved Africans in chains.

 

 

One of the holding dungeons for Africans in captivity.

The upper level of the castle it is used as an exhibit hall and gift shop nowadays. There is also a church on the other side of the building when we went they were having Sunday service, I sat in the service for a little bit and realized the praising and singing I heard sounded just like the way African Americans conduct worship services. It was very identical despite the language difference between us.

This is the dungeon one of the rooms where they would hold hundreds of captive Africans for long periods of time. Many of them died in these places. Just being in that room for 10 minutes you barely could breathe and it was so hot I was sweating uncontrollably. I just couldn’t imagine being chained up here for months at a time with people defecating and vomiting and decaying bodies just all in this room. The tour guide was explaining the process of breaking down the captives so the slave traders could sell them, but hearing the details this was nothing less than a systematic genocide and the survivors were the ones who would be sent to foreign lands. The slave traders’ mindset was that if they were not the strongest slaves then they did not want them so they would find ways to systematically kill the captives.

With my friend being a local Zanzibarian, I did not really know much about Swahili culture and, I was asking him questions about what languages Zanzibar people speak and he told me they only speak Swahili and do not have tribes like Tanginiyka (Mainland Tanzania) because of the slave history. Their identities were taken from them just like how African Americans lost their identities and only spoke English. We both shared our cultures and history and  I learned a lot bout Zanzibar on top of the castle tour. We really started realizing after sharing stories that both of our peoples share ancestors.  It was definitely a great bonding experience after going through those castles. We became so close like brothers and we still keep in close contact.

 

Overall Zanzibar is must visit place when going to Tanzania! I will always be grateful to my local friends really taking me around different parts of the country and teaching me Swahili. I definitely will return to Zanzibar to explore more of the island there are so many things to see.

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania December 2023

Travel Itinerary

Hello viewers. I will discuss my experience in Tanganyika.  This by far was one of my favourite countries to visit. My flight path was from DCA->JFK->AMS->DAR. This flight took about 24 hours altogether including the layovers which were relatively short on the way to Dar. You could find a ticket for about 800-1000 USD from the USA to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania flying Delta Airlines, but be prepared for many layovers because to get to African countries you mostly have to fly through Europe and then to Africa rather directly to Africa from the USA.

My Zimbabwean friend joined me on this trip. Not only did I meet many people while travelling through the country, I learned a lot about the state of the infrastructure in Tanzania. Tanzania is an East African country with a population of 66 Million. As shown in the map below Tanzania is surrounded by Zambia, and Mozambique to the south, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi to the West; Uganda and Kenya to the North. Dodoma is the Capital city which is in the central region of the country. Dar Es Salaam is a very old city that sits on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Dar is the largest city in the county and is the economic hub of Tanzania.  Tanzania also has islands like Zanzibar which operates like its own autonomous country while legally being part of Tanzania. People Speak Swahili in Tanzania which is the most spoken language in Africa. I planned to travel throughout East Africa so what I did was travel to Zanzibar, Nairobi, and Mwanza in Tanzania which I will talk about in a future post.

Infrastructure

You can see the Port of Dar Es Salaam.

You can see the beautiful architecture here.

 

Tanzania has been an important trade route throughout ancient history and modern-day history with complex trade routes in the interior of Africa, and in Asia and the Arab world, especially Zanzibar. Also, there have been many colonial powers that occupied the country from the 1500s through the mid-1900s. The first colonial invaders were the Portugues who captured the territory in 1505 AD. Their occupations lasted until the 1800s when they were ousted by the Sultan of Omar. Eventually, in the late 1800s, the Germans took control of Tanzania with Otto Von Bismark as the Chancellor at the time. Then in 1947, the British took control of Tanzania until gaining their independence in 1961.

Swahili Food

Swahili Food is a must-try! I enjoyed the food there. I had chicken with Pilaf Rice which is so delicious. Rice and fish are staple foods in Tanzania. You will get a great meal for around 14K-18K TZN Shillings which amounts to roughly 4-6 USD.

Below are Tanzanian Shillings. About 1 USD = 2500 TZN Shillings in December 2023.

Lodging

There are many hotel options in Dar Es Salaam depending on what you want and your budget. There are local BnB and local hotels that have price ranges from 15-40 USD per night which is really affordable. I ended up staying at the 4 Seasons Marriott since I came for a business trip and it cost roughly 120 USD per night it is a quality hotel like you would have for a Marriott in the USA, and I will say it is fancier than the ones we have in the US.

 

Transportation

So to get around Dar Es Salaam there are many transportation options. You have Uber, Bolt, and you can just flag down a ride. You have three options with ride-hailing services, you either take a private vehicle, you take a Bodaboda, or you take a Banjagi. So The picture below is a Banjagi which is a 3-wheel vehicle you see them used in South East Asia also which is a cheaper option than the automobile, but the cheapest option is taking a Bodaboda which is essentially a motorbike and that is one hell of experience riding on one navigating the maze of traffic jams and people moving everywhere across the streets.

Mwenge Market

We ended up going to the Mwenge Market which is a traditional market that sells many hand-carved woodwork items. I ended up purchasing a lion sword which is fitting for a Leo. I also purchased a mask for my sister since she collects African masks.

 

 

 

Overall my experience in Dar has been really great. There is so much to see here the Swahili culture is very rich and the people are very nice. Below is the fish market for Dar. It is a really busy place and all of the fresh produce is processed and sold in the market right next to the coast.

Antarctica March 2023

Antarctica is the 7th landmass of the world and also my 7th continent to visit. I set a bucket list for me to visit 7 Continents by the time I hit 30. I was going to do it in 2020 during my Grad school program but COVID delayed those plans. 2023 was the first year that they started Antarctica tours again. My journey started from the Port of Ushuaia, Argentina which is the most southern city in the world! It was a nice-sized quiet town. So my trip started off as a nightmare. These Latin American Airlines run on their own time, forget a schedule. I flew Copa Airlines and they lost my bag in Bueno Aires. I packed so much winter clothes and equipment for this trip and was prepared then my bag never came to Ushuaia. I was livid like how am I going to go to Antarctica without any winter gear? I thank my inner self for telling me to pack a few thermals into my carry-on bag which saved me. I bought these nice waterproof thermal boots that went up to my knees because I knew that we would do wet landings from the zodiacs to get to shore. Since those boots were in my luggage they never made it thank God the boat had spare pairs of boots even though the quality of them was not good but it kept my feet dry and I wore a triple layer of thermal socks to keep my feet warm. Because I knew I needed more clothes since I was going to be out at sea for approximately 15 days I went on a shopping spree in Ushuaia and rented a special winter coat, and bought shirts, pants, and thermals to protect myself after all I am going to the Arctic region where it stays below freezing.

Our boat was called UM Ushuaia Loma which is a local Argentina boat. It was originally a US research vessel for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) but it was retrofitted for commercial use. It accompanied about 97 people which is a perfect number because only 100 people of a vessel can be on Antarctic land at a time due to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Most people who go to Antarctica do not know that and take those huge ass cruise ships with 1000 people and have to take turns landing at different locations. It is the best use of money to make sure you are on a ship that carries 100 or fewer people to maximize your utility and experience.

The 1959 Antarctic Treaty essentially is an agreement between 12 nations of the world that made Antarctica a protected land from countries claiming the land and testing nuclear warheads there which was a very common thing in the 50s and 60s. The mechanism used to govern tourism is the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). So Countries do have a claim to the land but it is treated as international land essentially countries cannot enforce their claim to the land. The vessels that travel below the 60-degree latitude are legally bound to the IAATO regulations for Antarctica.

 

Our first journey was to get through the Drake Passage which is known for having the roughest seas in the world. We had to take medicine to help with sea sickness because that boat was rockin’ side to side. I have never been on a cruise either so two days of going through the Drizzy passage was a challenge. I realized sleeping on a boat that is moving like that is difficult. Shit was flying around the room the door slamming against the wall the feel of the waves crashing against the side of the boat. Below is the map of where we went and landed. It is easier to just show a map rather than explain every stop because honestly I don’t got time for that.

 

 

This picture is from one of the excursions we did. We landed about 7 times even more than was originally planned because by the grace of God, the weather was beautiful. Most days were just straight sunny with few clouds. Often the weather at that time of year is wacky but we were blessed.

 

The 3 pictures below are the wall of a giant underwater volcano. The volcano is so large that our boat was able to go inside like it was a peninsula but it was quite scary knowing that it is an active volcano and we were sitting right on the rim of it.

 

 

Look penguins are the chillest animals that I have ever been around. They were coming up to me and chillin’ right next to me like I was one of them. They are pretty unbothered by humans maybe they think we are penguins also.

 

This is what we call a Penguin Highway

This is the Brown Research Station which is owned by the Argentina Government.

You only see 10% of ice bergs #Justthetip

 

 

 

 

 

The stars were so beautiful. The only other place that I have seen a sky like this was at Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

Never melt Ice, This ice is a special ice that takes a very long time to melt. It will not melt in a warm beverage and it takes like 10,000 years to form. Apparently, there is a strong black market for this ice from Antarctica.

 

 

This was just a quick blog of what I saw. There were whales, seals, and penguins pretty much the types of animals that I saw. I would have to look through my photos to find the whale one because that whale was very close to our zodiac and I was like this damn whale better not capsize us.

 

On the way back a storm came and we had waves that were 12-16 meters high and that was scary. I definitely did not sleep well on those two days returning through the Drake passage. The waves crashed so hard against the ship the ship jolted and it sound like something broke on the ship. That was a once-in-a-lifetime type of trip. I do not recommend older people doing that because likely you will fall on that ship and get hurt with that type of current.

 

Now I need to write new bucket list goals since I completed this one maybe visit all 191 Countries in the world? That definitely would be a lifetime of traveling. I am pretty sure that number of countries will change in my lifetime considering all of the geopolitical instability going on in the world. I definitely recommend people get out and see the majestic beauty of a Continent that is inhabited by humans, just pure nature.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone!

It has been a while since I posted but you already know that I have more juicy stories to tell. For this trip, I went to Brazil! I went to a city called Florianopolis which is in the State of Santa Catarina (Yes Brazil has States just like the USA). So for this trip, the flight path I took was:

Baltimore (BWI) to New York (JFK)

JFK to  Sao Paulo (GRU)

GRU to Florianopolis

This city is beautiful! So it is a medium-sized city with a population of 500,000 people. The city has an island side with many beaches; and a continental side that is separated by a cable suspension bridge (Similar to San Francisco and Oakland).

 

In Centro, there are a lot of historic buildings from when the Portugues had their colony in Brazil. Their national language is Portuguese and you really need to know some to survive in Brazil! Luckily I knew Spanish which has a lot of similarities and people in Brazil understand somewhat spanish because of the tourist that visits from Argentina. I went to the Cathedral which sits in the center of the city. The streets in the city are made of cobblestone it’s a unique way the Portuguese lay the stones in their road. There was this very large tree that sat in the park next to the church which I believe had a rumor about the tree will help bring luck into getting married.

I had a local friend show me around some parts of the city and I was told about the infamous Favelas. Favelas are unofficial settlements that form usually they are on the side of hills and mountains. They have extreme poverty and mostly do not have basic services like roads, water, sewage, and sanitation. I find it interesting because in the US houses built on hills and mountains typically have the wealthiest people living in them. I learned that the term Favelas came from a mountain in Rio and over time, it became the term used for all unofficial settlements in Brazil. What surprises me about Favelas is their sheer sizes. They can have populations from 10,000-100,000 people. I always pondered on why the city would not annex the land and provide the basic services that are needed, but from the legal view people are illegally settled on the land but in reality, there is no way the city can just evict that many people these are straight up cities at that point when the populations reaches in the thousands.

 

On my first night, I decided to check out the nightlife in the Centro district. The way the bars are here is interesting. Most of the time the bars just stand where you get your drink and everyone stands outside on the public road drinking while cars occasionally muscle their way through a crowd of drunk people, it reminded me of the image of Moses parting the Red Sea. I drank a cachaça which is Brazil’s national drink and it came in this 32 Oz cup and its really sweet kind of like jungle juice but because of it being sweet I drank it and before I know it I was really drunk which I was confused like how am I drunk on one drink? My local friend told me that those drinks were known for getting people really drunk easily. I stumbled back into my hotel and tried to sleep but I woke up shortly and had my face in the toilet for some time. That was the worse feeling and my intention was to get a buzz.

Next, My friend took me to São José which is the neighboring city in the continental side of Brazil. Brazil has many food trucks stands which are equivalent to fast-food restaurants in the US but way better tasting food! I tried the infamous Brazillian hotdog which I tried to eat like I would a hotdog in the USA but that did not work out well. So a Brazillian hot dog has a lot of toppings on it. I would say 7-10 different toppings can be found in it while a USA hotdog typically has mustard and ketchup mainly. There were so many toppings in my Brazillian hotdog I do not even remember all of the toppings. I remember there were fried potatoes/Hashbrown in one of the layers, sour cream, and mozzarella cheese. Also, their Coke drink is very good there because they use pure sugarcane while the US uses Corn Syrup as a sweetener. Brazilian food in reality is not that different from the food African Americans eat. I had collard greens, yams, dirty rice, and macaroni and cheese it is just prepared differently.

 

 

The weather was crazy there it rained every day that I was there and it got so bad on some days we fell into a State of Emergency there. My hotel room flooded and I was stuffing towels all into the balcony door to keep the water out. One of the days there was a few hour windows of no rain so I decided to go to Mole beach which was a nice beach but the only people that were in the water were the surfers because of how dangerous the riptides are there. It was pretty there was hiking trails that you could take to connect to other beaches however it was pretty rocky. I remember seeing a yellow-striped black snake on the path and I ran through that trail. I also saw a hairy spider the size of my foot which made me paranoid going through that foresty trail.

 

While I spent my 2 weeks in Brazil it was during the World Cup in Qatar and I was blessed to witness 3 Brazillian games. Man, when Brazil plays soccer the country shuts down. In one of the games when they played Cameroon I was with some local friends and everyone is just hanging outside drinking and watching the game on these tiny televisions. I had the time of my life in Brazil even though the weather was torrential. On my way back to the US I had a 12-hour layover in Sao Paulo which I took advantage of and explored the city. Brazil had their game against Korea and I witnessed the whole city shutting down. I had issues trying to call an Uber to get to the airport because people kept canceling the rides. Sao Paulo has some of the world’s worst traffic it is one of the top 5 most populated cities in the world. Originally I was going to take the train to the airport but something happened and the local Rail Authority shut the line down for the day. When I finally got an Uber to go back to the airport it took like 2 hours and it was downpouring rain with so much traffic. People drive aggressively in Brazil and on top of that another football game was happening. I was so scared in that car the driver had a mini tv on his display and was watching the game while driving in the heavy rain storm. It rained so heavily that you could not see in front of you and his windows were completely fogged up since his Air conditioning didn’t work, I had to pray to make sure I got to that airport safely. Then the driver had the nerve to pull off the highway to a gas station and fill up his gas tank. I was glad I choose to go to the airport 4 hours early because I would have missed my flight fooling around with the taxi drivers, but I loved Brazil and I would definitely like to explore more of the country.

 

 

 

My Move to Berta’….. The Texas of Canada

The move to Alberta has been a great move. I cannot believe that I drove from Irvine, California to Edmonton Alberta in a Kia packed with my personal belongings. The trip was about 1200 miles practically from the US Mexico Border to Northern Canada. The last time I did a road trip like that was my Freshman year at Arizona State when I drove my 2003 Honda Civic from Columbus, Ohio to Tempe, Arizona. That trip was over 2000 miles! Never again will that happen! What makes the story was that I just returned from a deployment in Korea and was barely home for two weeks before I made my move. This was my first job after obtaining my Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering.

So what made me move to Alberta was research with an NSF-funded project at the U of Alberta which is located in Edmonton. This was my second time in Edmonton. When I first arrived the weather was pretty warm in the 50s and 60s  but the temperature dipped really fast at the end of October and by November we have gotten a few feet of snow and extremely cold temperatures of single digits and negative temperatures.

Fun Fact about Edmonton it is the Most North large City in the World with a population of over 1 million.

I have this thing when I travel to cities I try to compare their characteristics with other cities that I have travelled to in the world and, Edmonton gives me major Midwestern city vibes specifically my hometown Columbus, Ohio. The similarities are that Edmonton and Columbus have similar populations, and cover similar land sizes with Edmonton being about 300 sq miles and Columbus being about 215 sq miles which means they are sprawled types of cities. They both have outer belt Freeways like Alberta Route 216 (Anthony Henday Drive) and Interstate-270 Freeway in Columbus. They both have major rivers which flow through their city centers. Both cities are very multicultural with many Immigrant groups. Both cities do not have too many things to attract them besides malls, large universities aka U of Alberta, and Ohio State. The cities could be sister cities!

*High-Level Bridge Edmonton

 

At the end of October, there was a solar flare that caused some disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field and allowed for the Northern Lights to reach further south than normal to places like Edmonton and Calgary. This is such a rare event maybe once in a decade for the lights to be viewable from within the City of Edmonton especially with all of that light pollution. Man, I wished I took the time out to drive outside of the city to even get a better view of the lights but it was like -4 oF that day and I was not about to freeze just to hope the lights were going to be visible.

*Northern Lights From Solar Flare in October 2021

In order to even know when the Aurora Lights occur you have to check a website like Aurora Watchers. I believe they measure the electromagnetic activity in the sky and once it reaches a threshold you will be notified about the probability of seeing the lights. As you can see this is a very rare event that happened. Those lights were vivid and were dancing gracefully into the sky while morphing into different colours and shapes. This was the first time I have ever seen anything like this and I was geeked and stay up to watch the event all night long until the sunrise. It was so pretty and so cool to get to have a view of Downtown Edmonton with the Aurora Lights in the background.

The railroad tracks and the glowing sky is my favorite picture of it all.

For Halloween, I decided to go to the Fort Edmonton Park’s Dark Night haunted house event. It was pretty fun it was supposed to be scarybut it was not very scary. I heard people screaming like they are scared. Thinking about it I grew up in Ohio which is known for having some of the scariest haunted house attractions and been going since I was 5 years old. I guess I could call it a tolerance for haunted places.

 

Some of the Christmas lights at the Legislative buildings. Oh, yea Edmonton is the Capital of Alberta Province.

 

This is the West Edmonton Mall (WEM). It is the largest mall in North America I think it has about 5.3 Million sq ft of commercial shops with a rollercoaster park, waterpark, bumper cars, and an ice skating rink. The mall is the answer to what people do in Edmonton during the harsh winter months. A lot of people will just hang at the WEM because there is so much to do there to keep people entertained in the warm indoors.

*Galaxly Land

*West Edmonton Mall Ship

Yes, This mall is so large it has a lake inside it with a ship and submarine diving.

I found this really interesting cafe called the Nake Cafe in the city center and they have weekly open mike where people come in and play a variety of music and songs. I usually would go weekly and just hang out and listen to these amazing artists. The owner of the cafe is such a really nice guy and man we can have a conversation about anything. I highly recommend you to stop in for a visit if you are in Edmonton.

 

*Naked Cafe Lounge

 

 

*Naked Cafe Lounge

 

Overall Edmonton is a quiet, city that people back in my home city would call a giant farm town because of its lack of a truly metropolitan region.  Besides the extremely cold weather here it is a very nice city to live in. It is very affordable to live here and the incomes are very high because of the oil fields that people work in. I would highly recommend visiting here and also Jasper National park is about a 3-hour drive west of Edmonton on the TransCanada Route 16. It is better to visit in the warmer months because many of the roads in the Winter season in Alberta are not accessible especially through roads that travel through the mountains.