Edmonton

Edmonton, The World's | Day 6: Here is my reporting of the reporting: the big scandal in Edmonton is another drug bust - this time Canadian sprinter Venolyn Clarke, a 34-year-old 100m racer. She didn't make it out of the heats, but she was "randomly" tested. It was, for some unknown reason, her only test in the past 9 years! Of course, this is a huge embarrassment to Canada. I didn't have the name of the big gala correct in my past journal entry, it was "The Legends of Gold Dinner". Though the dinner was Monday night, today's paper had a little blurb about rude American athlete Edwin Moses. A car was sent to the airport twice to get Moses, but he never showed and didn't phone. His table was to remain unhosted until a British 400m hurdler from the 1824 games... or something like that... stepped in. Other big news: after the dinner, Bruce Jenner hitched a ride back to LA with The Great One (TGO has a Lear Jet) and the gala committee will get a refund on Jenner's AirCanada business-class ticket! (I kid you not, this was in the newspaper!) A visiting Scottish boy was interviewed by the paper. (There was a photo and, yes, he was wearing a kilt.) From this poignant piece of journalism I have determined Maurice Greene will NOT be running any relays for the U.S. - the boy said he saw Mo in Kentucky Fried Chicken! Another athlete has defected. "Let the mud slinging begin!"... Edmonton columnists are still trashing Daily Telegraph columnist Robert Phillip's Deadmonton comment. Most slurs have reference to mad cow disease, bad teeth and warm beer.

And now, to the rest of the day... we were a bit lazy and didn't get out of here until noon. (I guess I didn't mention it yesterday, but from now on, the events at the track are in the evening - usually beginning at 6 pm, so we have all day to amuse ourselves.) Today we did something we had to do: we took Lisa to the Largest Mall in the World. Now, why, I hear you wonder, would we take the Princess of Shopping to the Largest Mall in the World? Were we insane? Did we win the lottery? Nope. We had been to the mall before and knew there wouldn't be much to impress her. Since our first visit to The West Edmonton Mall, three years ago, they have expanded and remodeled a bit. I must say, it is now a bit better than the Beaverton Mall - but only because it has a full-sized amusement park, water park with wave pool and dolphin pool and tons of (yucky, smoky) restaurants, theatres, hotels, and hundreds of athletes and coaches from all over the world shopping! DT and I were too chicken to ride the triple-loop roller coaster, and Lisa refused to ride alone. She wanted to make photo stickers, but the machine was broken. Lisa beat her dad in the "Whack the Mole" game and gave her winnings (3 coupons) to a small child as her mitzvah of the day. The nicest stores are The Gap, Banana Republic and Tommy Hilfiger. There is a Sears and a Hudson's Bay Company. Not a Nordstrom in sight. However, they do house a Lush store. Lush is one of Lisa's favorite shops in England - they sell natural soaps, cut from huge cakes and wrapped in deli paper and sold by the pound. Adorable, fragrant and luxurious. Lisa was very happy to find a Lush in the middle of nowhere and we bought a few treats. DT bought a Sports Illustrated magazine and then we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and went to the track. Every night on the way to the track in the shuttle bus, we pass The Chinese Mennonite Church and a beauty shop called "Curl Up and Dye".

I can tell you a bit about the races.  First - it was CHILLY at the track tonight. We had to wear sweaters! The Canadians were out in force because they had two possible medals in the men's high jump. Both failed to clear heights, as did American jumper Charles Austin. Chuck didn't up. Nezha Bidouanne, from Morocco ran a brilliant race and won the gold in the women's 400m. Bidouanne has an interesting story - Islamic law forbids her to wear her uniform, as it does not cover her completely. Years ago, she had to run in long pants, etc. - until she won an Olympic medal. Then Morocco decided it was okay for her to run in shorts! But all we cared about was the 10,000m men's and tonight the 10k ruled! There was much apprehension as to how Ethiopian Haile Gebrelassie would run. Since Sydney, he has had surgery and has not raced. The Kenyans can never catch him. The race was very slow and very tactical and Gebrelassie, finishing third, fell to Kenyan Charles Kamathi. Kamathi won in 27:53. The crowd was screaming! It was the best night at the track so far - a World Championship that has yet to see a new World Record. There was no TEAR JERKER MOMENT OF THE DAY.

On the way home, Lisa decided she really, really needed a McDonald's Apple Pie. Daddy had to stop by 3 McDonald's because the first two were out of stock and the third was closed. Luckily, there is a McDonald's on every other corner, along with a Safeway (you can use your Safeway Club card for a 3.5-cent per litre discount on gasoline at Safeway Gas Stations... yes, they have Safeway gas here!) and Tim Horton's donut shop. She never did get her apple pie, and settled for a burger at 11:00 pm.

RV Park: Glowing Embers RV Park in Spruce Grove, Alberta