Friday's Top Five (a few days late) - Things I Love About My City

Hi faithful readers of five.

I was supposed to type this on Friday. But work got in the way, followed by a weekend of laziness, followed by more work. Kind of a crazy time right now in the life of Dani.

However, I made empty promises to Joanne that I would blog about last week's topic...so better late than never. Unless this post sucks. Then you could say "she should've just kept her trap shut."

Last week I ranted about the things I hate about the city. One week later, the piss-tang-hooker-tears -ass-smell remains. But I would be remiss and irresponsible if I didn't blog about the things I love about Edmonton. There is a reason why I live here, stay here, and love my city (even though the piss makes it hard to smell Edmonton).

5) There is alway something to do in or near Edmonton.
Seriously. This city is always busy. I've have travelled to cities where, once you were finished the tourist-trap stuff, there was nothing to do. But in Edmonton, we are spoiled by a bounty of riches. There is a festival every time you turn around, with new ones popping up yearly (like What The Truck). There is festivals for food, festivals for heritage, festivals for arts, festivals for everything you could possibly think. There is even a festival for winter.

Beyond the festivals, there are shopping venues galore. I once read that Edmonton had the most shopping centres per capita than anywhere in the world...or Canada. I don't remember the details, but it was impressive for this northern city.

And there are sports. We have a professional hockey team (which some cities in Canada would love to have) with the Edmonton Oilers. We have a CFL Football Team (the Edmonton Eskimos). We occasionally have a minor-league baseball team depending on the year. We have a ton of other teams in a ton of other sports. Plus, as if we were not spoiled enough, we have world-class atheltes who have trained/are training here. We host great world-class sporting events.

Plus, we are a close driving distance to mountains, provincial and federal parks, lakes, and other interesting small towns.

Add to that endless restaurants and fantastic parks.... Edmonton is always hopping!

4) The People.
It's a cliché to be sure, but we have great people in Edmonton. People who care about their city. People who care about their neighbours. People, who when tragedy strikes, like the deadly tornado in 1987, will roll-up their sleeves and pitch in to help. If there is a fundraising goal, the people in Edmonton will make that goal a reality. We might, in our daily lives, be generally indifferent to our neighbours. We might, in our daily lives, kvetch about God knows what. But when it matters, we come through.

3) The Changing Seasons.
Joanne might disagree, as she hates winter. But I for one like the weather (for the most part). First off, I like that we have four distinct seasons. I love being able to walk the same river valley path at different times of the year and have something interesting to look at, always changing depending on the state of the tree leaf.  And I love that for the most part, no matter what season, we have fairly moderate temperatures. Sure we have our -40's or +40's, which both suck. But those extremes are pretty rare indeed.  But there is so much beauty in Edmonton's landscape, that the changing seasons really do enhance the beauty.

2) Edmonton is a beautiful city.
Edmonton is a pretty city. It is picture-esque. It has some interesting architechure. It has a pretty river valley with rolling hills and lush green grass, with trees that change with the seasons. We have a beautiful skyline. There is so much prettieness to the city.

1) The River Valley
I LOVE THE RIVER VALLEY. I do. I love that we have so much green space, and I take advantage of that space weekly. Mark and I love to go for walks there. I used to go there all the time with Jo. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Ok, so my blog was a bit lame this week. But I got it out there! Phew.

Go mosey over to Joanne's blog and maybe Junior's blog too.

See you this Friday!