Northwest

I’m up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, almost at the end of my visit (and, I confess, ready to go home). I was here for a conference, which was small but interesting.

Edmonton is about a month behind Chapel Hill in terms of weather – the buds on the trees are just starting to come out, and right now everything is mostly brown with a few hints of green. We had a couple of very nice spring days, but today it’s cold, grey, and windy.

If you want to know what’s on the other side of those gas prices heading toward three dollars a gallon, take a look at Edmonton. It’s an oil town, and things are booming here. The government sent “rebate” checks to the citizens. Everywhere you look, there’s new construction and renovation. Much of the new construction is at the university, especially the medical complex. (It's nice to know that industry can at least sometimes support science!) They’ve also been hiring away hotshot faculty from other places, causing a “brain drain” from the east of Canada.

Of course, Edmonton's real claim to fame is the Mall, which competes with Mall of America for largest on the continent. (Edmonton wins for square feet -- or meters, I should say -- while MoA wins for number of stores.) I didn't make it there this trip, but I can't say I'm too disappointed about that.