Wellness Retreat: Elk Island, Bowling, El Cortez, & Paint Nite

According to my planner, it's been 73 days since I've had a full 24 hours off. That actually surprised me...it's really not as bad as it sounds! In any case, it was a nice break to take most of Tuesday off for our resident wellness retreat, an annual day of activities sponsored by our residency program, in the name of wellness. Here's what we did last year. As for this year...

We started the day off at Elk Island National Park, a large wildlife conservation area and dark sky preserve 45 minutes east of Edmonton. After stopping at the visitors' centre, we set out on the Bison Loop Road, a gravel road through plains where bison herds (supposedly) graze. It's a safari of sorts and we kept our eyes peeled for any life...but sadly saw not one bison (maybe we'd have been better off visiting prior to this). Not to worry, there was still lots of the park left to explore.

We selected two easy trails from the dozen or so on the map: the Living Waters Boardwalk (300 m) and Beaver Pond Trail (3.5 km). The Living Waters Boardwalk was just as advertised -- a boardwalk along the marshy shore of Astotin Lake, rife with waterfowl (we saw ducklings, pelicans, and red-winged blackbirds) and views of the lake, accompanied by a symphony of unique bird calls. We'd also lucked out with the weather and had the midweek advantage of a deserted trail.

that black speck at the centre of the photo is a red-winged blackbird

the floating dock on Astotin Lake -- those white specks along the railings are very uniformly spaced gulls

Our next foray, Beaver Pond Trail, boasted "bison, moose, beavers, and waterfowl". It sounded too good to be true...and it was. We spotted a couple ducks and frogs. It was still a nice walk through an aspen forest -- almost worth all the mosquito bites :)

we look like legit hikers, no?

Beaver Pond, sans beavers

We returned to the car to do some more driving around at bison-spotting speeds and had our efforts (sort of) pay off near the west entrance of the park: far off in the distance, across a marshy meadow, stood a lone bison. I actually am not even sure that it was a bison (DDx = bison, tree stump, rock), as just down the road we spotted a second "bison" that turned out to be a mailbox. Anyways, I guess this just means I'll have to make a trip back to Elk Island, which I'm sure I'll do -- there's still much to explore!

We had snacks in the car en route to our next activity, bowling. It was my first time 5-pin bowling (and third time bowling, ever) so I definitely sucked, but it was fun, and also deserted in the middle of a Tuesday.

the dude abides

After bowling, we headed to El Cortez, a Mexican restaurant/tequila bar with the coolest restaurant decor I've seen -- an eclectic mix of urban grafiti/neon signs and rustic wood accents/dia de los muertos vibes. The food was also fantastic. We shared fried cauliflower, tuna tostadas, chips and assorted guacs (bacon berry guac = genius), and a whole lot of tacos (because, Taco Tuesday!).

We killed a half hour at a froyo place on Whyte Ave, playing jenga, before heading to our last activity, Paint Nite! A number of the staff physicians showed up and I think everyone had a fun time -- which we'll forever have mementos of in the form of matching paintings.

hard at work

waiting for the clouds to dry

the fence proved troublesome...can't say I love it (but I did love the process)

All in all a stellar day!