South LRT.

The south extension of Edmonton's LRT line is now open!

I'm a little late in posting about this since it got a lot of press already, but better late than never. Don and Dexter rode it on the grand opening weekend but I had to wait a few days later due to Saturday work. The impressive thing is Don came back from the fair and celebrations with two gigantic bags worth of groceries AND the baby and stroller. Our neighbourhood is really amazing, but the grocery getting is indeed a bike ride or drive away. It's pretty far to walk with more than one bag of food (at least for me it is). Now that the LRT goes to Southgate and Century Park, there are way more options for getting the milk and bread. YES!

The real point is, with the improvements in the transportation system there are now more convenient options available for active transportation.

By the time I had a free night to ride the LRT southbound basically all my friends had done it already. Luckily Tom was as excited as I was about the train and we decided to do our hang-out thing at the Brewsters in Century Park.




Our bikes were locked up at station.




Some guy rode his bike up onto the platform and locked it right there. I commented to him that bike and ride was definitely the way to go, and he exclaimed that the new train extension made Edmonton feel like a big city. Yay!

For some reason our train car was going to be out of service as of South Campus station, so we all had to get out of the car and transfer to another one.

Look who I ran into!




There is this art installation at Southgate station. I had previously been told this piece of public art was intensely hideous. I mean... I know it's not the sock and shoe combination I would personally ever wear, but to see the kids playing on it and all... I have decided that I think it's cute.





After getting off at Century Park we also ran into our friends Sam and Dave.

I love how social transit can be (though admittedly, some days are better than others).




The Century Park station has really pretty leafy spheres.




And there are shelters to protect you from the wind.




Escalators so people can go up and over 111 street.





And even from a transit station, the sunset is beautiful.




So when we were first thinking of places to have a drink and some supper we were at a bit of a loss. I don't usually hang out that far south and there weren't many options except for the few places in the Century Park complex. We went to Brewsters. The demographic was definitely not the same as the places I usually frequent. One thing I knew for sure was that almost everybody drinking in the lounge had arrived by car. Hopefully everybody understood their limits and was in the right state of mind to operate a motor vehicle later on. Um... I also saw lots of ball caps and biceps.

Hopefully the arrival of the train will also mean some more diverse dining options out there. Places that are within walking distance from the station.

Despite the change of scenery we still had a good time. Tom seemed to know the words to every top 40 song that was being piped through the sound system and there was beer and cider.




Tom brought out a particularly funny comic he had stored in his wallet.




Night time at the train station.




It was a windy, windy day. While killing time waiting for the train to arrive I photographed buttons, coats, and ties.








I am excited for all the new travel opportunities on the LRT line. If it wasn't dreamy enough before, now I have 2 whole new stops to experience. Next time I think I'm going to bring a bike onto the train, then bike from Century Park to a Chinese food place beyond the station. It would be stupid to walk, but mere minutes with the bike.