The rain didn’t help to dry my clothes during the night, but it did help to dissipate the humid air. The air was cool and dry this morning as I spent a while reorganizing the car to make room for Matthias. I was sad to leave my nice tent site, but I was looking forward to pushing on to Calgary to pick up my old buddy.
I headed south out of Lake Louise along the Bow River Parkway, an alternate route that runs parallel to Highway 93, then Highway 1, to Banff. The trees were closer to the highway and the road was much narrower so my speed was much slower, but the drive was nonetheless beautiful. I passed right by a multi-point buck as I drove. I turned off into the town of Canmore just as the highway bent to the east towards Calgary to ask a staffer at the visitor center where I could find a place to wash and vacuum my car. She gave me a map and told me all about my car-washing options in Canmore. I gave Conrad one final scrubbing before I drove to Calgary.
I lunched at McDonalds in West Calgary as I gazed across the freeway at the enormous ski jump which was used during the 1988 Olympics, then I drove to the airport to scout out hotels in the vicinity; I booked a place at the Best Western Airport. It is clean, the staff is courteous, and the beds are flat and firm. That gets five stars from me. Tonight would be my first night in a hotel bed since June and I was looking forward to it. I checked into cyberspace for a few minutes before I left for the airport.
Just as I was walking into the Calgary International Airport, the power in the entire complex went out. The lower level of the terminal was pitch black. People stopped walking and talking and you could have heard a pin drop. My first thought was that something sinister was happening. The auxiliary power kicked in after about 20 seconds and I heard a woman behind a car rental counter complain that that was the fourth time that’s happened in the last month due to some ongoing construction around the terminal.
That 20-second power outage would affect the flight traffic for the rest of the day. The computer systems went down, the escalators and elevators stopped working, and for a brief while the baggage carousel system was down. Flights backed up, and Matthias’ arrived about an hour later than scheduled.
But finally he arrived! He had endured a long flight from Frankfurt, but was nevertheless upbeat. It was great to see him. We cruised back to the hotel as we started getting caught up on our lives. We spent a while viewing pictures of his recent trip to Italy (and by recent, I mean very recent - he was there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and today is Monday) and his 2003 trip to Alberta and British Columbia. We compared notes on a few of the places we visited that we had in common. Neither of us was very hungry, but we decided to go out in search of dinner. We drove in the car, it turned out, across the street to Denny’s. He had a chicken salad while I had the All-American Slam breakfast. Mmm, good.
By the time we got back to the hotel, it was about 6:00 AM Swiss time. Matthias climbed into the sack and I wrote my journal.
I headed south out of Lake Louise along the Bow River Parkway, an alternate route that runs parallel to Highway 93, then Highway 1, to Banff. The trees were closer to the highway and the road was much narrower so my speed was much slower, but the drive was nonetheless beautiful. I passed right by a multi-point buck as I drove. I turned off into the town of Canmore just as the highway bent to the east towards Calgary to ask a staffer at the visitor center where I could find a place to wash and vacuum my car. She gave me a map and told me all about my car-washing options in Canmore. I gave Conrad one final scrubbing before I drove to Calgary.
I lunched at McDonalds in West Calgary as I gazed across the freeway at the enormous ski jump which was used during the 1988 Olympics, then I drove to the airport to scout out hotels in the vicinity; I booked a place at the Best Western Airport. It is clean, the staff is courteous, and the beds are flat and firm. That gets five stars from me. Tonight would be my first night in a hotel bed since June and I was looking forward to it. I checked into cyberspace for a few minutes before I left for the airport.
Just as I was walking into the Calgary International Airport, the power in the entire complex went out. The lower level of the terminal was pitch black. People stopped walking and talking and you could have heard a pin drop. My first thought was that something sinister was happening. The auxiliary power kicked in after about 20 seconds and I heard a woman behind a car rental counter complain that that was the fourth time that’s happened in the last month due to some ongoing construction around the terminal.
That 20-second power outage would affect the flight traffic for the rest of the day. The computer systems went down, the escalators and elevators stopped working, and for a brief while the baggage carousel system was down. Flights backed up, and Matthias’ arrived about an hour later than scheduled.
But finally he arrived! He had endured a long flight from Frankfurt, but was nevertheless upbeat. It was great to see him. We cruised back to the hotel as we started getting caught up on our lives. We spent a while viewing pictures of his recent trip to Italy (and by recent, I mean very recent - he was there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and today is Monday) and his 2003 trip to Alberta and British Columbia. We compared notes on a few of the places we visited that we had in common. Neither of us was very hungry, but we decided to go out in search of dinner. We drove in the car, it turned out, across the street to Denny’s. He had a chicken salad while I had the All-American Slam breakfast. Mmm, good.By the time we got back to the hotel, it was about 6:00 AM Swiss time. Matthias climbed into the sack and I wrote my journal.
2 comments:
Good Morning
I am missing the notes (and some pictures) of the first day you spent with Matthias!
For the ones who stay at home your itinerary is just great. It's great anyway. Enjoy your journey and greetings to both of you. Monika (Swissy)
Good morning tramps
Best wishes from the "Neidhammel"* of the office in Zurich . . . .
(very interesting to read)
Have a nice trip to the bears!
Al
*motton of envy
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