Airport Musings

Well, as I have a couple of hours to spare in Calgary airport as I wait for the travel partner to arrive, this is a good chance to catch you up on the travels. Since the shore captain was slow to book his tickets he wasn’t able to get on the same one down from Edmonton to Calgary that I did. Likely a good thing as there was a major kink in West Jet this afternoon as I was leaving. More on that later.

We left Prince Albert by sneaking away in the middle of the night or rather early Tuesday morning and didn’t even wake our very generous hosts – this being highly unusual as they’re not known to be deep sleepers. And no, we didn’t skip out without paying our bill….we left an air mattress as collateral. We had stayed up late on our last night together enjoying a few beverages and lots of stories so ended up catching less than three hours of sleep. We decided we needed at least seven hours to drive across two provinces, drop the western daughter at the bus station and make it to the airport for our flight north so we crept away at 2 a.m. The cross Saskatchewan and Alberta drive took just five hours as there was virtually no traffic until we were almost to Edmonton. We headed down to the Greyhound station and we lucky enough arrive with five minutes to spare to an earlier bus so daughter # 1 made it on by jamming all her stuff into two bags (no small feat as there was a goose and a number of duck breasts in a cooler) and handing me some yard sale finds for safekeeping. She was relieved to make it back home by 10:30 and slept the day away getting up in time to roast the goose for supper. Her father and I headed through the morning traffic and construction out to the airport making it in lots of time.

The flight to the Northwest Territories was uneventful on an Air Canada Jazz plane which was almost full although only having 50 seats. Lots of good photos of the lakes, boreal forest and then tundra out of the window seat and I’d post one if I didn’t have to dig out the paraphernalia in the middle of the waiting area to do so . Yellowknife is a small northern city of 20,000 people and was only settled after WWII, being made the capital in 1970, so very recent history. Reminded us a great deal of our time in Labrador actually, and that is a good thing. By the time the shuttle bus dropped us off at the hotel – which was very cozy and had great breakfasts - and we dragged our sorry carcasses up the room….a nap was in order. We ventured out into the crisp air at 0 c to find some supper and settled on The Red Apple which is a Chinese food restaurant. We miscalculated the sizes of the servings – huge - and waddled back to our hotel.

Wednesday was our day to explore the city and we started out with a trip to the Legislative Assembly. Not too many of these have a polar bearskin rug on the floor of the chamber. The building is created to resemble a snow house (the politically incorrect term for someone of my age would have been igloo if that helps) and is beautiful. The NWT is governed by consensus so has a round chamber and tables. Next we made our way over to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center and if you should ever find yourself in Yellowknife this is definitely worth a visit. We spent several hours there and could have stayed longer – lots of interactive displays and info from the first peoples onward. We meandered along (without too much whining from the travel partner about his toe) the city streets and down to Old Town and Lathams Island. Lots of mobile homes from the 70s which a merchant advised sell for a minimum of $130,000 on a ½ lot. This because housing is at such a premium here – apparently a room in mobile home goes for $700 per month. The northern allowance would only make up the difference for accommodation and food if there were two folks sharing who both received it. For supper we had one of THE BEST meals we’ve had for at least a long while as we discovered a restaurant called Feugos and again if you find yourselves in Yellowknife this is a must do. It’s a cozy basement place decorated in a European style, delicious food, good sized servings, amazing presentation and excellent service. The artic char I enjoyed and the bison steak the partner ordered were wonderful. We skipped back to the hotel completely pleased with life.

The shore captain had stopped at a local car dealership / car rental place and arranged for a rental for Thursday so we headed over in the morning to begin exploring. A false start as the chauffeur had to retrieve his license from the luggage where he’d stowed it after the airport check in. There was a problem as the rental car hadn’t been returned so the ‘rental agent’ gave us the car he uses to get around in and wrote “no charge” on the rental agreement. Turns out he could do this as we discovered upon returning the car as he owns the dealership! The shore captain has already decided that he’ll attempt to send up some lobsters as a thank you and perhaps to test the idea of shipping into the NWT as one of the Newfoundland staff almost wept when she described lobster at $30 per lb when you could get it. We checked out some of the settlements – Dettah and some of the parks on the Ingraham Trail then stopped at the visitor’s center for a map. Found a guy working there who was from Truro (vacationed frequently in Cuba) and had come north for a year contract 21 years ago. Small world. We drove over as far as Rae Edzo which are native communities I’d read about and it was starting to snow by the time we made it back to the city. Yes, you read that correctly….snow- and lots of it. We made our way carefully to Tim Hortons (of course they are in NWT) to warm up. A quick stop for a bottle of wine where we discovered the selection was vast and only about $2 a bottle more expensive than NS and there were all the fixins for example tobasco sauce, clamato juice, chips you name it – one stop shopping. The wine was to go with the in house pizza we’d already decided on for supper – none of this wading through snow for supper as we weren’t likely to do better than Feugos no matter what.

This morning was spent packing – why is it that things don’t want to repack the same way they did originally? Printing boarding passes proved to be an adventure as the ‘business center’ in the hotel had technical problems with the printer on Thursday evening, meaning I’d checked in and was waiting for the boarding pass to print. The end result was that the tech ripped my printed Air Canada boarding pass into lots of pieces and threw it in the trash can and you can only print it once. I have seen an episode or two of CSI so managed to piece the document back together and borrow tape from the front desk. I further charmed my way into printing the West Jet boarding passes at the front desk as there were more computer issues with the ‘business center’ and all it cost was a bit of my time counseling the reception clerk who is a cancer survivor. I was approached by the Fire Inspector asking who his contact at the facility was so I must’ve looked a little bit official. Checking out, catching the shuttle back to the airport, navigating the slippery parking lots, watching the backhoe do snow removal as the bush planes landed and took off filled the time as we had a slight delay.

Uneventful flight down to Edmonton and we met by the western daughter and her main squeeze at the airport. Only time for a cup of tea (once the water was restored in the restaurant) while the boyfriend fed the parking meter and described his vehicle as being watched. The daughter, boyfriend and the shore captain headed out for a visit while I caught the flight to Calgary where I have my longer stopover. As the western daughter said “Mom, we know which one of the two of you are able to amuse themselves for a few hours in an airport and it’s you” so the guy with ADHD is being entertained and put on his flight just about now if all goes well.

Hopefully his check in etc. is smoother than mine as I couldn’t get my boarding pass to scan (likely the ink the clerk told me) thus couldn’t get baggage tags printed and had to drag my luggage to the other end of the airport for the clerk to assist me it was really busy so she didn’t give me my baggage check claim. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t check that tag and put it away safely. There was an hour delay with the flight and lots of angst as many of the passengers were making tight connections so lots of muttering although the flight to Las Vegas was held and they all connected but not particularly gratefully. As I waited for the luggage to arrive I began to have misgivings, especially without the baggage claim tag, and finally was rescued by a West Jet clerk who advised the suitcase had been checked through to Halifax. Nice to not have to sag that around while waiting. I rewarded myself with supper at Kelsey’s of kettle chips and onion rings and I have to tell you that a strawberry lemonade with vodka sure made the wait better.

So, now to take advantage of the wi-fi here at the airport and post this as I am likely to be a while doing laundry when we arrive home tomorrow. Tonight I certainly plan on catching as many z z z zs as I can on the red eye tonight. That is why I went to such lengths to arrange the seat selection and print the boarding passes early as the travel partner makes a good pillow. Good thing as it’s going to take us over 24 hours to make it home. Sure hope the hacienda is intact as a kind friend let Stanley in to the house as he was abandoned in his cat carrier on the front doorsteps by the courier. Apparently there was a lot of growling and hissing from the guard cats so we shall see what awaits us. Later.