2019 Calgary Canada - Day 04 - Calgary to Salt Lake City Travel Home Day

August 26, 2019

It was time to go home.  Great trip it was.  Really nice.  

I got up early and took the rental car back.  The weather was better but it was quite cool.  We ate breakfast and then jumped on the shuttle back to the airport.  We checked in easily and found a lounge.  It was probably the nicest lounge we’ve been in.  While sitting there, it appeared that going through Denver would be a bad decision.  So we decided to wait until the 1:20 flight to SFO as there were many seats on that flight and then on the 8 PM flight.  I then wondered if there was an earlier flight to SLC from SFO.  There was...a 4 PM flight.  But we were not scheduled to arrive until 3:30.  So the system would not let me book it as a single itinerary.  But we booked the 4 PM flight in case we arrived early.  Well we did.  And, they even had enough seats to get us on.  So we arrived in SLC at 7 Pm (versus 11:30 PM).  This was good as we both had a busy week ahead of us.  And as a matter of fact, I’m now writing this from Las Vegas as we travelled down yesterday after work (Friday) to be here for Hudson’s 2nd birthday.

Life is so busy with family, work and .... travel.  But it is all good.  We would change nothing!

Until the next trip....

2019 Calgary Canada - Day 03 - Lake Louise

August 25, 2019

Today is Sunday morning and we had mapped out a chapel that had meetings start at 9 AM.  We got up early, got ready and headed to the chapel.  We arrived about 10 minutes early and there were very few cars in the parking lot.  We wondered what was going on. We walked in and noticed that the gym had chairs all the way to the back.  We asked a man if it was Stake Conference.  And like Puerto Vallarta, it was!  It was not going to start until 10 AM.  So we had a decision to make.  Since we were on a timeline to re-hook up with Roman and his family, we decided to forego Stake Conference.  We wanted to take the Sacrament and since that is not a function at Stake Conference, we opted to go back to the hotel and hit the road back into Banff National Park and to Lake Louise.  We were told by a friend that Lake Louise was one of the prettiest places on earth!  So we had to go there.

The drive to Lake Louise was about 2 hours.  On the way, a fellow struck up a conversation about his journey by Lake Louise.  He told me the crowds were HUGE.  He suggested we take the shuttle in.  So as we approached the Lake Louise area, we could see that the shuttle might be the best idea.  

The parking lot was huge with tons of cars.  And to our surprise the line to get tickets and get on a bus would take over an hour.  Then the drive would be another 20 minutes to get into the lake area.  Crazy.  But we did it.  Roman and Irena took the chance to find some parking closer and were successful.  But they did have a 20+ minute hike up to the lake from where they parked.  Anyway, they were there way before we were.  So they rented a canoe and toured around the lake that way.

Lake Louise is not big.  But boy, IT IS BEAUTIFUL.  It is surrounded by Forrest with mountains hovering over.  But at the far end were glaciers up the mountain that fed the lake causing the lake to have a common look for lakes that are fed by glaciers.  We hooked up with the Morozevych’s.  It was already about 2:30 PM.  That was important as our park pass was to expire at 4 PM.  It is only good for 24 hours.  So I wanted to be on our way out of the park by 4 PM.  Anyway, we walked around the lake and took pictures with their family.  It was cool and sunny.  Really nice.

Once were were done, we thought we could get on the shuttle bus and go to Lake Morraine.  However, upon trying to get tickets, they said we could not get on a shuttle until 4 PM.  So we just opted to walk with the Morozevych’s to their car and then we all piled, literally for Mark and Katherine, into their car and went back to the shuttle parking lot where our car was.  There we visited a bit and then parted ways.  That was not fun.  I wish we lived closer and could see each other often.  

Roman is doing well in his consulting practice.  Irena is now the Director at her care facility where she has worked for a while.  Katherine is really tall, very smart and is doing lots of things with her life.  Mark is just a great young boy just soaking in the experiences his parents are giving him.  We hope to see them all soon (in Utah!  :-) )

After the 2 hour drive back to Calgary, we went to a pub that advertised buy one get one appetizers.  We ordered a couple of appetizers and then split a meal.  It was all good...but food was not the focus there as much as alcohol.  We were a bit out of place.

As we got closer to the hotel, we thought we’d just drop the car early so we did not have to deal with it the next morning.  But, I was a bit concerned about its safety there and it was also starting to rain.  And Denise melts in rain.  But she had an umbrella so she said she was fine.  Nonetheless, we did not leave the car.  We went back to the hotel, booked our flights home for the next morning, packed and went to sleep.

Pictures:

 Lake Louise....

Selfie with Lake Louise in the back ground....

Lake Louise description....

Another picture of us....

Example of the many mountains we drove by....

All of the group.....

Canoeing Lake Louise...not us though.

A nice picture of all of us....

They had these animal over passes all over the park to protect the animals.  Pretty nice!

2019 Calgary Canada - Day 02 - Temple and Banff

August 24, 2019

Upon waking up, it was Saturday morning.  The first order of business was to eat breakfast at the hotel and then go for a walk to the rental car agency.  The breakfast was the standard fare.  It was good and the place was really clean.  The walk I took to the rental agency was through a business park area.  It took about 10 minutes to do.  I was a bit early but they were ok with that.  We got a nice car and were then set for the day.

The first item of business was to go to the temple and do a session there.  We chose the noon session so we could be out and on the road to Banff National Park by 2 PM.  It was about a 1.5 hour ride to the town of Banff.  Anyway, the temple was on our way to Banff.  So that worked out great.  It was easy to find.  We thought it was the ‘pioneer’ temple.  We were wrong.  That temple is in Cardston, Canada.  This temple in Calgary was only about 10 years old.  It reminded me of the temple in Sacramento.  A lady there immediately grabbed on to us and made sure we could get clothes and anything we needed.  The session was peaceful and nice.

The temple is located by a Stake Center which we hoped would be open so we could change into our tourist clothes.  But it was locked.  So, we used the area where the air conditioners were which had a chest high vinyl fence around it.  It was kind of funny as we had to bend down low to change so people did not think that we were weirdos out there changing clothes.  It all worked out.

The drive to Banff was a really good one.  One thing we was in Calgary as we left was part of the Olympic park where they did ski jumping and the various sled runs.  It would have been fun t tour that.  But our time was limited as we were excited to meet up with Roman Morozevych and his great family.   We arrived in Banff around 3:45 to find crazy amounts of people there.  Parking was not to be found so we just drove through the town and followed signs to the Bow River Waterfall area.  There it was busy too.  But we found some parking and got out and toured the area as we waited for Roman and family to arrive in the area.

The drive through Banff National Park was spectacular!  So darn beautiful.  The mountains are amazing there.  Huge, shear granite cliffs, with green valleys with the Bow River flowing through it.  We were amazed at it all.

Around 5:30 PM...I heard ‘Hey Tim’ on the trail by the Bow River Falls.  There was my good friend Roman who I had not seen for many years.  He was with Irena (his wife), Katherine (15 year old daughter) and Mark (his delightful son).    They were in the middle of a huge  trip from Vancouver and back.  This was the primary reason we made the trip.

After visiting for a few moments, finding a ‘washroom’ was needed.  But there were no restrooms at this waterfall site.  So we jumped in our cars and headed back into town.  There was a big washroom there.  Denise and I were lucky enough to find a quick spot.  The Morozevych’s found one, but it was a good distance away.  Nonetheless, we reunited at the Washroom and did our business.  From there we walked into town to find some food.  We ended up at a Tony Roma’s (BBQ food).  We remember the ‘loaf’ of onion rings that you could buy there.  So Denise immediately ordered onion rings.  However, upon their delivery, we were amazed how small they were.  The loaf concept no longer exists.  I think we visited and ate for about 2 hours.  It was quite a while.  I don’t think that we got back on the road to Calgary until about 8 pm.  It was so good to see and visit with them. They seem to be doing well.

After our drive, we arrived back at our hotel around 9:30 PM.  We were very tired.  I quickly researched where the closest chapel was that had church services starting at 9 AM.    We wanted to do Sacrament Meeting and then go back to the hotel, change and head back to the Banff area to meet up with Roman and Irena and kids to go see Lake Louise.  I found the chapel and then went to bed.

Pictures:

Steps from temple.  The view across the valley was really nice.

Road through Banff....

Trial to Bow Falls Overlook....

Downtown Banff....

I guess many people come to this falls to paint the area....

The Bow River....

Clothes change area that we created....

Another picture from the car while driving....

Amazing mountains....

The temple sign.....

More mountains we passed....

My beautiful wife with the falls behind us....

House of the Lord.....

There she is again....lovely!

Stairs to the falls overlook.....

Happy travelers....

Still happy in the Forrest!  

2019 Calgary Canada - Day 01 - Travel Day

August 23, 2019

Today we decided to make a trip to Calgary Canada after the funeral of my cousins daughter, Emily.  The funeral was a nice memorial of this young, 24 year old, relative.  She was always a nice young lady.  So sad to see her leave mortality so quickly.  Our prayers will always be with Steve, Monday and Hannah as they adapt to not having Emily physically with them.

The funeral ended at noon and our flight was at 1:25.  It was about a 30 minute drive to the SLC airport from Tooele, where the service was.  We made it easily.  But unfortunately, that flight went out full.  Our next opportunity (and last opportunity) was at 3:05 PM to Denver.  I gave us even little less chance on that one.  But that is when miracles occur....and they did.  We easily got on the flight.

In Denver, it was a close one too.  But again, I think we got the last seats...but seats no less.   So Calgary, here we come!

We arrived in Calgary at about 9:45 PM.  With no accommodations made or transportation plans, we sat down in the terminal and booked a hotel that had a hotel shuttle.  My thought was that I’d just get a car from the airport the next morning.  Anyway, I did some quick research and found a nice hotel for relatively cheap with a shuttle.  But by then, it was after 10:30 PM and their shuttle driver had gone home.  So, we ended up using Uber to get to the hotel...$18 outside Denise’s budget!  

It felt good to lay down and get some sleep knowing that we could sleep in if we wanted to.

The hotel was really nice...big room.  It was a full suite with kitchen, living area and so on.  I’d go back there in a second.  I then wondered if there was a car rental dealer near by off the airport.  Sure enough, there was a Budget rental car two blocks away.   So I quickly made a reservation for the next morning. Then off to sleep we went.  I actually think Denise was already asleep!