On and On . . .: North of the Border

This past weekend, Jim and I jetted off to Alberta, Canada. Jim's company's headquarters is located in Calgary and the company was throwing a shindig for their "Long Service" employees. (Jim has in 30 years!) We departed Detroit on Friday morning and stopped in Chicago enroute. While at O'Hare Airport, we needed to get from one concourse to another, so we followed signs to the "Gates E & F Shuttle." Both Jim and I were amused to find that in order to reach our connecting gate, we had to schelp our luggage down two flights of stairs in a dingy, concrete stairwell, walk outside to the ramp between two aircraft, and climb into an old van, where we then proceeded to be driven across the the bustling tarmac dodging taxiing planes and speeding luggage carts. We found it difficult to believe that in this day and age, at the world's 4th busiest airport, that there was not some sort of tram or train to whisk us between concourses. Odd. When we finally arrived at our gate, we discovered that our flight would be taking off about an hour late because a tire on the main landing gear of our airplane needed to be replaced. The captain was so chatty, amiable, and friendly that no one even minded the delay. His words of wisdom were, "we'd rather be on the ground wishing we were in the air than in the air wishing we were on the ground." Very true!

Jim and I arrived in Calgary to find much warmer-than-usual temperatures and beautiful blue skies. We spent the remainder of Friday walking around downtown, eating, drinking, and spending a few dollars at the local casino. On Saturday morning, we were signed up for a tour of Banff and had to meet our group at 7:45 a.m. in our hotel lobby. The 8-hour bus trip to the Canadian Rockies was simply wonderful and included numerous sightseeing stops, a gondola ride to the top of a mountain, an amazing lunch, and time for shopping. We arrived back at the hotel with an hour and a half to get ready for the "Awards Dinner" that night. There were company people from all across the U.S. and Canada in town for the weekend and Jim reconnected with some other "Long Service" employees that he hadn't seen in years. All in all, Jim and I had a great time and realized that it has been almost 20 years since the two of us have traveled anywhere without at least one of the boys in tow. Yesterday, Jim flew to Houston and I flew back to Detroit. Our flights were uneventful, which is a good thing considering it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and security was extra tight. The next time we will be eligible to attend the "Long Service Awards Dinner" will be in 2016 when Jim logs in 35 years. I hope he is still with the company then because it sure was a fun couple of days!

At the top of Sulphur Mountain. The little building at the peak above Jim's left shoulder is a weather station. We would have hiked over to it if we had more time.