O Canada: Day 1

Thursday morning started with a 4am alarm as we scrambled to shower and get ready for our trip to Calgary. We must have been in the shower when the phone rang, however, there was no message. We left the house around 5:15 and Jim saw that he had a message on his cell phone. He listened to the message and we found out our 8am flight had been cancelled.

After turning around and going back home, Jim got on the phone and we got a new flight that would leave at 11am, get into Chicago just after noon (our time) and we had a 7 hour, yes, 7 hour layover in Chicago. Our flight from Chicago to Calgary didn't leave until 7:05. Originally, we were to have left Rochester at 8, arrive in Chicago at 9ish, leave Chicago at 11 and then arrive in Calgary around 1. Now here's the thing: The time in Chicago is one hour behind Rochester and Calgary is one hour behind Chicago. And after spending 7 hours in Chicago, neither Jim nor I care if we never see Chicago again. Chicago is the reason our original flight was cancelled. There was some sort of delay in Chicago and that just threw everything off.

Humor: On our flight from Rochester to Chicago, we were served tiny bags of cheddar cheese chex-type mix. Jim tore into his bag and promptly began remarking, "These look like dog treats." I started laughing and trying to get him to be quiet because the stewardess was still standing near our seats. "They taste like cat food." Hmmmm, we all know what that tastes like don't we? "Look," he said holding a single piece up. "It looks like a piece of dried bird shit with seeds in it." I laughed and dared not turn around for fear the stewardess would be glaring at us. Isn't my spouse funny?

So, we arrived in Calgary last night around 10ish (that would be 12ish)Rochester time and we saw some other people here for the conference (Chicago didn't just mess us up). We were beat. We had to wait for the shuttle to take us to our hotel and of course we had to stop at three other hotels before the driver got to ours. We didn't get to the hotel till 11:30. We promptly went up to our room and crashed.

morning after: Despite being hungry last night, we crashed. We are both ravenous this morning and are on our way to get something to eat. Worship service starts at 10:30. We missed the opening service yesterday due to arriving late, however, it should still be a wonderful conference. We are on the 17th floor and we have a nice view of the city from our window. Calgary is a real city, not like Rochester, a faux city. We can see the Canadian Rockies in the distance and we can faintly make out a patch of white on one of them that must be snow. I'm so hoping we can make it out to see them. It's only 60miles (that's about how long it is from our house to Rochester). I'll keep you posted.

Enjoy your day,

paul