Well, it is has now been 8 months since my sister and I went to Calgary for our grandma's 85th birthday, and I am just now writing about it. I have a bunch of pictures that I took from it as well, and they are on my FB (some of them are on IG, but I STILL have yet to upload those..#springbreakblogginggoals)! Yah, well, what can you do???
I don't remember the FULL back story as why we went other than it being her 85th, but I think Vienna said something about going back to Calgary, and since it would be her 85th, in July, she would try to go then, and she also ended up speaking to a church about her mission work that same weekend. She asked me to come with her, since we would have some time together, and she didn't want to drive out alone (who would?), and since I had time off :) I am NEVER one to say no to a road trip (well, almost never!), so I jumped at the chance!
Thursday, I drove to Mom and Dad's, as Vienna wanted to go through the National Park way.
This can also be titled "That time we went to Calgary, and I am just post about it a year later".
Oh.My.Gosh. It has now been over a year, and I am STILL in the middle of posting about our trip last year. Goody! Anyway.....I am determined to post about this, b/c it is worth noting, and plus it was the last real sister time before she left to the Far East. I am uploading some pics of the trip on IG (finally!).
So, back to the trip. I left town on Thursday evening, as she wanted to go the North Route. We left at around 8 or so (ok, I am guessing at this point, but that is probably when we left). It started out really nice, and then it rained. Hard. We stopped at Valemount for snacks, and then we lunch in the car in Jasper, b/c it was STILL raining! Oh, and we picked up some Tim Horton's, b/c what is The Great Canadian Road Trip without some? The next part of our trip went pretty uneventful. We had a few stops, and we had a lovely chat (I am sure we did...we always do!). Then, here is when/where our trip gets interesting! I think we had stopped in Banff for a short potty break, and as we were leaving, we were having a hard time steering, and it was making a weird noise. We drove along to Canmore (next town), to see what was going on. We were still having problems, so we called our dad, and he didn't really know what was wrong, either. We decided to limp over to a gas station, that also had a McD's attached to it (yay!), where we called our mechanic, who did his best to figure out what was over the phone. We thought it might be the power steering, so we bought some power steering fluid. We drove it around the parking lot for a few minutes, and we were having a really hard time steering. We decided to call a tow truck, when the car wouldn't turn on after turning it off. We waiting around for 2 or 3 hours, b/c we missed said tow truck, and they had my home number instead of my cell number. We ate dinner. We sat outside. We sat inside. We read magazines. We read books. We played on our phones. We talked. We got (a bit) angry. We laughed (b/c it is more fun to laugh than to get angry). Vienna worked on her speech for Sunday (see next paragraph). We texted. We called people. We people watched. I am sure that people watched (and wondered about) us! We even had a call from my friend in Kamloops asking if they could pick us up! We finally got picked up at around 9 (after I called two or three times to ask what happened), and we hoped and prayed that we wouldn't get murdered or go missing before we got to Calgary! The tow truck dropped her car and us at
Canadian Tire (the nearest auto shop), and she was told (she she called them earlier in the evening to tell them that she would be probably bringing the car in that evening) that they would call her the next day when the car was fixed. She dropped the keys off in the drop box, and we prayed that it would be safe overnight. Our uncle came at 11 to pick us up, and we fell into bed at midnight. Fun times!
The next day was Grandma's bday party, so we were there for about 11 or so the next morning. The party was really nice and it was held where G and G were living (due to Grandpa dying in March, Gramma moved back to where she/they lived before) in a common room. We had scones and tea and the great grandkids served the tables. It was really dear. That was the last time (that wknd) that I saw G and G together before he left this earth, and I loved seeing them together! He always had such a great love for her, and he would brighten up whenever she came into the room. It was so wonderful to witness! Vienna and I went up to Grandma's apartment (she lived in a separate wing from Grandpa), where she opened cards, and was surprised to find an A/C for her place (which, didn't end up working, but no matter!), and we had a short visit. Grandma suggested that we come back later that evening for dinner with her and Grandpa and a visit. We had hoped to have supper with them during our
trip back in March, but due to weather (which never happened), and my having an appointment (I was going through some health stuff during that time, and we were trying to figure out what it was, and they wanted me to have a CT) that couldn't be rescheduled, we had to cancel. So, we were super happy when Grandma suggested that we come back that evening. After the party (where I got to talk with people who I hadn't seen in ages!), Vienna got the call to pick up her car. Our uncle had lent us his, in case we needed to drive around town in it (which was super-sweet of him, especially we are not experienced in driving in large cities!), in the off-chance that her car wouldn't be ready. We picked up the car (where she paid way too much to get it fixed, IMHO), and drove back to our aunt and uncle's place. We then went aaaallllllll the way down to Southwest Calgary, so that Vienna could ship a box of her stuff ahead of her to The Philippines. You can send ANY size and weight of box for $100, or something!! It is crazy cheap! We quickly met up a friend of mine, so that I could drop something off to her, and we visited for 20 minutes. Then, we went to
Market Mall, and we had some late lunch, and wandered around a bit. We went back to their place for supper and a visit, and we were/are SO glad that we did, was that was really the last time that I had spent time with him (though, we did visit them a bit the next day). We got back around 8 or 9, and we relaxed and went to sleep early (probably...or not!).
Sunday, we went to church where we had both gone (at different times) while/when we were living Calgary. Our uncle was the lead the pastor until a few years ago, when he stepped down to retire. Afterwards, Vienna talked with the Filipino church that also meets there about her plans to go back to The Philippines. I ended up going to
Euphoria Cafe to spend $10 on two sprigs of lettuce and a small piece of piece of turkey. It was very good, though, and the coffee was delicious! Afterwards, we went to see Gramma and Grandpa again for an hour or so. We went to
Lics, and ice cream parlour that hs been around for a 100 years or something (ok, since 1982). They have amazing ice cream, and we grabbed a couple of pints for dinner. Well, not for dinner, but for after dinner. We had left over BBQ ribs that we had missed two nights ago, due to our car shenanigans. It was SO GOOD! Funny that I can remember what we had for dinner a year ago, but I can't remember what we did the evening of the party :)??!! We played a game called Ticket to Ride, which was really fun!
Monday morning, we left (after gassing up and getting a few groceries for our lunch) town. Oh yes, as we were driving out, someone signaled to us that her gas cap was off :) So, ya, we had to pull over and that baby back on (at least I THINK that was that trip....it might have been the trip back in March). We had a wonderful drive back home. We took the North route again, even though I warned her that her car might die...but all was well :) We had a slight wait in Canmore (yes, Canmore again!) for the Park Pass Toll Gate. I think we waited around a half hour in line. The whole trip back was SO NICE (compared to the somewhat rainy trip there!)!! We had a picnic in
Banff National Park, and then we continued on our travels. Vienna drove for most of the way, I think. She is a very good driver, and she doesn't scare me when she drives! Ha!
We pulled into the ranch at around 8 or 9pm (you gain an hour coming back..Yay!), and I am pretty sure that I went for a swim. I stayed overnight at our parents', and I came home the next day (I think??).
Wow! That has taken me FOREVER to write! I am thankful to/for Vienna for reminding of a bunch of things that I had forgotten (like the dinner what G&G)!! I guess we are sisters!!! If you are STILL with me..congrats! Thank you for taking who knows how long to read this post :)
I will leave you with one picture, and the rest will be on IG/FB (or they will be going on there soon, if they aren't on there already!).
Before we knew any better :)
Us waiting for a million years for the tow truck!! Also, I miss that pink top of mine!
Took him long enough to get there!! We were wondering about sleeping in the car!!
