Waterton Lakes National Park is an exceptional park. It is primarily forgotten amongst the flash and dazzle of Banff and that suits the park just fine.
Along the way, we stopped in to see Auntie Roseanne and Paul. I haven't seen Auntie since I was 18 so it was a lot of fun. We all had a really fantastic chat and a good time before carrying on. It's funny though, how strong the McKenna DNA is. Mom and Uncle Jack look like Gramma Jessie while Auntie Sandra and Auntie Roseanne look like Grampa. Regardless, all of us (Mom, Auntie and I) look scarily alike.
One of the many, many thinks I love about Alberta is the diversity of the scenery.
We stopped at Red Rock Canyon, a place I've never been to before.
I would like to remind readers that we are in a national park in Canada - a first world country. These parks are well established but poorly funded. Our previous government didn't believe in funding things like the military, or national parks or non-oil based resources. As a result, money spent on the national parks system went ..... well, we don't know where it actually went but we know where it didn't go - the toilets.
We arrived at the same time as a group of British tourists. Our national parks system is world class and attracts people from literally everywhere. If you take a second to offer a smile and to take someone's picture with their camera (because selfies suck, and so do pictures with only most of the family/group), you'll find that people have come from around the world to visit the mountains. These people will also need to use the washroom. I did too. The young British ladies were loudly unimpressed that they were drop toilets in the middle of a national park. So was I. But when you gotta go, you gotta go.
Red Rock Canyon is aptly named and simply stunning. Google is giving up nothing in regards to the make up of the rocks but that doesn't really matter. They're gorgeous.
In Waterton, we five bears.
Two were on the golf course - a mama and a cub. They were having a snack on the greens before retreating to the other side of a wind break. A guy came along to play the hole, not knowing the bears were less than five metres away! They didn't eat him and I am only mildly disappointed. Two more were having a snack on the side of the road and the fifth was lounging in a field.
After a picnic dinner, we did some geocaching around the lake.
It hasn't been the best year for my mother at all. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and that sucks a metric fuckton. Yes, we all lucked out and she has the best case scenario breast cancer but it's still breast cancer.
And I hate it.
I was given the chance to go out to Calgary for 10 days and you're damn right I took it.
I went at the tail end of Stampede because #pancakes. And #beans.
The essential parts of a Stampede breakfast are pancakes, beans, sausages or bacon, and bad coffee. I haven't had a Stampede breakfast in 10 years and this was exactly perfect.
The following day, we (Mom, Ernie and I) went to Waterton Lakes National Park.
Along the way we stopped in Nanton and saw a Lancaster Canadian T-33.
"The T-33 on display at the Bomber
Command Museum is on long term loan by Orville Rowland of Okotoks. One
of the Canadian built aircraft, it's fuselage bears serial #21272
although the tail is from another aircraft. It was taken on strength by the RCAF
in 1954 and assigned to #2 Advanced Flying School at CFB Portage la
Prairie, Manitoba where in remained until it was struck off strength in
1967. Mr. Rowland acquired the aircraft and placed it on display at the
Okotoks Airport. It was acquired by the museum in 1998." Source
We visited the candy store as well where I learned they no longer made Nanton Root Beer, which is easily the best root beer on the planet. I don't know how to put into words what I feel about this.
We carried on down the road to Lundbreck Falls where we stopped for lunch.
Lundbreck Falls sits on the Crowsnest River.
Now, here in Newfoundland, people are losing their damn minds over a 30-acre canola field. Seriously. Canola. They're flocking to this field to take pictures of it.
The next 24 hours of my trip were almost personally uneventful.
I almost got arrested in New York City. That's a thing that happened.
When you take the bus from New York City airports, you're apparently supposed to pay before you get on the bus, not as you get on the bus. This is not clearly indicated anywhere and when I asked the nice lady at the Port Authority for help, she told me you pay as you board. Cool. I've got a MetroCard, no big deal. Awesome.
I got on the bus. I looked for a place to swipe my MetroCard but the driver told me not to and to go to the back. I took this to mean that the swipe was at the back door.
I was wrong.
I sat down and thought maybe I paid when I got off?
About half way through the journey, NYPD Transit Cops board the bus and ask to see everyone's proof of payment. Great! I'll show them my MetroCard - this is like the C-Train back home, I get it!
Nope.
I showed them my MetroCard and they asked for the receipt as proof of payment. I explained that I had tried to pay three times and was turned away each time and I'm sorry, could I pay them now? I'm from Canada and I'm normally really good on transit and I'm sorry, I don't know how this works. The nice cop half rolled his eyes at me and asked for proof. As I was searching my purse for my passport (explaining each step so he didn't think I was searching for a weapon, even offering for him to look himself if he would like and once again apologising), he smiled and said, "I know you're Canadian, you've apologised four times in about thirty seconds."
Glad to know our reputation precedes us.
I show him my passport and once again offer to pay. He handed me an official warning and said that next time, there will me a machine at the bus terminal that I swipe my card at and keep the receipt. I thanked him profusely and carried on.
I spent the day geocaching in Manhattan. I found a couple but missed one by about half an hour. There were a few others looking for it at Bryant Park and by the time we banded together we realized that the last two logs were a found and a Did Not Find an hour apart - it had been muggled.
James met some Rockettes.
I went back to La Guardia airport because it was getting late.
In my infinite wisdom I had decided that I could just sleep in the airport, no big deal.
What a fucking hole.
I wasn't the only one with this idea and we were all idiots. I was at least smart in that I had my scarf.
We were kept on the land side of baggage claim, barricaded away from the actual carousels by metal fences. They weren't even turned on - it's not like we could have done anything with them like go for a ride!
I found a TV and I wish I hadn't.
This was 13 November, the day of the attacks in Paris.
A few of us were sitting around and watching in shock.
Then the alarms went off in the airport. National Guardsmen formed up from out of nowhere and ran to barricade exits and keep large groups of people in areas together while other National Guardsman ran around and did things. This was very uneasy but I knew that the situation was under control. The alarms were called off about half an hour later and the Guardsmen dispersed like they were never there.
A couple of hours later, they went off again.
And again, two hours after that.
I appreciate the quick and careful response of the US National Guard and the Port Authority. Each time turned out to be nothing but the waiting was tense, especially given what was happening in Paris at the exact same time.
I managed to get a nap. I defied the odds and got a couple of hours of sleep.
I was finally able to enter La Guardia airside and really, I don't know what is wrong with people.
Since the dawn of commercial air travel as we know it, you have needed photo ID to get on an airplane. Period. This is especially true of international travel.
If you fly WestJet, they are kind enough to remind you many, many times with plenty of time to find it and have it ready. In fact, it shouldn't be that far away because you have to show it and your ticket in order to get past security.
Apparently in the 200 metres and half an hour wait since security, one woman forgot this. She didn't think her kids would need photo ID - namely, passports - for an international flight. Yes, USA to Canada is international. Her kids didn't have passports. They were 9, 11 and 15. She didn't think they needed them because they were under 18. WestJet, I'd like to point out, has repeatedly announced that all passengers need a passport to board the international flight. WestJet has said more than once that if you don't have a passport, you can't board. Everyone - everyone - needs a passport, even children under 18.
They apparently got passed security with state ID. They had no passports to board the flight. Well, the mother did because she knew she needed it. WestJet rightfully denied them boarding. This was an outrage because how was the mother supposed to know they needed passports!? They were only going to Canada! She demanded a refund and proceeded to have a fit. No refund for human stupidity.
