Flight adventures on the road to Calgary

We manage to sneak in a morning tea at the Alpine bakery after our 10 day adventure , when we arrive back in Whitehorse, using our last bit of rhubarb jam on the yummy choco buns.

Lunch was provided by the “Bullet hole bagel “ a small literally, hole in the wall bakery, making only bagels. The one we pick is stuffed with roast vegetables, aioli and sun dried tomatoes, freshly out of the oven. I think we can say we have had a good sampling of food fare in Whitehorse.

We have a nice relaxed day in Whitehorse as we don’t leave till 4.30pm. After walking the lovely riverside trail in the crisp morning air we manage to find the only bakery that is open on a Sunday and that has baked the flakiest and most buttery croissants we have had in a long time. As some of you may know we are always on a worldwide search for the perfect croissant- these come pretty close.

We leave on our Air North flight to Calgary via Edmonton. The flight is pretty smooth but the landing is very rough with a severe shudder when the breaks get applied. We eventually come to a stop and the pilot announces that a slight problem with the hydraulics on the breaks means we have to be towed in to the terminal. Everyone is cool with that on board.

Next announcement “ there will be a vehicle, just to inspect around the plane with some flashing lights , don’t be alarmed” but then 4 fire trucks come racing onto the tarmac lights flashing !

We de-board safely and wait for what the maintenance crew will say. The initial announcement is “we will have a 2 hour delay on departure and we are looking at sending a rescue plane to get you to Calgary.”

We walk around , taking in the services at the airport one of which is providing an indoor environment for travelling pooches to relieve themselves. This is announced with a sign we have not seen before at an airport.

It consists of an encouraging fire hydrant and a wash down hose once the deed is done.

The gate staff remain calm , the passengers remain calm, next announcement “we have a further delay on our departure till 11.30pm”. When asked if the rescue plane is on its way “ we don’t have confirmation of that “. At 11pm the announcement is “our departure has been delayed till 2am and here are some food vouchers”.

A few passengers are getting shirty. When they still can not confirm that a rescue plane has been sent, we make the decision to see if we can get a rental car and drive the three hours to Calgary.

André sweet talks the AVIS lady to discount the rental from $500 to $270 , we get our bags off loaded and we are off by 11.45pm. By 1.30am we hit the half way mark in Red Deer and decide that the hotel that just happens to be behind us as we stopped for a little stretch will do just fine. Comfy bed, breakfast included and we are refreshed to do the last bit in daylight. We later find out that our flight did not leave for 15 hours, it was a good call!!

We are now at our beautiful friend’s place. Our friendship going back to the early 80’s. Her and her partner’s ranch is in the foothills of the Rockies. The smoke that was still here last week has all cleared and we are able to enjoy leisurely breakfasts on the verandah with a clear view to the Rockies and the company of our friend and their two gorgeous dogs, Luke a Russian black terrier, whose head comes up to my elbow and Sally the Australian Shepard Bernese Mountain dog cross with loving eyes waiting for the pats to get delivered. We are definitely ready for some doggy fix of love.

We get joined in the evenings by Peter to share some ranching and travel stories.

A couple of wonderful days is spent catching up on a few years of news, although it never seems like we have been apart at all whenever we reconnect. We take in some great hikes on the property and the Brown- Lowery Provincial Park trails. Sally comes with us, she just fits perfectly snuggly into André’s lap.

We see two mule deer quite close and Sally contributes to keeping the bears away with an extra bit of noise and rustling. The view from the top takes in both the city and the Rockies in the opposite direction.

We are really spoilt with fresh bakes, berries and delicious salads that Jill prepares in a blink and the time just flys by.

We have had a great time and we finish our stay with quite the wildlife adventure. As we are having a pre-dinner relax on the verandah waiting for both Peter and Kim, Jill’ s daughter to arrive, suddenly both dogs take off and we see a large alpha male coyote on the ridge that they are chasing. As they get there another coyote appears to the side, the dogs are split and Sally gets lured into the forest edge where we can now hear several coyotes yelping. This has been a set up to get Sally drawn into the forest, a young coyote pack of teenagers is being taught how to hunt. Luckily Sally has the sense not to go in the forest and comes back on our recalls to the house. We are not worried by Luke’s absence as he can hold his own. Sure enough he is back after a few more minutes. WOW, just like that it could have been a successful hunt.

Our last evening is so nice, catching up with Kim and Orson her dog and completed by a scrumptious Vietnamese take out from a restaurant owned by one of Kim’s friends parents.