Day 8 (29 October)
Today was our last day in the Airbnb, so we woke up and started packing up. We made full use of our 11am checkout time and left our room with ten minutes remaining. Maybe we should have done more packing last night. Oh well, we made it. We ate the rest of the fruit that we had purchased as to not throw any away and it served as a solid morning snack, allowing us to forego breakfast until we had made it to Calgary.
We got on the road and headed to lunch at Porch, a Mediterranean place in Calgary. As we got off the highway, I remarked to Bri that Calgary looked like an Army base. Anyone who has spent any time on an army base knows exactly what I mean and for those who haven't, you're not missing out.
Once we finished up lunch, we headed to Tim Hortons. We hadn't yet stopped for the Canadian delicacy, so we made sure to do so before we departed. My measure for good coffee is the ability to drink it with milk/cream only and no sugar or flavoring. A certain Seattle based brewer doesn't pass this test, so I feel it's pretty valid. I'm happy to report that both Bri and I enjoyed our sugar free, cream only coffees.
We then headed over to the zoo to bide our time before needing to get to the airport for our evening flight.
The Calgary Zoo was similar to the LA zoo in the regional zones that it has. The only exception was that the warmer climate zones were indoors because of the cold weather that Calgary has. We saw many an animal and took lots of photos.
After walking almost 4 miles over 3 hours, we headed back to the car for our drive to the airport to return our rental. Luckily, we left with plenty of time to top off the fuel tank and return the car because we hit one hurdle after another.
First, there was a considerable amount of traffic greater than we had forecasted. Our fifteen minute trip to the airport turned into thirty, plus our fuel stop because of a crash on the freeway. After we got to the airport and turned in our car, we walked into the bag check for WestJet (Delta is partners and used them for our flights into and out of Calgary). We thought it fortuitous that the WestJet check in was right across from rental car return. That was until we found out that the WestJet we arrived at was for domestic flights only. OUR WestJet back check was almost 2km away on the literal other side of the airport.
We started our journey and about fifteen minutes later, we arrived. We checked in with the bag agent and received some awesome news. Calgary International has a US Customs and Border Protection screening on the outbound terminal. After we had made it through Canadian TSA (who did not care at all that we had Pre-Check, but instead made every passenger go through a VERY thorough screening), we arrived at CBP. The agent we met with chatted with us about why we had traveled to Canada and what we were bringing back with us. He gave us the thumbs up and sent us on our way.
We grabbed some food from an airport restaurant on our way to the gate and ate it once we arrived. It was only once boarding had started that we realized WestJet had switched our seats and we were no longer sitting together. A trip up to the front desk and a chat with the gate agent remedied that situation and we were upgraded to boarding group 2 after our seats were changed to row 7. We were sat next to an older gentleman whose wife was sitting on the other side of the isle from him. As passengers boarded, we came to realize that she was alone in her row and wouldn’t have anyone next to her. We hoped that the gentleman would realize this and scoot over to be with her and leave us to have our own row. It wasn’t until we had pushed back that he did so, though. Luckily, he made it over, and Bri and I got the row to ourselves.
The flight was quite expedient, and I was only able to make it through Dr. Strange before we were already descending on final approach.
I’m writing this as we’re waiting at LAX for our ride and I’m remembering how lucky we are to have the support system that we do. Not even half of this trip would have been possible if it wasn’t for our friends and family and the support that they’ve given us. We are incredibly blessed and we can’t thank you all enough.
We have deliberately not sent out our Thank You cards yet, as we wanted to include photos of our trip in the cards. We wanted to make sure that all of you saw just how special you made it for us and how grateful we are for you. So, keep an eye out for some mail in the next week or two and thank you again for everything you’ve done to help us.
Love, Brianna and Creighton <3
