2006-09-05 - 1:49

Banff revisited

Since I haven't caught up with the Eastern time zone or non-vacation hours yet, I'm up for posting a quick recap of our Banff vacation.

Just before leaving, we had a computer failure here. Laurie's machine first had a hard drive crash and subsequently failed to power up. After some running around and parts swapping, with help from Aaron on both, Laurie and I each got a working computer before we left; although that chewed up some time and left me packing late into our last night here.

Last Saturday morning, we flew to Calgary. Air Canada has a scam going now where they charge you 15 bucks (per person, per direction) to reserve your seat online. I figured that I never needed that service before--you just show up at the airport early and they assign you a seat, right?

Not anymore. Now you're assigned a seat at the gate, rather than at your first check-in. Not only that, but they don't assign you a seat as soon as you show up at the gate. Instead, they make you wait until after other people have started boarding, then split up your party by assigning only middle seats (and not even in the same row).

So, they've deliberately made the default policy worse than it has ever been so that they can sell you a premium service that other airlines offer for free. Oh, and they also oversell, leaving you wondering until after boarding starts if you'll even make it on, meaning that you've paid full price for a standby ticket. If I can help it, I'll avoid Air Canada from now on. As it was, Laurie and I didn't sit together on the way out and I grudgingly coughed up the money to choose seats for the trip home.

Apart from that, the trip was great. The weather was beautiful almost the entire time; and we made sure to get outside and do something each day. Within a few hours of arriving, we had seen deer (in the backyard), elk, and a coyote; and we later saw several big-horned sheep. It was great to see my brother John again, and we got him addicted to Bohnanza and Big Brain Academy. Kelly gave us a tour of the Banff Springs Hotel, and one of John's friends joined us for a few trips out of town, acting as a tour guide.

Laurie and I made it to the Columbia Icefields and Athabasca Glacier, and to the tops of Mount Norquay (by car), Sulphur Mountain (by gondola), and Tunnel Mountain (by foot). We saw Lake Louise, Moraine Lake (the one from the old twenty dollar bill), Lake Minnewanka, Peyto Lake, and Bow Lake. I took a ton of pictures, of course, which I'll be going through and posting online in the near future.

All in all, it was an amazing time. Now it's back to the real world, unfortunately, although this week will be mercifully short. We're making a long weekend of it and heading to Toronto for the Virgin Festival, which should also be a treat. (After that, it's time to stop spending money, I think.)

J.