Memorial Service Day

Today we was the memorial service in Edmonton for my mother.

My uncle wanted to attend the service so we offered to take him with us for a day trip. We awoke at 4 AM, picked him up at 5 and drove to the airport. There was a forecast for light snow on Friday with increasing amounts into the weekend. It was clear when we arrived at the airport but the snow started falling (quite heavily) around the time we pushed back from the gate.

Edmonton was cold but clear and everything went well at the service. About 80 people came to the service, apart from our family. Arriving back at the airport in the late afternoon we discovered most of the flights to Vancouver had been cancelled due to heavy snow. Our flight was the only one not showing as a cancellation, instead as a delayed flight. The staff said it was contingent on getting an aircraft out of YVR and to Edmonton. I got Michael and Yoshiko comfortably parked in the lounge while I investigated our options.

An aircraft arrived around 8:30 pm and we departed about an hour later, five hours late.Ninety minutes later we landed in a snowed in airport and bravely decided to drive back to UBC. Absolutely terrible driving conditions but fortunately the streets were almost deserted. Michael's home is in a location with steep hills sloping down to the beach. We foolishly decided to attempt the hills and slid backwards into a snowbank on a deserted street. Two young students were out on skis and helped to push the car out. We finally arrived home around midnight.

I am getting too old for this kind of travel adventure.