I wish. Photo credit, BrownDressWithWhiteDots

What?  Why? Why would anyone in their right mind travel to Northern Alberta in February? I asked myself the same thing but when I have a place aching in my heart for my babies (who are no longer babies) I have no choice but to put on my parka and board a plane to the snowy Prairies.  I didn’t pack my bikini.  I only put that picture there to trick you into reading this.  So, weather permitting I book my flight. My trusty i phone says highs of +1 c and low of -10 c.  Okay, so I can handle that! It’s practically balmy for this time of year.  Piece of cake!  No?  Never trust the weather report, that’s all I can say.  And because I thought it best to avoid the whole rental car kerfuffle and keep it simple my daughter and I relied on public transit.  We spent all of 5 minutes at the bus stop.  Five minutes goes by pretty quickly in the real world but at -22 wind chills it seems like forever, trust me.  The good news is the hotel was a short walk from station to stop at my daughter’s place. However, I rethought the wisdom of not renting a car.  Did I really simplify my trip?  Usually my son can pick me up but sadly, he was away.  That will teach me to assume that he has no life except work.  Next time I will go in the summer I will check his schedule before booking.  As I sat in the back of a cab most of the last day to avoid the wind chills I blew through the last of my cash.  Where was the cash cab when I needed it?  I could have answered those questions!

It was an interesting trip despite the weather.  I was a special ‘Mom’ guest on CJSR Radio for Family Day.  My daughter was on air with her radio show, Highly Functional Audio.  Never mind that my ex husband had to send in a request.  All of a sudden it’s broken family day, awkward.  The station is the University campus radio so I also got to haunt some of the halls of my Alma Mater.  Then off we went to find a drink.

My daughter and her DJ partner

my daughter and her friend helping pick great music

We ended up at this very interesting new lounge/restaraunt called the Three Boars.  There were three of us so that was fitting.   It’s one of those funky new places offering specialized whiskey lists (I don’t drink Whiskey) and interesting wines.  There were smoked olives on the menu that we just had to try.  I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc that was divine.  It was so smooth I didn’t even realize it had all gone down the hatch.  Suddenly the tiny room with squishy, rustic tables took on a whole new cozy atmosphere.  Stay a while, it seemed to say.  I had to have me another glass of that white wine divine.  No matter the cost.  My daughter had an import beer of some dark color and her friend a whiskey.  It was quite the upscale experience especially for university students, I thought.  We used to go to dirty pizza parlors for our post exam drinks.  Alas, times have changed.

It was a super freezing trip!  My son drove me to the airport of which I was grateful for the time to chat and to not ride in another cash cab.  The moral of this story, follow your heart but bring your warm gloves and hat, and never trust the weather report.

Where was your last impromptu travel destination?