We then headed for a peek at the girls clothing and to get some food and snacks for our trip to Calgary. Once that was done, we stopped in at McDonald's for some lunch stuff. A tip on how to travel cheaply with kids. I didn't feel like buying buns to make lunch on the run and I wasn't going to spend $30 for lunch at McDonalds, so I did my 'trick'.
I ordered 10 of those little chicken sandwiches for the boys, plus an extra large fries and a pop for me. All the boys that wanted two sandwiches got them, plus a handful of fries, a water bottle and then for those that were hungry there were all the snacks I travel with: cheese and crackers, granola bars, puddings etc.
When we put the order in at McDonalds it was funny because the cook came out front to see if there was a typo when she saw the TEN of one burger. *laugh* The cashier said they don't see big orders in their little store.
From here we headed to Calgary. That was a slight adventure. The weather was lousy; at least it wasn't raining, though.
We saw a new oil rig getting put into the ground.
There was road construction happening so that slowed us down some. And then we were told to pull over because a big house was coming down the road on a truck. The guy told us it would be 1/2 hour before we could drive again! Oh man!
But then I remembered I had this adoption book I needed to read, so out it came and I settled in for a read, while the little ones slept and the older ones read their books.
After a while, the truck came and we were off again. I followed all the signs to Calgary and then was 'within city limits' and realized I had better call someone. Calgary was bigger than I was expecting! Duh!
Not wanting to take an exit and then have to figure out what road I was on and how to get back on it, I decided to pull off the road. I did so. It was a busy freeway and it was raining, so I pulled up the bank a little bit. I then called the hotel.
The guy asked me where I was.
Huh? There is a ----- building on my left.
He didn't know where that was. What roads had I come in on?
Are you kidding? *laugh* I have driven 4000 km. Each of those roads has blurred into the previous one. All I did was follow signs for Calgary!
Okay, so he asks me if I saw Deertrail South.
Yes, I think I passed it about 2 km back.
So he tells me to turn around and go back to it. Take a right and get on that road. After I am on that road I am to call him back and he will direct me to the hotel.
I hang up the phone and get back on the freeway. I head in the same direction looking for an exit so I can turn around and head back. I suddenly see a sign that tells me I am *on* Deertrail South. Okay!! No wonder I thought I saw it. Some how I got on the road.
I pull over and call the guy back. I tell him where I am and he says:
Follow Deertrail South and then take a RIGHT onto Southland Drive.
I very carefully draw what he says and ever so carefully draw my arrow to the LEFT as I write: go RIGHT. Then I hang up and off I go.
I make a mad dash to the LEFT through the gaps in traffic, as my oldest son says what I am doing doesn't make sense.
What do you mean it doesn't make sense?! The guy says go RIGHT. I am looking at my map and I am going.... LEFT!?!!! What? My map says right, but my arrow points left! Ooops!!
I immediately look through my mirrors and make a mad dash back over to the REAL RIGHT! Just in time to get my exit! WHEWW!!
As I come off the exit I remember exactly what the guy said to me: Go EAST. Do NOT go West as it finishes as the freeway.
I very carefully read the signs and GO EAST. I cross the Freeway (ohh look, there goes IKEA!! - Kids say: NOOOOOOO!!!!! *grin*) and head EAST. As I am driving over this overpass and heading into cow country, I am thinking and saying, "Well, this is odd. This doesn't look like where you would find a hotel! Oh look. It says, "Proceed with Caution. Enter at your own risk." This can't be right!"
As I get to the end of this road I enter a restricted area, which is gated off.
OKAY. *I* was the one that got the left and right mixed up. I did NOT get the East and West mixed up! Thankfully there is a guy exiting the lot as I pull up. I tell him where I am trying to go. He tells me to turn around and go through 3 traffic lights and then take a left and a right.
Good enough. Thanks and off I go.
Just a head of me the guy pulls off and waves me up. We pull up and he says, "Actually, there are four lights. You turn at the fourth light."
Okay! Thanks and off we go, again.
He heads out ahead of me and as we pull up at the first light, the guy opens his window and waves us down. My oldest son and I have a little giggle and pull up.
Yessssss????
The guy then explains why they say three lights instead of four. They don't actually call the first one a light, for some odd reason?! Hey, he says, "Why don't I just show you the way. Follow me!" And off we go - him leading and us trying to keep up.
He pulls into our hotel, points to a parking spot for us, and then takes off. What a kind person! All for a stranger. I love people like that!!
The nice guy's truck as he drove away.
I pull in and park and then go in to pay for our room. As I am standing there, leaning on the counter I hear someone say something and I know in my mind I recognize this voice. But it is coming from the wrong place. It should be coming from the handset on the phone, as I have never heard Corrie speak to me anywhere but over the phone!
I turn and there is Corrie. It was the funniest thing. I have only ever seen glimpses of her in photos and never in 3D *grin* and here she was like a drawing come to life! As I fully expected, our friendship that has developed over the last 7 months has filled in all gaps of our knowledge of each other. Meeting was simply putting a real face to the voice and letters that we have written for months! It was very natural and wonderful to finally meet!
We immediately got our rooms sorted out at the desk and then headed out. The funny thing was I was checking in today and Corrie was not supposed to arrive until tomorrow, so the chances of us both arriving at the check-in desk at the very same moment was unreal!
We both unloaded our vans and then headed up to our rooms. We are across the hall from each other. The kids were very impressed with the hotel. It is a nice one and there is a small swimming pool in the one building and then a 'big gusher waterslide' in the other building.
As soon as we had dumped our luggage in our rooms, we got the children dressed for swimming and then headed down to the little pool in our building. They had a wonderful time playing and getting to know each other for about 30 minutes, before we headed upstairs to Corrie's room for some room service pizza (that she sweetly ordered).
Hungry Little SwimmersAfter we had dinner we again headed down to the pool. This time we went to the big pool and let the kids have a ball!! We are so blessed with all these responsible older children. We started out letting the big kids use the slide and keeping the four little ones near us. Finally when we realized the big kids could bring the little ones down the slide because the water wasn't too deep, we let them take them.
A blessing of having a big family. Corrie and I did not take our eyes off our children the whole time we were sitting there, but we were able to give each of our smaller children to a bigger brother or sister and let them take them down the waterslides.
This pool had a better slide and the littles had a ball coming down the slide in the arms of a sibling or friend and then being held up out of the water as they exited the slide. All the children had such a wonderful time!! As fast as the children came down the slides, they went back up again. It didn't matter whose brother or sister it was - each of the four older children just picked up a wandering/waiting little one and took them back down the slide. It was wonderful for everyone! We ended up being their for nearly 2 hours because of everyone's cooperation.
Once we came back to our rooms we got the little ones to bed and then Corrie and I got together in our hotel room to read emails and chat. We have lots of time together planned cause we have four days in Calgary and then we are heading to their house for another four days.
No comments:
Post a Comment