A quick flight to Calgary for a husky puppy
After a few days trying to adopt one of the husky-cross (a.k.a. “Alaskan Husky”) puppies from a rescued litter near Canmore, Alberta, it finally came together on Thursday (February 6th). I booked a flight for the next day to go down and get her. Air North is well known for giving great service for this sort of thing in particular, and being an Air North shareholder makes last-minute bookings affordable.
Lining up for takeoff at 09:03 Friday morning. The weather called for deep cold both at home and in Calgary, with mixed sun and cloud for all 3 days of the trip.
The view south over Lake Bennett, 7 minutes later.
There is some really intriguing geology in British Columbia – this is in the Dease Lake / Telegraph Creek area.
Drainage patterns on Williston Lake.
A broad view of part of Williston Lake, a 250-km-long lake created in 1968 by the building of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River.
Coal mining along Highway 40 north of Grand Cache, Alberta, with vapour coming from the HR Milner Generating Station, a 150 MW coal-fired power station.
In the center is Mount Robson, the highest point in the Canadian Rockies at 3,954 meters (12,972 feet).
We flew down the eastern flank of the Rockies at 37,000 feet to avoid the turbulence that’s common over the mountains. In the centre can be seen one of the large icefields that gives the highway known as the Icefields Parkway its name.
Descending into Calgary, looking down on Big Hill Springs Provincial Park in the centre, with the town of Cochrane in the distance.
Patterns in Alberta ranching country – the way this area is growing, there may be a mall there in 20 years.
The Bow River north of downtown Calgary.
This would have been prime property until the incredible floods along the Bow this past June – I wonder what prices are like now. Many businesses and homes are still being rebuilt.
The Aero Space Museum of Calgary is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in aviation.
Calgary International Airport (YYC) seems to have had major construction going on constantly for the past couple of decades. It’s one of my favourite airports, though access is a bit tougher than it used to be.
YYC is trying on a cellphone waiting area, and it worked great for my daughter and I. Rather than circle around and around, she just waited for my call and then drove over from a small parking lot a few hunded yards away.
I had arranged to meet my pup’s foster parents at 1:00 Saturday. As we got close to their home in south Calgary, we pulled in behind this truck – the a plate like that, we thought that it might be them! It wasn’t – just a funny coincidence.
My first cuddle with “Cuddles”, the pup that we’ve named Bella. The black-and-white pup is Lemon, from the same litter. The rescue director sent me a message saying that she thought that we might like Lemon better, as she has a thicker coat and “looks more husky”. No thanks, we were already committed to being Cuddles’ forever home.
Taxiing for takeoff at 1:10 yesterday afternoon. Getting through the airport took much longer than I thought – I got stopped over and over by people – airline agents, salespeople, passengers – with comments that often started with “OMG she’s adorable!” Yes, she certainly is 🙂
A great view of downtown Calgary with the Rocky Mountains to the west.
Looking over YYC to the northeast.
Looking down on my daughter’s neighbourhood, with 2 more large subdivisions just starting to the south of it.
Here’s a new subdivision south of Edmonton that leaves me wondering what the attraction is. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, with no lake, no trees, no anything that I can see. Different strokes, I guess 🙂
While the Air North flight from Whitehorse to Calgary is direct, on the way north there’s a 25-minute stop in Edmonton (YEG) to drop off and pick up passengers, many of them people who look like they work in northern Alberta’s booming oil and gas industry.
Looking down on downtown Edmonton at 2:50pm – our stop in Edmonton had been a bit longer than planned.
Highway 658 crosses the Athabasca River north of Blue Ridge, with the large Blue Ridge Lumber mill to the east of the road.
Almost home, over Teslin at 3:50 pm (we changed time zones going into BC and the Yukon, gaining an hour).
We made a very long, very low approach to Whitehorse. This has happened before when the guy who owns the airline, Joe Sparling, was flying the plane I was on, as happened yesterday. I love flying with people who love what they’re doing. This is the Yukon River Bridge on the Alaska Highway just east of Whitehorse.
That’s Bella’s crate being loaded onto the cart behind another, older Alaskan Husky.
Cathy and I were thrilled beyond words at how Bella’s first meetings with her new family went. Not only was Monty great, so was Molly (our cat), who walked right up to her and rubbed her head on her. The fact that Molly and Bella are pretty much the same size (for now) may help that relationship get off to a good start.
As I write this, my little “pocket husky” is napping at my feet. She’ll quickly realize that “the new guy” is her forever Dad. We’re going to have such fun 🙂
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