Canada, O Canada

I was in Canada this past week for business, and oh, was it ever a fun trip. When we arrived Sunday, the high was 1F. Yes. One. Of course, it was colder than that when we actually got there. The low was -20F. Monday, the high didn’t get past -8F (yes, negative 8 degrees). Monday night’s low was -43F, a record for Edmonton. Driving to the meeting Tuesday morning, it was -24F. These are the temperatures when your nose hairs freeze every time you take a breath. Thank goodness our vehicle had heated seats. Tuesday’s high was -10F, and the low was -39F, another record for Edmonton. Wednesday was much warmer, with a high of +7F and a low of -9F. By Thursday, the temperature actually got above freezing. It felt almost balmy. Almost.

Speaking of the vehicle, Sunday’s arrival into Edmonton was…eventful. My coworker went to get the rental car while I waited on our bags. After he picked me up, he said we were going back to the rental place to swap vehicles because the windshield wipers weren’t working. Considering how much snow was blowing around, the windshield wipers were definitely needed. So, we got a different SUV and headed on our way. About 15 minutes into the drive, we noticed that the hood was bouncing. We were also hearing an odd noise from the rear passenger side. When we stopped to fix the hood, I checked the back and heard the right rear tire hissing. We turned around and headed back to the rental agency. With all the blowing snow, though, my coworker missed the airport exit. We didn’t get too far passed the exit before we realized the error, but still… Finally got back to the rental agency, got a third SUV, and headed back out. It actually all worked in our favor, because we really loved those heated seats. My coworker was pretty irritated by that point. And then he missed the exit we needed to get to the hotel. Sigh.

Monday morning, the traveling fun started again. We’d been told we needed an hour and 15 minutes to get from the hotel to the meeting site. We gave ourselves an hour and a half. First, we got stuck at a light for three cycles because the idiot in front of us was too chicken to make a left turn. Then we got bogged down in traffic because someone’s car stalled. And then we sat in yet another traffic jam due to a wreck. We finally hit the open road – and made good time – but we got to the meeting 50 minutes late. Thank goodness we weren’t presenting Monday.

Tuesday, the meeting was scheduled to start earlier, and we gave ourselves even more time. We were doing well, until my coworker realized we needed to stop for gas. We had the worst time finding a station, but we finally made it to the town where we were working. And then we got lost. In a town with one stop light and one 4-way stop. Don’t ask me how, because I wasn’t driving. We did a bit better overall – only 25 minutes late to the meeting that day.

On the up side, by Wednesday morning I’d figured out the right combination of conditioner, hair gel, and Static Guard spray to keep my hair from doing the dry fly-away halo. Wednesday and Thursday’s drives were pleasantly uneventful, as was the flight back Friday. I was definitely glad to be back home, even though the weather wasn’t all that great. At least it was above freezing!