I was in Canada again this past summer and decided to “Go West Young Man” to visit my son Fergus, his wife Teresa and their three children in Edmonton, Alberta.
Home Base while I’m in Canada is my daughter Jessica’s home in Brockville, Ontario just about a one hour drive south of Ottawa, the nation’s capital.
In the past two or three summers, I have become accustomed to travelling by Via Rail Canada and was hoping that I could fulfill a lifelong dream of travelling by train from one coast to the other or almost. I made enquiries and discovered that the round trip fare between Brockville and Edmonton in a bedroom/roomette was in excess of $3,000 return Since I had neither the time nor the budget to afford that leisurely trip I opted for a WestJet flight direct to Edmonton from Ottawa – a much better option.
I was off, on a fine evening at the end of June and planned to stay for 4 days. Fergus and his daughter Brittani met me at the Edmonton Airport and we headed home. I didn’t realize how spread out things are in Alberta it seemed that we were on the road for hours once we left the airport – I later learned that it was a distance of some 60 kilometers and took only about 40 minutes of travel on the Expressways.
Fergus is a Corporal in the Canadian Armed Forces where he is a First Class Mechanic and works on the Forces’ heavy equipment. He and the family live on base or rather Garrison as they now call it.
Filipinos will recall that Canada sent Armed Forces personnel to Panay Island and the Visayas to help out after super Typhoon Yolanda, specifically in the area of Roxas City in the northeastern portion of Panay. They used Iloilo Interntional Airport as their primary logistics base while in the Philippines. Most of their invaluable work, however, was done in the Roxas City area in Capiz Province about 1½ hours northeast from Iloilo.
The Canadian Forces Members who participated in the Yolanda Relief effort were mostly all based at the Edmonton Garrison including the Medics, the Helicopter Pilots and the Troopers. On the other hand, the C5 Aircrew members were based at the Trenton Garrison near Kingston in Ontario.
It was getting late when we arrived at Fergus’ and Teresa’s home, and after visiting only briefly the “old guy”, was bone tired and just had to get to bed.
Come back soon to read and enjoy Part 2 more on our Excellent Edmonton Adventure.
Philippine Peso Exchange Rate
