Edmonton

Monday December 5th, 2022

	1st	2nd	3rd	Final
WSH	1	1	1	3
EDM	1	1	0	2

After spending two nights in Calgary, it was time to travel to Edmonton. The wife and I rented a car and drove the 2 1/2 hours up route 2. We stayed at the JW Marriot, which is directly connected to the Rogers Centre via a walkway.

My wife was very appreciative of this little feature, because it meant she would not have to repeat the frozen tundra walk to the arena that she endured in Calgary.

We ran into a small problem returning the rent-a-car, AVIS does not do a good job of giving drop off location directions. We ended having to keep the car overnight and called the office the next morning. Once we had the proper drop off instructions it was a piece of cake.

We spent the afternoon before the game roaming around the exterior and interior of Rogers Place, taking pictures in front of the Gretzky statue and a Connor McDavid larger than life poster.

After exploring all that we could around the arena we headed over to the local Tim Horton’s for a hot chocolate and a donut. As we were sitting there, we could see the front of the hotel out the window and we noticed a bus parked out front. Much to our surprised we saw some Caps players and coaches come out of the hotel and board the bus for the 1-minute drive across the street to the arena.

Soon it was game time, and Rogers Place is a spectacular arena. The folks in Calgary are rightfully jealous of their northern neighbors. Once again, we had great seats, and the Caps came out flying. They dominated most of the game and ended up squeaking out a win 3-2.

We returned to the hotel to pack up and prepare for our 3:30AM departure for the 30-minute trip to the airport. All went well and we arrived in plenty of time to check our bags, clear customs and arrive at the gate. The flight was scheduled to depart for Denver at 6:00AM, and everything seemed to be on track, until…

Right as we were about to board, the sign over the desk flashed yellow and the dreaded word “Delayed” appeared with the astonishing new time of 9:00AM. Come to find out, the plane arrived the night before a tad frozen and the genius maintenance crew in Edmonton decided to leave the plane out all night in severe cold (minus 10 degrees F) so it was a block of ice. Oh, and they decided not to show up until 7:30AM to try and thaw it out.

Long story short, the plane never thawed, and the flight just kept getting delayed, one excruciating hour at a time. What should have been a long day to begin with, turned into a torturous 26-hour marathon that had us catching a flight to Toronto and sleeping overnight in the airport during a 6-hour layover, boarding a 6:00AM flight back home and getting in at 8:00AM. Oh well, we made it safe and sound, the wife said she had a fun time, and I was able to check two more Canadian cities off my list.

Last up, Vancouver. We are planning that trip for October 2024 (actually ended up being January 2025) with the hopes of adding a short Alaskan cruise to celebrate the end of the journey across Canada. Stay tuned.