Comment on travelling separately: boring.
Comment on airlines: Air Canada is hands-down the best one we've been on (including Swiss Air, BA, Iberia, United, American, Delta, KLM) for quite a few years even though we used to love-to-hate AC when Canadian was absorbed.
Comment on expedia.com: not nearly as helpful and doesn't have as good deals as expedia.ca.
Which brings me to our recent travels east. My trip was uneventful but Jim got stuck in Calgary because his ticket didn't allow enough time to clear the backlog at US Immigration. (American readers - at our major Canadian airports we clear US Immigration & Customs in Canada before we embark). This happened about 10:30 in the morning. By 6:00 in the afternoon Jim had been back and forth to the US and Canada without leaving the airport, had a premium room at the Delta hotel, and a ticket into Windsor (instead of Detroit and WAY more expensive) for the next day, plus a dinner and breakfast voucher at the hotel. He says he had a fabulous steak dinner and all the whole deal cost him was for the Graham Beck Shiraz that he purchased to go with the steak. If it had been me who was stuck I would have ended up paying $500.00 for a new ticket routed by way of Nowheresville and would have slept on the floor in the airport, so I have to say I was mighty glad my trip was only boring. If you know Jim at all you know he could sell coal to Newcastle (Is Newcastle still famous for coal or is that reference completely out of date. I was going to say "ice to Eskimos" but thought that might be considered rude nowadays. Aging is fraught in so many different ways not the least of which is communication!)
One of the many bumps was that the only place that carries 2x12 stair stringers, Rona, had sold out because everyone else in town was also building decks. Alan had purchased 2x10 stringers (from Lowe's and amazingly cheaply made!) but they make for skimpy treads which just aren't as safe.
Did I mention that it was hot? And that the men were working on the sunny side of the house? Yikes, it must have been 120F out there (despite being Canadian, Windsorites speak in Farenheit.
Meanwhile Sally & I saw some of the sights and enjoyed ourselves in air-conditioned comfort.
The view of Detroit along the river walk in Windsor!
Sunday we went to the Detroit Institute of Art where Sally introduced me to some amazing murals by Diego Rivera http://www.dia.org/art/rivera-court.aspx and we saw a special exhibit on the central west Africans view of Europeans in the 1850's, "Through African Eyes"
That night Sally dug out the picnic gear and we grabbed a bench near the river to eat and watch the world go by. It was a perfect evening.
Monday we had drinks on the deck, even though it wasn't as finished as everyone hoped. The building inspector arrived, while we were taking our group photo on Tuesday morning, and pooped on our parade leaving Alan with an ugly job of digging 2 new post holes by himself and Jim feeling that he was abandoning ship.
And then we came home, separately and smoothly, to cold gray weather and the wish that Sally & Alan will have many happy times on the new deck and memories of its construction. And also the wish that all of our 'dear ones' lived nearby.
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