What A Trip!
It was part nostalgia, part discovery and all fun.
I lived in Calgary for about a month 24 years ago so as you can imagine, I hardly recognised a thing. The city is – as we keep hearing – booming, beautiful and in desperate need of labour in just about every type of job. My terrific friend Karen is now the News Director of 660 News in Calgary, a clone of 680 News, and the main purpose of my journey was to see her. I got reaquainted with Mike Richards and Matt O’Neal who are both thriving in their respective morning shows on 660′s brother stations. I was also excited that Karen’s enthusiastic morning team wanted my input on getting through the maze that is the all-news format. Other than that little bit of work, my time in Cowtown was all play. But our trip to Red Deer was one for the history books.
I had left my crappy, furnished apartment in Calgary all those years ago when I secured my first full-time radio job as the overnight all-request show host on CKGY in Red Deer. KG Country is now on FM and moved to a new building long ago, but back then it was 1170 AM and the show I took over was a favourite with the many truckers passing through on their way north to Edmonton or south to Calgary. Red Deer was where I moved into a nice, new apartment with a fellow announcer who would become a life-long friend, Shannon Sampert. This was where I dabbled in decorating with a Budweiser clock and a clunky waterbed and set up my first “home” away from home. We had a lot of very memorable times in the 8 short months we were roomies and I simply had to find that apartment building.
Karen and I pulled into Red Deer not knowing where to start. All I had was the address. After heading due north for a bit, Karen said, “I think I’ll just turn here and maybe we can get oriented.” She made a left turn and our first cross was the street we needed. She turned right, I looked behind us and immediately recognised my old building. We weren’t in Red Deer five minutes and we had located the apartment! She took some delightfully cheesy photos of me out front and with our primary quest already behind us, we spent the afternoon exploring the charming town.
Calgary has a lot of variety in pop culture and entertainment, many art galleries, great restaurants and things to do. They say it’s easy to navigate because it’s laid out like a grid, but it’s a grid with rivers, bridges, twists and turns and – it felt more like Boston than Toronto and in Boston, the wise tourists take cabs! I felt very comfortable there, despite the drier air that has turned my lips into cardboard.
This trip was my first time flying Westjet and given a choice, I would fly with them from now on. The flight attendants are friendly and they don’t have that glazed, robotic stare you tend to get on Air Canada. Each seat comes equipped with its own TV screen, satellite TV and pay-per-view movies. Check-in is a dream. I printed my own boarding pass at home and skipped the lines at the airport. It was my first experience at hassle-free air travel and I’m hooked.
