Athabasca River

I'm finally getting around to posting some of our Alberta adventures. Mark's camera was full of pictures, but I have been so crazy busy since we got home and the kids started school that it took a couple of weeks to get around to unloading his memory card.

If you ask the kids what their favorite thing we did in Canada was, they will all tell you it was rafting on the Athabasca River. It is a big, wild, crazy river, and the section they did was through the Athabasca Canyon, starting right below Athabasca Falls. But I did not get to go on this adventure. Mark took the 6 oldest kids, and I stayed back with Zack. To do the really fun rapids section of the river, you have to be 6 years old, which Zack is not. We could have ALL gone on a lame, calm section of the river, but why? What fun is a river without steep canyon walls at least class 3 rapids? We needed some clean clothes, anyway, so Zack and I spent the afternoon at the laundromat and walking around the town of Jasper while everyone else was on the river.

The rafting company outfitted everyone with wetsuits, wet shoes and splash jackets, and they were off for the time of their lives in 38 degree water.

Zack and I had a fun afternoon by ourselves. Zack thought it was fascinating to put money into washing machines. I was annoyed to pay $5 to use the same Dexter triple load washers I have in my basement at home. We washed and dried and took the laundry back to the hotel, and then we got an ice cream cone and sat on a bench and watched the trains come and go at the Jasper station. Zack is such a curious and talkative kid. It really was fun to spend the afternoon with just him after all the craziness and claustrophobia of 9 of us in a van or hotel room.

Coincidence?

The day we left for Canada was funny. Well, not really. But now looking back it was.

The night before we left, Joel was telling the kids about how funny it was that he was supposed to have had an ortho appointment that week to check his expander, but how instead they just scheduled him to come in and have it removed at the end of September. He was very excited to have his expander taken off. About 10 seconds later, the whole expander just snapped in two pieces. I called the orthodontist in the morning, and I had to work a trip to his office into my crazy day of packing and getting the car and kids ready to leave on a trip. They took off his expander and gave him a removeable retainer to get him through until we got back from our trip. Joel kept laughing about what a coincidence it was that as soon as he was talking about getting his expander off it broke and he had to have it removed.

We had another coincidence that day. As I said, I had a crazy, busy day of getting things done and ready to leave at 1:00 for our drive to Canada. I decided that as I had filled up the car with gas the night before, and had driven only about 30 miles that day, I didn't have time to top off the gas tank before we headed out. I knew that we had more than enough gas to make it to at least Spokane.

Well, I guess I didn't take into account a van loaded with 9 people and their luggage might use more gas than a 1/2 full van shuttling kids around. Or that when it is 100 degrees outside perhaps the air conditioner might suck some of the gas mileage away. Whatever. My gas light went on about 30 miles outside of Spokane. I knew that we had plenty of gas to make it, and there was nowhere to fill up anyway. Typically, in the 4 years I have been driving this van, the gas light means I have about 3 gallons left, or at least 75 miles on the freeway. Well, this time it meant I had 20 miles left. The coincidence happened though as Mark said, "How is your the gas gauge looking?" I said, "Well, the gas light went on just a little while ago, but I think we are fine."

We weren't fine. At that exact moment, the engine cut out. We coasted to a stop 10 miles outside of Spokane. What are the odds? So 9 of us sat in a hot car watching a porcupine on the side of the road while we waited for roadside assistance to bring us some gas.

Which is a whole other story. Which leads me to my next topic: The problem with outsourcing.

I have used our roadside assistance several times without a problem. The people are usually friendly, and help arrives in a reasonable amount of time. But this day I got a guy in India. I like India--I want to go there desperately. I love Indian food. I love the people from India. But when I get a customer service person from India, I know I'm in trouble. Hello, Trouble.

This guy kept asking me for my exact position so that he could call someone to help us.

Me: "I'm 10 miles west of Spokane, Washington on eastbound I-90. I can see milepost (whatever # it was) about 30 feet ahead of me."
Guy: "That doesn't help me, ma'am. I need to know your exact address or I cannot help you."
Me: "I'm not at an address. I'm on eastbound I-90 at this exact milepost. There is a freeway entrance 1/4 mile behind me."
Guy: "You must tell me which city you are in or I cannot send anyone to help you."
Me: "I'm not in a city. I'm trying to get to Spokane, but we ran out of gas 10 miles too soon. I'm in the middle of a freeway--I'm not in a city."
Guy: "Well, we cannot send anyone to help you if we do not know exactly where you are."
Me: "I do not have my GPS to give you my exact coordinates. I promise you that if you call any car service near Spokane and tell them I am on I-90 at this particular mile post, they will be able to find me."
Guy: "No. I must have an exact address."
Me: "I know that our policy covers us anywhere--including freeways. How many people run out of gas in their driveway?"
Guy: "I will put you on hold while I find a map."

10 minutes later and Mark on the phone this time. Same story--he cannot help us because we don't have an address. He went to find a map. Clearly, he didn't even know what I-90 meant or what a freeway was, or that Spokane, Washington was a city 10 miles to the east of us.

I decided to hang up and try my luck with someone else answering the phone. This time it was a very nice gal from the south who answered. She took my location--the same eastbound I-90 at milepost whatever location--and told me someone would be there within a half hour. Sure enough, 30 minutes later, the gas guy pulled up behind us. He was laughing, because last week he had brought someone else gas at the very same spot.

concerts

A couple of weeks ago Mark and I went to see The Pretenders. It made me think about all the concerts I have been to. Mark has been to a LOT more concerts in his time. The 80s were filled with excellent heavy metal concerts for him--and he had the t-shirt collection to prove it.

I, on the other hand, have not been to a lot of concerts in my life. My first concert was Chicago in 1985. I went with my dad--cool. My next concert was John Denver in 1987. Again, with my dad and mom. That was truly my favorite concert ever. I love John Denver. He is gone, but it is like he is still here for me because I love to listen to him and I sing his songs all the time. Especially "A Baby Just Like You" to Zachary...."Merry Christmas, Little Zachary." My first date with Mark was in December of 1991 to see America in Park City. That was a very fun concert out in the snow. In 1992 I went to a Metallica concert with Mark. I should dig out the picture from the event. I borrowed a black leather jacket, and used a hair crimper to really make my hair look nice for the occasion. Luckily, Mark had brought ear plugs for us, which was very thoughtful.

Many years went by, and Mark and I went to 2 Barry Manilow concerts here in Portland about 8 and 10 years ago. They were very fun. Mark likes Barry Manilow's music, which is lucky for me. Let's see....Kenny Loggins about 7 years ago was fantastic. And then I don't think I had been to a concert in all that time--until this summer. Lots and lots of symphonies, but not a real concert.

Late July we were treated to a Sugarland concert by some friends. Mark and I had never actually heard Sugarland, but we went along and had a really great time. I LOVED her voice. The concert was general admission, and we were there super early and still ended up with booney-ville seats, though. But it was fun nonetheless.

The Pretenders concert was amazing--at least once Chrissie finally made it out after the horrible opening acts. First opening act was Juliette Lewis. Yes, that same actress from Christmas Vacation. Her costume was very disturbing. At first I thought it would be better if she took of her vest made of enormous feathers. I was wrong. I wish she had left the vest on. When you are on the 2nd row, you see a lot of things you can't see while seated further back. As much as I disliked WATCHING her prance and jerk around on the stage, I disliked listening to her sing/scream/screetch even more. She just looked very sad and lost. Perhaps there are some with a more critical ear for hard rock who could judge whether or not she is actually talented in this area. All I can say is she sure was enthusiastic. In my opininion, it was just shocking.

The second opening act was Cat Power. I had never heard of her before, but I did a little internet research to see that she is actually quite well known, and that she has been through some alcohol-related issues recently, but that she was currently on an upswing. Well, maybe she WAS on an upswing, but it was clearly a downswing the night I saw her. She walked out on stage and didn't say a thing. She didn't look at the crowd at all. She looked like she had rolled out of bed and put on someone else's black stretch jeans that were a size too small. Again, being on the 2nd row we could see everything. She wanted to be done before she started singing her first song. It was the most agonizing 45 minutes of depressing songs I could imagine. Not so much her songs that were depressing (well, OK, they were), but just the way she was twitching and tweaking and grabbing her pockets, jeans, shirt over and over. She was clearly on something. She kept turning her back to the crowd, not once every looking out at the audience, except when she finally finished her set, she walked off the stage and mouthed, "I'm sorry. I'm $%^&-up." No kidding. Really? The only question was what her drug of choice was that night.

And then The Pretenders finally came out and made it all worthwhile. I love Chrissie Hynde's voice, and immediately jumped up out of my seat and started singing along. So did everyone else around, so I was OK. It was a very fun night.

Overall, I'm glad we went. Although, next time I go to a concert at McMenamins, I will skip the opening acts and show up 2 hours later for the real show.