Grizzly bears and other life lessons from traveling

The following column originally was published in the Sun Sailor, Monticello Times,  Owatonna People’s Press and other APG of East Central Minnesota Newspapers during July and August, 2024

 

Grizzly bears and other life lessons from traveling

 

Grizzly bears, courage, carelessness, spectacle and stupidity. As part of celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary later this year, JoAnn and I saw all that and more on a recent trip to Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The trip reminded me of the immense value of travel. Whether by ourselves, or with youngsters, travel offers memories and valuable life lessons.

Let’s start with the grizzlies. At the beginning of a golfing round in Jasper, golfers are warned that we might see bears. If so, we’re told to stay away from them and call the pro shop, which would dispatch trained personnel to deal with them. I thought this was just something unusual to say to tourists that they would share with others.

Nope.

As we were putting on the 12th green, we spotted three bears, one of whom was huge, about 100 yards away. We used our phones and cameras to get a closer view. Yup, three grizzly bears. So we called the pro shop and were told: “We know that family well. A mother, about 450 pounds and her two, year-old cubs. Don’t get any closer because she’s very defensive and can run much faster than you can. We’ll send someone to deal with them.” We followed the advice, completed our round and had an experience unlike any other in 60-plus years of golf. You can find a picture of the three bears on my Facebook page.

Let’s turn now to carelessness, courage and stupidity, beginning with my mistakes.

On arriving at the Calgary airport, I used a credit card in a kiosk to generate my ticket. But it wasn’t until I was through customs and security that I realized I’d left the credit card behind. Delta employees Mike Conkin and Sukhjinder Kaur returned it to me. Count me careless, stupid and grateful.

However, that wasn’t our only encounter with Delta. We were part of the thousands caught up in their software problems. While waiting on a Tuesday, July 23, to return to the Twin Cities, I talked with a young man who had been trying to fly since Sunday morning, July 21, from Vancouver to Philadelphia.

We were supposed to fly from Calgary to the Twin Cities, at 3 p.m., then he was going on to Philly. All Tuesday afternoon we waited. Delta notified us, hourly, that the flight from Minneapolis, which was supposed to turn around in Calgary and bring us home, was delayed. It finally arrived, four-plus hours late. Then we were notified the pilot wasn’t allowed to fly any more that day. So our flight was cancelled. I talked with a pilot, who shall go nameless here, who confirmed that yes, Delta should have known when the flight left, four-plus hours late, from the Twin Cities that the pilot would not be able to take us back that night.

Delta paid for a hotel room, transportation to the hotel and meals. It also booked us on a flight that was supposed to leave at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. This meant we needed to get to back to the airport by 4:30 a.m. We did.

On arriving at the airport, we learned that the flight was leaving at 9 a.m., not 6:30. It actually left Calgary about 9:45 a.m.

Fellow Minnesota Tracy Scurto, of Lakeville, who was on the same return flight, spoke for many: “We did not know where to go for accurate information. It was frustrating.”

I salute the courage of Delta employees, like the two mentioned above, and Austin Ripley, who dealt with hundreds of sometimes very angry customers who had to stand in long, slow lines.

Delta offers this link to reimburse its travelers who had to make alternative arrangements during that period.

Lots more happened on that 10-day trip superbly guided by Nancy Wanstall of Insight Vacations.

We had a wonderful walk through woods with Metis (indigenous) people who explained how they used a vast array of plants to improve their lives. As expected, we saw spectacular lakes, mountains and rivers. You can see pictures here.

     

Lake Louise, Alberta                                                Bow Falls, Jasper, Alberta

But pictures can’t fully convey the area’s immense grandeur.

We also were incredibly lucky. We left Jasper, Alberta, on Monday morning, July 22. That very night, about 11:30 p.m., thousands of people had to be evacuated from Jasper and the surrounding area because of forest fires!

The problems we encountered, though irritating, were relatively simple and minor, especially compared to, for example, people who lost homes and businesses because of the “monster” forest fires in the Jasper area.

Overall, travel is a great way to gain perspective on your life and learn from others.

Joe Nathan formerly a Minnesota educator and PTA president. He’s currently co-director of the Center for School Change. Reactions welcome at joe@centerforschoolchange.org.