I have returned

I've been away for the past week. I went to Fort McMurray, Alberta for my brother's wedding. Other then the flying, which took forever, I had a great time. Got to see my big brother and new sister-in-law, the wedding was beautiful, and got to travel further west then I've ever been. All in all, a great week.

The flight out was the worst. We left our house at 4:15 am to drive to the airport. Our flight left halifax at 6am, 2 hours to Toronto (where we didn't get off the plane), then 3 Hours and 45 minutes to Calgary. We switched planes in Calgary (after a 40 minute stop), then flew to Edmonton, which thankfully was only 35 minutes. We then rented a car, picked up the wedding tuxes and drove to Fort McMurray, arriving at 7pm local time. In case you were wondering, that's 10pm, Nova Scotia time. Needless to say, I was glad to be there and done traveling.

The wedding, as I said, was beautiful. The bride was gorgeous in her dress (and us bridesmaids didn't look too shabby, if I do say so myself!), the ceremony was short and sweet (seriously, it was only 15 minutes long), the food was good, and there was lots of free wine and champagne.

There's not a huge amount of sight seeing to Fort McMurray, but I saw the part of the oil sands and the reclamation ponds, and I learned all about the mining and processing of the oil sands the the Oil Sands Discovery Center. I did not see any Buffalo, which I'm still a little sour about. I wanted to see a Buffalo!

The flight home was not nearly as bad as going out, even if we did have a 3 hour stop over in Edmonton and an overnight trip home. We flew Fort Mac to Edmonton, which only takes an hour, then Edmonton straight to Halifax (4.5hrs). As we flew over New Brunswick, the sun was beginning to rise, and it was probably the most beautiful site I've seen in a long time. Brilliant pinks and oranges and a hint of blue over the darkened landscape. It was truly a sight to remember. We landed in Halifax at 6:30 am, tired but glad to be home.