Canada Part 2 and Austin

Wednesday was our big hiking day. We started out buying some expensive hiking pants for Rachelle. She looked great in them. I had to be sure to tell her that several times during the day.

We drove back to Lake Louise and hiked a big 11.5 mile loop that included Lake Agnes,

then up to the Beehive overlooking Lake Louise,

then down to the Plain of 6 Glaciers and back. We hiked something like 11 or 12 miles in all. We had lunch at the teahouse overlooking a waterfall at Lake Agnes.

There were lots of people there. The misty morning cleared up enough for some awesome views. We didn't appreciate the full scope of the surrounding mountains on Tuesday because of the weather. The sun even came out off and on.

The Plain of 6 Glaciers is a misnomer because it isn't really a plain. It's still a steep hike up along massive rock piles pushed up and deposited by glaciers. By mid-afternoon Rachelle was getting cranky and acting like a grumpy old lady, so we made it to the tea house just in time to avoid a melt down. We had pie and hot cocoa.

It's so nice to have the option of buying overpriced food so far from civilization. I have often wished for something like that on hikes in Utah (like the infamous Death March on Boulder Mountain, circa 2004). We sat near a couple of college students who were pooling their cash to see what they could afford and talking about finishing off a can of beans when they got back to camp. Those were the days. I've had my share of that kind of road trip.

Rachelle was magically revived to her good-natured self and we continued up the canyon/plain to where it ran into some real glaciers. I have never seen a real glacier complete with crevasses, but these were legit. The ice was sometimes covered with boulders. The Upper Victoria glacier was the best because you could see where it just dived off a cliff. We heard thundering sound and figured ice was falling somewhere out of sight.

For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant, then we tried out the pool and hot tub for our tired muscles.

Thursday I was in class all day. Rachelle took the bus down to the town and did some shopping. The class was OK but most of it was stuff I already knew and my attention wandered. I learned a few interesting things. I sat by a guy from Colorado who knew Paul Urie because he did residency at the UofU. All day is a long time to be in class. They had great food for breakfast, lunch and breaks. After class we took the gondola up to the top Sulfur Mountain overlooking town.

There is a big boardwalk up there and we walked around enjoying the panoramic views. We had dinner at the lounge in the hotel.

Friday I went to class for half the day and then we had to hit the road to catch our flight at around 2. We took the freeway back and it was a lot faster. Connecting through Minneapolis was a pain as we had a few hours delay and didn't get to Austin until midnight or so. I remember one of the passengers acting like a spoiled baby. He nearly threw a tantrum about the delay. Of course he was sitting in first class. I guess if you're first class you can act like a spoiled child.

After the cold and damp of the Canadian Rockies, the muggy heat of Austin felt nice. At least for the first night. We stayed at a hotel downtown where I remember staying for a Texas Society of Pathology meeting during residency. The place was full of people in University of Texas gear. It's like burnt orange was the official uniform. It was fun to see scattered BYU fans in navy blue gear scattered around the streets. On Saturday morning we walked around downtown looking for some shorts for Rachelle. She didn't pack any. We never found anything that would work. We worked up a big sweat though in 90 something degrees. We ate pizza at a movie theater while we watched Guadians of the Galaxy, a weird science fiction comedy that was fun. Then we tried to stop sweating for an hour before heading to the game. On one of the streets there were some guitars on the sidewalk that were brightly painted and displayed.

We walked about a mile to the stadium. There were all kinds of tailgate parties in parking garages and  burnt orange tents in every open space.

Everyone had smoking meat and lots of beer. Provo is nothing like that on game day. I ran into my cousin Brad Harmon near the rec center where the BYU alumni party was. He lives near Dallas. I'm glad he recognized me. I was struggling to remember which of OJ's kids he was. We spent a few minutes at the alumni party trying to cool off in the air conditioned building before finding our seats. Although we were high up, the view was nice and I felt closer to the field than the nosebleed seats at Lavell Edwards Stadium.

The sunset with a view of the skyline was worth the whole trip. I didn't expect BYU to win, but that was a bonus too. We were surrounded by BYU fans, including a guy (that I had never seen before in my life) who was a little too into the game. When BYU scored, the famous play where Taysom Hill hurdled a safety to get into the end zone, he actually hugged me. It seemed a little awkward to me, but Rachelle thought it was the funniest thing that happened the whole trip. We walked home too tired and sweaty to find any of the live music that Austin is known for, but happy.