I couldn’t be more excited to write my first blog post about a foundation (and trip) that has grown near and dear to my heart in the last couple years. Although this post doesn’t necessarily fit my beach theme, the journey did start in Huntington Beach. Last week, my husband and I assisted our dear friend and cofounder of Waggin’ Trails Rescue Foundation on a trip to Calgary, Canada with the sole purpose of saving dog lives. (Mission accomplished)! Now, don’t get me wrong, we did have a fair share of fun and adventure in the arctic temps during the trip.
First, a bit about Waggin’ Trails Rescue Foundation. The foundation locally re-homes or transports companion pets (mostly dogs) scheduled for euthanasia simply due to the overcrowding in California shelters. We rescue about 30-50 dogs per month and have saved over 1,000 dogs in the last 3 years! You can visit our website: www.WagginTrails.org or find us on social media: @WagginTrailsRescue to see more of our journey and follow our Happy Tails. So on this trip, we personally flew with 8 precious pups to Calgary. Seven of them were rescued from a local Southern California shelter and the other was a surrender whose owner recently passed away.
Flying out of LAX is always an adventure (to say the least), but with 8 dogs in tow it was a little more hectic than normal. However, with that being said, the staff at West Jet Airlines was terrific, and even all the other travelers that day were more than happy to help and send their well wishes and love to the pups.
We partner with another wonderful rescue, Pawsitive Match Rescue in Calgary who was anxiously waiting to rescue all of us from the well, the not so nice customs agent in Alberta who was confused as to we were bringing dogs to Canada. (A common question). All that really matters here is all 8 dogs arrived safe and sound and just a bit cold. Now, I know what you may be thinking by now, “Why Canada? Don’t they have dogs there?” Well you sound just like I, and the Alberta customs officer first did until we visited the Calgary Humane Society. Their shelter was (I’m not kidding here) probably less than 25% full! People there are just short of clamoring for dogs! It is so completely different from here in the United States. Sad really… I could go on about the societal shortcomings of those individuals who see animals as a commodity and not a part of the family, but as much as I’d like to, it is not for me to judge (I digress).
All of the rescue facilities in Calgary were beautiful! It feels so good knowing we take our rescues dogs to such a warm and caring environment. And to this day, actually within a week of their arrival in Canada, seven of the eight dogs we brought with us are in foster care! Hopefully all eight of them by now. If you happen to be reading this and you live near Calgary or know someone who does, please visit them at www.pawsitivematch.org
BANFF! Now, on to Banff and the Columbia Icefield! Let me just say, we were so excited to visit Banff and wow, did it live up to the anticipation! The downtown area was gorgeous and every restaurant, bar and shop we visited in our less than 24 hour stay was terrific! Unfortunately, I can’t remember all the places we stopped at but as long as they had WiFi we went in! The Park Distillery might have been our favorite getaway spot when we needed a break from the cold and tourist shopping. Our favorite experience was the gondola ride to the top of Sulphur mountain, and the walk to the old lookout across the top. The views were breathtaking! And not just because it was cold. Being from the desert and now living on a beach, I absolutely LOVE seeing snow-covered mountains. Plus, with the temps in the low 30’s and 20’s it was perfect! As you can see, we had a great time wearing some festive winter attire, for lack of a better description. I may have one of the few husbands who consistently out dresses me… and I love him for it! We did get a few cheers, some free stuff and few photos taken by other tourists throughout the day. If only I could find those photos. I would also like to think the locals appreciated our winter outfits.
Columbia Icefields! WOW! Just Wow! First off, I was shocked by how much snow was on the ground. I don’t know how many inches, but this picture of our friend who literally sank in snow is a good measurement. I couldn’t have been more excited to see a glacier. I thought you only saw those on the Planet Earth series (with which I am obsessed) and TV or a once in a lifetime trip to the Antarctic. Unfortunately, the Athabasca Glacier was covered in snow and even though you could not see the ice… you certainly knew it was there.
The temperature upon our arrival to the glacier was -3 degrees (F) and in the 30-40 mph wind gusts and it was intensely cold! But we braved to the top of the hills and got as close as we could stand, literally. The wind was so strong we could stand, lean back against the wind and it would hold us up. We can’t wait to go back in the Summer when we can actually go out on the glacier and fill up our water bottles with real glacier water. Although we did fill our shaker bottle up with glacier snow and drank it so that’s good enough for now.
Calgary! The rest of our trip we spent in downtown Calgary. We visited the Olympic Training Center which I was very excited to see as an Olympics super fan, and we watched a few brave people ski and board down the Olympic hills and courses that are still open to the public from the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. We ventured back downtown that evening and visited National on 10th which is a hip 3 story bar plus bowling alley. It was there I realized how much more I enjoyed Canadian Ciders, and even their “cheap” beer my husband enjoyed more than most American beers. As our Canadian friends would say, “Canada wins again!” Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find them here in California since we returned. Oh well, our friends will just have to bring us some when they visit. After National, we enjoyed a delicious teppanyaki dinner at the Japanese Village with the Board of Pawsitive Match Rescue. We were also treated to an early anniversary celebration complete with Sake bombs! The perfect ending to a wonderful and productive trip!
As most trips go, it was definitely too short and we cannot wait to return in the Summer and/or Fall! There will always be more dogs to save and certainly more adventures to be had in the Canadian Rockies!
THANK YOU!
A very special thank you to our Calgary friends with Pawsitive Match Rescue, Danielle and Chelsa for your hospitality and superior tourism skills. And most importantly, to our dearest friend Gisela for allowing us to be a part of your wonderful foundation!
If you’d like to see more photos and videos of our trip, please visit my Facebook page: SatlyStargazerBlog
If you would like to donate to save more dogs lives and/or participate in one of our fabulous fundraising events for Waggin’ Trails Rescue, please visit our website or visit our Facebook page: WagginTrails
Thank you for making a difference for those Dogs, your efforts saved their lives and they will provide a lifetime of blessings to their adopted families……..