Until we meet again!

Ajo read from the following passage from Ephesians before we said goodbye to LK.

 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3: 14-21

It was definitely bitter sweet to end our vacation in Canada and head back to NY. 

A cherished story - Meeting LK

We met LK for the first time in September of 2010. Wait a second!  LK is from Canada and you may be wondering how we met. Summer of 2008, Ajo and I moved to Reno. In October of 2009, a really close and dear person to us in Reno passed away. We met LK's mom at the funeral and happened to talk briefly at a prayer meeting. Meanwhile a year ago LK started her application process and planning phases to move to NY to do her Masters. LK's mom mentions this to us knowing that we will be moving back to NY in the summer of 2010 which was about the same time LK would be moving to NY to settle in.

I shoot LK an email a few weeks later which I never got a response to; only to find out later that she never received my email. End of August, 2010 we moved back to NY. One morning in September, I get a call from LK's mom from LK's NYC apartment stating that she is in town from Canada. At that time, I told her I will contact her and we will try to meet. Things got busy and I never called her back. Exactly a day before she was to head back to Canada, I literally got woken up from sleep at 8 in the morning and was just drawn to call LK's mom and call them over to dinner. Dinner happened that night with LK and her mom with our family. What a great beginning!. Talk about God ordained friendships. We feel so blessed to have experienced it.

The moments we spent with LK became memorable and a blessing to us. We will always remember worshiping together on Sundays, the late night fellowships after Chicken n' Rice, visiting NYC hot spots, walking the Brooklyn Bridge and many more other memorable meetings we had.

We hope to meet with LK every few years. At least that's the desire of our hearts. We pray that God will bring it to pass.

May our friendship stay strong, our families grow, and more over our love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ grow deeper.

Until we see each other again
May God be with us always!

To our friendship - Alberta, Canada - May 2012

Good bye to Western Canada - Day 6

Sunday morning, we headed to the airport at 8 AM. We were flying on West Jet back to Newark. We thought the staff and the service was much better than Air Canada. Ajo sat next to a 30 year old guy who was visiting NY for the first time. They talked almost the entire time. Meanwhile, I tried to get some sleep. The landing was a bit bumpy but otherwise it was quite a good flight.

We were back in NY in our home around 7PM.

A few things in Canada that was different:
1) Long daylight hours till about 10PM
2) Metric system - km/hr and Celsius
3) Seat belt law for the back passengers

Downtown Edmonton and Drive to Calgary - Day 5

We had quite a busy Saturday. LK took us on a quick tour of downtown Edmonton. Ajo took some shots of the skyline and we walked around the heart of downtown Edmonton for 1/2 hour or so. Downtown was pretty quiet, perhaps because it was Saturday. We drove around Whyte Ave and the University area afterwards.

We headed home after stopping by Don's photo to pick up something. We had lunch with a family we met while we were in Reno, Nevada. They were hospitable and we enjoyed our time with them. We came back to LK's home to do last minute packing and left Edmonton to Calgary around 3:30PM. Leaving Edmonton and LK's home was sad for us. We felt like in 4 days we became part of the family. We had a great vacation in Canada. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

 In Calgary, we met with LK's cousin and went out to have dinner with them. We spent the night at LK's cousin's house.

West Edmonton Mall - Day 4

Friday (June 1st) morning we slept a little late to catch up on some sleep. For breakfast, LK introduced us to peanut butter and honey sandwich. It was a great combo. Thanks to LK!. After breakfast we headed over to the West Ed mall, the largest mall in North America.

We had Brunch at Earl's. LK was right, their chicken wings are delicious. Ajo & LK had some interesting theological discussion I was sandwiched in between. I saw each of their passion and their individual convictions which may not be similar but regardless they both loved God. That is what matters!. Perhaps these kind of conversations are meant to challenge your walk, sharpen your boundaries, or perhaps even redefine, reassess, or refine your christian experience. I know they are meant to be a blessing.

 We walked around the mall with LK. The mall had an indoor amusement park, an indoor water park (the largest in the world), skating ring, indoor lake with sea lion/dolphin shows, mini-golf, a hotel, and you name it, they had it. They had almost all the stores that you could ask for and a great variety of restaurants. I can see how Ajo and I could have got lost very easily in there if LK wasn't with us.

We toured and walked around the mall for a good few hours and still felt like we needed more time. We had to cut our time short since we had some shopping to do for friends and family. We stopped by a toy store, christian store, and souvenir store. It took longer than expected. We had just enough time to have "Poutine" in the food court and headed back home. Poutine is a French-Canadian dish of french fries served with cheese curds and brown gravy. We enjoyed it but felt like it was an acquired taste.

We headed home around 6PM since Ajo's 2nd cousin and his family were invited to come over to the house and have dinner with us. LK and her mom opened their home and we cannot appreciate their hospitality enough. Two other families joined us for dinner. We met and connected with Ajo's cousin and his family. It was a fun evening/night. After everyone left, Ajo & I along with LK and her mom stayed up past 12 AM just talking, laughing, and sharing some memorable stories. Since it was past 12 am, we wished LK' s mom Happy Birthday and then headed to our rooms.

Road Trip to Jasper - Day 3

On Thursday morning, around 8:30am Ajo & I headed to Jasper National Park. The drive to Jasper was unexpectedly long. We stopped at Hinton for gas and lunch. It was past 1 PM when we got to the town of Jasper. Jasper felt much smaller than the town of Banff with less traffic, and people on the roads. We stopped by the visitor center to get some more detailed park information. Our goal was to do the Jasper tram and the Columbia Icefields. However, after chatting with the lady at the information desk, we came to the conclusion that we had time for only one and we decided to visit the Icefields.

 The drive to Columbia Icefields through the Icefields parkway was very scenic. We got to the Icefield center before 4PM and hence we were able to catch the 4PM tour. The tour took about 90 minutes and it was worth every minute. We were transported from the Icefields center in a regular sized bus to the inner parking area. The tour guide gave a brief history about the glaciers. Upon arrival at the inside parking area, we were picked up by a snow coach which was specially designed for ice and snowy hills with tires that cost 15,000 each. We traveled through the road carved out through the glaciers. It was an amazing ride. We had a 20 minute stop to step out on to the glacier and explore this ancient ice. When you stand on the glacier it feels no different than standing on top of hardened snow but to think that this ancient piece of ice is the size of Eiffel tower is just phenomenal. It was a little windy and cool but the skies were clear and blue. Definitely, Columbia Icefields is a  must-see attraction in the park and we consider ourselves blessed for the amazing opportunity.

After our expedition, since it was nearing 6PM, we headed back to Edmonton. On the way back, we saw a mountain goat, few big horn sheep, elks, and surprisingly enough 3 black bears and 1 grizzly bear with a baby. It was quite a day. We enjoyed our return trip tremendously. Other than some brief stops to capture some photos and grab dinner, we drove straight through to avoid getting back to Edmonton too late. We got back around midnight and crawled in to bed to catch some sleep.

Lake Louise and more - Day 2

Wednesday morning (May 30th), we woke up around 7 am, got ready, grabbed breakfast to-go and checked out of our hotel, Lake Louise Inn. We all slept really well and craved more sleep.

We headed to the picturesque Lake Louise. The place was incredibly beautiful. I guess the only downside of going in May was that the Lake was still frozen. However, the normal tourist rush had not yet started which was certainly to our advantage. The frozen lake had a unique charm to it and Ajo & LK took some amazing photos. Drive to Moraine Lake, our next stop was spectacular. The view was magnificent snow covered mountains and jagged peaks beautifully carved out to perfection.

After lunch, we drove via a so called "scenic" Bow Valley parkway. The drive and a few pull outs were recommended to us at the visitor center. The drive was definitely not the most stunning route and with speed limits of 50 km/hr the drive felt long. Needless to say, this was the least favorite part of the trip for a few reasons which will remain unmentioned in this blog.

We stopped by the town of Jasper at the Enterprise car rental to add me as an addition driver to the records since Ajo & I will be driving the Edmonton to Jasper leg of the trip the next morning. We then headed to Calgary. On the way, LK wanted us to try a popular ice cream place in Cochrane, Alberta. We changed our route to accommodate this stop. En route, we stumbled upon a beautiful isolated church in an open field with beautiful mountainous backdrop. We stopped to take pictures- the best decision ever. This was one on my favorite stops during our trip. There was something solemn about this historic church. Built in the 1870's, this church stands today as a reminder of missionary work of Rev. George McDougall among the natives and the early settlers/workers. It was inspiring to all of us. We took few of our best and memorable photos of the trip here.

After ice cream, we headed straight via highway 2 towards Edmonton. Drive from Calgary to Edmonton felt similar to the drive from Reno to Las Vegas. The only difference was the desert in Reno/LV was replaced with some green terrain. Two and half hours felt longer for some reason. We snacked on chocolates and homemade vadas. Let me you something, sharing a wonder bar by breaking it off inside a car is not a good idea. We learned it the hard way.

One thing that was revealed to us during the drive was the magnitude of  God's awesome and powerful miracles. They are reminders of His Grace and His love. We thank God for circumstances like such to remind us that He is totally in control. During our missteps, God graciously intervenes.

We arrived at Edmonton close to 9PM. The sun was still bright. LK was truly not exaggerating when she told me that Alberta had sunlight till 10PM. I just did not believe her at first. That is such a funny story we can talk about years from now. We had dinner with the LK and her mom. The hospitality and warmth in that home was sweeter than honey. It filled our hearts. Sleep once again felt great after another long day.

A Visit to Canada - Day 1

I have to say that visiting Alberta, Canada was not in our list of places until about 2 years ago. It was about 2 years ago, we met LK, a special person who over the months became a really dear friend to both of us. LK, a Canadian born Indian who moved to NY  to pursue her studies became a God given blessing in our lives soon after our first meeting. There is a lot more to write about LK but I will leave it short and sweet.

Though we love traveling, I have to admit that air travel is our least favorite. LK is precisely the reason why we decided to visit Canada. Ajo & I booked tickets about a month ago and was extremely excited about the trip to the Canadian Rockies. It was approximately two years ago, we moved back from Reno, Nevada, our epitome of the West.

We packed our bags and loaded our camera gear for an unforgettable trip. Ajo's brother dropped us to the airport Tuesday morning. Our Air Canada flight from Newark airport had no delays and took off at 8:30AM. Our ETA was approximately 11AM. The flight felt long especially since we were tired from packing the night before. We did get drinks in the flight but nothing more. I remember how the Lord's grace and protection was continuously with us during the entire flight from take off to landing. What an amazing God who answers every prayer made in dire need, who comforts every fear from beginning to end, and who constantly amazes me with His love.

There were two things that awed me during the flight. One was the fact that Ajo and I had seats next to the wing of the plane. There was something protective about flying under the shadow of the wings.
Here it is in Psalms:

  How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.  Psalm 36:7

Secondly, during the flight for the first time in my life I noticed something incredible. On my way back from the bathroom, I was stranded in the back of the flight for about 5 minutes since the flight attendants were serving drinks and were blocking the aisle. I think that was an incredible 5 minutes in the air where I was able to see the flight in a different perspective. My eyes gazed through the small tiny windows of the flight, and I suddenly realized that I was flying above the clouds. I realized that by flying I am experiencing God's mercy and his immense love. I was so far away from ground.  It dawned on me that I was so blessed to have this breathtaking experience. I wished it lasted long but I rushed back to the seat to my loving husband, clenched my husband's hand and tried to contain my emotions.

Customs and baggage claim were uneventful. We met LK at the airport around 11:15am. It felt surreal to be in Calgary, Canada. We were on Mountain Time and hence our day was just beginning in Calgary.

We headed to Banff National Park in our rental Ford SUV.  Calgary to us felt a lot like Reno with the rolling hills, the open spaces, and the snow capped mountains. Weather was decent with a few occasional rain showers. We arrived at the town of Banff around 1:30 PM. We spent some time in the Banff visitor museum, and had lunch at Boston Pizza (very mediocre). The majestic mountains at Banff was awe inspiring and just beautiful. We drove around and took some incredible photos at different scenic areas in the park. Banff Gondola ride was the highlight of the day with incredible 360 degree view of the mountains.

It got dark around 10 that day. What an incredibly long day for us. We saw daylight for about 18 hours in total. 

We headed to Lake Louise area where we spent the night at the Lake Louise Inn.