As we take off, southbound on the runway, the sun has just risen. Andrew, who has grabbed an unused window seat on the right side of the plane, gets a million dollar view of the Calgary highrise downtown, glittering golden in the sunrise, with the mountains in the background. Alas, I am on the other side of the plane, and his camera is in the knapsack at my feet.
As we fly over the prairies, the only highlights are the endless procession of dry lakes (a pair of them is shown in the last picture) and the fact that we fly directly over Gimli, Manitoba, the place where a 767 had to do a deadstick emergency landing some years ago. The pilot of our plane mentions this on the PA. We can't see it though, because we can't look straight down through the plane windows.
And so our trip is done. To our pleasant surprise, Lorraine is waiting for us at the airport in Ottawa with a box of Timbits!