A Canadian Summer Travelogue

Thirty-one (31) years ago, I was the president of the French Club at Northeastern Illinois University and member of the National French Honor Society, assisting Mrs. Dorette Klein the Faculty Chairperson who planned a trip to the city of Montréal and the Ville de Québec in the province of Québec, Canada.  I designed the Canadian French Travel Poster for the NEIU French Club Trip to Montréal and the Ville de Québec in Canada.

From these memorable Canadian French excursion travels, Dorette Klein recommended me to study French for a Summer Immersion Program at the Université Laval in the Ville de Québec only during May, June, July, and mid-August in 1982.

Afterwards,  Benjamin “Ben” Wolf, a Jewish American college friend from Colorado who was attending Northeastern Illinois University, invited me to travel with him driving and camping out  in Banff by Lake Louise in Calgary, Alberta, in his old Chevrolet station wagon to view the Canadian Rockies from Banff and Lake Louise in Canada during the third week of August in 1982.  Ben Wolf was going to spend the summer visiting his Jewish American Mother in the state of Colorado where he always views the American Rocky Mountains in the United States of America.  So Ben Wolf wanted to drive up to Calgary International Airport where he could meet my Canadian flight arriving from the Ville de Québec Airport to the province of Alberta, nestled at the base of the Canadian Rockies near Banff and Lake Louise. 

In order to meet Ben Wolf in Calgary, Alberta, I had to change my Air Canada roundtrip flight from Chicago to Montréal and from the Ville de Québec to Calgary International Airport.  After Ben Wolf confirmed the Canadian Summer Travel plans along the Canadian Rockies in Calgary, Alberta, I upgraded my Air Canada return flight to Calgary International Airport en route to the western Canadian provinces.

Fortunately, Ben Wolf was punctual and made the long drive in his Chevy station wagon from Colorado’s Rocky Mountains to Calgary International Airport by the Canadian Rockies in Alberta where I had arrived on time from the Ville de Québec and Laval University Canadian French Summer Immersion.

Ben Wolf’s old Chevy Station Wagon was in good Canadian form to travel long distances and camp out in a tent by Lake Louise in Banff, Calgary. Later he and I drove together through Saskatchewan and Manitoba to cross the American-Canadian border into South Dakota and drive away into Minnesota, the land of a thousand lakes, to meet his Jewish friend Michael who lived by the University of Minnesota.