I'm a photographer, videographer, writer and storm chaser. I love capturing rare and/or severe natural events. So far, I have witnessed supercell thunderstorms, flash floods, tornadoes, got to experience the beauty of a total solar eclipse and recently spent two months documenting wildlife in South Africa. I have yet to capture the aurora borealis, a volcano, and intercept a hurricane. Twitter/Instagram - @jadevajna.
After a nice short work week, I am off on another adventure for Family Day long weekend. This time, I am headed North - to the Yukon. My mom and I signed up for a 4 day aurora borealis tour with Arctic Range Adventures. The forecast (both weather and aurora) didn't look great for this particular weekend but since I had booked the trip well in advance, there was not much we could do.
The morning of my flight, my mom phones me to say that it's canceled. It was deja vu. Another week, another round of airport drama.
We take our time getting to the airport and when we arrive, the customer service rep for Air Canada says that the flight ISN'T CANCELED. The plane was scheduled to refuel in Terrace on route to Whitehorse so the system flagged it as canceled. This is why, no matter what the app says -always go to the airport! You just never know.
We finally arrive! Whitehorse has an adorable little airport with only two luggage carousels. It reminds me of the tiny airport in Windsor, ON.
We are greeted by our British expat tour guide, Jennifer, and then pile into a van with a few other tourists and head off to our hotel. She mentions to be careful while walking around outside due to it being slippery. "If you have your first fall, well.. Welcome to Whitehorse!"
The sky is so clear that the light is blinding, especially compared to the greyness of Vancouver at this time of year.
Before we check in, we have an orientation and safety briefing in the lobby and are given our rental winter gear, along with this little certificate.
Our view. I love it up here! It's so peaceful. There are no high rises, condos or traffic jams. Just snow covered rolling hills and the moon piercing the bright blue sky.
We had heard that bison burgers are a part of the local cuisine, so we decided to give The Dirty Northern a try. The food at this place is AMAZING! The best food I've had in a long time. So fresh and wholesome. The service was great and the drinks were a reasonable price. I highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Whitehorse.
Time to chill at the hotel after dinner and rest up. At 10:30pm we head out to the Aurora Center, which a is about 25 minutes South of here.
Unfortunately, on all three nights, due to cloud cover, we don't see any aurora. The tour guides try to keep us entertained by offering to do light painting or creating maple taffy. I decide to pass and stay in the yurt keeping warm by the fire, eating cookies and looking at the aurora picture books. Interestingly, a large portion of the guests were young Japanese. Apparently the myth that the Japanese believe the aurora aids in fertility is just that - a myth. After searching online, I can't find anything that backs it up.
I managed to get a nice shot of a 22 degree lunar halo on the first night.
We were taken on a city tour. It was... a tad chilly.
I have never experienced this level of cold and wind chill before. Apparently it has been a relatively warm winter. When the wind blows, it cuts right through every layer -making clothes that I assumed were plenty warm enough be quickly reduced to feeling like I'm wearing nothing. On a few occasions, I mistakenly assumed that what I wore was adequate because on a cold day in Vancouver, I would have been sweating profusely in what I was wearing.
On the last day, we went for a nice long walk along the river and through a park. It was incredibly peaceful and a really nice way to end the trip.
In the end, we didn't see what we went there for, but Whitehorse is a great little city. We had some amazing food and really got to unwind and enjoy Family Day weekend. I highly recommend visiting! Next time we try and see aurora, we are going to Yellowknife, NT. And this time we'll just go and not book a tour unless the forecast looks favourable.
The view from the restaurant an hour or before our flight back home..
Once the Alaska Airlines counter is open, I'm able to check in. The agents are friendly, my disposition is cheerful. All is well.
Brian's flight to Chicago is cancelled but he is rerouted to Dallas. I hang out with him and Nate Nelson, another chaser, at my gate. Lou Ruh had already boarded his flight by the time I clear security so I don't get to say goodbye to him in person.
I read my new book on the flight and catch up on a bit of sleep. Thankfully no one is in the seat beside me.
We land at SeaTac at around 7:40pm in blizzard conditions. Back in Wichita, Rocky had kept mentioning the bad weather that was hitting Seattle, but I didn't give it a lot of thought. None of my flights were cancelled so it didn't concern me.
Rows and rows of snow plows line the tarmac. When I exit the plane, the gate is one of those outdoor ones so I enjoy being blasted by the high winds for a minute or so.
Once inside, I b-line it for Club at SEA, which is a Priority Pass lounge at the far end of the A gates with free food and booze. I get 4 free entries a year with my credit card. Though, even paying the $27 is worth it, considering that a couple drinks and a meal could easily cost double that at the airport.
My flight is at 11:15pm, boarding at 10:35pm. I enjoy two drinks and a few mini sandwiches as I charge my phone.
Delayed - 11:40pm
I decide to make my way back to the C gates at 10:30pm, for the 11pm boarding.
Delayed - 12:25am
I read more of my book. There is a guy on his cell phone beside me speaking in an exotic sounding language that he's mixing with English.
Cancelled
At 11:27pm, the gate fills with muttering, sighs, and some light swearing. We all line up at the customer service counter. As we wait for the airline agents to decide our fate, the gate next to us announces that they will be boarding, and the group of people, many of whom are sprawled out along the floor and seats, burst into applause and cheers as they stand up and gather their things. We all look at each other and chuckle, envious.
As I stand in line, I get a text message informing me of my new flight - February 12th, at 1:55pm; more than 36 hours later. There has to be something better.
An hour passes before it's my turn. A part of me naively hopes that they will put me up in a hotel, but I know that airlines don't provide accommodation when flights cancel due to weather. A girl can dream though.
I decide to go for a different itinerary: Fly down to Portland at 8:15am and then fly from Portland to YVR at 10:35am. The agent says it's risky because the second leg is an Air Canada flight so if they cancel, they have no obligation to re-book. I check the forecast for Portland - rain; lots of rain. I figure it will be fine and I choose that option.
I sit down again and ponder sleeping options. I also look into renting a car and driving up, but the roads were pretty bad and the only vehicle options were expensive. I looked into some hotels, but the cheapest ones were full. I glance at the digital clock mounted from the ceiling. It was 1:07am. The bright red numbers glowed with a blur in my fatigued vision. My makeup felt like caked on face paint. I really just needed to take off my bra and brush my teeth. It was decided - I was going to sleep at the airport. I was boarding in less than 7 hours, so why not?
I am so thankful for the free Silver Lining Tours t-shirt I got at ChaserCon. I wore that shirt for the next 18 hours or so. As I'm taking off my makeup in the bathroom, I notice someone standing in a stall with the door open. She's facing toward the inside of the stall, but it's not clear what she is doing. I can't see her face; the door half covering her. I go into a stall myself and then as I come back out, I see her standing in front of the sink. Her pants are down slightly and one hand is down her underwear, digging around in her butt-crack. And here I was, self conscious about flossing in a public bathroom.
I go back out and stake my claim on a sleeping area. As I'm making my little nest, I see someone walk by me with some familiar looking polkadot sneakers - the butt digger. I was terrified she might sit near me. Thankfully, she went further down.
Between 2am and 5am, the airport is relatively quiet and I am able to have little 20 minute bursts of sleep while trying to somehow stay aware of all my belongings. It's probably the closest I've ever felt to what being homeless might feel like; you can't let yourself fall into a deep sleep when you are in public. I clutch my purse the whole time and have my charger draped over my luggage in such a way that if someone moved my luggage, I would notice because it would trip the cable and I would feel it move. It was like my own little anti-theft alarm. Not sure if it would actually work though. When I am finally decided to get up, around 5:30am, I notice someone had plugged in their phone beside mine - very close to my luggage. It alarms me that they were able to get that close to me and I never even noticed. They could have easily unplugged my charger and taken my bag while I slept.
I get a coffee and croissant and wait to board my 8:15am flight to Portland.
Delayed - 8:52am
My arrival would now be 9:39am and my Air Canada connection is an hour later. That's a little tight. I decide to make my way to the A gates, where the Air Canada gates are, and see if I can speak to someone to get a boarding pass for my connection to save some time. As I'm standing in line..
Delayed - 10:22am
I step out of the line, as I realize it is pointless because I will miss the 10:35am connection anyway. Back to the C gates to speak with customer service.
After speaking with Fanny, a friendly Alaska Airlines agent, my options are: I can either stay here and be on standby for a 12:55pm flight.. And if I miss that, there is a 11:15pm flight. But, apparently there is a ton more snow coming.
The other option is getting on my 10:22am flight to Portland and then catching a 3:30pm Air Canada flight
I need to make a decision based on the forecast. Portland only has a winter storm watch; Rain may turn to snow in the late evening. There is a snowfall warning in Vancouver, so the timing for my arrival comes into play too.
I decide to stick with my flight to Portland and catch the 3:30pm AC flight to YVR. I sit at the gate. By this time, I've spent almost 14 hours at SeaTac. I'm strangely delirious and in a really good mood. I make idle chit-chat with strangers, answer some work emails.. "Should I cc upper management in this..? Meh, why not?"
Delayed - 10:52am
This is fine. I'll still have plenty of time to catch my connection in Portland.
Cancelled
Time to visit my old friend, Fanny. She seems to be on a break when I get there so I speak with someone else, who was equally friendly.
The next available flight to Vancouver is the next morning at 9:35am. There are no other options, so I reluctantly agree. She tries to suggest positive things, like checking out Pikes Place Market or going to an outlet mall. My flight is literally in 24 hours from now.
If I stay here another night, I'll just buy this shirt and wander around in it..
I sit on a bench and think. A frazzled woman sits next to me and puts on her shoes (she had just cleared security). We chat for a bit and I tell her my situation and she's like, "Isn't there a ferry or something? You're so close." The lightbulb switched on in my head and I Google "Seattle to Vancouver ferry". I find a Bolt Bus schedule. I can get back to Vancouver in 4 hours and it will only cost me $27USD. Done.
The decision was made. I am abandoning my flight. Now I just have to get to the bus station, which was downtown. Thankfully, Seattle has something very similar to the Skytrain that we have here in Vancouver, called Light Link Rail. I wait on the platform, enjoying the fresh air after being indoors for the past 20 hours, as the snow keeps falling relentlessly; I know this is the right choice. It's only about 8 stops to get downtown, but the gap between stops is at least 5 minutes. I doze off periodically, and since I am so sleep deprived, I fall into REM instantly and have vivid dreams that only last about a minute or so before I snap awake.
I find the bus station but I still have an hour to kill. I am starving and am dying for a drink. I find the only bar in the area, a seedy little dive called Joe's Bar and Grill. It was pretty sketch, but I didn't care. I needed a long island iced tea and some food. I chat with the bartender, a young woman with wild curly hair. She seems nice, yet she forgot that I ordered food. . I connect to the wi-fi and see that my boss's boss has been trying to get ahold of me for the past half hour. He was also flying to YVR from Seattle and wanted to give me his flight. I let him know I'm taking a bus. The long island hits hard. With the sleep deprivation and empty stomach, my mind melts into a warm sense of euphoria and I think about how great my coworkers are and how lucky I am. What a great life I have! Everything is awesome! I really need those chicken strips... and soon. I was at the "I love you, man" stage and it was barely noon.
My food finally arrives and I burn my mouth eating it really fast before taking some of it to go and heading to the bus station. While waiting to board, I chat with a British girl who is staying in Vancouver on a working holiday visa. She had to come to Seattle to get her visa extended because apparently you can't do it within the country you are applying for, or something like that. The office she came down to was closed due to the snow, so her trip was essentially pointless. She seemed to be in good spirits though. At the end of the day, that's all you can really do. Mother Nature doesn't give a sh*t; she does what she wants.
Finally on the bus. In the most nonchalant, "I don't give an eff" way, the driver announces over the PA system, "Smoking, cannabis, and booze are prohibited.. Wifi's on, enjoy the ride."
I fade in and out of sleep and I start feeling like Tyler Durdin from Fight Club. My consciousness strung together by jump cuts.
We get through the border crossing and I feel a sense of relief being back on Canadian soil. It's past 5pm now. It continues to snow as we crawl through rush hour traffic.
We finally make it to Pacific Central Station and once again, I am outside in the snow and back on a platform, waiting for a train. I am so close to home.. yet my vehicle is still parked at airport. I take the Expo Line downtown. My plan is to stop at London Drugs and buy something I've always needed - a dash cam. As I exit the station and walk up Granville Street, I hear a panhandler say, "Wow, that woman looks angry," as I walk by. Surely he isn't talking about me, is he? I am running on empty and on a mission. This was the homestretch. My resting b*tch face is probably locked on.
I find a dash cam and load up on snacks. One last bathroom break and then it's off to the Canada Line to go rescue my car.
Okay, maybe I do look a little angry.
I sit at the front and watch the snow cover the tracks as we push forward. A Skytrain attendant boards and stands near me. She says she has to keep an eye on the tracks because sometimes when it snows too much, the system thinks something (or someone) is on the track and it halts the train. She needs to be on board to override that and manually drive if need be.
After spending a good 10 minutes orienting myself and figuring out how to find my car (after everything I had been through.. this was the most challenging part!), I finally get there and see it partially covered.
I spend about half an hour cleaning off my car and figuring out how to use the dashcam.
I am finally ready to drive home.
I know for people who live in other parts of Canada, this amount of snow is nothing. But for a Vancouverite like me and someone who has only been driving for about 4.5 years - driving home in this is a big deal, especially with the little amount of sleep I've had. The adrenaline is still lightly pumping. I am ready for this.
I make it home safe... have a long bath and go to bed. I have work the next day and then I have to prepare for my adventure to Whitehorse that takes place in a couple days. Stay tuned!
February is a busy month for me. I just moved into my new place, on top of booking ChaserCon and my aurora tour next weekend. I won't have a proper day to myself until the end of the month. Almost every day off since I moved has been a travel day.
The 21st annual National Storm Chaser Convention, normally held in Denver, was in Wichita this year from February 8th - 10th. This was my second time going. I went once with my best friend in 2015. That time, we never really connected with anyone. The vibe was different then... Or maybe I was different... or maybe both. I was still very new to chasing and not as immersed in the community. This time, with connections on Facebook and Twitter and just being out there more, I know a lot more people. I already knew Mike Olbinski from ChaserCon Canada. Brian Spencer, the lead driver for Cloud 9 Tours, as well as Rocky Rascovich, who also drives for Cloud 9 sometimes, was there. I ran into people I met through the Women of Weather page on Facebook.
Side note: I just learned that he's only a year older than me. I don't know why, but I think I always assumed he was in his mid 40s. Not that he looks old or anything. I just thought he was past his 30s already. I hope he's not offended if he ever reads this. Though, I would be beyond flattered if he actually took the time to read my blog. Chances are slim, but just in case, please don't be offended Reed! You're still hella sexy AF. ;)
Anyway... so yeah.. Ran into and met some more chasers. From left to right, Rocky, Chris Collura, and Bill Hark.
Brian and I, the only Canadians in attendance.
If I look tired in the above photographs, it's because I was. I barely slept 3 hours the night before. I drove to the airport at around 4:30am to catch my 8am flight. There was snow in the forecast. I could see small flakes starting to fall as I walked into the airport, but I didn't give it much thought because I would be out of there soon.
Had a layover in Seattle and enjoyed a "happy hour" drink at 10am. I got to the Hyatt in Wichita a little after 5, with just enough time to freshen up for the Ice Breaker (where the above pics were taken). That night, as you can tell, I drank a bit of red wine and stayed up late socializing.
The next morning, after maybe 5ish hours of sleep, we started off with the speakers. The tricky thing with these events is that you want to party and network in the evening while still being able to learn and absorb as much info as possible during the day. I'd be lying if I said it took a lot of effort to keep my eyes open at times. I found all the talks very informative and entertaining; it's just that with the lights down low and the room being warm, my eyelids occasionally turned into lead.
Jason Persoff and Mike Smith (the keynote speaker) were my two favourites. At the end of the night, I actually bought Mike's book, Warnings.
Then we had our banquet dinner, followed by video night! I showed the same videos I shared at ChaserCon Canada last fall. A lot of people came up to me after to compliment me on my mammatus timelapse.
That evening was followed by more drinks and socializing. I kept telling people that I was "going to bed soon," but I just couldn't pull myself away and of course, I went to bed around 2 and had another 5ish hours of sleep.
Sunday morning - time for a 3 hour forecasting class! At times I wanted to staple my eyelids to my eyebrows because the fatigue was getting to me, but I managed to absorb a few things! Jon Davies did a fantastic job. I think each time I attend something like this, I learn a bit more. I really need to just look at soundings and weather data more frequently to retain more of it.
Shortly after noon, when everything finished up, a few of us went for lunch and then took the shuttle to the airport. For some reason, Alaska Airlines was not letting me check in online. Sometimes this happens with international flights so I figured it was no big deal and that I could check in at the counter. I arrived at 2pm, 4 hours early for my flight. The Alaksa Airlines counter was closed until 4pm. I was livid. I don't know why (probably because I was exhausted), but my fuse just blew. I wanted to wait at the gates with my friends, not sit out there alone. I ranted on Facebook and Twitter. Someone reached out to me via social media, but there was nothing they could do. I stayed on hold for an hour and when I eventually got through to someone, there was also nothing they could do. I had to wait until 4.
Once I cooled off, I felt down and even more tired. I was on this high from such a great weekend, but then after this fit of rage, I had crashed and was in a bit of a funk. At that point, I realized that I needed to chill out. Stuff happens when you travel. I can't flip out of over every little inconvenience. No matter how tired (or mildly day drunk) I may be, I need to maintain a positive, cheerful, and easygoing attitude. I was running on little sleep and couldn't afford to waste my energy on temper tantrums. From that point on, I was just going go with the flow and let it happen.
Little did I know, is that this shift in attitude was what was going to get me through the next 30 or so hours before I made it home.
