My last day in The Rockies was spent in Canmore, because Samesun was booked for the weekend. I found an affordable, quiet hostel called The Hostel Bear for my last night. I felt sicker than the day before, but I still wanted to go around a little bit, and made it my goal to at least see the Nordic Centre, site of the 1988 Winter Olympics.
I had some Subway for dinner because I wanted to get to bed early. I was unusually tired from barely any physical activity, had a slightly runny nose, and puffy eyes. I had a four-hour drive ahead of me to Edmonton and I wanted to leave the hostel no later than 5:30 a.m.
After eating I pulled the sheets I didn’t need off my bed and into the tote bag provided to me at the front desk. Since I would have to return them when I checked out of the hostel, and since I was leaving the room before dawn, I wanted to make as little noise as possible because everyone would likely be sleeping at that point. Also, I was probably going to disrupt them anyway once I opened the door. I wanted my departure to be as painless as possible for everyone else in the room.
Although I hit the sack before 11 p.m., some girls checked into the room past then, switched on the lights, and settled in. For several minutes there was a lot of rustling, bags zipping, feet stepping on bunk bed steps, and whispering. Those minutes felt much longer than usual. I grew slightly frustrated because I wanted to get enough rest and being sick shortened my temper. But I let it go because you really can never expect every single thing to go as planned. Plus, the girls weren’t deliberately being loud. In fact, they went to sleep as soon as they were done brushing their teeth.
Once they switched the lights off, I gradually dozed away for the next five to six hours or so, until I regained consciousness to my phone vibrating along with the digital sound of crickets.