Journal of a Lifetime (Journals of Love) Read Online Free PDF

muscular arms.
    As if he felt her staring at him, Steve looked directly at Lindsey. Flustered, she quickly turned to look out the window. For some reason, her heart was suddenly pounding.
    The final passenger sat down next to her, and Don announced they were on their way.



Seven
    L INDSEY STOLE A glance back toward the front, and watched as Steve took the seat behind Don. He picked up the microphone.
    “Howdy, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Steve Sloan, and I’ll be your guide for the week.”
    His smile lit up the bus, and Lindsey’s eyes.
    “I hope Don took good care of you while you were waiting,” he continued. “Let me tell you how this works. If at any time you have a question, either shout out for me or raise your hand, and I will be happy to answer for you. Otherwise, I will continue to talk for most of the drive to provide you with trivia, history, and other information on Calgary.”
    Lindsey thought that she could listen to his smooth, deep voice all day. She felt as if she had heard it before, and was immediately comforted by him.
    “I’m sure one of the first things you’ll notice,” Steve continued, “is that the street signs are in kilometers and not miles per hour. We’ll be doing the driving for you, so you shouldn’t have to worry about any conversions, but if you’d like to know, one kilometer is point six tenths of a mile.”
    Lindsey had decided to keep her own journal of this trip too, and began to write down what Steve said. He recounted all the information Lindsey had read in Nana’s journal regarding the history of Calgary, and added that the meaning of Calgary was “clear running water.”
    “The Blackfoot Indians were the first to live here,” Steve explained. “With the addition of the railway, Calgary grew into a cow-town when the ranchers moved here in response to the free land the government gave away. When oil was discovered, the population continued to grow, and Calgary officially became a city.”
    Lindsey looked down at her Nana’s journal. It was as if Steve were reading word-for-word off the pages. She looked up in surprise at the coincidence, and saw him staring at her.
    “The movie
Brokeback Mountain
was filmed here among the Canadian Rockies, too, which has increased our tourism during this past year.”
    The look Steve had given her was almost a teasing one, she thought, as if he were telling her there was more to know than what was in her pages.
    He continued, and Lindsey followed along in her journal. “Old Calgary resembled the traditional old western towns. The streets were a series of wood framed houses and buildings. This held true until the fire of 1886, when most of the town burned.” He pointed out the Bow River on the right side of the bus.
    “It was then that the townsfolk discovered that the sandstone from the river provided a longer lasting and safer material for their homes and buildings.”
    The words “longer lasting and safer” seemed to awaken emotions deep within Lindsey. Those were words that she hadn’t allowed herself to say in months. Nana’s passing had made Lindsey’s world feel fleeting and dangerous. She could only wish that her world would feel safe again, someday.
    With a quick shake of her head, she returned her concentration to Steve.
    “We’re passing by the Saddle Dome, which was built for the 1988 Olympics and is now the country’s greatest hockey arena, aptly named for the shape which it resembles.”
    Lindsey looked up, and he was looking at her once again. She quickly turned her gaze toward the Saddle Dome and checked his facts against the ones Nana had written. So far, everything matched word-for-word. She had wanted to recreate this trip, but it was making her nervous the way things were following the journal so perfectly.
    Steve’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “You can also see the Calgary Tower from here. It is 540 feet tall and is one of Calgary’s greatest known landmarks. When the Olympics were here, a