Cross-Canada Trip!--Total Distance

To wrap up the posts on our unforgettable Cross-Canada Road Trip here are our total distance numbers:

-In Jerusalem: 10, 478 km's

-In the Jeep : 3, 253 km's

TOTAL KM'S: 13, 741

A Winter Wonderland!!

With our Cross-Canada Road Trip over I have been able to slowly sort out stuff that I have missed or left to do later. I have gone through all of my mail, car registration stuff and banking and am now on a full fledged search for a job.

One thing I did forget to get along the way were some snow boots and I desperately needed them this morning when Calgary received its first snowfall of the year! And did we ever get a dumping!!

With the roads a little slick and slushy I was so very glad that last year my car got new tires. These new ones worked perfectly and I drove slow and steady to run my errands.

Because the snow caught me by surprise I had to wear my running shoes to the doctor this morning and my feet got cold and wet. I realized rather fast that I probably should stop at the mall and grab myself some snow boots. DONE & DONE.

I am happy to say I am now prepped for winter --though I probably should find myself a few more pairs of mitts (since I always seem to lose them).

THE PLAN NOW: Find myself a job......

There was definitely a rodeo at the Rodeo

So as some of you may know I used to work as a reporter for the CPRA--(Canadian Professional Rodeo Association).

During the week of Remembrance Day, the rodeo association holds its championship finals, known as the CFR (Canadian Finals Rodeo) in Edmonton, Alta.

I have gone to watch for many years, and two years ago I was working for the rodeo association and was able to get a "back stage" look at the ins and outs of how the event works.

It is a site to see, and while I was there I was overwhelmed at the hard work and care that goes into the rodeo itself.

This past CFR a freak accident happened and a bull jumped completely over the arena rails and landed on the first row of rodeo onlookers.

Many comments have been posted regarding animal cruelty and the affects rodeo and similar events has on the animals.

I have had first hand experience and observed the care and attention ALL of the rodeo animals receive, (from the bulls to the steers to the contestants horses).

I think that all of the people who comment negatively towards the rodeo itself should stop and think about how much experience they have in the rodeo business before they pass any judgement as to how the animals are cared for.

In my opinion, rodeo stock is looked after more diligently than some people's children...the incident at this particular CFR was just a freak accident!

Nuff said...

Please check out the video below of the bull's leap... (skip to 2:20min to watch)

Also, my prayers go out to all of the CFR audience members who were injured or know someone who was injured due to this accident.

Lest We Forget!

On November 11th at 11Am we took our minute of silence to remember those who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom.

Alexander brought his trumpet to play the last post and his friend Becky read In Flanders Field.

We went to the top of the hill at Bella Vista so that the sound would carry to as many as possible.

The minute of silence made me stop and think of those brave men and women who are still fighting for a better world today.

Maybe one day soon all men and women will be remembering and not fighting.

I found this movie on Youtube: Enjoy!

November 7, 2010--Day Thirty-Nine!

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When we woke up I hurried around the house trying to gather up all of the stuff I needed to take back to Calgary. A ton of my stuff is at dad’s as I moved it out of my old apartment before I headed to Saint John. I quickly found some clothes and hair products I needed and threw them in the car.

When all was packed we gave dad a dingle, asked if he had time to cook us up some breakfast at the café, and then headed in to town. Alexander went and said goodbye to the horsies quickly while I made sure everything was in the cars.

After breakfast we said goodbye to dad an then headed on our way back to Calgary. The trip isn’t very long—only 4.5 hours and I have done it many, many times now, so I lead, and Alexander followed with the Jeep.

We were headed back to Calgary!

We had definitely had our fair share of car troubles along the way and this final trip wouldn’t have been our adventurous finale to our Cross-Canada RoadTrip without some troubles.

We had almost made it to Calgary and were on the QE2 when Alexander’s Jeep decided it had had enough. He tried to use the accelerator, but instead of giving the engine more oomph and bringing him forwards the engine quieted down and his RPM’s fell. He could still drive at speed, but all acceleration was gone.

When we reached Calgary Alexander was in the special situation where he had to turn on his hazard lights going up hills because the Jeep could not get to the speed limit. I now followed behind him with my hazard lights on as well to make it safer. We did manage to get the Jeep home, but neither of us were very impressed that the Jeep was having problems. We were not happy on one side, but happy that our trip was coming to a close and this issue was not happening as we crossed the Rockies.

As we were in Calgary for a few days we were able to get the Jeep into the dealership to get checked out. Most of the people we asked hoped it was the cheapest thing to fix—the Fuel filter. It was not! It turns out the Jeep needed a complete electrical overhaul—with $750 worth of essential repairs.

Unemployed and currently arriving home from a 39 day Cross-Canada Road Trip this was not the news we needed. We were running out of money!

Anyways, we were supposed to take the Jeep to BC for Remembrance Day, but when we were packing I noticed something very important. Turns out that the entire time we have been driving the Jeep the registration had been expired. Oops!... so... we did not take it out to BC for Remembrance Day... yeah... we took my newly registered car instead…..

Back to the jist of this post. We made it to Calgary. We made it home.

After 39 Days on the road we made it from Saint John, New Brunswick to Calgary, Alberta, with quite a very interesting adventures in between.

Wow.

I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else! Thank you Alexander for being there with me and going on this trip together. It is a memory I will never forget

Ladies and Gentlemen, friends and family—our Cross-Canada Road Trip is over….

November 6, 2010--Day Thirty-Eight!

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My dad usually works weekends, but having known that we were coming to visit he took off Saturday morning. It was extremely nice of him, and it was great to relax with him. Before

We started talking about the race horses--which we breed, raise and run and which I have grown up with for most of my life. We had just taken one of our two-year olds down to our horse trainer to get broke so before we knew it we were in the car and on the road to watch as one of her employees gallops the horses around. Joan Petrowski is one of the most exceptional horse women and trainers around and her stables are about a 45 minute drive from our house.

When we arrived at the stables we said hi to Joan and then went directly out back to watch Bobby gallop one of the horses. He literally takes the two-year olds from just being halter broken to rideable. It is a very risky job as Thoroughbreds are very high-strung, but I can tell that he really enjoys it.

We said hello to eyelash—the two-year old which dad had taken down to get trained a few weeks earlier. She was not being galloped today as she had pulled a stifle and needed rest. Eyelash is gynormous for her age, 16 hands high…and according to Bobby has a temper. Actually, when she was getting trained she decided she wanted out of the round pen so tried to jump over it. She didn’t make it, but she did manage to completely wreck the pen itself. They now have a new post and planks in place of where the old section of the pen used to be. Yup…we raised that terror of a horse!

I’ve spent many hours at Viking Stables and at the race track in Edmonton so it was exciting for me to be able to show Alexander this part of my life. One day soon I hope to take him up to Edmonton when the races are going on, because it is an interesting thing to see.

We stopped in Innisfree to grab dad’s van, as he had brought my car home in the morning as it was diagnosed and fixed. When we got home we finished the second part of The Sculptress. Just like dad said, it will give you some crazy memories. We never found out if the Sculptress actually committed the murders or not, but she was found not guilty of her crimes, after being committed for months and was let out of jail.

Alexander had the fantastic idea of trying to get some silhouette shots of the horses out in the pasture. This worked out quite well as the sun was setting and we were waiting for my best friend Amber to meet us to take us to one of my other friends.

Alexander was out in the field playing with the horses and I was in search of the kittens. (We have four wild, wild kittens)!

I went out in the field to check on Alexander and before we knew it Amber had arrived. She went into the house, realized we weren’t there, then saw us in the field. She had seen our Thoroughbred baby when he was first born, so she wanted to see him quickly before we headed out. We trekked up to the corral, visited with the babies quickly then headed out.

Once at my friend Sharon’s place we went inside and literally chilled. Sharon had saved one of the kittens I had found at the farm and it was now one of the house dog/cats. Sharon has three pets. Timmy, Honey and Buddy (the cat she had saved from me).

We played with the cat, and cuddled with the dogs. Since we weren't doing much and all three of us girls were horsey girls, we sat and watched the Breeders Cup Classic and gah!!...was it exciting! Alexander seemed to enjoy the race too, so that was good to see.

I don't know how many of you have been following this big race, but it had special significance. The greatest racehorse of all time, Zenyatta, was running her 20th race. She has won all of her other 19 races. This makes her better than Secretariat and Seabiscuit. Anyways, this race brought her out of retirement and would leave her in retirement after. It was incredible! When the race started she was dead last. Sh was far, far behind the group. It was tragic to watch, the horses were running and running, and the crown favourite, Zenyatta was at the back. It was kind of like watching everyone's heart breaking. But, then, suddenly the jockey saw an opening. he pushed Zenyatta forwards and she broke into her famous sprint that has made her so incredible. From being behind the crowd she burst forwards and passed horse after horse. She was gaining on the leader, but running out of track. This was where everyone's heard broke. The excitement of watching Zenyatta burst through the crowd gave everyone high hopes that were shattered when Zenyatta lost the race...by a nose. Just a few inches and that was all. Her perfect record broke as she entered retirement forever. I don't think second is that bad, but I guess when you are on the cusp of history like that, maybe it is. I felt sad for the jockey, who blamed the entire loss of Zenyatta's race on himself. He was in tears, and kept saying it was his fault. It was devastating for everyone.

After the race we had an amazing supper cooked by Sharon’s boyfriend Donald, then we enjoyed a huge bonfire, got dropped off back at the farm by Amber and then headed to sleep.

November 5, 2010--Day Thirty-Seven!

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We woke up and decided we best head to Vegreville ASAP to figure out the car just in case something goes wonky. First, I gave Alexander a quick tour of the farm. He saw all of the animals, minus the sheep, but he had seen them out the bedroom window when we woke up.

Before long we were on the road. We met dad half way to the highway and just let him know we were on our way and would be back in a bit. Like most trips to the registry it took a while to sort everything out. I was getting a new ID as I was changing my address, and they couldn’t’ read the dates on my temporary pink card, so I had to get my insurance company to resend the card. It took a while…

Anyhow, when all was done we stopped at the World’s Largest Ukranian Easter Egg and then continued on.

When we arrived home dad had brunch waiting for us. He had cooked up some eggs, bacon and pancakes, and we enjoyed them with Gilles and Francine’s maples syrup which I had brought home for them to try. It was delicious.

Dad is looking after a horse for a friend, and it is a horse for my two cousins to ride. He is an old 4-H and gymkhana horse so he is usually very quite. This horses name is Chubby. It took a few minutes for us to catch him and bridle him up, but before long I was aboard and so was Alexander. We figured we could double up and go bareback for a short ride and so off we went. We rode quietly down the road, checked out the field and then continued back. We really hadn’t gone far, or for a long ride at all, but Chubby had had enough. When we headed into the driveway he wanted to gallop. I held him back so he decided to buck. With no saddle and two people aboard this is ummm…challenging. The outcome was Alexander being thrown into me and me being thrown into him. It didn't take long and I was chillin out on Chubby’s neck. When I was eye to eye with him he figured he had better stop. Dad came bootin’ it out of the house with the lead rope in town to grab chubby. I jumped off to lead him around, as I wasn’t letting Chubby go back to his friends quite that fast. Alexander stayed aboard and we walked around the farm.

We bumped into my Uncle at the back of the farm and talked with him briefly then we took Chubby back to his friends.

I wanted to show Alexander the view of the lakes at the top of our pasture, so we took my dog, Minto with dads chore van and headed up to the hill. There we walked around and checked out the view and took photos of the fields and the harvested bales that were everywhere. My dog is getting old, so I felt bad for her. She isn’t as active as she was when she was little and it is noticeable as I have grown up with her. I took her to and from the yard in the van and I think she thanked me very much.

I wanted to take my car into Innsfree to run it, as it had been sitting for 5 months. As soon as I turned on the engine, the engine light came on. Crap!!

I phoned dad and he suggested I keep it at the farm and he will look at it when he gets back from work, so that is what we did. We took the Jeep into Innisfree. I wanted to show Alexander where I went to school, where I grew up and where was home for me. I have spent a lot of time around his home (both in Calgary and out in BC) and it felt great to be able to show him where I grew up.

I showed up Innisfree Delnorte School (where I went from K-12). It is much, much different from when I was there, as over the last year and a bit it has undergone catastrophic renovations and downsizing. From there we toured the curling rink and the back streets and then stopped on Mainstreet at the Video Café, which my dad owns and runs. After that, I showed Alexander the bank, post office and museum and within about 10min he had seen ALL of Innisfree.

We headed back to the farm, which is about an 8min drive from Innisfree and went up to feed the baby horses. They are about 6 months old so they are just little. One of them is a Thoroughbred, which was born in the spring and the other dad bought about a month ago to keep the other baby company. They are very,very cute and seem to enjoy each others company.

Alexander took tons and tons of photos—and they were spectacular shots of the farmland and animals and of great silhouettes of the horses out in the pasture. Make sure to check out both of our blogs for those amazing photographs.

My brother had offered to take us out for dinner, so we headed to Vegreville again to meet up with him after work. We went to Boston Pizza and it was great to catch up with what Gem had been upto. Thanks Gem for buying us supper!!!

When I arrived home the phone rang. Dad wanted me to bring my car into down so that a mechanic could look at it in the am, and I could hitch a ride home with him when he was done work and so I did.

When we arrived back home we watched some TV. We were watching Apprentice, since it was on, when dad arrived home. It was a very humorous episode of The Apprentice as the project manager had a huge man-crush on a model and was asked on National Television by Mr. Trump if he was gay. The project manager got redder and redder and more embarrassed and was eventually fired, but it really was quite entertaining.

Dad always seems to find intriguing books and movies to read or watch (probably because he owns a bookstore/movie store) so he suggested we watch the Sculptress. It is an interesting film about the story of a woman who was convicted of murdering her family but who may or may not have done it. It was an extremely long film, so we only watched Part 1, said our goodnights and then headed to bed.

November 4, 2010--Day Thirty-Six!

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Our time in Kamloops had ended. Before we knew it we were on the road with A&W breakfast sandwiches in our hands. We drove north towards Jasper. For the first while it was that same Wild West hilly terrain that surrounds Kamloops, but after that it turned into the rugged Rockies. We climbed and climbed and climbed and found ourselves in the midst of snow-capped mountains.

In the mountains we took a quick break. There was a Terry Fox Peak, and since we had already seen so much of Terry Fox we thought we should stop. There was a river running through the valley of the peak but it was too far down to get to. Instead we stood, marvelled at the peaks, ogled the largest crow ever, and then continued on our way.

When we made it to Jasper we were delayed by a pack of Bighorn Sheep. They were sitting on the highway, just like they do in Radium. Alexander snapped a photo as we went passed and then we continued. Onward through Alberta; through Edmonton, and stopping quickly in Vegreville for gas. Then, we before we knew it we were at the farm! HOME!!!

My dad and bro were waiting for us, and when we arrived we had pork chops and mashed potatoes. It was a perfect meal for Alexander, and I think made especially for him of just meat and potatoes. Lucky him.

We caught up on stuff and discussed what I needed to do before I headed back to Calgary. I had piles of mail to go through and one of the two reasons we headed to Innisfree was to show Alexander around and to pick up my car. I had insurance, so all I had to do was get registration for my Chrysler Neon. I would do that tomorrow in Vegreville.

After a bit we headed to the bedroom. We watched an episode of Castle and then called it a night!

November 3, 2010--Day Thirty-Five!

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We slept reasonably well, but we were not alone. Sometime in the middle of the night Tika wanted to cuddle with us. She is extremely well mannered so she did not just jump on us, but instead waited at our feet. She managed to wake us both, as we realized we had something lying on our feet. When we woke, it gave her permission to cuddle closer. She slept between us for a while and when she didn’t like that anymore she slept at our heads, guarding over us. Somewhere in the middle of the night my mother decided it was tea time and came down for a cup. Realizing Tika was MIA she called to her, waking us up and Tika. I informed Mom that Tika was chilling at our heads, she got her tea and we all went back to sleep…

In the morning mom headed to school again, although meeting a little trouble along the way. The landlord was moving some cattle and tied a rope across the driveway. Not seeing the rope and driving quickly mom drove into the rope which slid up the windshield, ripping off both wipers and cracking the windshield…it was not a good morning for her.

She phoned us to let us know to watch out for the rope, but we didn’t plan to go anywhere so we were safe.

We got up, packed some water and snacks and headed to the hills. We had been eyeing up the nearby hill to climb since we arrived at my moms, so today was the day! We ran into the landlord and he told us to literally just walk straight up the hill, and so we did.

We stopped and started a few times, because of our lack of fitness level, and to check out the view but the most dangerous element was night the sheer grade of the hill but the cacti, which took over the hills bank. They were everywhere, so our eyes had to stay wide, wide open to avoid the deadly plant, thingy! Despite trying very hard, we did have some issues with the cacti. If one stood on one it would detach from the main plant and stick to your shoe. Then, when you continued walking it would detach from your shoe as it imbedded itself in your leg! This was not good. We had to remove cacti from legs twice and from shoes thrice. I still has some thorns stuck in my shoe that we could not remove...

The hike was challenging, but rewarding. It was absolutely beautiful. The dry environment makes it interesting and much different to wetter climites like Vancouver. Kamloops is similar to the climate of Invermere, BC where we often relax on weekends. When we reached the top we just sat there and admired. We ate some discount Halloween candy, drank our Gatorade and water and then headed back down.

Down seemed to be a lot more challenging. I somehow managed to twist my ankle (it is weak anyhow), so walking was possible, but not pain free. We also seemed to find more cacti and it got caught on us even more so that on the way up. We were glad we did not take the dogs on this trip as it would not have been pleasant if they stepped on the sharp edges of the cacti.

Back at the house we relaxed and waited for mom to come home. When she did we returned to the river, this time with her and the dogs, to show her around. We walked the sandy beach again. We found some interesting things. Parts to and old car, with the tire and door handle visible, and steel all around. All in all, we think 50 years ago or so someone ditched a car in the river and it has been there ever since.

Back at the house we cooked up some lamb tacos, which we enjoyed. Then we had ice cream and berries and watched Children of Men and Survivor…

It was our last night in Kamloops….

November 2, 2010--Day Thirty-Four!

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The weather definitely hasn’t been on our side most of the trip, but these last few days of the end of our Cross Canada adventure have been phenomenal. We woke up to find it clear, and with nice weather it made it that much easier to go for a walk with Alexander and my mom. She lives on a small farm outside of Kamloops directly beside the North Thompson River. On the small farm there are a few animals. Some Llamas, sheep, cows and a few horses. Plus there are the dogs! Tika is my mom’s dog and Louie is the neighbour’s/landlords.

All five of us went for a stroll around the fields. The grass was frosty but it was warm outside so it was a nice way to wake up and start the day.

After a quick bite to eat we followed my mom, who was off to University, to Superstore where we picked up a few groceries. We got gas (after nearly not making it there due to lack of gas…) and then we headed back home. We grabbed slurpees along the way, ok, ok it was a small detour, and then we headed home.

Back at the house we were just a chillin’ when the neighbour (and landlord) came over. We had not been there long but somehow we had already consumed the daily download limit for their satellite Internet... this meant that there would be no internet for 24 hours. He was not concerned, since it could have been his kids, but knowing us... it was probably us... oops. Sorry mom!...!

The property which mom rents from sits on the North Thompson River, like I said. Since we enjoy wandering, exploring and hiking it seemed completely natural that we investigate down by the river. We did this, especially because mom had not done it either. Although she was not with us, we promised we would fill her in on what she could see if she did wander down that shoreline.

It is definitely low season for the rivers. The run-off from the snow on the mountains has evaporated so the bottom of the river is bare. When the water is gone you can explore in a very sandy environment.

Alexander and did much exploring, as did the dogs. They played in the river and ran around with us as we checked out the river.

When we were exhausted we headed back to the house. It wasn’t long after than mom arrived back from uni and we gathered in the car and headed to Milestone’s for dinner. We enjoyed a great meal and great company and when all was said and done we headed home to chill out.

From Kamloops we said goodnight.

November 1, 2010--Day Thirty-Three!

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When we have a timeline for a large trip such as we did for this, long leisurely days of rest just doesn’t happen. Today, we got to rest more than we had in a really long time. We had no plans and no “need to do’s”, so we enjoyed each other’s company and helped out Alexander’s Granddad with a few tasks he needed help with.

White Rock sits very, very close to the Canada-United States border. So close that while you are in half the town you can actually look across the water and see the United States. Alexander’s Granddad told us the story like this... if you look at a map you will see a black line separating Canada from the United States. This black line is actually Avenue 0 and happens to rest on the Canadian side of the border. It runs along the border letting you see both Canada and the US. We drove to Avenue 0. It was strange to be in Canada and to see, just a few feet away, Americans living their lives. There was no great wall, or trench, or minefield between the two countries... just some survey pegs and a little stretch of grass. There may have been no physical barrier, but if you cross that invisible one it is not long before some well-built gentlemen with big guns and bad attitudes approach you for a few “simple” questions... (We didn’t test it out, but we can only imagine….)

For the rest of the day we just hung out. Alexander’s granddad was heading out to a concert with his step-daughter, so we headed out to a restaurant to meet up with a friend of mine who was now going to school in Vancouver. It was nice to see you Brett!!!

After supper we took a short walk down White Rock’s well lit pier. It was dark now, but the town had beautiful lights carving their way up the hill. It was an incredible sight and not one that we will forget anytime soon.

Saying goodbye to seeing my friend and to White Rock and to the realization that our Cross-Canada Road Trip was actually complete was sad. We got in the Jeep after supper and left White Rock. We were headed for Kamloops.

There was rain leaving White Rock and then Vancouver but once we reached the Coquihalla Highway it was clear. I think that some people find the Coquihalla boring, but the way down I thought it was beautiful and incredible to see the highway twisting through the mountains. This time it was beautiful to see the lights. There were headlights and taillights stretched through the distance making the highway look like a stretched out snake of fire. Because you can see so far, this snake stretched far into the distance, slithering over a long horizon.

When we arrived at mom’s house, only having drove a little too far past her driveway, we settled in, had a cup of tea, caught up quickly, set up our sleeping bags, then fell asleep.

October 31, 2010--Day Thirty-Two!

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We ate breakie with the senior’s, who are given a prepared meal three times a day. We visited Helen quickly (Alexander’s granddad’s wife) and then we started our day. Alexander’s granddad gave a quick sermon and then we got ready to go. We had a quick tour of White Rock, including visiting Sherry. (Helen’s daughter) and then headed towards the Tsawassen Ferry Terminal. We were headed to Victoria and Mile “O” today to officially finish our Cross-Canada Road Trip!!

We had reserved a ticket so we got to get on the ferry first. The ferry was a bit different to East Coast ferries as these ones were just coasted ferries and not meant for open sea and big storms. Once on board we headed up to the buffet and settled in for lunch. Alexander’s granddad treated us as we went in, sat at the very, very tip of the bow and enjoyed a fabulous lunch buffet!

This is supposed to be Vancouver’s rainy season but we were finally lucky and got some great weather. It was clear as could be and we were able to watch the ferry navigate through the many islands around Victoria.

It was a fast crossing. Well, fast compared to some of the ferry trips we have been on. It only took and hour and a half, but as we enjoyed a delectable lunch it felt much, much faster than that.

We were one of the first vehicles off of the ferry and on our way towards Mile “O”. Alexander’s Granddad had been there before, not in a while, but he flawlessly navigated and brought us to where we needed to go. We made it to a large park in Victoria and Alexander’s Granddad asked a police officer if we were going to right way, so we knew we were!

Mile “O”

It felt…exciting! But sad all at the same time.

Our adventurous trip to drive from East to West Coast, through Labrador during the Autumn/Winter Canadian Weather was complete….

It was the end of a trip I will never forget.

Though our feat to go from the farthest Eastern point to the West coast was completed, we still had about a week left of travelling left to do.

At Mile “O” there was another statue of Terry Fox, representing him reaching the end he was never able to reach, and there was also a plaque devoted to Steven Fonyo, who completed the run for Terry Fox.

Alexander and I hiked down to the waterfront and Alexander’s Granddad stayed on the boardwalk.

We hiked down to the waterfront and put our hands in the Pacific Ocean….

It was an emotional moment. We looked at each other and realized exactly what we had done. It is a trip that most wish to take, but never get to do.

If you have never done it and have always wanted to I hope you do. It is a trip you will never forget!

Back on the cliffs we headed back to the Jeep. We took some time to tour around Victoria. Alexander’s granddad showed us around. We saw the downtown and parliament and the harbourfront, a huge hotel and the fishermen’s warf. None of us had been there, but we saw it so decided to pull in. There was a good place to park, so we decided to walk around a bit. We admired many of the floating houses and decided that we probably couldn’t handle that, given our sea sickiness during our ferry adventures…

Anyhow. It was neat to see that people enjoyed living in an environment such as that.

Wandering around we saw some people grouped together in front of a small store. There was a seal floating in the water just in front of the stall. Evidently, the seal had found the perfect spot to hang out. The store offered sardines for a dollar each or six for five dollars. People were buying the bait fishes and feeding them to the seal who would gently pull them from the people’s hands. The sea gulls were also keenly watching this and tried to go for the fish, someone had to stand dutifully on guard to squirt the gulls with a water gun to keep them away.

Alexander’s Granddad bought us some fish and we got to feed the seal. It was at the top of our list of highlights from the trip. I had never fed a seal. We had seen a lot in the distance on many of our whale watching and ferry trips, but none up close. The are just like a dog, but a dog with skin and …well anyhow…

We got some fantastic pictures, and an even better video and it was a highlight from our trip that we won’t forget anytime soon.

We watched some other people for a bit, one guy was about to drop the sardine into the seal’s mouth, but a seagull happened to swoop down just too fast and enjoyed a sardine for dinner. Sneaky things…

After wandering around the floating houses and enjoying their Halloween decorations we headed back to the Jeep and drove to the ferry. We saw people dressed up out trick-o-treating around Victoria and then in Vancouver as we drove back. When we got back to Alexander’s Granddad’s we visited for a bit and then passed out on the floor…..zzzz…

October 30, 2010--Day Thirty-One!

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Blog posts are hard to prepare especially for driving days. I like having friends, family and blog visitors read what I have to say, so I’m trying my hardest to make these last few Cross-Canada Road Trip posts as thrilling as possible!

We headed out just like we always do when we go to BC. We headed out to Golden and then just kept going through Revelstoke, Sicamous and Salmon Arm, etc

We had picked up the Jeep to take us through the Rockies. The Rockies were clear and dry, with better conditions than Saskatchewan had to offer. We can bet that if we would have taken Jerusalem we would have definitely been caught in a blizzard somewhere along the way. The bad news with taking the Jeep, it costs about double what it would if we took the car.

The roads were clear all the way, even when crossing the higher elevations such as Rogers Pass and the Coquihala highway.

We noticed, along the way the change in climate. Near the Alberta border there is a lot of forests, Kamloops area it is desert like and dry, and as soon as you reach the west it is warm and wet.

We managed to sneak around the centre of metro-Vancouver and the GPS took us straight to the doorstep of Alexander’s granddads place. Within a few seconds he was taking us into the parkade and we were on an excursion to check out Whit Rock’s Waterfront. We headed to Moby Dick’s for some fish and chips and we enjoyed A LOT of fish!

The senior’s in Alexander’s Granddad’s home were having a party. They were all dressed up for Halloween and it was great to see them enjoying themselves. We wanted to join them, but after supper and the longgggg drive we were tired and ready to crash. We crashed out on Alexander’s granddad’s floor while the senior’s had a ball?!!? (It’s funny, because we can’t even use the excuse that we must be getting old….)

October 29, 2010--Day Thirty!

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We were initially going to head out to White Rock today, but Alexander’s father was hosting a large retirement party in which his old co-workers were coming to celebrate, so we thought we should stay to help out. Most of the day we ran errands.

We had to drop off a shipment of homemade beer that Collin was giving to Chris Sensei and Alexander’s sister Christine needed us to pick up a gift certificate from a local pub that she had forgotten to get the night before. We also needed to find Jerusalem a car doctor. Alexander’s family used to use an old friend—Sam to fix small jobs on their vehicles, but finding his house was a bit more challenging now as the road connecting to his driveway is all barricaded off. Sam was not home, but a guy who works there said he would phone back when he found out of they had time to fix Jerusalem. They never called back, so we will go back over there when we get back from Vancouver.

We headed downtown to drop off the gift certificate to Alexander’s sister. I hadn’t been in Calgary for 5 months and it was a bit of a shock to see all of the growth downtown. Bow Trail is completely ripped up, and the C-train tracks are actually surprisingly obvious. The C-Train extension is a $700,000,0000 project, and now it is expected to rise above $1 billion in costs.

We dropped off the certificate, grabbed some groceries on our way home and then were stationed ready to help.

The helping took the rest of the evening. There was cleaning to finish and vacuuming, and appetizers to start. Alexander’s dad was hosting the party, but it was a party for him, so we were very happy to help out. Alexander helped with most of the cooking so his dad could mingle and celebrate with his coworkers and I used by waitressing skills and served all of the appy’s and cheese, etc to the many guests. It all worked out fantastic! Alexander’s dad and his friend Dana had done all of the organization and prep work, and we helped out with a good bit of the execution.

The food was great and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. As people finished eating we retrieved dishes and started to clean up. It was a wonderful meal of tons of appetizers, then roast beef and beans and casserole and salad and broccoli salad and buns, and then a plethora of desserts. It was incredible.

A few speeches happened just after dinner was over. Mr. Cook was presented with a fantastic bottle of wine and a beautiful piece of art to hang in Bella Vista when all of the renovations are complete. All in all it was a incredible night!!

Congratulations on your retirement Mr. Cook!

October 28, 2010--Day Twenty-Nine!

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After our last two days of crappy driving we were a bit scared as to what the highway from Saskatoon to Calgary had to offer. This time we checked Sask AA and AMA and the weather network and it looked all clear. Sigh….

We had Reese Puffs that Collin had gotten especially for us for breakfast, and then we headed out. We headed on our way on perfect, dry roads all the way home.

One of the most spectacular sites to see in all of Saskatchewan is just the sheer flatness and straightness of the highways. You can literally see for miles. This scene all changes when you arrive at the badlands. We are on the flat prairies in one instance and then at a blink of an eye we are driving down the canyon towards the Red Deer River. We saw signs for Drumheller and the Royal Tyrell Museum and it brought back memories for both of us as we both went there with family members when we were younger. We noted that we will have to go back there, especially because we live so close.

Before we knew it we could see land that we recognized. We merged onto Queen Elizabeth II and before we knew it we were driving past Airdrie and were headed off to test the new ring road. It was now complete and it makes the drive from Alexander’s house to the airport super, super quick!! Yay!!!

We were sitting in the driveway wondering where to begin. We had a car literally full to the roof and we only had just over a day of downtime before we were on the road again.

REMEMBER: Our Cross-Canada Trip is NOT over. We decided to stop in Calgary to get the Jeep as it is much safer to drive across the Rockies than Jerusalem. There is still Victoria to read about, Kamloops and Alexander’s first trip to Innisfree!!!

We were home only a few minutes when Alexander’s father arrived back from BC. It was a hectic afternoon trying to clean out Jerusalem but keep the house in working order. We tried to organize what could stay and what needed to get packed into the Jeep ---it definitely took a little effort.

Alexander’s entire family came over for dinner to welcome us home. We did the supper now because once we actually finish the trip in Calgary everyone will be on vacation in Mexico. The Welcome Back party was great and it definitely felt great to be home!

October 27, 2010--Day Twenty-Eight!

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We decided that we had better find breakfast before we hit the road, as we weren’t entirely sure how long it would take us to get from Davidson to Saskatoon.

As we left the motel and headed toward the diner we ate at last night we realized just how strong the winter storm was during the night. The wind had threw the motel door open and kept it open, and the snow piled and drifted and iced INSIDE the motel door. It was a funny site to see, but we felt extremely sorry for the owners who had to clean up that mess when they woke up.

We passed the drift and carried on to the diner. It was not open yet, but two people were at the door reefing on it trying to get it open. Evidently the storm last night had literally frozen the door shut and it was definitely not going to be opened anytime soon. (Well not from the outside anyhow).

With another spot to eat marked off our list we headed over to Subway. The open sign was on, and we saw people inside, so that was a good. We grabbed our food and sat by the window to admire the crappy, crappy conditions. As we ate, other people had wandered over from the full motel (there was a now a no vacancy sign outside) and they spoke of their trips to the ditch, where they had to go and how the weather channel had informed them the roads were no better. Great…..we thought…

We skated (it felt like) back to the motel to grab our stuff. The owner was now at the door trying to de-ice his door and get all of the snow out of the front lobby. I felt sorry for him because the weather was still terrible. We grabbed our gear, checked out and started up Jerusalem.

The blowing snow had calmed down, so visibility was much, much better. This seemed to make the roads worse though. The wind, in wide open Saskatchewan literally polished the ice on the road, so we weren’t just driving on an icy road, we were driving on and ice rink.

The ice was so bad we couldn’t actually see it. It pretty much looked like we were driving on the actual road, but us sliding all over the place told us otherwise.

Summer tires on ice..?! Gahhhh….

Eventually the road improved significantly, (my friend told me later it was the change of counties looking after the road) and after a long, long couple days we made it to Saskatoon!

One of Alexander’s best friends, Collin is living in Saskatoon right now finising up an engineering degree, so we were visiting him (and two of my good friends who also live in Saskatoon). We made our way to Collin’s house, got in and rested. He was at class since we arrived a day late, so we were able to chill and get our nerves back after that ridiculously long two-day drive. What an experience!

We got slurpees and some lunch and then relaxed. I was heading out with some friends for supper and Alexander and Collin were going to have their “boy” time!

My friend Lacey, who came out to New Brunswick in the summer lives in Saskatooon (she goes to vet school) and my old SAIT roommate Brianna is working in Saskatoon. So they both met up at Collin’s house and we headed out to Original Joe’s.

We caught up on each other’s news and had some good laughs. It was nice to hang out with the girls, even if it was just for a few hours. Once supper was over they gave me a short, but sweet tour around Saskatoon and then I was dropped back off at Collin’s. Brianna had to get up early for work, so she headed back home, but Lacey came back in quickly to say hi to Alexander. She stayed for a bit then headed home herself.

Alexander and Collin enjoyed some Cuban cigars and I watched TV, then we all went to Zzzzzzz…..