Tag: travel

The Daily EO: August 3rd, 2012

Greetings from Butte, Montana and the Copper King Conference Centre and Resort!

Hours driven:  16 hours
Kms travelled (door to door):  1197.2
Money spent:  $215.43

Well, we didn’t get an early start because we wanted to catch up on some sleep.  After some concern about the border crossings into the US on the Canadian long weekend, we were happy to find the delay was only about 20 minutes.   Emile – accustomed to the large bridges for border crossing in Ontario – was disappointed to find that the Peace Arch was as small as it is it.  He thought the Peace Arch referred to a glorious bridge stretching across a river (like Niagara River).

Cell Phones are now switched off and we began probably the longest period either of us has spent disconnected in over a year.  Can’t look up hotels, maps, or settle arguments without the internet.

I always find adjusting to the road signs in the US is such a problem.  In Canada, you know if the road sign says “Regina 193”, you’re going to be there in 2 hours give or take.  In the US, you see “Missoula 193”, you’ve got another 3+ hours.  It makes the next distance sign feel like you’ve accomplished very little.

We stopped in . . . um. . . some city just outside Seattle to get some groceries and bought ourselves some American Only goods.  This included Keebler Cinnabon Cookies, Triple Double Oreos (three wafers, 1 vanilla icing and 1 chocolate icing), Reduced Fat Cheeze Its (you know, we have a strict diet), and a large Mexican Beer (just for the thrill of purchasing alcohol in a grocery store).

After that, I typed e-mails into Word, and we drove across Washington, into Idaho (Emile wonders why they got that little panhandle) with plans to stop in Coeur D’Alene.  We weren’t tired in there, so decided to keep pushing on, not knowing what was awaiting us.

Arrogance again led us to believe that we’d easily find a hotel room in Montana.  We started stopped in St. Regis, and by the time we asked at the third hotel in Missoula, we thought something might be up.  I asked the girl what was going on.  She looked at me like the ignorant Canadian I am and said “It’s Friday night.  It’s Montana.   It’s summer.”   Well.  Hmmm.  Well that pulls me down a couple of pegs.   Its midnight by now, but what to do? Park with the Truckers, and snuggle in the fit?  Or keep driving.  Emilie cracked open a diet cola, and some American Only Chili Fritos and said “I’m good to go.”

We headed towards Butte, while I slept for the next stage of driving if necessary.   When we got to Butte, we asked at 3 hotels before someone said “Copper King” might have rooms.

The clerk wasn’t the most attractive man – drinking a 7-11 Super Big Gulp at 2 in the morning might give you a clue about why – but I almost leapt across the desk into his arms when he told me there was a room.

August 3rd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Staying at the former “it” spot from 1985.  But who cares?  It was a clean, well-appointed, and friendly with soft flat surfaces to sleep.

Leaving Vancouver. Goodbye Grandpa.

The Daily EO: August 2nd, 2012

After 3 weeks of vacation, you tend to get lazy and lacking of sleep.  You are never in your own bed, and you pack your days with visiting and activities.  I awoke early this morning for some reason – still tired.  Kinda hungry.  The previous evening we had visited my aunt’s new condo in Burnaby with my Grandma and Grandpa.  All five of us squeezed into the Fit with canes and walkers and headed out.

It was a later evening than usual, and this led to another night without a full night of sleep.  When I awoke –urgently needing to go to the washroom – I listened to my husband’s steady breathing.  Despite wanting to get Olympic highlights, I refrained from turning on the TV and waking him up.

I needed to leave the room so he could get some of the sleep he needed to.  I pondered my options.  Too early to see my grandpa, too early to eat.  But not too early for running.  That’s a bad idea.  I don’t want to run.  I’m tired.  My ass jingles a little bit more after this vacation.

But with a lack of any other choice, I quietly and reluctantly laced my shoes and headed out.  I walked for a bit to warm up.  Well, actually that is not true – I walked for a bit because I didn’t want to start.

But start I did finally and I ran 3.6 kms this morning.  Shorter than usual, but at least I got out there.  As I rounded the last corner, my mom was standing outside drinking a coffee and smoking a cigarette.   She gave me a wave.  Two different approaches to the start of the day.

August 2nd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  No stopping for 3.6 km.  Yes, NO STOPPING for 3.6 kms!

The Daily EO: August 1st, 2012

I have an unreasonable fear of missing ferries.  Now for those of you landlocked people, you won’t understand what I mean – but I hate being left on the dock being inconvenienced by having to wait for the next sailing. I imagine all that I am missing out on at my destination while watching the ferry pull away.

On the BC coast, the islands and shore are well serviced with comfortable, timely and attractive ferries. You can drive or walk-on and you can even make a reservation if you must make a sailing.  However, there is a charge for this.  So, if you happen to be a cheap. . . ahem value-conscious, fastidious planner like my husband.. . . oh, I mean like me . . .making a reservation hurts a little.  And somehow having a summer sojourn all planned up, takes all the romance out of it.  It’s supposed to be spontaneous!  And in the old days you just waited on the dock for hours until you could be squeezed on – it was how it was done.

So when I used to have to catch a ferry from Vancouver, I found my speed slowly edging up on the long straight stretch to the ferry terminal.  Nobody wants to finish fourth and I feel like every car I pass means my chances for getting on the next sailing increases.  It’s a dangerous combination – panicking me coupled with high speeds.

There is something about riding a ferry through the Juan de Fuca Straight that makes you feel like you are really going somewhere.  Nevermind that you could easily drive the distance between Tsawwassen and Schwartz Bay in about 20 minutes and the ferry crossing takes almost 2 hours.  Taking the Ferry means you are escaping, getting away from it all, and have a forced 2 hours that you must take some time for yourself.  You can find a comfortable seat inside, sprawl out on the sundeck, or do as many tourists started doing 20 years ago – standing at the front of the boat shouting “I’m the king of the world”.   Watch the gulf island go by and envy those who live on those islands and taken a different path.

Before Mentos found their internet fame partnered with Diet Coke, they toiled in obscurity.  But for whatever reason, BC Ferries always carried the fruit ones in their gift shop.  It became a tradition for me to purchase – or beg a relative to purchase for me (more often the latter).

As we ate marshmallows and wieners at Mariella’s birthday party, I kept glancing at my watch, willing it to tick off the seconds a little slower.  Although I’m more mellow in my aged state, I still hate missing ferries, we HAD to make the 2:40 pm ferry.   When we finally pulled ourselves away at 2:00 pm with a ½ hour drive in front of us, my anxiety strangled my ability to make conversation.  I tried to be cool, casual, but my husband knew better than to engage me at all.  After me screaming in my head at stupid, slow Alberta drivers ahead of us, we pulled into the ferry dock at 2:31 pm and were directed onto the ship 30 seconds later.

I need to lay down.

As I enjoyed my Mentos – well, actually my Starbucks tea, traditions change sometimes – I felt the salt air tossing around my beach hairdo.  We’ve been somewhere, people.  And it was good.

August 1st, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  A caught ferry, the whole birthday party, and a fitting end to our road trip stop in Vancouver.

Like you could have left her to catch the ferry on time!

 

 

The Daily EO: July 30th & 31st, 2012

Sorry for the delay in the EOs, it’s been difficult to get to them with the travels and activity lately! 

Part 1:

Greetings from Sechelt, British Columbia and the Smillie Ocean Front Home!

Hours Driven (door to door):  4
kms travelled:  85
Money Spent:  $138.56

Today we travelled to Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast to stay with some friends for a couple of days.  Although it is not on an island, you have to ride a 40 minute ferry to get there.  That ferry ride gives you a feeling of a true journey and that you are exceptionally isolated – it has also saved the area from overwhelming development by Vancouver commuters.

We caught the 9:40 ferry, but that required a drive through Vancouver during rush hour, but it was surprisingly easy to move to Horseshoe Bay for our journey.

We had received exceedingly detailed directions to head to the house and found to our delight the perfect lake house.  Built and obviously decorated in the 1970s, the house with our friends quickly invited us to shove off your city stress.  We spent the day on the beach despite the cooler weather, and I watched as my husband charmed yet more children.

The adults enjoyed quiet time once the kids hit bed, despite knowing an early morning would quickly be upon us.  And we were right – the kids were up trying to be quiet right in the early morning.

July 30th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  The full moon shone over us – clear skies promising tomrrows weather.

A Full Moon Rises

 

The day was perfect – not a cloud and a soft summer breeze cooling our skin.  And it showed, we were in bathing suits all day.  Well, except one of us – Emile borrowed a motorcycle and spent hours driving the roads.  I learned how to stand-up paddleboard, enjoyed lime margaritas, burned my nose, tickled little children, pulled up prawn traps and even managed to even sneak in a long 6 km run.

My friend’s two-year-old son is adorable and well-mannered.  And – Parents, listen to this one! – he pulls himself into his crib every afternoon for a nap.  Yes, that is right, he decides he is tired and then goes has a nap.  A 2 year old!

Four adults tried to figure out how to make a butterfly birthday cake using cupcakes and 2 square cakes.  It took much longer than you might think.  So did the streamers.

July 31st, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Neighbourly Kindness – after helping the neighbours with their prawn traps, they gave the entire haul (peeled and prepped) to us to enjoy for our dinner.  Afterall – they had ordered pizza already.

Self Portrait: Husband with Gifted Prawns

 

The Daily EO: July 29th, 2012

I call it the Holland Hangover in honour of my father-in-law.  That feeling that you are in the perfect place at the perfect time, and it is the place you should always be.  I sat in Yaletown (Vancouver), enjoying a high quality chai tea and a beautiful sunny day – no humidity.   People were walking to their destinations, smiling in the lovely weather – and were out and about enjoying the city.  I was with a friend I value very much and I wondered why people ever live anywhere else.

This type of moment invariable occurs while you are on vacation – which as we all know is not normal life.  It is better life – with better food, special “catch-up” get togethers, no work to concern yourself with and other hedonistic pursuits.  Sleeping in late, touring notable landmarks, and void of any annoying things like errands, deadlines and budgets.

My father-in-law has it every time he visits The Netherlands – he gets together with all of his friends and family and in the best moments wonders why he ever left.  Is the grass greener in Holland?  It’s hard to tell when you’re wearing sunglasses and sipping a perfectly chilled glass of wine.  It could just be an illusion.  Or it ould be that life is just better here.

Where does the hangover end and where do your true desires begin?

July 29th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Wanting to snatch the moment like a hen on a junebug in Vancouver, BC.

The Daily EO: July 23rd, 2012

Greetings from Burnaby, BC at the Mulberry Retirement Residence!
Cranbrook to Burnaby.

Hours (door to door):  11
Kms driven: 864
Money spent:  $116

We departed the house at 9:00 am exactly.  We had targeted leaving between 9 and 9:30 am, but my mom doesn’t understand time ranges and therefore she amended our departure time to 9:00 am.  When she climbed into the car, she gleefully announced that we were exactly on time – 9:00 am.  Emile couldn’t let that slide – he announced back that it I keep the clock 2 minutes fast.  But, I’ll bet we actually pulled out of the driveway at 9:00 am.

The drive on Highway 3 – Crowsnest Highway – is tremendous.  There is no shortage of glorious twisting turning mountains passes bored through the mountains dotted with picturesque – and now growing – towns.

We stopped frequently on this trip – we needed to help Mom spent her Tim Hortons gift cards, and we needed smoke breaks and pee breaks.  And food breaks.

When my parents were first married, they moved to Trail BC, and often returned to Vancouver to visit family.  This meant much of the trip was spent recollecting family lore stories about the travels.   Next time you see my mom, ask her about “Never Again (subtitled “The Whipsaw” and the “Sidewinder”)”, “I’ll Shut Up Now about the Sewing Machine” and “CastleGAAAAR” – they are stories worth the time.

I told you about Christina Lake visits when we were kids – it was 3.5 hours for my mom driving a 1969 Barracuda over two mountain passes.  To keep the peace, she bribed at us always with a visit to the Castlegar Dairy Queen on the journey.  It was old, brown and decorated with Dennis the Menace cartoons and we loved the stop.  We stopped on this trip also and found to my dismay that the place – although still in the same location – had been modernized and updated.

We stopped in at Christina Lake at the house we always stayed at and found to my delight that although some updates had been made – it had been left almost totally alone.

We pushed through the Okanogan pleased to see the same fruit stands advertising local cherries and other fruit.  We timed our arrival into the Lower Mainland perfectly – little traffic and still light.

Grandpa is so pleased to see us all.

July 23rd, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:    Standing on the Christina Lake beach recalling long summer days and times gone by.  Wishing so much that things didn’t change and that youth didn’t fade.

(Photo Credit Emile)

If Only Wishing Made it So.

 

 

 

The Daily EO: July 13th, 2012

Greetings From Cranbrook, BC and the Levang Motor Inn!

Hours Door to Door:  15
kms travelled:  1525.3
Money Spent:  $124.56

We had a plan – we were going to sleep in, enjoy the gym at our fancy hotel, eat breakfast, then hit the road for day 3.  That all changed when Emile woke up early feeling refreshed – and with a thin wallet – and said “I think we can make it all the way today”.  It wasn’t a bad idea, we had about 1.5 days of driving left and it felt silly to stay the night 4 hours away from our destination.  So, plans changed – out of bed, in the shower, stop at McDonald’s, fuel up and head out of Winnipeg with a song in our heart.

Just a note here – for anyone who hasn’t had a McGriddle in a long time (like me) – they are as wonderfully terrible as you can remember a sandwich made with syrup pitted pancakes to be.  And the Higgins and Burke Earl Grey tea was excellent.

There are those that will tell you driving the prairies is boring, but for me, I love it.  The vast expanses, the fields of yellow and purple, the multiple tiny towns gathered on the highway’s edge and the land filled with grain elevators, silos and even small oil pumps.   I also love that as a province, Saskatchewan refuses to change their time for Daylight savings – if it is 11:00 am in January, it’s good enough to be 11:00 am in July.   They just opted out.  I didn’t know you could opt out of Daylight Savings time. – I should try it in the Spring ahead and get my extra hour of sleep.  Just like the city of Creston, BC who as a town refused to change their clocks – they are right on the timezone line, otherwise that could be problematic.

I also love that Western Canada seems to have an end to their cities.  There isn’t outskirts for even most of the major cities – suddenly its upon you and just a quickly you are through.  In Ontario, we stretch and spread beyond the city limits, and now it seems that Barrie to Niagara Falls is one unending path of human construction.

We stopped at a little bakery in Indian Head outside of Regina.  I ordered 3 “jam jam” cookies and savoured them as we continued our drive.  Actually, I didn’t savour them at all, I ate them as quickly as I could.   Emile’s Long John – and I am talking about his chocolate covered pastry – disappeared pretty quickly also.

We missed any restaurant that appealed to us in Lethbridge, so ended up at Jimmy’s Drive Thru in Bow River about 40 kms past.  Type of place that really doesn’t care about the service levels – just takes care of business.   We ate our burgers on the go as we continued our trip through Alberta.

Do you know the speed limit in Saskatchewan and much of Manitoba is 110 km/hour?  You’ve got a four lane divided highway with 5 km visibility.  I wonder if they ever have accidents there?   In BC a twisting mountain narrow 2 lane highway speed limit is 100 km/hour.  I think one of these provinces need to consider adjusting.  As Emile was passed several times by the locals, we enjoyed the reemergence of the mountain ranges, and I felt the familiarity of home.

This is where we’ll stick for some time now before carrying on to Vancouver and returning to Huntsville via the United States.   It’s not very often that you take a picture of the welcome sign for three provinces in one day – it’s nice to have a break from driving.

July 13th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Photo Credit Susan – that’s right! Not Emile!

Sunset in Big Sky Country

The Daily EO: July 12th, 2012

Greetings from Winnipeg, Manitoba and the Sheraton Four Points!

Hours door to door:  13 hours (Wawa to Winnipeg)
kms travelled: 1212.9
Money Spent:  292.89

After training in the hills of Huntsville, running 4K through the flat streets of Wawa felt pretty easy.  Well, for the first 2 kms, anyways.  But I ran further than I ever had before without stopping.   Yeah me!

We had a later departure after partaking in a leisurely breakfast at the Empire.  The perfect small town diner replete with aging waitresses, casual service, and fried bologna.   (Emile says it just tastes like hot dogs – I didn’t need the experience)

The views yesterday were lovely, but there were more of the same of the sun shining over Lake Superior.  We stopped in Terrace Bay and listened to what I associate with the ocean – the tide.  It took us nearly 10 hours to drive half of Lake Superior’s rim – a large lake for sure, but dwarfed when you think of the grandeur of own country – Canada.

Our cell phones both were out of range and it was a liberating feeling to feel so far from our lives in Huntsville.

We purchased the most expensive per litre gas in Marathon 142.9/liter.  (we didn’t fill up – just a half a tank – we showed them!)

Emile and I were both embarrassed to lack details of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope.  We couldn’t remember if he started on the East or West coast.  Emile claimed to remember pictures of him running through the prairies, and I couldn’t tell him he was wrong.

We discussed him and Rick Hansen during our drive on the 100 km Terry Fox Courage Highway coming into Thunder Bay.  We tried to think of others of any nationality that have made such a worldwide impact in bringing medical issues to front of mind – and couldn’t.

We stopped for an urgent pee break and to educate ourselves at the Terry Fox memorial near Thunder Bay where he had to end his run shortly before he died.  In reading the plaque, it crystalized in my brain that he was running a marathon every day.  And I barely able to scratch out 4 km with two good legs.

Driving through Kenora and into Manitoba, we were treated with my favorite scenic view – dark blue sky just after dusk with black silhouette landscape.  Those skies were lit up with showy lightning, and we spent 10 minutes driving through an intense rainstorm reducing our speed to 30 km.  It was exhilarating.

We tested our odometer just outside Winnipeg and discovered that for all practical purposes it is accurate.  Seems like a strange government program to put signage up for.  Well, a load off our minds.

Our arrogant Ontario-centric selves thought finding a room in Winnipeg would be easy – but the first four hotels were sold out.  And we wondered if we should have brought the tent.  No matter, we found a wonderful newly renovated place – more than we wanted to spend though – and crawled into a fluffy dream bed.

July 12, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   Emile and I both being so moved at the Terry Fox Memorial that we needed to pause our conversation to get a hold of ourselves.  (photo credit Emile)

Terry Fox statue near Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

The Daily EO: July 11th, 2012

Greetings from Wawa, Ontario and the Algoma Motel!

Hours door to door:  10
kms Travelled:  797.4
Money Spent:  $131.92

After a relaxed departure at about noon today, we barely made it 10 minutes out of town when the car (by itself I’m sure) turned into The Windmill Bakery.  It’s a wonderful bakery that is run by a Dutch woman out of her house.  Yes!  Another Dutch Bakery.  In Huntsville! That I had never heard of!  Wow.

We purchased 3 items for $5 and we got a free loaf of “mystery bread” – made with leftover dough.  Emile immediately ate his butter tart and declared it “one of the best he’s ever had”.  I managed to save my “blueberry star” until after dinner.  So Good. Windmill Bakery – We’ll be back.  Especially for mystery bread. (which was torn apart as we ate it in hunks during the day)

The roads are quiet with it being mid week, so it was an easy and relaxing drive.

July 11th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   (photo credit Emile)

Clouds over water in Lake Superior Provincial Park