We left The Fort on Saturday, August 26, after Art got off work and drove to Edmonton for the weekend. I had neglected to book a room at the Ramada Waterpark Inn so it was fully booked and we had to stay in Leduc. There was a pool but we kept pretty busy and Hannah didn't seem to mind missing out on a swim. The next morning, we went shopping at Ikea which we found easily this time and did a bit of shopping. It had actually moved locations, we were not crazy. The store is gigantic and I wanted to buy a million things. If they don't open one is Nova Scotia at that new shopping complex I will be upset. It was the last weekend of the Fringe Festival so we went downtown to check it out after buying one thing for under $10 at Ikea. As usual, I had great parking karma and we found a spot less than 2 minutes from the Festival. Josiah had not yet napped and I knew this was going to be a challenge because he isn't one for falling asleep in the stroller but I was optimistic. He did not fall asleep and remained cranky for the entire day. The heat didn't help matters either, I think it was about 30 degrees. We saw a few outside performances for kids that Hannah seemed to enjoy. We tried to get in to see a puppet show based on some of the Munsch books but it was sold out. Hannah and I went and checked out a really weird sideshow act, Scorpion Girl. It was a combination circus performance/optical illusion. She had the head of a woman/body of a scorpion and was she sassy! I kept trying to peek under and around her to figure out what they had done with her body and she gave me the gears. It was pretty amazing stuff actually, I don't know how they did it and I had pretty good laugh. Hannah seemed uncomfortable as if she was verging on believing it to be real. Very entertaining. We had some good eats, Hannah got her face painted for an exorbitant amount of money, we checked out all the great kiosks and then headed back to the hotel for a pretty early night. All day in the sun and we were pretty tired. Chris called first thing in the morning and after breakfast we loaded up the van again and got on the road to Red Deer. Art had to be back to work Tuesday morning so after he dropped us off and had a short visit he got on the road again. Chris' husband, Reid, works with Art in Fort McMurray. They have both worked on and off for Ledcor over the years and we've spent time with them in Northern Ontario as well as Cold Lake. Chris and Reid have two children, Abbi and Ashton and Hannah was so excited to finally get to hang out with them. Ashton, as Hannah will tell you, is her boyfriend and she has been calling him that since our Cold Lake days. Chris actually heard him at one point calling her 'the girlfriend'. The kids are having a great time and it seems as if no time has passed since we last saw them. Chris has been kind enough to let us hang out here until we head back to Nova Scotia. Reid begins days off next Thursday, so he will take Hannah, Josiah and I to the Greyhound Station and we're going to take the bus into Edmonton and spend our last few days in a hotel. Art is off on that Saturday, so he will come into the city and meet us for a day and a half. I booked a hotel downtown close to the West Edmonton Mall and I believe the plan is to hang out there on Sunday. But in the meantime, I'm enjoying my time with Chris and we are planning on taking the kids to Drumheller, the Alberta Badlands, this weekend. We're all pretty excited about it, no one more than me! We've rented a van and booked Saturday night at the Badlands Motel. Why did I rent a van you ask? Well Art sold our van to one of the guys at work because he bought a new (to us) van on ebay last week. He was getting worried about ours not lasting much longer and this guy from work was just looking for a junker to drive back and forth to the site. So he had to get the van back to The Fort to this guy who was also bringing our new vehicle back from Vancouver. So, I think I'm all up to date. Stay tuned...

Suncor and Syncrude's plants are north of The Fort on the #63 another 40-something kms from town. There's a sign, but I didn't commit it to memory nor did I pay attention to the time. I was just out for a drive hoping Josiah would nap but it was too hot in the van. You can't see Suncor's plant from the highway because it must be sitting in a valley or something. As you get close you can see a dry barren clearcut area and then behind that and over a hill is where the plant site is. You follow the Athabasca River as you drive north and it's actually a nicer drive than south on the #63. As you get close to Suncor it is as if someone took a giant razor and shaved a bald spot on the landscape. I know that's a strange analogy but that's what it made me think of. It becomes dirty and dry but it sits in off the higway and things are lush and green until you reach this bald spot. You can't go in so I kept driving north. There are few things out there besides the plants but the traffic heading toward The Fort was non-stop as if you were heading into a major city centre at rush hour. We reached the gates of Syncrude about 10 minutes later. They come up out of nowhere and although I had seen pictures of them at the Discovery Centre I was a bit shocked when I came across them. They are on both sides of the highway, just like gates to an upscale community. I never did see the plant because we turned around and headed back into to town. We stopped and took some pictures and had a walk around. There is a park area and a hiking trail that has been set up by Syncrude which highlights the reclamation project that they've undertaken. We didn't go far because I spotted the signs "Beware of Wildlife, enter trail at your own risk" and I didn't have a bear bell on me, as usual. You know, even if I did have a bear bell, I wouldn't have gone because in order for me to feel powerful against a bear I would need a gun!

So how did I miss this until now? Boomtown Casino, downtown Fort McMurray. It's actually tucked away in the parking lot of the Peter Pond Shopping Centre (Peter Pond was an early explorer not some early Newfoundlander like Art originally thought, lol). It's in plain view so don't ask me how I missed it until this week. It kind of took me by surprise, don't ask me why, everyone has the right to spend their money in whatever fashion this wish, including the government, they get it back in spades right! Oops, pardon the pun.

We took a drive downtown yesterday, then parked and went for a walk. I wanted to check out some of the 'average' real estate that I've been hearing about. I went on mls online but the pictures were not very good and I wanted to see these places firsthand. We went for a walk in a neighborhood that is within walking distance of the downtown core, well...everything is actually. Like any town or city, there are always areas that are more ideal for families than others, well that was the area that I was looking for. I knew where the seedier areas were, the college residences, the industrial areas and there was another residential area that I had gone to yard sales in that I wouldn't consider 'within easy walking distance'. I like to be right in the heart of a place, which is why I love living in city. Anyway, I found it. It had been right under my nose all the time. It is within minutes to one of the waterparks that we frequent, our favourite ice cream stand is right around the corner, and we parked the van in front of the little cafe, Mitchell's Conversations, that Hannah and I love. We started walking from there. I knew where I was going because I had driven by this stretch of attached houses a few times that had a sign on every lawn. I was curious about the price and I couldn't find them online. They are 2 story row houses built in the early 70's, lots of character but in need of some repairs. There isn't really anything special about them but they appealed to me because a few of them had nice shade trees in the front yards and fenced backyards. They are across the street from the town's Islamic Centre and behind them is a laneway and then the backyards of the houses from the next street over. Once I got more information I was able to go back and check them out online. The asking price is $450,000 each! We walked down a connecting street and came across about 4 or 5 bungalows from the same era. Nothing special here either, houses and yards in need of repair and to be honest, it didn't look like whoever was selling them was even bothering to keep them neat and tidy. I could only assume that they were presently being used as rentals. They ranged in price from $699,000 to $899,000. The most surprising thing about them and others that I came across, was that there were no pictures of the inside of the house and that in the details it was stated that there were "no showings", home and buildings are sold as is or 'home and buildings are as is, where is'. I can't imagine buying a house I wasn't even able to look at especially at that price. Art's assumption is that someone figures that is what the lot is worth to tear down and build a house with much greater value. Are these the houses of former Fort McMurray residents, the original residents, that sold when offered what was then double or even triple what they paid for their homes as the 'big boom' was beginning? So some real estate savvy dude or dudette comes in and makes offers he knows most people won't refuse and buys up a bunch of these old houses knowing that someday he...or she, would be able to make a ridiculous profit on the lots? Because they can't possibly believe these houses are worth the selling price?! Meanwhile, there are people in town who can't afford to find a place to live, no wonder. I met a woman from Fort McMurray while I was living in Cold Lake five years ago who told me that her house, which she had originally paid about $35,000 for at that time was worth $250,000. She didn't want to move but she also said she couldn't go out after dark anymore or go to the local pub because it had become too dangerous. Fort McMurray was a different place. Kinda sad for some of the original folks actually. Well, I've never been downtown Fort Mac after dark. Last night I ventured out to do a little shopping by myself. I wanted to take advantage of the lack of taxes before heading home. The stores close at nine and it wasn't quite dark but close enough. It was Thursday night, LOA (living out allowance) cheques in hand and the end of a shift for some, the town was abuzz. I've seen guys making drug deals outside the mall in broad daylight and homeless people in the streets and drunks weaving and bobbing up and down Franklin Ave before, none of that is surprising, you see it in all cities. That which is considered to be the underbelly of a city does not make me squeamish. I've spent lots of time with homeless people and drug addicts, they have stories like the rest of us and besides, society's less fortunate do not make uncomfortable. It wasn't any of that which caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise, it was something else. There's a certain undercurrent of danger lurking out there after dark. There was a lot of traffic and the sound of Harley's, which there are a lot of in this town, was deafening when the lights turned green. I like the sound of a Harley or two but more than five or six makes you think of bike gangs and being from the East Coast where the Hell's Angels have always had a fairly menacing presence, it makes a person a little uneasy. There were a lot of people on the streets too walking to places unknown. I locked my doors before driving away and couldn't wait to get on the highway away from the stop and go of the traffic lights in the city. I'm not sure what it is, maybe just that there doesn't seem to be any cohesiveness to this town. Too many people here for one reason which is to make a lot of money and then get out. Where's the spirit in a place like that? Definitely a different place after dark.

So I've bought my return ticket home to Nova Scotia. Summer is almost over and I'm ready to get back to my home and sweep out the cobwebs. I've had a small team of family and friends watering and weeding and looking out for our little place and I'm looking forward to getting back there and taking over. I'm a little sad to be leaving The Fort, but it's always nice to leave a place feeling a bit of that instead of feeling sick and tired of it right? We leave Saturday after Art gets off work and we're heading for Edmonton for a couple of nights and then we're heading for Red Deer to visit friends. So the journey is not over yet!

Hannah and Josiah asleep at the hotel in Edmonton, our last night away.

Hannah playing games on the laptop. Josiah is already interested in the computer.

Hannah and Joyce playing ball in the water at Gregoire Lake

Josiah playing on the beach

We went out to Gregoire Lake for the afternoon yesterday with Joyce. It was a hot day as it is again today. The temperatures had cooled a bit and I thought maybe fall was on its way but luckily summer is not over yet. We had a nice afternoon with Joyce. Josiah was asleep when we got there so I sat outside on a lawn chair and waited for him to wake while Hannah played in water with Joyce. It was a glorious break for me, I started to read a book but then put it down and just sat in the quiet watching the kids play in the water. Joyce had bought a giant blowup alligator, named Wally, for her grandchildren so Hannah had fun riding on him and then dragging him around the beach. I couldn't last too long in the hot sun so we headed home. Hannah and I had planned to spend some time cleaning out the van before dinner, a much needed chore. It was piled high with stuff from the summer as well as things left over from vacation. Mostly travel guides and garbage actually...and toys, beach toys mostly. We have a lot of stuff to leave behind on this trip, there's no way I'm dragging half of it home. Hannah has bought herself a few 'new' things which are either going to get left here or they will have to be packaged and mailed. We came will full suitcases and I don't believe we've gotten rid of anything 'old'.

Hannah wanted me to mention some facts from our vacation that got left out. For instance, we kept track of a lot of things that we saw, here is our list: 3 coyotes, 5 deer, 22 big horn sheep, 27 caribou, lots of llama and elk farms, 2 provincial signs (BC and Alberta), major city signs (Kamloops, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Edmonton), the Pacific Ocean, the Juan de Fuca Strait, 4 rainbows, and too many mountains and waterfalls to count.

I heard on CBC radio today that the average cost of a house in Fort McMurray is $492,000 and that the majority of the homeless are oilfield workers. There is a meeting in the city today on what to do about the problem and the woman heading up the task force says she doesn't believe the oil companies are to blame. So who is to blame? Homelessness is a problem of gigantic proportion, it's on the top 10 list of things developed nations need to be ashamed of. People who work up here aren't making 'average' wages and yet that's the big draw to get people here. And people are coming from all over the world to reap the benefits. I think I mentioned once that The Fort is a multicultural mecca. Taxi drivers are mainly African, I see Muslim women shopping at Wal Mart wearing burkhas, there are Filipino nannies at the Hub taking care of somebody's children, I even see rich white women at the grocery store with their nannies taking care of the children while they shop. A woman I met yesterday told me that if I planned on moving here that I should buy now because prices are still going up and that the population is supposed to double in 5 years. She told me her house increased in value by $200,000 since she bought 3 years ago. The whole salary issue is misleading though for people who move out here and aren't even able to find affordable housing. So who is responsible for affordable housing? Maybe it's the government then. In my limited experience in Alberta, one of the biggest problems this province has is the lack of rent control. I saw this same thing 5 years ago in Cold Lake. If you buy a house here to rent out as an income property you at least want to make sure you have your mortgage covered, right. Or if you are trying to sell a property you also want to make sure you get fair market value. And that's what sets the bar. Maybe the problem is that the market value just isn't fair. A house like ours in Cole Harbour, minus the property, would cost you at least $350,000 here. And speaking of averages, the oil executives homes are not selling for $492,000, they are worth at least a million. But if you aren't providing the basics for your employees to live and have what in this country is supposed to be a basic right, then doesn't that classify as slave labour? And why would we want to pay double or even triple for a house that's only worth around $150,000. Just so that I can see if I can double or triple my money in 5 years time? Is that even possible? I don't believe it is. The resource is supposed to be unlimited but nothing lasts forever, especially at the rate at which we are consuming it. Plenty of things in history, even recent history, that were supposed to continue to increase in value have crashed unexpectedly. It's not that I'm less optimistic or anything, I think the reality is that the more we have the more we use which means that everything has a lifespan. And at some point someone is going to have to take responsibility for the fact that a person earning anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a year can't afford to put a roof over their head.

One of the staff at Miette trying to chase off the sheep. Doesn't she look friendly?!

Hannah, Art and Josiah enjoying Miette Hot Springs, Jasper National Park.

The awesome Columbia Icefield. If you increase the size of this photo you can see the bus and all the people out there. For my mother, to do that you click on the picture!

Hannah posing with the bus that takes you out on the Columbia Icefields.

Hannah and I and Captain Hook in the Enchanted Forest!

The Mountain Maple leaf

Hannah, Will, Andrew, Josiah and Finn.

The Okanagan.

Some of Joy's artwork. Joy and I and the kids.

Hannah, Rick, Josiah and Art overlooking the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Josiah and I taking a break from driving just outside of Kamloops.

We're Back in The Fort!

We got home last night on Day 15 of our trip. Art is back to work today and my task is to get through the laundry and clean up a bit but first...

We left the Aquarium and crossed the Lion's Gate Bridge to get back on the highway out of the city. We did pretty good with navigating our way around and we were soon heading for Mission to see my artist friend, Joy, from our Cold Lake days. I called her and she had us meet her in Maple Ridge and we went to her brother's place for dinner and a family birthday. It was her niece's 5th birthday. Hannah had a great time playing with a little girl her age. Many thanks to the Robert's family for their hospitality, especially for the delicious home cooked meal. We spent 2 nights at Joy's place as her eldest daughter was away and she had plenty of room for us. Hannah was in Polly Pocket heaven as the girls had toys left over from days gone by. Joy has a million dollar view of Mount Baker from her dining room window which is also where she does her painting. Quite the creative inspiration, a view like that. I took some pics of some of her artwork with her permission and will post a couple of pieces. Our second day we took Hannah to a nearby waterpark and then for gelato. Art and Josiah were napping as we were actually planning on leaving but it was late and we didn't realize it was a four hour drive to our next destination so we decided to leave in the morning. We stayed up too late watching "What the bleep do we know" and doing mendhi over a bottle of wine. It was nice to see Joy again. She had left Cold Lake shortly after we did to head home to her native BC. Oh and by the way Chris, huge hug and lotsa love from Joy!

We left Mission and headed north to the Coquihalla Highway on the way to Merritt, then east on the Okanagan Connector to Kelowna, in total about a four hour drive. Back into the mountains again, the Lillooet Range on one side and far off in the distance are the Monashee Mountains on the other side. We stopped in Merritt for lunch and shopped at the gift shop there. The owners of the snack shack were from India, very nice people. We were headed for Ogopogo land. As legend would have it, the local Natives spoke of a lake demon called "N'ha-a-itk" in the Okanagan Lake long before white settlers ever came to the area. He's as famous here as the Loch Ness Monster is in Scotland. We made it to Kelowna in what I'd call rush hour traffic. Kelowna has a population of about 125,000 people but in the summer it probably doubles. There's an international airport, lots of shopping so it seems to be the hot spot for tourists. Kelowna is also in the heart of the Okanagan Valley. It's breathtakingly beautiful. Stretched out along the lakes are miles of fruit orchards and vineyards. We did not see Ogopogo although I caught myself thinking about him from time to time. It's a huge lake, surely there'd be enough room to hide a prehistoric dragon-like creature! We spent two nights with Art's friends Sharon and Todd Cashin and their 3 lovely children Will, Andrew and Finn. What a welcome break for the kids. They had so much fun. Todd and Art are friends from home, actually Todd is from Eastern Passage. We stayed in their carriage house in the back but Hannah spent most her time with the boys having so much fun that I even heard Will say he was going to hide in her suitcase and go home with us. They are going east in October so the kids will get to see each other again soon which seemed to be what allowed us to separate them less painfully. We took a short trip south to beautiful, Summerland and visited more friends of Art, Jon and Cory. Jon's an old soccer buddy of Art's from his Lethbridge days. Cory's sister dropped by with her children and Hannah had another playmate for the afternoon. John and Cory have two beautiful golden retrievers, Jake and Cherry, who also provided lots of entertainment for the kids.

We left Kelowna on Friday morning and headed north back into the Monashee Mountains, destination Golden. Sharon and Todd filled us in on where to go with the kids and even on where the next hotel with a waterslide would be. We stopped for lunch in Sicamous, the houseboat capital of Canada, and then again at a place called the Enchanted Forest. It has a nice walking trail and an interesting history. A very beautiful forest with 800 year old cedar trees and the biggest maple leaves I've ever seen from the Mountain Maple tree. The park gets its name from the hand crafted figurines of all the fairy tales made by a retired artist couple in the 1950's. The next town on our way was Revelstoke, hometown of Chris and Reid. Josiah had just fallen asleep so we didn't stop. It was raining when we passed through Glacier National Park but it was still beautiful. We were so high up we were level with the clouds. We spent the night at the Sportsman Lodge in Golden, pool with a waterslide, hot tub and saunas and wireless internet, something for everybody.

On August 12, Day 13: As you leave Golden on Highway #1 toward Yoho National Park you're driving into the Kootenay Mountains. We encountered the greatest amount of Olympic construction we've seen. They are expanding the highway here and have constructed huge cement walls along the highway probably to make travel safer due to avalanches. We came across 3 gigantic cement pillars approximately 5 stories high. Another one was being constructed up on the mountain in preparation for a huge bridge which will take you right over top of the mountain. An out of place structure, so much concrete in the wilderness. Progress affects the landscape, I wonder how it has affected the wildlife. We crossed the border back into Alberta around 12:30 on Saturday. We had just stopped at the Spiral Tunnels, an historic site that tells the tale of the early days of the dangerous journey the trains made through this area of the mountains. There's an area called the Kicking Horse Pass where there is a 4.5% grade, actually the steepest section of the mainline on the entire continent. It is so steep that when a 5 car train descended, the front of the train was 5 m below the rear end. On the old track the trains used to plunge at the rate of 45 m to each kilometre. How frightening is that?! I guess wrecks were common and they nicknamed it the "Big Hill". Where the old line plunged down the mountain, the new track makes a gentle zigzag across the entire valley and because each tunnel makes a complete spiralling turn, trains actually cross over themselves. It took 1,000 men 2 years to complete the tunnels. Pretty impressive. Next stop, Lake Louise for lunch. We picked up some postcards and a pass for the Icefields Parkway. We left Lake Louise and headed north on the #93. The Parkway runs between Lake Louise and Jasper covering 230 km of parkland, crossing two national parks and visible on the drive are 7 major glaciers and about 25 smaller ones. It is noted in the tourist pamphlet as "the most beautiful road in the world". I once thought the same thing of the drive through the Sierra Maestra Mountains in Cuba and a drive I took through Bavaria in Germany, beauty, I think, is a difficult thing to measure but it certainly is breathtaking and the icefields make it unique. It is hard to take it all in but impossible to stop too often with small children so we just drove and pointed out all the wonders we saw to one another as we went. Even Josiah was pointing and signing 'mountain' as we were oohing and aahing at every new sight. The beauty of it all is that it is untouched and protected land and so it's really just all about the magnificience of mother nature. We lost track of counting glaciers and trying to figure out which were major and which were minor ones. The weather changed drastically as we neared the Columbia Icefields, it quite literally became 'cold'. What can I say about it? If you haven't been there yourself, it's something you have to experience. As they say in the pamphlet, it's IMMENSE. It's more than twice the size of Vancouver, the ice is more than 365 metres thick, it reaches into both Banff and Jasper National Parks and it feeds three oceans, the Pacific, Atlantic and the Arctic. Hannah and I got out but it was so cold that we didn't last. You can actually take a tour, they have these gigantic tour buses that go out onto the icefield and you can walk around. We just weren't dressed for it though and we only had sandals to wear on our feet so it will be on the top of our list for 'next time'. We took pictures but they just do not do any justice to the beauty and the size of the glacier.

We got to Jasper at dinner time. We ate and shopped for a room but there were none available unless you wanted to spend $250 for the night. We ended up having to drive all the way to Hinton, another 45 minutes from Jasper. We had already driven a lot and we were pretty cranky. I think it was probably our longest day of driving on the whole trip. It was a nice drive through the park at that time of the day though. I actually like driving in the evening but it was just too much driving for Hannah and Josiah so we were usually hunkered down somewhere by this time every night. There was a lot of wildlife on the road and we took pictures of a caribou that was stopping traffic. We saw a sign for the Athabasca River which we found interesting because it actually runs through Fort McMurray too. It turns out that the river starts its journey from the melting snow of the Columbia Icefields and then makes its 1231 km trek to Lake Athabasca in the far northern reaches of Alberta almost to the Northwest Territories. It is the fourth largest lake entirely in Canada. It was after 8:00 pm when we reached Hinton and we were greeted by a native of Springhill, NS, who saw our licence plate. Nice guy but you could tell he'd been 'away' a long time. He said he could hear my accent! The motel was circa 1960, really rough but clean. We got the last room and 4 other motels in town were full too so we weren't complaining. It was supposed to have highspeed internet but it 'wasn't working'. It's been our experience that it is a selling feature and most proprietors don't really know to fix it if it isn't working.

The next morning we were backtracking into Jasper National Park again to get to Miette Hot Springs about a 45 minute drive from the motel. It's quite a bit of a drive off the highway up into the mountains. You climb for a bit and then you come back down and then things level out so it's hard to say where you are in terms of height. We saw lots of big horn sheep, they block the roadway and and hold up traffic. I guess they are fairly used to the traffic and don't seem to have any fear of people. The air temperature was cool in the morning but the water was 40 degrees which made the whole experience wonderful! Josiah was ready for a nap but he loves the water so much that he didn't complain at all. It's pretty easy to overdo it, I felt a bit of a headache coming on at one point and got out to get a drink of water. Hannah was playing and splashing around like it was a swimming pool. We tried to explain to her that you are supposed to just soak but you know kids. I'm absolutely no good in the sun too long and although it felt like you could stay there forever I knew when it was time for me to get out. Some guy ended up getting sick and had to be taken out and treated by the lifeguards. That was it for me...everybody out of the pool! Just in time too, Hannah was beginning to look splotchy with the beginnings of heatstroke. I put her under the cold shower and made her drink some water. The lifeguard checked her out and told me to keep an eye on her. The place isn't exactly family-oriented in that it has only two change rooms, one for men and one for women, and there isn't anything to do with toddlers. I was worried about Hannah so I made her sit on a bench while I took Josiah out to find Art. I was yelling his name in the men's change room all the while Josiah was screaming "Da". I think Art was going out one door while I was going in the other. I couldn't keep an eye on Hannah and an eye on Josiah while trying to get us all back into our clothes. I think a family change room would be helpful. After a few minutes Hannah's color returned to normal and she was fine. We had lunch in the mountains for the last time and it was with a sense of deep sadness that we made our final trip out of Jasper National Park. I clicked madly away with my camera taking the last pictures of the Rockies. Just before you leave the park there is a point where it looks as if the road will go right through the mountain and I was taking pictures of it as we were driving. I have a great sense of longing to live surrounded by the most beautiful and pristine creations of the universe which is what I love so much about the mountains and the ocean. If you have a spare $300,000 you could buy a house like ours in say Kelowna, minus the property of course. It turned out to be a hot day for driving. And did I mention that the AC was broken?! The old girl is pushing it actually, things are starting to go. At one point the speedometer had stopped working although that seemed to repair itself miraculously. We traveled in silence for awhile. Josiah had fallen asleep, Hannah and I plugged into our iPods and Art turned the radio on. I needed time to reflect and process all that had happened in the past two weeks and accept that it was almost over.

We spent our final night in Edmonton at the Ramada Inn Water Park, 2 huge waterslides and Smitty's onsite. We were sick of Smitty's but we had a blast on the waterslides. Even Josiah and I got in on the fun. Our last night in a hotel, I think Art and I were both pretty happy about that. We left the hotel after breakfast (from Tim's not Smitty's) and headed downtown. We went looking for Ikea first but for some strange reason we couldn't find it. We thought we remembered where it was but unless it moved we were both mistaken. Art dropped Hannah and I off on Whyte Ave and he and Josiah went to look at a van. I was heading for Gravity Pope, which just happens to be the best shoe store in the country! Edmontonians should all be the best shod people in the land as far as I'm concerned. Hannah got a very funky pair of shoes and I bought a sensible pair of Dansko's. Art picked us up an hour later and we were on the road again, our final leg of the journey. We were headed for Highway #63 or as we've renamed it, Yahoo Highway. That's because, as Art says, every yahoo in western Canada is on it heading for The Fort. If the Icefields Parkway is the most beautiful drive in the world, the #63 is the most boring, not to mention dangerous. The drive is so boring because there is really nothing to see. There was a fire up here not too long ago too which all you see for awhile is miles and miles of burnt out timber. The roadway is peppered with memorial crosses of the poor souls who either didn't make it in or for whom it was their last trip out. The other thing which stands out is the lack of rest stops. I had to use the toilet for the better part of an hour and unfortunately there is just way too much traffic to stop on the side of the road. You would have to go deep into the woods not to be seen and may I remind you folks that this is bear country. We passed a tractor trailer in the ditch at one point. And then there are the tractor trailers hauling wide loads, and I mean the widest loads you have ever seen. It's equipment, buildings, pipe, something called pipe rack modules which go into Alberta's oilfields every single day. And the worst thing about the traffic is that people are haulin' ass on this road. No Sunday drivers out here. Days off are over--time to get back to work! We made it back to Barb and Lee's before dark, in fact, we made it in time for Canadian Idol which made Hannah very happy.

Cat Attack!

Tonight we are in Golden, British Columbia, in the Monashee Mountains, at a place called the Sportsman Lodge. It's Day 12 and we're on our way back to The Fort. Let me get you caught up though on what we've been up to. I left off in Duncan with our visit with April and Rick. For those of you who don't know, Rick is my brother. On Saturday, August 8, we went to Shawnigan Lake and spent the day at April's son's place. Bart and his wife, Colleen, have a beautiful house right on the lake and it was a day of play. Hannah went out on the sea doo and played in the water for most of the afternoon. We had a wonderful time and it was a great visit. It was so nice to be out of the van. We had driven in from Duncan in the morning and needed to go and check into our new hotel. There had been a bit of confusion about that as we had been told that we didn't have a reservation when we stopped in the first time. Rick had booked it for us the night before but as it turns out there are a lot of Deer Lodge Hotels in BC and we ended up booked into one in Vancouver. It was the long weekend and there were no rooms available anywhere and we wanted to be as close to Shawnigan Lake as possible. We got it all straightened out though and checked into the right place. The view from our room was fantastic! I fell in love immediately and we decided it was time to splurge and stay two nights. We had a large room with a fireplace and a view of the bay. The grounds were lush with huge blossoms everywhere. The hotel in Duncan was owned by Chinese Buddhists and it had beautiful gardens as well. In the morning on the way to breakfast there was the smell of Nag Champa incense burning at the entrance to the hotel and there was a lovely courtyard perfect for reading a good book. We were having good luck with accommodations. We went back to Colleen and Bart's for a bar-b-q and another visit and then back to the motel to get the kids into bed.

The next day we went into Victoria for a few hours of sightseeing. We went to an undersea museum which was a boat that was sitting in the harbour. It was not worth the money we spent but Hannah seemed to enjoy it. I spent most of the time chasing Josiah around the gift shop while Art and Hannah watched an undersea diver showing examples of all the sea creatures found off the coast of BC. We walked around a bit and then went to a petting zoo which the kids loved. There was a Vietnamese pot bellied pig with little piglets which were adorable. Later Uncle Rick and Aunt April told Hannah about Sweet Pea, the pig they used to have. She was supposed to be a Vietnamese pot bellied pig too but according to how big she got they figure she must have been something else. Josiah loved the baby goats and he learned to sign 'billy goat'. We met April and Rick for lunch and then they took us on a drive to the coast where we got to dip our feet into the Pacific Ocean in the Juan de Fuca Strait. Just a few degrees cooler than the Atlantic Ocean actually. We then headed back to April and Rick's place in Shawnigan Lake. They have about 13 acres, absolutely beautiful, nice and private. It's a lovely property with lots of cedar trees. Josiah had fallen asleep in the van so we left him where he was. April took me in so I could use their computer as I had to get a phone number from an email for our next stop. They have a very handsome cat who goes by the name of Rusty. He's an old guy and a very big Manx. He's not used to kids so I told Hannah to give him a wide berth. He was very friendly with me though, he came out and hung out by my leg while I checked my email. I peeked out the window and saw that Josiah was waking up. In retrospect, I realize now I should have gone out to get him right away to avoid the crying which is what I would normally do. He was alone in the van and would obvioulsy not be too happy about that. I just assumed Art would hear him and go get him but as it turned out he couldn't hear him until he was pretty upset. By the time Art got to him and brought him into the house he was wailing. I got up to go and take him and that was when the cat attacked me from behind. Ouch!!! It took us a few minutes to realize that he was very disturbed by the baby. It only got worse because instead of getting to Josiah I was now clutching my leg. Rusty came at me again. I tried to block him but he sunk his claws into the bottom of my foot which hurt like crazy. I reached down to hold him off and he grabbed my hand. I was starting to freak out as he was hissing and spitting and I realized he wasn't going to give up. There was a lot of commotion and confusion as April tried to get the cat and Art got Josiah out of the house. Hannah was in the living room looking concerned and nervous but I told her to stay put while they got the cat under the kitchen table. April reached down to block Rusty and he swiped her cutting her hand. Rick took control of the cat and April and I got cleaned up in the bathroom. Poor Rusty, I think he was probably traumatized. I was pretty sore and bruised for a few days but no tetanus shot needed. We cut our visit short and went back to our motel. We lit a fire and enjoyed our last night on Vancouver Island.

The next morning we headed for the ferry in Swartz Bay. We had tried to make a reservation but it was booked so we were expecting a big delay in the first come first serve lineup. We arrived and boarded 15 minutes later. It was a beautiful crossing, so many little coves and inlets along the way. We could see the snow capped peaks of Mount Baker in Washington state and Art told Hannah how he had once skiied down it. She was pretty impressed, it's a big mountain, and she told a lot of people that story. We arrived in Tswassan way ahead of schedule so we decided to head into downtown Vancouver and take the kids to the Aquarium. It's about an hour drive from Tsawwassen as it is at the other end of the city but we were arriving on the mainland a couple of hours ahead of what we originally figured. Even though it was Monday, the holiday, we decided to be adventurous. The Aquarium turned out to be the highlight of the trip for Hannah and Josiah. It really is an amazing place, I think I enjoyed it as much as they did. There had to be thousands of people there and it was 38.5 degrees and inside it was humid. We were in a sweat within minutes, literally skin soaked. It was wall to wall people and Josiah was in the stroller which made things tight. We eventually had to take him out so he could get right up to the glass and see the fish. He pointed and screamed with delight at everything, it was priceless. Their reactions to the place made it all worthwhile. We saw these incredible giant air breathing fish from the Amazon that looked like they must be prehistoric. There was a tank full of sharks that Hannah, after a few minutes of hesitation, peered into forever. She is so afraid of sharks that she doesn't even like to look at pictures of them but she was fascinated. She said they were fine because they were only small sharks. The best part for everyone was definitely the belugas though. We watched them in the hot sun for awhile and then found our way underground to watch them swimming underwater. We tried to get pictures but they didn't turn out unfortunately.

To Be Continued...

Joffre Park on the way to Whistler.

Pics taken somewhere outside of Kamloops of awesome irrigation system and Hannah eating ice cream at a neat little antique shop.

Jasper National Park. This is such a cool pic of the caribou swimming across the lake.

August 4, 2006 - Duncan, BC

We left home on Monday, so this is Day 5 on the road. We got off to a rocky start as the fanbelt on the air conditioner broke before we got out of the driveway. So much for the new part! It had been cool and a lot of rain up north so we were fine but Art was a little concerned what it would be like in interior BC. We were about 10 minutes out of town when I realized I had forgotten my sandals. I only had flip flops and for 2 weeks that wasn't going to cut it. I had only come west with those flip flops as I'd forgotten the rest of my shoes at home. I had to buy a pair of sandals when I got out here (Art says that was on purpose) so we turned around and went back. Art was afraid I'd have to buy another pair of shoes! So now we'd broken the golden rule of not turning around and going back once you are on the road. I don't think we've ever gone on a trip where didn't go back for something.

The drive from The Fort to Edmonton is pretty boring. There just isn't that much to see. It seemed like an awfully long drive and we had so far to go. It got hot. Art tried sticking the baby sun shield up on his window but it wouldn't stay. Manfred called us just outside of Edmonton, you remember him, Junkyard Dog #2, and he said he had another part for us if we could swing into Edmonton and pick it up. The part wasn't what cost us all the money, it was installation. We decided to keep going. After all, our parents didn't have air conditioning in their cars when we were kids travelling all over the place, we could do it too! We spent our first night at the Pembina Motor Inn in Entwistle, Alberta. A bit of fleabag motel but Josiah was getting tired so we had little choice. Threadbare face cloths and towels and I had to wipe away a thick film of dust from everything but the shower had great water pressure and lots of hot water. We watched Canadian Idol and then slept hard.

The next morning we got our first glimpse of the mountains from Hinton, Alberta. A distant shadow on the horizon but Hannah was excited. We looked for things to do and interesting places to stop along the way but mostly it was a lot of driving. The scenery has been beautiful! The landscape changes so much as you move through the mountains. We passed through Jasper National Park which was majestic mountains and lots of wildlife along the road. There always seemed to be a river running alongside of us. It was stunning, so much to take in. Just shortly after we got into the park we saw what looked like a moose swimming across a lake. It turned out to be a caribou. It was incredible to watch as he swam ashore and casually climbed the bank and began munching away. He soon drew a pretty big crowd though and things got dangerous. A car load of Asian tourists stopped and one woman began making her way down the embankment toward the animal to get her picture taken with it. Some guy yelled at her to stop because she didn't seem to be aware of the danger. Very large antlers!! Between that and the people stopping suddenly to take pictures it felt like someone was going to get hurt so we got back in the van and moved on. We spent our second night somewhere in the Rocky Mountains across from a heli skiing resort. In the winter months they take people up into the mountains by helicopter, drop you off on virgin snow and you ski back down. Not being a skiier that just seemed dangerous and a lot of work to me but I'd say it is the creme de la creme of skiing. Art wanted to splurge for a room at the resort but I didn't see the point as it was late and we wouldn't be able to enjoy it anyway. We chose the place across the road which is where the staff who work at the resort stay in the winter. It was nice and very quiet. I could hear the train go by in the night though which is a nice sound echoing off the mountains.

As we passed out of the parks we moved more into farming country nestled in the valley of the mountains. It began to get very dry. It had been quite cool in the parks but it was getting hot, definitely summer weather now. We did a lot of driving but we stopped when the kids got restless and let them run around and blow off some steam. We pointed out everything we could to keep Josiah busy, he learned to sign 'cow' and 'horse' a lot and now instead of signing 'grampy' all the time he signs 'cow'. Maybe he has them mixed up. We stopped in Kamloops for lunch at an Irish pub, Kelly O'Bryan's, and then did some sightseeing. We did a little shopping, or should I say Hannah did a little shopping. It was hot, hot, hot and I dreaded getting back in the van but we kept the windows down for a bit and it wasn't so bad. It became desert-like, little green scrub brush trees everywhere growing in the driest of soil. Then on the other side of us there would be a deep green lake with a surface like glass. We saw huge fields of ginseng covered with black cloth. We spent our third night in a little town called Cache Creek. We found a great little motel with highspeed internet access and an outdoor heated pool. Hannah couldn't decided if she wanted to swim first or email Nanny. She opted for swimming and even Josiah got in and splashed about until he was shivering. It was after 6:00 but it was still quite warm so it was a nice way to cool down before bed. We ordered Chinese from across the street (no MSG) and had a delicious meal in our room. We emailed Nanny and then watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" before falling asleep.

On Day 4, we drove through barren dry mountains peppered with lush green pastures which were being watered by these elaborate mile long sprinker systems rotating on wheels around the fields and drawing water up from the river, or so we assumed. It was as if someone had painted these lush areas with a giant paintbrush on a dull canvas. We drove west from Cache Creek to Lillooet. It was some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. Areas of dry brown grass for miles along roads winding through the mountains and then fertile green pastures, steep drop offs thousands of feet down. Spectacular views, we curved around hairpin turns that took us higher and higher into the mountains until Hannah said she felt like you could touch the clouds. This is reservation land, Xaxli'p First Nations, and that these people have lived on this land for thousands of years is definitely acknowledged by me. It's a very beautiful namesake. We stopped up there and took some pictures of the mountains and the river below and it felt like you were at the top of the world. We watched a train snaking around the tracks below us, barely clinging to the cliffs it seemed. Lillooet is a small town which appears to be built on the edge of a cliff overhanging the Fraser River. It is supposed to be the oldest town in BC and the first stop, or Mile 0, along the Cariboo Wagon road constructed in 1859. I pictured myself travelling by horse and wagon, covered or not, and I was grateful to be in our hot little van with the windows rolled down, wind blowing in my face. It's beautiful country out there but the elements are harsh. I can only imagine the frigid cold wind coming down off the mountains in the winter. As you leave Lillooet on the road to Whistler, the climb into the mountains is reminiscient of the Cabot Trail, dizzying heights and breathtaking views. The land becomes lush and fertile again and soon we were seeing snow capped peaks in the distance. Hannah had to pee and couldn't make it to the next town so we found a rest stop at a place I think was called Joffre Park. We were getting hungry but had a quick snack and hiked into the woods to a beautiful lake which was sitting in the middle of snow covered mountains. It was pretty busy so we traded favours with the other tourists and got some family pics with the mountains in the background. A short hike out again and we were hungry and on the road to Pemberton, a small resort town 25 minutes outside of Whistler. BC Hydro had the whole town shut down for some unknown reason though and we couldn't find a restaurant to serve us. The woman at the local PetroCan gave us a free rice krispy square and sent us on our way. 25 minutes later we were in Whistler, hungry and cranky. We quickly found parking and looked for a restaurant with a highchair. We spent a fortune on lunch and then passed a couple of hours at Whistler Kids. Everything seemed too dangerous for little ones in my opinion but Hannah was eager to have some fun. She wanted to bungee jump and although it looked like there were children her age being bounced to dangerous heights I refused to let her do it. Art didn't argue with me so I figured I wasn't over reacting on that one. There was a 'luge-like' ride that came down the side of the mountain that allowed kids her age accompanied by an adult so Art bought tickets for them while I went to find a restroom and a place to spend a small fortune on some tshirts. Hannah had a blast and was excited to drag me up the mountain next. Art had bought an extra ticket for $1 so after much reassurance that it wasn't scary she and I went next. I don't like 'rides' but they promised me it wasn't like that. We climbed on the sled and as it slowly pulled us up the mountain I kept thinking it couldn't be too bad because there were no seatbelts or headgear and they let parents take 4 year olds. Hannah kept telling me I wasn't supposed to touch the break while on the track which was like a gear shift in the middle of the sled, and when we got to the top the guy told me to make sure the brake was released all the way so I assumed she knew what she was talking about. Well...it took me until the second turn to actually process that the signs were saying to BREAK!!! on the turns. We were careening down the hill at bone shattering speed with me remembering the only words of instruction which were to 'lean into the turns'. I was terrified and must have been screaming because Hannah kept saying, "I've got you mama, I've got you, it's O.K." and laughing like a hyeena. I was shaking when I got off, I have no idea what kept me from flying off the sled and crashing head first into a tree, maybe just a sheer will to live. Everyone got a good tongue lashing and needless to say I no longer trust my family. Art says I have no sense of adventure. I beg to differ. I would love to go to China and walk along the Great Wall, or ride a camel into the desert to see the pyramids in Egypt and I've even dreamed of walking Il Campino in Spain but I have no desire to perform death defying stunts with or without protective gear!

We left Whistler and headed for Sqamish and more reasonably-priced accommodations. We found a hotel with a pool and a giant waterslide for Hannah. The next morning we were on the road to Horseshoebay and the ferry crossing to Nanaimo. We had to wait about an hour for the ferry which wasn't too bad considering it was a long weekend. The ferry crossing was just plain busy with Josiah wanting to run all over the place so it went by quickly. They had a playspace onboard for kids but those places are dangerous for toddlers and Josiah ended up with another bruise on his head. We had called Rick and April from Squamish and called them again when we got settled into a hotel in Duncan. They came in to our hotel for an hour last evening and tomorrow we will head out to their place for a visit and a swim at the lake.