On Our Own

Kylie got up and made us breakfast again.  German pancakes have become our favourite and it is a recipe that I am taking home.  German Pancakes 

Kylie was trying to squeeze the few things in her suitcase.  Ace was thinking she might like to sneak in on the cruise.

Stephen got an email from the airport that the plane wasn’t going to be able to land in Bella Coola so they needed to be at the airport sooner to take the bus up the hill to Anihim.  He was not excited about going up that hill in a bus but Kylie had done it before and said that it was fine.  When a bus or transport/semi are going up the hill, there is a radio channel for other oversized vehicles to turn to so that two large vehicles don’t meet.  This is a serious hill!

We drove them to the airport and they checked in their luggage.  

We went for a little walk to “the tree.”  

The bus arrived and off they went to the tarmac to load.  

They will be off to Vancouver for the evening before their flight tomorrow.

We are on our own now…well kind of.  We have two dogs and two cats that want to be very close to us right now.  We stopped on the way back to the house to pick up a few groceries.

When we came in we found a frying pan on the couch and the drawer from the air fryer on the floor.

They had been washed and were left drying in the sink.  I washed them again and put them away this time.

Sarah did some school work and then went to have a nap.

We had wanted to go to church but the Pentecostal church has been shut down for 10 years.

After supper, we took the dogs for a walk and managed to find our way back home again.  Princess, one of the local dogs led us for a little while.

We tried to get a picture of Sarah with the dogs…we tried!

Sarah is going to try the king size bed to see if she can collect all the animals for the night.

Goal: Warmer Weather

We are on the move.  We packed our bags with bathing suits, sun dresses, shorts, sun glasses and sun screen.  As we left our house, the snow was coming down.  The roads to Napanee weren’t great.  We parked our truck and then waited.  Just after 1:00 pm, the Megabus pulled in.  Our luggage was transferred  from the truck to the bus.  We found our seats and took a deep breath.  

As we drove through snow, heavy traffic and a few stops on the way, we sat back relaxed.  It’s definitely the way to get to Toronto.  We got dropped off at the airport and then took the shuttle to the hotel.  We walked to Tim’s for a light supper and then snuggled into the hotel.  Our evening will be spent watching the Leafs hopefully beating the Canadiens! 🤞

Tomorrow will be an early start, shuttle to the airport at 5:30.  We will fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico where our goal of finding warm weather will be realized.

Oh My

Today we travelled from morning to night.  We went from Ontario, through Manitoba and into Saskatchewan.  We gained two hours by crossing two time zones.  We left Thunder Bay just after 7:00 a.m. where it was already warm and muggy.  

The morning was beautiful with a nice sunrise.

We crossed northern Ontario through lots of construction and even came upon a bit of an accident.  

The roads ran between rocks and trees.  

The clouds blocked the sun most of the day but we were treated to a rainbow along the way.  

Since we were trying to make time today, our stops were short.  Thank you Dave and Cheryl for supplying us with teas, coffees and a few pastries.

We drove into Manitoba and were immediately greeted with a much different landscape.  

We crossed through this province and into the “land of living skies.” The clouds hung low and we went through more rain.  

Even though it had been stormy most of the day, Saskatchewan came through with a beautiful sunset.

Ron continued to drive through rain.  The skies darkened and my eyes felt heavy.  After 1400 kms and over 14 hours of driving, we pulled into Moose Jaw.  

Thankfully, our day of travelling will be much shorter tomorrow.  We will be able to sleep in our own bed with the “For Sale” sign still in our front yard.

Ontario

So a few weeks ago we decided that we would do a road trip to Ontario.  We were going to try and keep it a surprise for the grandkids.  I couldn’t post anything until we had arrived.

Tuesday - we left Pincher Creek with me behind the wheel.  We stopped in Swift Current for lunch and my  friend, Catherine joined us at the restaurant for a visit.  It is always so nice to see her and this was a little bonus to a long day of driving.  We landed in Estevan, Saskatchewan for the night.

Wednesday- we crossed into the states and drove through North Dakota and Minnesota and stayed overnight in Ashland, Wisconsin right on Lake Superior.  It was a very long day.

Thursday - we drove into Michigan and across the border into Canada.  It was another long day of driving because we wanted Friday to be a shorter one.  We spent the night in Sudbury, Ontario.

Friday - along the way to our destination, we made a stop in Pembroke and had lunch with old friends from Bible college days.  It was great to see them.  As we drove I got a text from Sarah who had figured out that we were on our way there.  She was sworn to secrecy to keep it a surprise from the other kids.  We arrived at Dan and Barb’s later in the afternoon and she took us to the trailer to show us everything.  

Saturday - we drove to Jenn’s to pick up the girls.  We went and bought them new shoes.  Sarah needed ones for basketball, Emma needed cross country runners and Abby wanted a pretty colour.  We drove to the trailer and enjoyed over an hour swimming.  The water was so nice.  

We had a fire in the evening and roasted marshmallows and then the girls wanted to swim some more and go kayaking.

Sunday - today was Emma’s birthday and it was nice to spend the morning with her.

We drove to the Gananoque church and were greeted by lots of old friends.  After a corn roast at the church, we went back to the lake with Jacob, Abby and Anthony.  This was the first time that we have had Anthony stay with us and it was a pretty successful night…swimming, fire and roasted marshmallows.  It was also the first time that Abby stayed with us and liked it. 

Today - after breakfast and lunches were packed we headed to drop the kids off at school.  From there, we spent the morning visiting with Howard and Hilda.  They have been friends since our kids were born.

We then took the long way to the trailer to check out some areas that we may or may not want to live in.  

We were able to have a quick swim before supper.  The weather has been so amazing.

The Mountains are Hiding

We have been enjoying our time with Stephen and Kylie.  I have a couple of favourite spots around their house.  One, of course, is the backyard on sunny days (which we have had many). Another spot is in the living room. Everyday the mountains have been visible and look a little different from my viewpoint on the couch.

Today the clouds settled in heavy and the mountains are hiding. Even though the forecast was for lots of rain the sun has managed to peak out lots. Behind the clouds the mountain is still there but today it’s hiding from me.

Ron and I have been walking every day and a couple of days ago we decided to try and take the dogs for a walk.  We stopped for a touristy pic.

Every evening at bedtime we head down to our room.  Beemer always finds his way in to bed even if we have to move him around a bit to find room for us.

Side note…we haven’t seen any bears in Kitimat yet and we have been looking.  The other night while Stephen was working he found this little dumpster diver.

Grizzlies look a lot different from the black bears that we usually see in Waterton.

We have a couple more days before we head back home but tomorrow we have some plans…⛵️