Saturday, 21 January 2017

Houston, we have completed our mission!

Hello!  We have made it! All four of us are safe and sound in Houston, BC.

The trip has been an adventure and we have learned lots along the way.  We've seen beautiful scenery and had our ear drums pierced by the howling of cats.  All in all it was a successful trip and we are all so happy to have made it safety and soundly to our destination.

We met up with Jill and her husband Mick two days ago, to grab the key for Kara's house.  It was so great to see her again and she and I were bouncing around all excited.  She has just taken up backcountry skiing and wants to go out touring soon!  I doubt we will go backcountry anytime in the near future, as the avalanche ratings are dangerous right now, but I'll watch the forecast and see what next weekend brings!  Jill also has asked me to teach her how to knit!  I think I've found my soul mate.....

It's pretty cool to think that she was my mentor (and will continue to be) and now I can be her mentor too!

It feels strange to be back in Houston seeing the same sights again, but from a slightly different perspective.  It's also strange to be seeing them with Tom beside me.  Being in the same places where I was mostly on my own, but now with this person who I've only ever known as being in Ontario... weird.  But I wouldn't want it any other way.

Seeing Meighan (my brother's girlfriend), in Calgary for dinner was a big treat.  We haven't seen her or Stefan since the summer.  We had a nice catch-up and I hope they can come up and visit us in the North this summer!  Lots of hiking and camping await.

Meighan and I about to drink some yummy Bellini's
Our visit with Stefan in Revelstoke was just as short and sweet.  I wanted to stay longer but he would be working the next day anyhow, and we were going bonkers by that point - just wanting the routine of waking up and sitting in the car with white knuckles to be complete.

"Litlle" brother
And now it is!! I took Tom for a tour of Smithers, and today he had his first ever day skiing!  I couldn't believe it - the first run we did, he was skiing parallel and following me into the powder at the side of the run! He is a natural!

View of the Telkwa Range from the Canfor turn-off on the Hwy in Houston

First ride up the chairlift with Tom
We had hit the gym yesterday - first time in probably two months or more for me... so we were both very sore by lunch time and had a nice pint of local beer at the ski hill before hitting the German bakery in Telkwa and driving back to Houston.

The search for our own place continues and I can't wait to update you once we find something.  Hoping to get a little house in Telkwa so Tom can be close to work and I can be closer to skiing ; )

And as for this blog:  I've had a few people telling me that they can't leave comments and I am happy to report that I've figured it out.  When you go to leave a comment, the blog will ask you who you want to leave the comment as: ie.Google account name.  If you do not have a Google account, just drop down the menu and choose Anonymous.  But please sign the end of your comment so that I know who you are!  Hopefully that works... let me know if it doesn't.

Alright, well I am going to sign off for the night.  Tom and I are about to make local Smithers sausages and potatoes for dinner... a German's dream haha

Hope all is well where you are!  Please try to leave a comment!

Miss you all,

Danielle



Saturday, 14 January 2017

Updates from the Road

Hello! After only three days we have already had many adventures!

Day one saw tears as we left home, then dicey ice south of Sudbury.  We made it safely to Sault Ste Marie and stayed the night with two very tired cats.

Day two began once the highway was reopened after an overnight closure (instant nervousness). Unfortunately Tom's truck decided it needed some fixing so we only made it to Terrace Bay. I was so ecstatic that a simple fix was all we were faced with, and no one was hurt/sick/etc. However, due to CAA not putting our tow request through while we waited 30-45 mins.... we ended up waiting for two hours in my Civic. Tom, Bruce, Oden and me... and all of our stuff. Poor Tom was in the shape of a pretzel just trying to fit in. Once the tow truck finally arrived we began following it to Thunder Bay but after stopping to help someone who had spun out on black ice and ended up in the ditch backwards and in the dark.... we decided to stop driving ASAP and ended up in  Nipigon. In one of the most sketchy motel rooms. I admit I was so ready to call it a night that I didn't care where we stopped. But let me tell you-forget bringing a black light into one of those motels... bring two cats! They were smelling invisible spots on carpets, table tops, bed spreads.... so gross haha

Which leads us to day three. Today we saw three bald eagles on the way to Thunder Bay. Tom's truck was finished by lunch and we hit the road once more. The bush beside the highway had moose tracks all through the snow but we haven't seen one yet. The past two days have been GORGEOUS. Fresh snow on the trees,  clear blue skies and mostly dry roads.

We've stopped a bit early tonight in Dryden and got ourselves a very nice and CLEAN room at the Comfort Inn. After a hot bath, we're looking into ordering pizza and snuggling in.

Bruce is definitely a stress case in the car. Thankfully we bought calming treats today, and Tom  reports that Bruce slept the whole afternoon beside him in the truck, until Dryden. Oden meanwhile... ate a few too many treats I think. He looked stoned all day and snored while he slept.

Looking forward to getting into a new province tomorrow! Stay tuned for more updates on our adventure!

I have pictures to share but can't figure out how to load them onto the blog without my computer (I'm on my phone...) so more photos to share once I can fire up the laptop.