The Prairies.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba

First of all, Jon is thrilled with how the van is driving now. Turns out it was the catalytic converter. Not cheap, but less expensive than the transmission. We go north out of the city and east at Aidrie through Drumheller. It's a beautiful day, and the scenery is equally enjoyable.

We make our way through Drumheller and the valley, and once we're out I the landscape changes quite quickly. The land and sky open up in front of us, and it feels nostalgic to me. There is a quiet beauty about the prairies and it's vastness. 

We turn north on a smaller highway, headed for Tisdale. Right before the Saskatchewan border we pass a own called Alsask, (Alberta/Saskatchewan) and immediately after the border another called Manitario (Manitoba/Ontario). Jon takes a picture for a friend who used to play in a band called Manitario. 

Delisle!!

The quality of the highway we are on also changes as soon as we cross the border. Juniper and I are napping in the back, and we're in for a bit of a wild ride! Juni manages to stay asleep but I wake up and enjoy the view from our high bed. We decide to stop in Kindersley. My grandmother on my dad's side was born and raised here, and there are apparently still cousins in the area, but no one that I know. We have dinner at a Western Pizza, it's as good as can be expected, and then start the hunt for a place to camp. We saw a campground sign on our way into town so we head that way. It's a golf course, campground and RV Park, or so the sign says. What it really is is a trailer park partially populated by permanent RV's. We pull up to the trailer marked "Office". Jon knocks on the door and the woman inside is defensive. She asks where our RV is, and Jon points to the van, she tells us no way, not for vans. Jon comes back to the vehicle and is incredulous. He had no response for her, the sign claims campground, but it's obviously not what we thought. We head back towards the town and spy a Walmart sign. Huzzah! Never did we imagine we would be so happy to find a Walmart. We pull in and park and decide to kill an hour wandering through it, so we do. It's a chilly sleep. The prairie winds whip around the van all night, so much that when I wake up to pee in the wee hours I unintentionally pee on my foot. Good thing I was wearing Jon's shoes. We wake and make a coffee at the gas station and drive through Tim Hortons for breakfast and hit the road again. We drive all day, stopping in an obscure town for a late lunch/supper. We burn so few calories driving all day so we're really only eating 2 meals a day. We finally arrive in Tisdale around 9pm. It's dark and stormy. We have no service so we call Sydney, my 18 year old biological sister, from the gas station for directions to their farm. We pull in and are greeted by 3 dogs and Syd trying to wrestle the little one into submission. 

I've been struggling to finish, or even work on this part of the blog, so I'm going to take that as an indication that I should just move on. I'll sum it up in a few short sentences. It was cold. Hella cold. 

Juniper met one grandpa, two grandma's, one great grandma, two aunts, three uncles, two great aunts and one great uncle, several first and second cousins (the youngest being baby Olivia at 3 months!) some cats, some dogs, and a lot of friends. Jon shot a rifle, a dog killed a beaver. We ate the best pizza pie of my youth (still really good), cooked several meals for several different folks. Had a lovely surprise running into my friend Sarah Jane and her husband Robert in front of their house in Canora (my old home town) and had ours portraits painted by her, probably the highlight of the whole trip week! The women in Manitoba honoured us with a shower and I had an excellent time catching up with my closest cousin Genie (Olivia's mom). Juniper turned 8 months (8 months in, 8 months out!) and we each bought a pair of cow hide moccasins. 

The prairies. Windy, snowy, cold. Beautiful in its own way. Glad I don't live there anymore.

Cal'gry

After leaving Andrew's we stopped in Nelson. Our mission, to find me a hat. Jon tells me this is where he bought his hat years ago (which I live but is too big for my head). We stroll up and down the main drag, wandering in and out of stores. When we find the store his hat came from I'm disappointed to see its a men's clothing store and they have nothing suitable to perch upon my noggin. Cest la vie. We check out a recommended French bakery. The couple that owns it are lovely but the bread is lacking. We stop at the local co op and stock up for the road. We buy a new coffee, Oso Negro, saving our last pound of Yoka's for desperate times.

 Mostly uneventful traveling on the road. One of the mountain passes had 7 foot high snow banks on either side of the road. The summit was quite impressive. The van is acting weird, Jon is stressed by it. Struggling up the hills and not smooth gear shifting. He is appalled by the mileage we are getting.

We make it to Sparwood, it's raining. We had plans to stop at Kikomun Creek campground for the night, but it's closed. I led us to believe there was a Walmart parking lot in Sparwood we could sleep in, but alas wrong again. We agree to treat ourselves to a hotel on this cold rainy night. It's clean, and newly renovated and the boss gives us a room with two beds for the price of one. We take a much needed hot bath and hook my computer up to the flat screen and watch Game of Thrones and go to bed. In the morning we rise early to hit the road again. We have breakfast at the Coal Miner's Diner, large portions, decent food, friendly small town service.

The van is still acting miserable once we're on the highway again. Passing through the town of Frank is a point of interest. I describe the history to Jon as we go through. It's been a few years since I've driven through myself and I'm always amazed by the size of boulders. Driving through the foothills is painful. We pull over at one point, admitting something is wrong and try to call BCAA, but we're out of the cell service area. We flag someone down and she says her home phone has been disconnected because of the construction in the area so she can't help us. We're about 40km from Nanton, so we push on. We stop at the Flying J truck stop and Juni and I get a table at the Humpty's while Jon makes arrangements to have the truck towed. It's not the first time I've hunkered down in a Humpty's waiting to be rescued, so I know the drill. Unfortunately, it's 4:30 before the long weekend and there is no chance of getting the van into the mechanics until Monday. We fear it's the transmission. We finally arrange a tow but the driver can only take 2 people with him in his truck. Our BCAA has trip interruption insurance, so it covers tow, hotel and rental car if needed. Unfortunately all the rental places are minutes from closing, and none can accommodate our bike rack. We're exhausted and frustrated so we call it a day and get a hotel room. No small feat in Nanton Alberta. There are 2 options, $45 a night in a room above the local bar (sure to get rowdy on the kickoff to the long weekend) or The Double D Motel. We settle on the latter, not really a hard decision, but when we get inside our room I'm horrified. I'm by NO MEANS a high maintenance girl, but a room with mystery stains on the wall, hair in the sheets and a strange odour of burnt natural gas is too fucking much. Jon tells me we just have to make the best of it, it's all part of the adventure, "I slept under a bridge in Los Angeles with poopy underwear!", blah blah blah. I'm barely listening. As we're unpacking I keep thinking he is going to jump out and yell "JUST KIDDING! You didn't really think I was going to make you stay here, did you?! We're going to the Super 8 down the road!" But he doesn't, and there is no Super 8. I do a thorough scan for bed bugs, and a quick google search for reviews. Big mistake. The first result is "Body found in Nanton motel!" and "Murder Suicide in Double D Motel!" Shit. I quickly scan the mattress for blood stains. Time for the heavy artillery. We have two beds so I dress Juni and my bed with our own sheets and pillows. I smudge the room and ourselves and burn some incense to mask the gas smell, a perk to having your very own gas furnace in your room. Seriously, it looks like it barely made it through the 80's. There's a note tacked on the wall beside it instructing us to open the lower portion and turn the red knob counter clockwise half way for a temperature of 70 degrees. We open the door and there is no red knob. There's a black one, numbered 1-10, so we crank it to 10 for good measure. The room is freezing. I run a bath to warm our bones and discover another little perk of the Double D. The water is so chlorinated it's a lovely tinge of blue. It's like we have our own private hot tub!

All jokes aside we survived the night and I'm grateful we had 4 walls to protect us from the elements. The next day Jon rode into Calgary with the tow truck driver and came back with Eric's (our future host) Jeep.

We arrived in Calgary at our gracious host and hostess' home, Heather and Eric. They were recently married in August of 2013 and expecting their first baby in September! Heather is my good friend, we met in 2005 when I started working at Burnco in Calgary. She's always been a big supporter of me throughout the years and I'm so glad we get to spend a few day together. She is totally lovestruck by Juni. It's snowing!

We chat for a few hours and catch up, then have dinner and play a board game before bed.  The next day Eric and his dad are renovating the kitchen early morning and Heather is going to a shower (baby or wedding, I can't remember which). We decide to clear out and give them room to work so we hop in Eric's jeep and head downtown to Nellie Cosmic Cafe. 

The food is ok, the service is great. It seems like the entire restaurant is in love with Juniper. Afterwards we take a stroll down 17th, and stop in for a coffee as Cafe Beano, it's a happening place and the coffee is pretty good. We head back towards home base and stop and a whole foods store for some supplies. It's a great store but damn expensive and we quickly spend more than we should. We're making dinner tonight so when we get home Jon walks to the Co-op to get some meat. We BBQ some steaks and potatoes and I make a big kale salad. Jon grills some peppers and makes an AMAZING salsa.

After dinner we head to Jon's old old friend Bryson's place for a fire/jamboree. It's been 20 years since they've last seen each other but they fall back into it with ease. Bryson is a bluegrass/country musician and he invites some friends to play around the fire. We don't stay too long, Juni is teething and has had about enough festivities by 10:30. Bryson is very glad he got to see Jon, and I feel regretful that we can't stay longer.

The next day Heather invites us to Easter Dinner at her parents house, Barry and Noreen. I love Heather's family a lot. They've always been really good to me and I'm excited to introduce them to Juni. We go over around 1pm and are graced with some sunshine so we sit outside and catch up with everyone on the patio. Noreen is beaming when she meets Juniper, and I can tell she is excited to be a grandma. The other guests slowly start arriving, they are all old friends and it's great to see everyone. Juni is naturally the center of attention amongst the parents. Dinner is served and it's delicious! Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, yams, salads and all kinds of delicious desserts. Heather and Eric both had to leave at separate times, so Heathers brother Nick gives us a ride home. We kick back and watch a movie, enjoying having some time to ourselves after so much hustle and bustle.

The next day we don't do much. Jon takes the van into the shop. I went for a bike ride, a little scary not knowing what the laws are in Calgary or how used to cyclists drivers are. We mostly hang out and relax. Heather and Eric go to a birthday party after work and we relax in the back yard with Juni and Ty, their dog. We all watch Game of Thrones when they get home, and Heather and Eric fall asleep on the couch. Tuesday is much of the same but we all go for a walk and I find the See Ya Later Ranch wine at the liquor store. We go out for pho with Nick and our friends Lauren and Jess. We reminisce and laugh about old times. Most specifically the time Heather and I threw a rotten pumpkin out the door of a moving van on 17th ave. It smashed at the feet of some people waiting for a bus, and Heather and I were laughing so hard we almost fell out of the van. It's nice to see my old friends again, and we laugh so hard I have tears in my eyes all through dinner.

We pack up when we get home. Juni has a hard time falling asleep. Her gums are really hurting her. The next day we sleep in and miss Eric and Heather before they go to work. We're out the door and on the road by noon. Jon stops at Lee Valley to buy a carving axe. It's a sunny day.

Our time in Calgary was relaxing, but in all honesty I didn't miss that city at all. The people in it are very dear to my heart, but the city has just grown too large. There are so many cars, and it seems really unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists. I'm happy we had a chance to reconnect with old friends and Juni had a great time meeting everyone.

EDIT- I forgot I add this hilarious photo of Juni trying some of papa's smoothie. She loved it, to say the least. 

And of course, you didn't think I could write about Alberta and not have something nasty to say about the far sands and the oil industry, did you? We saw this beauty on our way to pho. 

In case you can't see, it's a dodge charger MAGNUM XL SUPER CHARGED DOUBLE EXTREME! The license plate reads HVY OIL and yes, those are 2 support our troops ribbons on the back.

Slocan Valley

I lost count of the days. Apparently the Slocan can do that to you. 

We left OK Falls mid-day. Spent some time bumming around the thrift store in Penticton. Found Juniper a sweet pair of kicks! 

We took the scenic route to Winlaw so we could take the Needles ferry. It's a small cable ferry and it was pretty fun. We saw an eagle land on a pole on our side if the lake before we boarded and it watched over our short journey to the other side. We were only about an hour and a half from Winlaw but we were tire so decided to camp at Burton Flats for the night. It was a beautiful campground overlooking, well... flats as the name suggests. Nestled in between the mountains we had a small fire from gathered dead fall and cooked some smokies for dinner and shared a bear then cozied in for the night. The best part is we didn't have to pay for the night because there were no envelopes for the deposit box and the park ranger never came by. When I woke up at dawn to pee there was a small herd of Elk grazing on the grass a few hundred meters from our van. 

When we first arrived we were greeted by Andrew and his many dogs, big and small. He showed us around his property, the clubhouse, the barn where we are staying and the yurt. He's a handy man for sure. The barn is absolutely beautiful. A small apartment hand built with lots of wood, a balcony and a wood burning stove. An outhouse and no hot water, but who cares! We nested down quickly and got it toasty warm and I never want to leave! 

We spend the first night in Winlaw at a cafe called Sleep is for Sissies, or just Sissies to the locals. There is an African drumming group and belly dancing. Apparently there is a large African dance scene in Winlaw. We meet Jen Green and her and Andrew's daughter Maya, who is 15, and Jen's partner Claude and have dinner. A local band is playing, some hippie chicks. Jen is ecstatic when she meets Juniper. She and Jon are old friends from Toronto, and she tells me about her love for Johanne and Earl Grey. I like her right away. She and Maya are going to be in Toronto mid May. I'm amazed by the amount of dreadlocks there are in this small town where everyone clearly knows everyone. Winlaw is a pretty freaky town, but I like a place where you're free to let your freak flag fly, so I won't say anything negative about the scene there. End of sentence, period. It's a good night and we rude home with Jen and Maya and Claude and snuggle down in our cozy apartment. 

The next day is like the first day of spring all over again. Andrew is cleaning up around the yard, Kathy his partner is arranging the patio and lawn furniture and Jon starts a fire in the pit near the main house. We're roasting one of Andrews chickens. It's seems Jon's destiny to cook on fires everywhere we go. We so end the day lounging on the grass and drinking a few beers. Andrew has 4 free roaming chickens, and it's pretty comical when they climb up on the deck and get shooed off again by Kathy. 

The next few days are kind of a blur. We do a lot of lounging, reading and building fires. We ride our bikes into Winlaw one day and have lunch and watch the Winlaw Theatre in front of Kaiyu's Cafe. Not really a theatre, just the goings on of the town and the locals. We check out the local thrift store, which is AWESOME! Probably the best second hand store I've ever been in. I find two items, both altered by the local designer and on consignment. We find a sun hat for Juni, and meet a puppy with a runny eye. We make home fry chicken poutine with the leftovers from Andrew's massive bird another day. 

On our second last day we do some laundry and meet Jen at her craft shop, Needle in the Haystack. It's adorable and super fun. Jen quickly sews our makeshift curtains together and we try and find a hat in her store to fit Juni's head. Amazingly and unfortunately they are all too small! (Juniper's was was in the lower percentile when she was born.) We part ways at the local grocer with plans to meet at Andrews for yet another roast chicken. Jon and Andrew get another fire going and Juni and I spend the remainder of the day in the barn napping. We have a fun and delicious dinner with everyone, and finish it off with some Coconut Dream dark chocolate ice cream! MMM! We hug and say goodbye with promises to see each other in a few weeks in Toronto. I insist they don't leave until we get there. Andrew builds a fire to keep warm for the night and We three retire to watch Game of Thrones before bed. 

We rise early the next day and pack the van and say goodbye to Andrew. He tells us he doesn't get many visitors and will miss us. Jon tells him he'll be back in June. As we drive away I realize I never considered how hard it would be to say goodbye to all our friends old and new along the way. We spend just enough time with people in their homes to really get comfortable and at ease with them and then it's farewell again. I am however very grateful we have people all the way across the country to receive us and wish us well on the next leg of our journey.