letree - Tumblr blog

[letree]

Arizona Baby Moon

Feb 20, 2024- Kaine, Jennifer and Cletus the foetus hopped on a plane to Pheonix, AZ. We arrived late at night and went to our room to sleep and noticed ear plugs on both the night stands.. We soon realized that our room backed onto a 24hr train stop, and every time the train pulled up it tooted its horn. I know this because the sliding door to our balcony didn't close properly so we didn't miss one toot. The next morning we hopped in our dented up RAV4 (aka- the ravioli) and drove to a town just outside of Sedona and got lunch at Tortas de Fuego. Kaine had some tacos and baby had churros and ice cream.

All fuelled up on meat and sugar, we found some hikes nearby and climbed up and around the large red rock until the skies decided opened up and made us turn back. The next day (Kaine's 34h birthday) we had breakfast at the home of the 3lb cinnamon bun. We probably would have considered trying the 3lb bun, but it had raisins in it. bleh.

Fuel'd up on more meat and sugar, we went on a 10km hike to the Devils Bridge. It was flat desert filled with cactus and lizards most of the way, and close to the end we climbed some rocks to reach the bridge. We had burned off our breakfast and needed more meat and sugar, so we brought along a turkey sandwich and the most neon green muffin you've ever seen. We needed something other than meat and sugar for dinner, so we went to an Italian restaurant called Padres. While waiting for our food, our table neighbour brought to our attention that God had been telling him to talk to us all night. He recited a bible verse to us followed by some words of wisdom, then we indulged in giant bowls of thick & creamy pasta. But what's a birthday without DESSERT?! We stopped at the grocery store and got some chocolate cheesecake to eat in bed and were asleep by 9 PM. Is this what 34 looks like?

Our next destination was Tusayan, a town right beside the Grand Canyon. After driving there, we went and watched the sunset at a viewpoint in the canyon then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Each table at the restaurant had painted animals or scenery on it and the wooden chairs were all a colourful hand painted display of animals characters and flowers.

We'd been eating too much and needed to burn some calories! We headed to the Grand Canyon and took a shuttle bus to the South Kaibab trailhead, which has an elevation of 7460ft. From there we hiked down into the canyon to Skelton point, which is an elevation of 5200ft.

Descending is the easy part, signs of a man on all fours vomiting warned you not to try hiking the whole trail in one day or that would be your fate. I was the only pregnant person on the trail but still managed to pass a few people! A lot of the views you can see the red rock, but apparently the rock isn’t actually red, it’s just stained red from the water washing rust down it and staining it that color.

The canyon is so deep that when you look down it, depending on where you are, you can’t even see the bottom. From the odd corner you can get a glimpse of the bottom where you can see the Colorado river passing through. We hiked out of there just in time to watch another sunset and ate leftovers in the hotel after a nice dip in the hot tub.

Next, we drove to Page where we saw the Glen Canyon Dam. Just down the from the dam we hiked around the ‘bee hives’ which were tall layered red sandstone in tower formations.

It was getting hot hiking through the desert in jeans and long sleeves, so we drove over to another hike called the hanging garden. They call it the hanging garden because amidst the dry sandy landscape, there’s one random rock in the middle of the desert that has a cool moist overhang which houses moss and hanging greens growing from the lower portion of it. We climbed up the rock and ended up at a cliff where a view into the canyon emerged and you could look out to lake Powell and across the desert.

That evening we went to a local brewery for dinner where I ordered a Mac cheese, but they forgot the macaroni and just gave me a bowl or cheese sauce lol.

Before leaving Page we stopped at Horse Shoe Bend, which is another extension of the Grand Canyon that wraps around a big rock formation. We then headed out towards Prescott, home of the first ever rodeo in 1888. We stayed in Hotel StMichael, built in 1864, and rode up the original elevator with its sliding accordion doors to our room where the walls still hold the smoke smell from years ago. Unfortunately the time of year we went, pretty much everything was closed, but Kaine still managed to get some brisket!

[letree]

07/09/22

July 9, 2022

The morning started like any other; we woke up, had breakfast and took Bobby and Mango for a walk. 

Before Kaine left to get ready at his parents, we set up our tables. Each table had a white tablecloth with faux eucalyptus as the runner. 

We had gold utensils wrapped in an off-white napkin held together with twine. The cutlery sat on white disposable plates atop a gold floral charger plate. Each table was decorated with a brass candle holder with an electric candle, wine, water and a white glass vase with the pampas grass we stole and dried.

When Kaine left, Maria, Cali and Lauren arrived and we sipped on champagne while listening to 2000’s punk rock bands. We played “Bridal Jeopardy” and had a few good laughs at old Facebook posts Maria had dove deep into facebooks past to get. 

All four of us crammed into the Fiat and drove up to the pavilion at the top of Knox Mountain where we hid in the bush at the top of the hill waiting for the snowbirds to be done their show. 

Once the show was done, Kyle, Tim and Drew just barely made it to their seats and we began walking down the isle. 

Dad and I linked arms and walked towards the pavilion. My dress picked up every pinecone on the way and dad was complaining that his pants were giving him a rash. When we got to the isle, DJ-EJ changed the tunes and I went and stood next to Kaine.

Donna began to speak and no matter how hard tried, everything she was saying was going in one ear and out the other. I was just looking at her and looking at Kaine smiling from ear to ear. I could see Kaines cheek twitching and I couldn’t tell if it was a nerve twitch or he was trying not to cry.

We put each others rings on and then read our vows. When Kaine began to read his vows, the tears broke through and everything he said was so genuine and sweet.

I got through my vows no problem, but my legs were trembling the whole time.

After reading our vows, we put a bottle of ‘See Ya Later Ranch' Gewürztraminer and a bottle of ‘Saintly’ Rosé into our wood box and pretended to lock it up because we didn’t check to see beforehand if the bottles fit.

We then faced the crowd and Donna pronounced us Mr. and Mrs. May!

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking photos around Knox Mountain and a park in Rutland called Chichester Wetlanc with our photographer Jesse Kraan and her husband Braden.

 After photos we arrived back at the house and finished setting up the tables only for mother nature to start blowing over all our cute pampas grass centrepieces. 

We sat down for dinner around 6PM and had Hunters beef with mushrooms and gravy, chicken stuffed with swiss cheese and asparagus wrapped in bacon, Yorkshire puddings, greek & caesar salad, and the most buttery delicious potato’s you’ve ever had. After dinner and a quick smoke break, Kole, Maria, Dean and Craig all made a little speech. We thanked everyone for spending their Nunavut day with us, then moved on to cutting the cake. 

Dianna (mom) made a white and subtly pink, 3 tier cake. The bottom tier was vanilla, the middle was marble, and the top was confetti with almond extract. The cake was decorated with small white and gold roses that mom made all by hand. 

While everyone was semi distracted eating cake, we went under the maple tree and had our first dance to ‘Je te lesserai des mots’ by Patrick Watson.

I didn’t think many people were watching, but everyone started cheering and clapping as the song finished.

Everyone mingled, the dogs were trying to score food, there was cornhole and giant jenga, the kids were using cups to try and catch fish out of the pond because Kaine told them if they caught one they could keep it. There was a kids table with balls, animals, colouring books and some of the colouring made its way onto the side of the house. 

A bit later we put out a couple chairs and played the shoe game. Everyone was surprised by the fact that we answered all the questions pretty much the same! There was one typo on the question sheet that said “who is the spider” Maria thought this was the funniest thing ever and was laughing so hard trying to spit it out that she was tearing up. 

We then cranked the music and played some good old Lotus music and danced under the tree. Off to the side of the tree was my dad (Craig) who apparently didn’t like our music but wanted to be apart of the festivities. He stood about 10 feet from everyone dancing and pulled out his iPod and stood listening to his own music. 

Things really amped up when I brought out a broom stick and we started doing the limbo. The limbo soon escalated into a high jump and apparently Tyler was up on top of Marks shed as well. 

At the end of the night we sat down at the tables with Maria and Tyler and had a night cap and just took in the last of the night admiring how nice our yard looked. 

[letree]

The Valiant Lady

Flights got delayed and delayed some more, but it worked to our advantage and we somehow got 1st class from Edmonton to Toronto. The seats were wider, there were free mimosa’s, the headphones were high quality and dinner was served on a glass plate with glass cups and silver utensils. Dinner even came with your own personal miniature salt and pepper shakers. We arrived to a scorching hot Barcelona where we walked around in 40 degree heat, still wearing pants and sweaters from the plane ride. Our hotel was walking distance to most things tourist, so we started off near the market and watched some acrobatic men blasting obnoxious music jump and do flips over tourists while enjoying the first of many beer/sangrias. The next day we walked our roller luggage over 1000000 small cobblestones to the marina where we boarded the Valiant Lady.   When we entered the room, the lights automatically turned on and the pink and blue ombré curtains opened to our own patio looking out over the ocean with a handmade red hammock. The room had an iPad that controlled things like lights, TV, music, curtains, room service ect.  You could also change the “mood” of the room, naturally, we put it on the ‘get it on’ theme which played sexy music and made the room turn hot pink and close the blinds when selected. Hah. When sun was setting that evening we found a hot tub to sit in and watched a beautiful sunset while sailing away.

The ship sailed over night and each morning we would wake up in a new city. The first morning we woke up in Marseille. We started the morning off by running 5k around the red outdoor track that circled the top of the ship. We left the ship and walked around Le Vieux Port (the old port). There was a ton of vendors there that morning, but it was so damn hot that if you weren't selling ice cream or beer we weren't interested. Soap was a big ticket item there. There was a soap museum, a soap souvenir shop, local artisan soap.. Speaking of cleanliness, after walking around, we found a tan marble staircase that had been coated in 100’s of years worth of urine.  We walked up said pee staircase and found a huge cathedral, “ cathédral la majeur”.   That same walk we also came across ‘’the worlds largest orange gummy bear’’ and a pigeon eating a full pizza to itself.   At the end of the day, we returned to the boat where a band from Jacksonville, Florida called the “The honey hounds” played and amazing show .

The second day we woke up in Cannes, France. We took a tour bus that day to Monaco, which is home of the prince’s palace, which we took a tour around. They gave us a little 90’s cellphone that told you info about each of the exhibits. The thing talked too much and was kind of boring, but there was some interesting paintings of angry dogs, infinity mirrors, frog men, and ugly renaissance babies. We then went to an aquarium full of your typical aquarium shit, but they did have a giant sea turtle! While there, we visited the Monté Carlo Casino, where the James Bond movie was filmed. Parked outside the building was ridiculously flashy luxury cars and we even saw a celebrity! We don’t know who the celebrity was, but everyone was trying to take photos with him. That area also had all the fancy boutiques like YSL, Louis viton, Fendi, but I was more excited about a ginormous inflated bottle of ketchup in a nearby garden. After a selfie with the ketchup we went back to the boat where we saw a savage ass seagull kill and eat another bird in the water. 

Speaking of eating, for dinner that night we had a surprise 6 course meal at the ‘Test Kitchen’. Each dish was paired a special cocktail as well. The restaurant theme was ‘science lab’. The colours were white and hospital green, the countertops were stainless steel and the waiters wore white lab coats. The dinner was amazing; Appetizers consisted of a mushroom patté (shaped like a mushroom), followed by a smoked eggyolk on peas and a small soup with muscles and prosciutto. For the main we were served a potato cut into microscopically thin slices so it looked like a sea creature, then they topped it with a bacon powder. Accompanying it was a piece of medium rare venison that had been slow cooked and topped with berries and a berry sauce, gravy, and melted dark chocolate. Omg. It. Was. So. Good.   For dessert they gave us a wasabi ice cream, followed by second dessert, a chocolate cake with a melty center and berry goo.  

After dinner we went to Kaine’s first ever draaaggg shooowwww to see “The Diva”. Kaine’s ass hole would clench up every time she came near because she touched him while singing/dancing and got him to hold some stuff throughout the performance.  Luckily she didn’t ask him to come up and lip sing Shania Twain “I feel like a woman” with the other guys.

The next day we spent on the boat sailing to our next destination. I tried ordering eggs for breakfast twice, but after them coming back cold and uncooked both times, we got some sushi and ramen then went to the pool to lounge around and watch a drunk guy stumble around. 

For dinner that night we went to “Gunbae” for a Korean style dinner. We sat with 4 kind/obnoxious New Yorker’s who yelled at each other constantly and said what ever was on their mind. The dinner started off with a simple counting game (which a few of them couldn’t understand for the life of them). Basically if you said a certain number, you lost and had to take a shot of saki. (I won btw ). We went on to have a bunch of grilled meats and finished with dessert.   Dessert was a white and black ice cream with caramel sauce, but the sauce tatsted odd, like meat marinade.  

The next morning we sailed into Olbia and hopped on a double decker to the downtown area. In the afternoon, most shops close for a ‘ciesta’ mid afternoon. So after walking the pier and looking at closed shops, we headed back to the ship where we played some shuffleboard and watched an acrobatic version of Romeo and Juliet. After dinner they had “the scarlet night”.  There was games, truth or dares, live music, the halls were lit with red lights and inflatable fish, and they put on a singing/dance show where people danced in the shallow end of the pool like Christina Aguilera’s ‘dirty’ music video. We took it pretty easy that night because the next day we would arrive in Ibiza where Calvin Harris was playing!! But we didn’t have tickets to that, so we just walked around the scorching heat. There was a tall stone wall that went up a mountain side with apartments, restaurants and old stone homes from when it was its own city. At the top were amazing views looking out over the ocean. We were going to go to a nearby beach, but we ran out of water and couldn’t afford more. Just kidding, we could afford more, but if you sat down at a restaurant, went to a washroom or tried to use water in any way, it would cost you.   We found a local restaurant at the top of this mountain and accidentally ordered enough pizza and fruit for 5 people. We didn’t want to waste the food we shovelled more into our belly’s than we should have.  

We set sail again and later found ourselves at Bingo hosted by ‘The Diva’.   She made a bunch of jokes throughout, one being:  Q: how do you know you’re at a gay picnic?   A: The hot dogs smell like shit. That made me lol. Anyways, the cruise was over and we abandoned ship to spend a few nights in Barcelona on our own agenda. To appease me, we went to “Mocco” an art museum which had art from Banksy, Warhol, and a bunch of other artists I’ve never heard of. We both really liked the art from an artist in particular named, Guillermo Garcia.

 After a bunch of walking we got snacky and went to a pub for tapas and beer. At these places you order a beer, get a plate, and along the bar counter is plates and plates full of two bite snacks. At the end you count how many toothpicks you have, and that’s what you pay! 

It was recommended to us that we definitely pay a visit to the Sangrada Familia, a basilica that’s been under construction for over 132 years and is still not completed. It was designed by a famous architecture named Gaudi who steered away from the gothic church style and gave it a brighter, more artsy/whimsical feel.  Long story short, it was epic. The sun coming through the stained glass windows and the organ blasting throughout the building was incredible. 

After some more walking, tapas, uncooked eggs and hot choc so thick you’re supposed to dip a churro in it, we hopped on the plane and came back home. 

[letree]

X CANADA

Day 1- Bigbird’s big adventure began by driving from Kelowna to Red Deer to dump off the mutts and say adios to the family

Day 2- We made a mile and left Alberta towards Saskatchewan. All the crops had just been harvested and the wide open fields held only hay bails, cows and the odd herd of antelope. We spent the evening in Cypress Hills provincial park which was a random spot amidst the praries full of trees and a body of water. We went to bed early and hit the road earlier to keep on rollin

Day 3/4- We breezed into Manitoba and stayed at the Kiche Manitou campground. We woke early enough to be one of the first to arrive at the Spruce Woods Provincial park. The Spirit Sands was a 10km hike with a mixture of elements- one minute we were in the prairies surrounded by flat land and crops, the next we were in a forest of mixed vegetation and sand dunes. Unlike an arid desert, these sand dunes were full of life; Big gross white spiders (the wolf spider) , grasshoppers, yellow daisy like flowers, and oddly enough mushrooms growing out of the sand. After emptying the sand out of my shoes 5 times, the land transitioned into prairies mixed with forest and water features. Further down in the Devils Punch Bowl area was a beautiful blue green body of water with trees growing in and around it and Skink lizards swimming around. By the time we finished the hikes and got back to the camper, the parking was completely full so we hopped back on the road

Day 5- we spent the day driving and made it into Ontario. We stopped and had a crispy charcoal pizza in the parking lot of an abandoned restaurant. The skies poured their hearts out as we drove into the night and ended up spending the evening in a gas station parking lot.

Day 6- truckers began peeling out and the sound of the crosswinds and rain woke us. The rain come down faster than the wipers could clear it. We drove down the highway, a crimson red, coloured from dirt here. Out on the horizon was a light blue lake smashing against the cliffs of Canadian Shield . Things settled long enough for us to enjoy an extremely windy sunset at Lake Superior Provincial Park. Our campsite backed onto a long stretch of beach with soft sand and red rocks. If you didn’t know it was a lake looking out, you’d think you were at the ocean. Darkness fell quick and the next morning we went for a quick hike at Cresent Lake. We drove all day and had our first overnighter in a Walmart parking lot

Day 7- We made it into Ottawa and stayed at the Wesley Clover campground, only 15 minutes from downtown and close to IKEA (which we had to visit). For the first time this trip we set an alarm and not only did we get our oil changed, but we got a free breakfast! All lubed up we went and parked the truck downtown for the day. Unfortunately because of covid, all the things we planned on seeing were closed and under construction. We walked around the parliament building, majors hill park, notre dame basilica and admired the outside of the buildings. The centennial flame had an odd presence to it- due to the findings of the children at the residential schools there were shoes, teddies and protestors surrounding the area.

We got some Mexican food for lunch and tried eating outside, but a swarm of wasps joined us and had to taste everything including our beverages. After a small freak out, we got our bikes and toured further around downtown. We biked down the Rideau Canal and over many bridges.

After getting slightly lost we went back to the camper and had lasagna for dinner. Homeless Guy-“What games do you play?” Kaine-“ I don’t play video games” Homeless Guy -“hahahhahaha cool guy doesn’t play video games! Yeah right hahahhahah”

Day 8/9- the morning started off slow with some laundry and driving, but we made our way to the eastern townships and found a cute little family owned campsite called Camping Leroux. Hélene greeted us and was the first person to hold a full conversation with me in French and not switch to English. *accomplishment*

We drove into a close by town called Magog and, as recommended to us, had poutine at Chez Paul. We watched the sun set from atop a light house then got some groceries and headed back. The following morning we set off to Mount-Orford and did a 10km loop. There isn’t much soil on top of the rocks for the trees to grow, so instead of growing into the ground, the routes splay outwards throughout the path weaving over each other. Afterwards we drove to a parking lot in a nearby town called Sherbrooke. The steepest hill in town just so happened to be their Main Street, so we peddled our bikes as hard as we could up it then coasted along the river. We ended up biking to a basilica in town and toured the inside where the sun was casting beautiful rainbows throughout the church. To cap off the day we went paddleboarding at sunset, made tacos and had a little fire.

Day 10-We drove into Quebec City and parked near the old downtown area. The buildings were all colourful and full of small details making each one unique. There was some interesting art Installations throughout the streets- like a woman on a swing 20ft in the air between buildings or a guy fishing over a stream..

The next morning before leaving we did a 6km run around the lake then cooled off with a quick paddle board. We made our way to Quebec City where we stayed at a campground called Quebec En Ville. The woman running it didn’t speak any English so I got to really test out my French speaking abilities. Our google maps also decided (on its own) it would develop a French accent while here. There was a long boardwalk which looked out onto the Saint Lawrence river and a staircase which claimed to have 310 stairs. It didn’t look like 310 so I counted them as we went up and low and behold there was more. Liars. Most of the shops seemed gimmicky and like a tourist trap, so we avoided them and went out for lunch. While enjoying our escargot on the patio, we had front row seats to a guy playing a game where you swing a metal ring on a string onto a hook. Very mindless, but entertaining. After lunch we took a tour through the citadelle, but learned very little as our tour guide was very hard to understand hah. We took a short bike ride after and shared a crepe before heading back to camp.

Day 11- After sleeping in and driving all day and night, we arrived at the Bay Of Fundy and stayed at Headquarters campground. The next morning we hopped in the truck and drove to a nearby hike called Matthews Head. It was a very humid 4.7km hike with a couple viewpoints, an array of colourful mushrooms, and tons of squirrels who’d throw things at us from up in the trees. We then drove up to a lighthouse lookout called Enraged Cove and met a few locals who gave us a fossil and pointed out a cluster of red ticks in the bush. We continued on to Hopewell Rocks when the tide was at its lowest and walked the sea bed scavenging for critters. We found one small crab, but he dead.

Day 12- we drove over the confederation bridge and made it into PEI! (Not before a quick nasal swab upon entry) We stopped for a quick burger and flight of beers at Lone Oak Brewing (the beer wasn’t great but they had nice merch, so we got a hoodie) then went to our campsite in Cavendish.

The following day we went into Charlottetown to stuff our mouth holes full of muscles, seafood soup, lobster rolls and bruschetta. We waddled back to the truck and went back to the campsite because I was too full to keep walking around. We stuffed ourselves into our swimsuits and spent the evening relaxing on the beach. Not too far from the beach was a trail we ran each morning to a lookout point. The first thing you would run past was chipmunks and rabbits eating apples that had fallen onto the ground, next was red sand dunes blown up from the beach, followed by a fishing pond then the lookout.

Day 14- we’d been eating lots of pasta so we decided to do the hardest hike we could find nearby. We chose one called Franey Trail which led us up to a 360 view of Clyburn Brook canyon and the Atlantic coastline from Cape Smokey to Ingonish. We had a little picnic at the top then hiked back down to a second hike. After a quick hotdog we hiked the Middle Head Trail which had the windiest damn lookouts I’ve ever been too. We hiked out and made our way to a nearby beach and watched the waves roll in until we headed back to camp for the evening.

Day 15- we made it across Canada! Alas, it was time to turn around. We drove for a bit and stopped for lunch in Antigonish NS, at a place called Brownstone restaurant. I picked it because it had a cute old style store front, and for the same reason, tourism Nova Scotia was there filming a tourism commercial. Next thing you know, we’re signing release forms and part of the shoot! We ordered clam chowder, salad and a maple bacon poutine to share. The poutine was the best we’ve had. A few local beers and we were back on the road until dark. Days last- we drove and drove and drove. We had a Walmart sleepover again one eve, drove over a damn and set up in the pitch dark on a hill at Mactaquack NB, had a sleep over Selkirk Manitoba and had a frog in our site, had a river front stall in River Park Sask and had an evening paddle board with a beaver.

[letree]

Wells Gray

We made an early departure to Wells Gray Friday, June 11, 2021. We pulled up to our shady tree’d in spot and were warmly welcome by the local mosquitos. That evening we went down the road a ways to check out Helmcken Falls. On our way back we drove past a big ol’ black bear a few hundred meters from our camp site. Luckily big Bob’s bark kept him away from our camp site.

The next morning we were set to go on a boat tour with the puppies, but with the forecast set to rain all day, they decided to stay in the camper and sleep. We were welcomed onto our boat by our Captain, Paul. Paul sported a dressy captains t-shirt with a faux tie, name tag, as well as the classic white captains hat. We boarded the Merganser and headed down the lake. Stopping at misc waterfalls, Paul had a story for every location. He also had a runny nose. Paul had a shop cloth he would wipe his nose with that I think he’d been using for over a year. The once blue sheet was now almost a solid brown rag i couldn’t take my eyes off of..

When we got to then end of the lake, we took a short hike to Rainbow falls. Walking to the falls, we were directly behind Paul who may not have showered in over a month. Despite hanging back 5 feet behind him in a rainforest, his musk overtook the natural air and burnt out nostrils. Overcoming said obstacles, we made it to the waterfall. 

As a part of the tour they packed us a lunch! Everyone got a sandwich with no meat on it, a piece of smoked fish and a piece of cake. In the rain, we zipped around the lake in a canoe quick before heading back to the camp site.   The day we headed home we stopped at multiple water falls to see what all the hype was about. The best was Spahats Falls which had an unforeseen canyon  with a sick view! We had a wiener in the parking lot then headed on home to home sweet ghetto.

[letree]

Easter Juniper

Good Friday was a gooood Friday because we packed up ol’ BigBird for its spring debut and drove out to Juniper Beach for the weekend.  We found ourselves tucked away in a gully right up against the water with trains running directly in front and behind us. We went for a hike down a trail in the park which had small cacti on the edge of the path that hurt Bobby’s feet and confidence. Not far in, Bobby refused the walk where there may be cactus and had to be carried the rest of the way.  When we finished up our hike, Kaine found a cute little tick who had snuggled himself up in his fuzzy chest.

We made our way to Ashcroft the next day and went for a hike up Inukshuk Trail, where once again, Bobby saw a cactus and had the be carried the whole way. After that we went up a logging road and cut ourselves up some firewood for the rest of the weekend. All that hard work merited us a pizza from Annie’s in CashCreek. 

Easter Sunday we drove out to Kamloops and hiked up Tower Trail. The trail was a bit wider here and Bobby only had to be carried half the time. Easter dinner we had some packaged ribs, Sidekicks and cheesecake! Gourmet. 

[letree]

Lightning Popkum

Friday morning we packed up Bigbird and drove to Manning Park. We were hoping for better luck with “first come first serve” camping this time.  We got to Lightning Lake, did a loop... everything was full.  Thankfully there was a second area with spots left and we both shared a sigh of relief.  We chose the spot with the most sun and set up camp for the evening.  It was early enough that the sun was just starting to set and we had time to take dogs around the lake and do a small hike.  We crossed a few rickety bridges and came across Rainbow Bridge. The bridge hovered over the glass lake and formed an almost perfect circle in it’s reflection while smoke rolled in through the tree’s in the distance. We crossed the bridge and did a small hike through the trees and looped back around to the campsite.  After a few drinks, Kaine agreed to play a game of backgammon with me. Mid game the park attendant came by and Bobby howled like a little old grandpa wolf. I cried it was so funny.  The next morning we packed up and drove to Popkum where we met Craig and Lisa. We had the entire upper camp area to ourselves and our own personal port-a-potty with snails in it. We rode the track that afternoon and picked back up the next morning at 9am.  It was really fun and by the second day Kaine and I passed 5 people on one of our laps.  On our last run Kaine had a little spill and hurt his derriere extrodonaire. We all finished up, had a beer o’clock and packed up and headed home

[letree]

Birkenhead Lake

I was laying in the bathtub, having some vino, looking through instagram, when an advertisement for a book popped up. The author had the same last name as me and I decided to look her up. When I google’d Devine, I saw that there was a town in BC named Devine.  Labor day was fast approaching and we had no plans, so this seemed like the perfect adventure.  It was too last minute to reserve a camp site, so we left on Thursday after work to get a head start and hopefully get a first-come-first-serve spot.  We drove until it was dark and stopped at a truck stop in Cash Creek for the evening.  The next morning we set off without a definitive destination. We made mental notes of all the campsites we passed in case everything was full and we had to backtrack and take what ever we could get.  Eventually we got to Birkenhead Lake and did a loop of the park. We quickly realized it was full. We decided to park and have some lunch when another truck pulled up beside us.  They had come with the same intentions as us, and to our surprise (6 hours from home) they were from Kelowna as well and recognized our camper because they live in the same area! The old man hopped on his bike and was going to go ask the park attendant if they had anything opening up.  We ate our lunch and were literally pulling out of the park when the old man appeared and informed us that they had one emergency spot available, and that if we could fit both our trailers in it, that we could stay there.  Jim and Nancy were their names, and we spent the weekend next to each other and shared stories around the camp fire in the evenings.  Saturday morning we made bacon for breakfast. We didn’t realize it until it was too late that the grease trap was overflowing and the dogs were underneath having a bacon grease shower.. After dealing with that mess we drove to Whistler and walked around the cobblestone paths in the main village. We took a trail to a small lake which where glacier water ran alongside the trail and the dogs had to taste it multiple times.  We laid on the grass by the lake, had some soggy sandwiches, checked out Canine Cove and walked through the trees back to the truck.  Our last full day was Sunday- we started the day off by hiking one of the trails at the campsite. It was a 4km loop that was through the trees, over some creek beds and along the lake. We found a small “private” beach area which we returned to later with the dogs and spent the afternoon swimming in the glacier fed lake and laying in the sun. 

After a very relaxing day, Monday we packed up and prepared to drive home.  We went for one last hike up Goats Peek where at the summit there was inukshuk’s all around. It was kind of creepy.  We made it home safely and now it’s back to reality!

[letree]

Find something you love to do that takes you away from the stress of the world.

Cole Switzer’s “30″

[letree]

FLASHBACK TUESDAY

A year ago today I left for a 7+ month backpacking expedition with a couple of my best friends. We did SO many things and met so many people with stories to tell. It’s hard to think it’s been that long already as all the memories are still vividly clear and present in my mind.  (The sober ones at least lol)

This is a poem I wrote while we were in Turkey. I’d like to dedicate it to a beautiful soul by the name of  Hilmi Çakır who unexpectedly passed shortly after our trip. He welcomed us with open arms to Turkey, and despite a lack of verbal communication he gave us a glimpse into his daily life, introduced us to his family, and filled our tummy’s with delicious cheese.

This one is for the cheese man:

Served in a miniature cup is your tea You can get it on land, in air or at sea Exploring the unknown, and the strangers we greet Head and heart strong, with firmly pressed feet Business by day with a schedule so rife Stepping out of my comfort zone and embracing life New conversations with people so wise Open my heart, my soul, my eyes Smiles and laughs with charades that we play Gesturing things we’re not able to say Realize your life has limited time Do what you want now and live divine

[letree]

[letree]

Saw the world #upsidedown a lot this year 🙌 #handstand #headstand #yoga #bridge #travel #blackandwhite

[letree]

Boston - USA We ended up taking a double decker bus to the coldest bus terminal known to man. After three months of taking transit from place to place, Lauren and I decided to go crazzzy and splurge on a Taxi to Jason & Rachelle’s. Driving from the terminal to their house was amazing; the historical buildings, the architecture, even the nature was beautiful in the winter months. We made it there super quick and spent the late afternoon catching up and exchanging stories over some good old fashioned spaghetti. After dinner we went and visited Jason��s optometry school which had some great history to it, and a very dusty chandelier Rachelle hit with her mitt. Our time in Boston was going to be limited so we did as much into one day as we could. We kick started the day with a well balanced breakfast! Rachelle took us to a little yellow hole in the wall with where we were handed an 11x17, double sided, 6 page, size 10 font, menu with at least a thousand different options. This was going to take forever because I read over every single item on the menu. Soon after we ordered Rachelle left for work and Lauren and I made our way to 3 different churches: The Trinity Church, the I don‘t know church, and the I forget church. All the churches had amazing dome roofs, marble pillars, beautiful stained glass and organs so exquisite that the octopus from Pirates of the Caribbean would probably play them. After the churches and some window shopping, we made our way to the the public library. Oh. My. Glob. I don’t even read and I was drooling over the awesomeness of this place. The entrance was an off white marble staircase guarded by two golden lions. The stairs split off two directions with hand painted angel scenes on either side. At the top of the staircase you walk into the main reading area. The room looked like a scene from Gilmore Girls: Books everywhere, sign out cards (people still use those!!?!!), green lamps on the tables, and everyone was dead quiet reading. Not books mind you, everyone had a computer in front of them.. But what ever. There were rooms that led to other rooms that led to glass rooms that led to dim rooms.. Rooms with ancient books, rooms with miniature historic doll scenes, rooms with marionettes, rooms that only investigators could enter. We didn’t even make through all the rooms before we had to leave to meet up with Jason. Jason took us to Boston Common’s where remnants of Christmas were still present! We saw George Washington riding his horse, walked Freedom Way, walked the Warf and walked to the Cheers bar! The Cheers theme song played at the entrance of the bar and the interior looked just like the set. After we cheers’d at Cheers, we met up with Rachelle for some dinner. We went to a cool little place with red walls and got some official New England Clam Chowder and a nacho mountain. Full of deliciousness, our next stop was the optometry house party! The entire main floor was jam packed with people. It was a Friday night, beer pong was in full swing and they had a keg in the fridge with a tap on the outside! Despite there being a million people at this party, I think almost every single one of them came to say hello and chatted us up. One of the nicest groups of people I’ve ever met! It was getting late so we walked back home and watched some Mulan before hitting the hay. Although sad to be leaving, that next morning we excitedly boarded our 12 hour plane trip back to good ol’ Red Deer!

[letree]

New York City - USA From Montreal we took a train to New York City. I sat next to a gentleman who gave me his life story followed by the consumption of a family size bag of jalapeno potato chips to himself for breakfast. For the next twenty minutes his breathing became very drawn out and heavy from the spicy chips. Constantly fanning his mouth and slurping saliva from his lips, he told me some jokes about mustard that weren't funny; I laughed though to be polite. Ten hours later we made it to the big apple! We exited the train and walked up the stairs where a high pitch squeal filled the air and a Lena could be seen running circles with bouquets of flowers in hand. Our first NYC dinning experience was the acclaimed Chipotle. I got a delicious burrito that was the size of a new born child; to eat it i literally had to cradle it with two hands. With our 75 liter hiking backpacks on our backs, day-packs on our front, and my new burrito baby, we went to a place called Room 53. When we arrived, a man was playing the grand piano and people were going up to sing as it was open mic night. We cracked a $40 bottle of wine, cheers’d and watched as Lena greeted every person that walked into the establishment. Her fruity laugh and unreserved personality was contagious to anyone she spoke with, and when she went up to sing the room went silent. It was obvious this was her element and that she belonged here.

After a little shut eye we started our day off by walking over the Brooklyn bridge. People encompass you, cars pass beneath you, water to your left, other bridges to your right, and the city at either end of the bridge. I never thought walking across a bridge could be so incredible. We crossed the bridge, Lena went to work, and we paraded around with some of her friends visiting from Vancouver. We went to Central Park where we found a geocash covered in bird poop, climbed some rocks and swung on the swings. For dinner we made our way to Katz Diner where Lauren and I split a $20 pastrami sandwich. The most expensive sandwich I’ve ever had, but worth every dollar. Next, dessert! We stopped at a cookie shop that has new specialty cookies daily. I tried a white chocolate macadamia green tea cookie. Also worth every dollar. Our next stop was a small little bar where we had a couple bevies, played some darts and waited for Lena to get off work. After she arrived, we made our way to Time Square. We saw Time Square during the day and the evening, but regardless of the time of day it always felt like a cold bright afternoon. The sides of the buildings ARE television screens. So big and so bright that they illuminate the night sky and streets as you walk through it. At one point we were walking by a building and when we looked up, we were on the screen on the building! It was too cool. We also visited the M&M factory while we were in that area and checked out a few shows: On Broadway we went to Les Miserables, which I didn't understand one bit. Off Broadway we saw Avenue Q, which was an adult Sesame Street that absolutely hilarious.

Everything we saw NYC seemed to normal but with an extra something that make it special. Like the cute bagel shop by Lena's house- normal, but with the most vast and delicious home made cream cheese selection known to man. Or a simple train ride- normal, but people around you put away their phones and speak to you, and some very impressive performances take place during the rides.

One morning we woke up and embarked on what was my first "Boozy Brunch". We entered a little Mexican restaurant with piñatas, Christmas lights, sombreros, one server and no heat. For $21 we indulged on nachos, a full Mexican breakfast, tea, coffee, and unlimited booze with our brunch! With a good morning sangria buzz going on we made our way across the high line. I have no idea what it was like as my stared at ground and ran to the other end seeking refuge from the cold.. Apparently it was really pretty.

The next blustery day we made our way to Grand Central Station. Despite being an area where people are in a constant hustle and bustle, you can't help but feel a certain sense of contentment stopping in amongst the rush and taking it all in. Next we took the subway to the famous bull statue. Lauren and I climbed under its body and cupped its balls for good luck. With all the luck in our hands, we walked to the statue of liberty. It was so cold by this point that we literally ran up to the water front, took one picture then turned around and ran away. We ran and we ran until we reached Boston where we would meet up with Rachelle and Jason!

[letree]

[letree]

Montreal - Quebec Quelqu'un m'a dit que votre bonne année est une corrélation directe dont le reste de votre année vas se passer. Cette année on a passer la nouvelle année en Montréal, Québec. C'était une mercredi soir et on était prêt pour une nuit aux ville. Pour la première fois dans plus que 2 mois nous avons faits nos cheveux, porter du maquillage, peinturer nos ongles et on a même trouver une nouveau habille. On sortait du auberge et à nous rencontrer en plein force était notre premier neige de l'année. C'était une bonne commencement de ce qui était supposer d'être une nuit très excitent. Le seul chose est, il n'étaient pas. La chose le plus excitent du soirée était quand on a pris une ballon du toit et à commencer à jouer du soccer avec. Minuit à passer et il y avait même pas du confetti. PAS DE CONFETTI! Ça c'était la dernier coup, alors on est sorti. On a manquer le dernier métro et à passer la reste du soirée marcher aux retour a l'auberge. Nous avons adoré marcher dans la neige tellement qu'on a décider de le fair pour l'entier du prochaine jour aussi. Apres une courte promenade dans le vent glacial, on pouvait plus sentir nos jambes. Alors on est rendu aux cinéma pour degeler et regarder "Wild". 🎬 Notre auberge avait des événements qui ce passer chaque jour de la semaine. Une de les evenements etait une pub crawl. Le soir que nous avons participé, notre groupe a rampé aux deuxieme destination- on a trouver les cristaux arc-en-ciel avec des carillons éoliens en dedans, qui allumait les rues sombres. L'idée était de courir aussi vite que possible vers les cristaux et puis les frapper avec votre main,ou de les botter avec votre pied, pour qu'ills tournes et carillons.. Après cette affichage d'adulthood (translation?), a est rendu aux Trsh bar. C'était un petit bar au deuxième étage ou l'espace a été décoré avec les télévisions. Jouant sur eux était le fire channel et le statique. Le boisson de choix était Blue Ribbon; qui vous pourrait profiter tout en la regardant du skateboarding à partir du haut d'une bowl! On a passer tropes de temps à regarder les skatboarders et a manquer la dernière métro.. encore. Avec tous le marcher qu'on fesait, on sentait q'une récompense d'une poutine etait en ordre. Lauren a eu une Poutine avec du Chili, ma mère a eu une poutine régulière, et puis j'ai essayer une poutine de fruits de mer/le chou. Le jour avant de partir on a aller aux bio dôme pendant la journée. On a vue des animaux de glace, marine, forêt tropical.. Mais la chose la plus cool était l'exposition du castor. Vous pourriez voir aux surface le castor qui nager avec tous les canards. Puis quand tu descendait les étages, tu pouvais voir le castor et les canards nager en dessous de l'eau. Pendent notre première semaine en Istanbul, nous avons fait une ami appeler Jeff qui venait de Gatineau, Québec. Le jour avant de partir on a rencontré Jeff et son amie Alex. Nous avons apprécié un repas délicieux avec du sangria, suivi pas rattrapé nos récits de voyage. Au fin du repas nous avons rencontrer une de leurs amis dans une loft au-dessous d'un bar. Après des introductions et un tasse de vin, on est aller a la bar juste a traverse du route pour regarder une match de UFC. On a commander un tour de biere et à placer des bets sur les combattants. La nuit a vieilli et que la température est plus froide, on allait pas manquer la train ce soir. On a finallement attraper le train a l'heur et on est aller aux lit. Nous avons eu une bonne sommeil ce soir car le lendemain nous avons pris une train 10 heurs à New York pour visiter Lena !

[letree]

Bandirma take 2 - Turkey

With another ungodly wake up time, we boarded a ferry to Bandirma. Fethi welcomed us back with another bangin’ breakfast where we caught up and got reunited with Eggo. That afternoon he took us to the street market where we met up with the Cheese Man again and said hello to the panty lady. Fethi is tight with the panty lady and scored us some free long johns! Long johns that are soo high they can double up as a bra. bonussss After some shopping and walking around it was our favourite time of day, beer o’clock! We had a few bevies and hit the hay.

The following morning after my fevery sleepless night, Lauren and I met up with the mountaineering club and hiked our faces off. This particular hike was 19km of hills where thousands of goats lined up for our viewing pleasure. A particular fellow that stands out in my mind was a white goat with a full faced beard instead of a goatee. It made him appear to be a very wise goat. Another had squinty little eyes and a short little goatee making him look Asian. They all rocked their own goat look.

After a long hike the hiking group treated us to a traditional Turkish breakfast the next morning. They had small and large baskets of eggs placed along the tables as well as spreads for your toast. I took one of the eggs and smashed it against the table to peel off the shell, and big surprise, it wasn’t a hard boiled egg, it was raw. I made a bit of a mess on myself, but what better way to clean that mess than to go have a bath with two of your closest friends and 20 strangers?!? So after breakfast we made our way to the local hamam! The first step in hamam-ing is to go into a 40 degree hot spring until you’re so sweaty you’re about to pass out. The next step is to go into the bathing area and look like a really awkward and confused foreigner. From that point a lady who speaks no English will splash you with ice cold water and tell you to go back into the hot water. Your body is in shock and you’ll be very confused. But no worries, she will come retrieve you at her leisure. When the time is right, you make your way to a marble table surrounded by a dozen large sinks. You then remove your top and lay facedown on the marble. Without warning the lady takes an abrasive loofa and starts to scratch you like a lottery ticket. All the ticket shavings, I mean, your dead skin.. Clogs up the loofa and creates a small mote around your body. But this mote is no barrier for the gazing eyes circling the table. While people bathe themselves and watch you be bathed, you close your eyes and pretend there’s nothing weird about it. After a few rinses she then softens you up with the communal olive oil soap. Then it’s massage time. Tip: If you do a 19km uphill hike the day before, the massage feels even more glorious on your muscles. The lady will rub, tug, and smack all parts of your body until you’re all loosened up. Oh, and don’t be surprised if at some point during your half naked bath/massage, a stranger comes over, pokes your stomach and wants to make light conversation. When you’re all done she gives you a little pat on the bum, says “see ya!” You leave feeling extremely relaxed with your body now as soft as the day you were born.

To make the holidays a little more festive, we decided to MacGyver ourselves a Christmas tree. I walked down to the shore line and found the perfect branch that had been chewed up and spit out by the ocean. For ornaments we wrapped rocks with tinfoil and hung them using small paper clips. We also taped leaves and bright red twigs to the branches, and hung snowflakes made from doilies. And anytime someone would open a beer we would hang the cap on a branch. And that was Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day was pretty laid back; we had breakfast, traipsed the boardwalk for a bit, then returned in the evening to enjoy some Christmas dinner with hot wine and a movie.

Our last day in Bandirma was a rainy one. We had an indoor day and went to Fethi’s sisters for dinner. We’ve come to realize during our travels that if you want authentic food in Turkey, you need to experience true home cooked cuisine. Such a treat requires mental and physical preparation. Know that wether or not you want to, you WILL be stuffed like a Turkey. So with a full belly and clothes that no longer smelt like two months of traveling, we made our way back to Istanbul the next morning. One last night in Istanbul and a sleepover at the airport, then we bid farewell to Turkey and say bonjour to Montreal!