Fernie, Friends, Fair

On Day #2, we finished driving across BC and I waved sadly to say goodbye. On the way, we kept our eyes peeled for strange and unusual things we could take pictures of...

...like this pair of dice at pair-a-dice campground. Clever.

...like this giant oil rig (pic doesn't do it justice) with the fernie sign. Lindie and i were both quite thrilled to go to Fernie. We had both never been and had always heard about it. It did not disappoint.

...like the largest truck in the world in Sparwood, BC. If you don't think the truck really looks that big, check out me standing in front of the tire...

...like the Alberta border!

Upon arriving in Calgary, Lindie had a baseball game, so Jenn and I went out for ginger beef. We ended up having ginger beef, ginger squid and ginger chicken. It was tasty. I said bye to Jenn knowing I would say here in two weeks upon my arrival in Quebec where she would be visiting for the summer.

All in all Day #2 was great. We kind of forgot to factor in the time change while driving... but we took note of that for future days.

Castlegar, Cousins, Chairs

On the first day of our road trip, we were welcomed with absolutely horrid weather, but excitement as we set off on our journey. My friend Lindie was gracious and wonderful to fly out to Abbotsford to join me for the first four days of the roadtrip.

I have some wonderful relatives who live in Castlegar, so we decided to take the Crowsnest Highway and travel that way across BC. Like I said, it was rainy, but we were in high spirits as it was the first day of the roadtrip. As we approached Osoyoos, we kept seeing these giant chairs everywhere, advertising for some resort. had there not been barbed wire in front of it, Lindie probably would have climbed up it for a photo. Thankfully, we found one perched on a rock and so ran out of the vehicle in the rain and snapped a shot. Ah the joys of roadtrips!

And oh the joys of swinging suspension bridges where there is no one yelling at you not to run or shake the bridge. And even more fun when there's people who hate suspension bridges walking across it!

Visiting with my relatives was pretty fantastic. They always visit us and I had never visited them so it was nice to actually be in their neck of the woods for once! We had a lot of laughs and fun. We went down to the river and snapped a lot of fun pictures as well! All in all it was a fantastic first day for a roadtrip and the next day we were on our merry way! And apparently now I'm posting about my roadtrip in chronological order. Hooray. Stay tuned for more.

Sailing, Sunny, Sunscreen

One thing I'm thankful for by being in Quebec is that I have wonderful relatives just one province away! I am excited that they will hopefully drop in for a visit and that I will be able to go visit them at some point as well!

The weekend I was there, it was absolutely beautiful weather (probably some of the first nice days of my entire roadtrip.. bad weather seems to follow me around). We went to Lake Erie for the day and relaxed on the sailboat!! After a few hours of sailing, we anchored, made lunch on the bbqs that were on the ship and enjoyed swimming off the side of the boat.

I love sailing. I really know nothing about boats and nothing about how to sail, but I'm thankful there are people that do know and that are willing to have me join them on their sailboats. So if you have a sailboat, let me know and I will join you for a day of sailing!

And there's something magical about water. And just having a day of relaxing on it. But there's also something about sunny days on water and lack of sunscreen. All in all a bad idea. I got quite the burn. And quite the peeling ordeal after.

On rainy days I like to look at these photos and fondly remember just relaxing in the sun on a sailboat in the middle of a lake that is so huge you think you're on the ocean.

Friends, Family, Fun

I have a lot of friends scattered around the world, and as I've mentioned before, I was so blessed on my drive across Canada to visit some of them.

I love friendships that pick up exactly where they left off. You may not talk to the person in between, but you are able to connect as before. And I love seeing my friends in different stages of life.

My friend Tammy moved to Ontario a couple years ago and I was so excited for the chance to visit with her, because since the last time I saw her, her and her husband have two little girls! How wonderful to connect with a long-time friend, connect with and love her kids and get a sneak-peak into her life.

I love seeing the faithfulness of God displayed in the lives of those I love. It is a testimony to me, and I'm sure to many around. And I love seeing how God has been faithful to Tammy and how He has now blessed her with two amazing and precious little ones to care for.

It was a good mix of relaxing, connecting and just enjoying being together.

And now I apologize for the randomness of my posts. I don't really feel like posting my trip in any coherent, orderly fashion, so I will just post random days and hopefully you will enjoy the photos and thoughts. :)

Aqua, Average, Anne

I enjoyed every single day of my road trip thoroughly. I loved driving through all the different provinces and some states and seeing everything around me. I loved visiting friends and connecting with them. I loved seeing my friends' new children that I had not yet met.

My final day of visiting was one of my favorite though. I knew that saving Anne for last would be a great idea, because we always seem to have a great time.

It began with the simple desire to go for sushi. And for sushi we went. And we ate far too much. But it was delicious.

And then the day turned into a water tour. What's a water tour you might ask? Well, it's where you think of anything that has water, cram it all into one day and make a tour out of it. And thus the Aqua Tour of 2011 began at a sushi restaurant in Hamilton while drinking water.

The water tour involved waterfalls, rivers, lakes, pools, drinking water, drinking beverage that originally must have had some water used to make them, rain and umbrellas.

I laughed the entire day. I took in some of the beautiful places we went to visit. Do you ever have those days that reach the epic list in life as some of your favorite days? This would be one of them.

Good friends, good food, a lot of laughs. If time permitted, I would share more photos, but these will give you an idea of the fun that was had.

And the day even ended with a bee getting stuck in my bathing suit and stinging my bum three times. Lovely.