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.

Creatures, Cross-Canada, Calgary

As I write this I have an incredible view Duluth, Minnesota and Lake Superior in the background. The main reason I decided to stay in Duluth on my journey (other than the fact that it was about halfway between two of my destinations), was because I knew it as a city from a board game I play, called Ticket to Ride. The city does not disappoint. It is beautiful with its brick buildings, brick roads and the views of the lake from every point.


The trip across Canada has been marvelous so far. I have seen moose, cows, bison... well, maybe they were a bit too large to actually be real, but those are the kind I like, because they don't run in front of your vehicle.


The first four nights were spent in Canada with stops along the way in Castlegar, Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg. My friend Lindie joined e as a wonderful roadtrip companion for that part of the journey. Then my mom few to Winnipeg and we drove down to North Dakota to visit some relatives near Bismark. Yesterday I headed to Duluth and today I will drive through Wisconsin and Michigan on my way back to Canada.

I have been able to connect with so many people on the way and I am reminded of how incredibly blessed I am. And how many incredible people there are in the world. And that I am priveleged to know a few along the way.

Now I'm by myself and the one thing that makes me sad is that I wish I had someone to share this part with. Because the drive is beautiful. So much to see. And funny signs. And funny things I think of and tell myself (and boy do I laugh heartily).

The one downfall (besides being alone), is my indigestion issues seemed to have sprung up again. Not so fun on a roadtrip... so if you think of it, please pray for me about that. Oh, and also, if you'd like to be on my prayer email list, let me know your email and I will add you!

So for now I say good-bye to Duluth and look forward to visiting two new states that I have yet to see and hopefully I will find some more larger than life community moments along the way (those large pointless things that seem to have no purpose but to give people like me immeasurable joy).

Happy Trails!

Transition, Tuned, Thoughts

So much has been going on, that my mind is overwhelmed when I think about blogging about it.

What could I blog about?

I could blog about the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, getting stuck downtown and watching everything happen and the feelings of sadness and shock that permeated the next few days.

I could blog about packing up the remainder of my house, locking the doors and driving away from the place I have called home for the last three years.

I could blog about my last couple weeks in BC and all the activities and gatherings that have been keeping me busy.

I could blog about how incredibly blessed I am with amazing family and friends who love me and care for me. Friends and family who I will dearly miss and am sad to leave.

I could blog about what's coming and the excitement related with my two week road trip across Canada and what awaits me upon arriving in Quebec.

Instead, I just wanted to say hello. I'm still alive. And preparing to have every single aspect of my life change. Maybe I will blog about all the things above, maybe I never will. Time will tell.

For now, you may not see me for awhile. Or perhaps I will randomly post photos from my road trip from my phone. Maybe I will keep blogging, maybe I won't.

For now I'm leaving time to think and reflect and be.

So you may see me soon, you may not. So stay tuned.