Skiing

How we spent the weekend. I love this town.

My incredibly stunningly beautiful sister

This isn't fun anymore

It isn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be to summarize our trip. Here's the end of it. We spent a week in Winnipeg, with Rob going to meetings through the day and me remembering what it is like to relax. I spent lots of time designing some new photoshop templates, took lots of hot baths and enjoyed napping in the afternoons.I met some great people, developed a taste for raspberry vodka and long island ice tea, and spent some great evenings with Rob going out on dates. From Winnipeg we flew back to Saskatoon to pick up our truck and drive to Edmonton. We spent a great night in Edmonton, and then drove the next day to Jasper. Although we only spent one night there, it was worth it. Actually, in retrospect we spent more time travelling than we did in any one spot, but the time alone in the truck just talking is what I will treasure most. I really am a lucky girl to be married for as long as I have to such a great guy. And now, the pictures. :) Our room in Jasper. We were told we would have a balcony with a view. What they didn't tell us is that the view was of the building behind us.

The rest of the room made up for the shitty view.

We walked all over Jasper, going in and out of little stores. Of course I couldn't walk into this store without walking out with something, or 4 somethings. And yes, they tasted as good as they looked.

I had to get out the zoom lens and play around a bit. These pics were all taken from the truck.

Elk on the runaway of a tiny airport.

Mountain goats just hang on out the road to say hello.

At one point the mountains were in every direction we looked.

I think I'm going to play with this picture at a later date.

The pictures really don't do it justice.

Yes, I admit I was slightly tempted. Good thing I wasn't driving.

Tim Hortons with the Rocky Mountains in the backround. My personal heaven.

My first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains.

My sister dancing in her trap door jammies. I saw this in Jasper and just knew she had to have them.

Part 2

So we get up the next morning at 6 am and head out on the roads. I would be lying if I said I was not scared, but thankfully the roads were snow covered and full of traction. We arrived at the airport in loads of time. Rob and I were not able to get on the same flight, so he left 4 hours before I did. Luckily I had my sisters phone and amused myself by taking pictures with it. I arrived in winnipeg 8 pm that mint, and surprise surprise it was storming. I shared a cab with a very wealthy woman named Marilyn and after a ride through what I would think was the richest part of Winnipeg I arrived at the hotel. I spent a very relaxing week at the hotel, enjoying sleeping in and doing a lot of computer stuff I never have time to do. I met some great people, met up with some that I haven't seen in years (like my pool boy) and gained a new appreciation for raspberry vodka and seven up. I met a few people that I hope to meet up with again, and even fabricated a story with a girl named Tamar about us being life partners. It was really a great time and I hope I get the opportunity to go back again next year. Stay tuned for more...

Part 1

This post has been super long overdue, so get comfy. Rob and I decided last year when he came from his annual manager's conference that I would go with him. It would be the first time in.. well ever that Rob and I went on vacation by ourselves. We arranged for Kassie to fly up and stay with the boys while we were gone. I went to pick Kass up on Thursday January 30th. Joey and I left 6am that morning, because remember folks it takes 5 hours just to get to the airport from my house, and her plane arrived at 11Am. It was a beautiful drive in, and Joey and I made it just as she arrived. We grabbed some lunch and headed straight back, as I wanted to be able to show her around town before it got dark. We made excellent time coming back, and I was sure we would make it home by supper. On the way, we saw a rainbow. We started chatting about rainbows and realized it wasn't just a single rainbow, but a complete double rainbow. It looked liked this:

Just after this, I noticed there was an accident on the highway and pressed my brakes to slow down. Then nearly shit a brick when I slipped and slid all over the road. You guessed it, I was on black ice. Luckily I was able to get the truck back under control. I had just passed a sand truck and pulled over to wait for it to pass, but it never showed up. Of course I was in an area with no cell service, so I put on my brave face and got back on the road. 130kms and over 2 hours later we came to the end of the highway from hell and arrived at the turn off for the ice road to my community. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and turned onto the bush road to get to the ice (for you Southerners and you Chris a bush road is a road cut through the woods that leads to the lake which we drive over to get to our community). No sooner did I have my sigh of relief that I slid off the road and into a snowbank. I was beyond pissed, and of course in the woods there is very little cell coverage. I tried to call Rob but I did not have service. At this point I'm in tears, more of frusteration than anything else. I got a hold of Rob and told him I slid off the road and for him to come pull us out. Every car that passed me stopped to make sure we were ok, but they couldn't really stop to help either because if they did they would also be stuck. And of COURSE I slid off at the top of a hill, so no one could really stop either. Luckily a very sweet man and his wife turned around when they saw me. He tried to stop beside me but slid right past me (he had a tow rope and was going to pull me out). He got out of his truck and told me to put it in 4 wheel drive, which should drive it out. I told him it WAS in 4H and I couldn't move. He told me to put it in 4L, but by this time I was so frazzled I kept screwing it up. And God love him, he said "Want me to do that for you? " And he jumped in the truck, put it in 4L and drove it out of the bank. I started to freak again because he nearly slid right into his own truck, but managed to recover it. I then stayed right in front of me until I met up with Rob. We made it back to the house, where I burst into tears like a blubbering idiot and couldn't stop. Great welcoming for my sister right?? All I could think about is that Rob and I had plane tickets to fly out the next day, so we had to leave the house at 6AM the following morning. I had no idea how I was going to get up the nerve to drive BACK over those roads, in the dark no less.

To be continued.........