TOUCHDOWN!!!

Well I have my randoms all set for the trip to Ontario trust it to all come together at the last minute! I have realised I have to much stuff and since I probably wont need most of it in Ontario I am going to leave it with Sandra's boyfriend in Sparwood. I'll pick it up when I come back east. So there are two guys coming with me one is an Australian all the way from Sunny brisbane. Only 18 and just out of highschool. I actually met him last night super sweet guy but very shy!!



I took him out to town and he passed the Theresa & Taki interview! yay. The other guy I haven't met but seems really nice as well. They are both super tall over 6ft and I only have one 3-4 man tent. I guess unfortunately we will have to cuddle up. Shhh don't tell Brendan LOL.

In other news I went along to be a cheerleader for some guy at a rugby game today, super nice and cute guy. He promised me I would get to see guys take their shirts off and he delivered. Something about shirtless sweaty guys just gets me excited. I think this being away from Brendan is doing bad things to me. Gee I miss him a lot its really hard to be away from the man you love and keep seeing all these sexy guys everywhere, and now im going to be traveling with another couple of young guys! My boyfriend is super lucky im so trustworthy :) Maybe if I write enough about men he will come back to Canada!

LFG

So I have less then a week left to find my perfect traveling partner. I don't think its going to happen. Ive had three people contact me. I'm starting to think no one reads my signs. The first wanted to leave end of June. No can do.. I start my new job in Ontario on the 14th. The second person is a hippy who wants to go see his grandson in Manitoba so its only about a days drive and im not sure I even want to head that way anymore. However he seems cool and said he would make me sausage rolls!!! I was debating to go through Montana and then South Dakota before back up to Minnesota & Illinois. The third guy would be perfect but he doesn't have a US visa and wants to go through Canada. I'm not sure if I even want to go that way it really doesn't seem that exciting to me..

Surfing the couches

So as I was planning a bit of my road trip to Alaska today I came across the dilemma of accomodation. Winter is quiet for North, North America and what accomodation is available is pretty expensive. I was looking at over $100CA a night just to sleep!

But a friend introduced me to Couch Surfing and there are quite a few people along the way which have couches available. Its a great idea and I am looking forward to hosting people in the future. Not only shall I save myself some money but I will hopefully get to meet some great people!

Sign up, its worth your time!

The Milepost

I got my package today! A copy of The Milepost pretty much the bible for travelling along the west coast of Canada up to & through Alaska. Brendan and I have decided to drive to Anchorage rather then fly in March and this bible will be with me every step of the way!

I got Brendan in on Snowmobiling for a discount. $150 bucks cash. Not bad I guess for two full day tours normally worth $265 each!

The road trip thats failed

The big plan was to head over to Sparwood for our weekend (Wednesday/Thursday) see my sister and her beau and then drive back to Banff to go back to work.

We set out about 5pm on Tuesday evening. It was pretty dark by this stage and as we left the outskirts of banff we ended up in some pretty horrible weather. I felt like we were in a Time Warp because of how the rain was coming straight for us.

I dont really know what happened but neither of us took a map so we just guessed the road to take, it turned out to be the wrong road so we were headed about an hour west of where we wanted to be.

The overall trip was pretty uneventful until about 7:30pm when we arrived in High River Brendan and I desperately wanted food and were excited to spot KFC. There is no KFC in Banff and Brendan always whinges because it is his favourite food. We pulled in grabbed out food then left, or tried to leave. The car started fine but whatever the squealing noise was that had been on and off for the last few weeks decided to hit us up in this little hick town in the middle of nowhere!!! So smoke was pouring out from under the bonnet basically the AC compressor had seized up and the belt wasn't turning. Some random walked over and told us that the power steering was seized but he also said he wasnt a mechanic.

We walked over to a local motor Inn and was about to check in for a ridiculous $70 plus tax when Sandra phoned and said if we were close enough she might tow us. Turned out we were about 2.5 hours away because of going down the wrong road. The chick at the motel was annoying anyway.

We then ended up walking down to the 711 to see what tools we could buy and I talked Brendan into buying some WD40 to spray on the belt. When we asked for a phone book a crazy lady helped us out and told us a good motel. So we started to walk in the direction of the motel and she stops in the middle of the road and asks us if we want a lift. So I'm like sure why not. As i go to step in I see this HUGE fucking white dog snarling and yanking at its chain in the back seat. The lady goes "oh dont worry I just have my pitbull in the back its ok she likes girls"
As Brendan says "sure likes to eat girls" as for a pitbull it was about 3 times the size of a pitbull and this woman is beating it back as it strains at its leash gnashing its teeth trying to devour me. Brendan said I could sit in the front and he would sit in the back with the dog but I was like fuck that!! and decided to walk.

We didnt end up going to the hotel in the end we just sprayed the WD40 on the belt and it was fine so we decided to drive home. On the way home we took a "shortcut" which was really a horrible dirt road in the middle of nowhere. No cars no lights... Then Brendan had to pull over to spray WD40 (a TRUE bushmans survival kit!!) on the fan and it was so creepy I had to get out of the car I was worried I would see him get attacked and then I would be stuck in the pedestrian seat. I felt like I was in a horror movie!!

Anyway we got out of the shortcut and onto the main highway where we fuelled up in a BLIZZARD!! then back home only to realise we were homeless because we got kicked out of our apartment due to deep cleaning. So Brendan and I drove up to one of the hotels and talked the night audit (it was now 1am by the way) into giving us a free room.

So yea thats my tale of the failed roadtrip :/

Best weekend ever!

And that became the motto for a weekend to be rivalled.

Friday morning Brendan and I got up in what I swear was minus 100C. We fueled up and headed out to Yoho National Park. We took a look at Takakkaw Falls which is supposed to be the second biggest falls in Canada. The weather was absolutely miserable and a heavy fog covered most the mountain tops yet we got a semi decant view.

After the falls we headed to The Natural Bridge at Kicking Horse which was absolutely stunning! Even with the crappy weather you could admire its beauty. We then drove up to Emerald Lake which is a really popular destination but shitty weather sort of made that hard. So finally at about 11:30am we drove on to Kelowna. The funny thing was as we drove the closer we got the nicer the weather got and soon I was stripping myself down of layers and turning the airconditioning on!

We stopped at this gorgeous lake just on the outskirts of Sicamoose. I didn't know the name but figured that it looked so beautiful I had to take photos. Only to discover five minutes later the name of the lake was Mara Lake! So in my subconcious I was drawn to my mother hahaha.

We got held up just outside of Vernon because a guy with a motor-home decided it would be a good idea to pass a cyclist on a tiny bridge. He clipped the cyclist and traffic was stopped for about 45 minutes whilst we waited for the ambulance. Everyone was ok to an extent (give or take a few broken bones) Anyway I think we finally made it to Kelowna around 4pm to find my LJ friend Steven, [info]thetar already there with his wife Carrie, [info]playmoby and son Jackson. So it was very cool to meet them all since thetar and I must have been friends for nearly a year now and I love meeting people from the internet. I'm bad that way! It was just lucky that we happened to be so close to each other since I only just got to Canada from Australia. I don't think im quite at the level of flying to another country just to meet someone! (yet)

The place we stayed at was Loft with a view which I definately reccomend to anyone visiting Kelowna.

Friday night we bought some steaks and drank.

Alchol consumed

16 pack of beer
Half bottle of vodka (pretty much all [info]thetar)
2 bottles of wine

We played the Canadian version of monopoly which [info]thetar should have been winning but was so drunk he lost all his money when he didnt notice us landing on his properties.

Saturday

Went to the farmers market in the morning.
Went to the Jammery which was kind of lame
Went to the park
Went to a Wine Tour.

Saturday night we picked up some chicken which Brendan grilled was so fanfuckingtastically delicious.

Alcohol consumed
2 bottles of wine
The rest of the vodka
8 Large beers

We then played Cranium till the wee hours of the morning. It was the Canadian version so we had trouble with all the brain questions since none of them made sense. The game itself had me in tears and carrie got a few wall of fame diagrams.

Sunday

So we basically just chilled in the morning then checked out. Brendan and I had a long drive ahead of us 6 hours then we also lost an hour in time turnover so leaving about midday we got into Banff around 8pm. Half the fault was because we took this wrong turn in Revelstoke and ended up half hour out of the way hoping that we would hit the highway. Then we hit the dirt roads and figured that it wasn't going to happen...

When we got back home we went straight up to a work party where I consumed another three glasses of wine and sang some kareoke. But my mind wasn't in it so much because of all the boozing the last two days.

Anyway it was an awesome weekend and I had a lot of fun!

Roadtripping Canada

I got a job!! I am now a Canadian Employee working with Banff lodging company as a reservations sales agent for Banff Lodging company. Pay is minimal at $12.00 an hour but it comes with perks like Staff accomodation, corporate ski passes, discounts with tour companies etc. Also they let you have a weekend away every now and then in one of their hotels for free. They work 10 hour days 4 days a week so that gives me 3 days off to see the sites which I would personally prefer.

Brendan is still unemployed but the girl who hired me said that she would look into getting Brendan a position. They seem really keen for me.

Right now I am sitting in the small railroad town of Revelstoke in British Columbia. We are on our way to Vancouver to spend a week on the island. I have basically been on the road for the last week sleeping in a tent, freezing my ass off. Today was the first day we had real sunshine!. We stopped off at Drumheller home of the largest dinosaur and went through Rosedale where the world record for most bridges in the shortest amount of distance is. Then we passed through the dead town of vulcan and dressed up as Klingons.

We stayed a wet cold night in Waterton Park climbing a mountain the next day only to reach the beautiful top full of snow and ice. Still the view was amazing. On the way down it began to hail/snow and I was only wearing three layers and no waterproof jacket!!!

Who knows where I will be tomorrow but I cant wait to settle down and start working I have been on holiday for three months now and Im ready like hell to get back to work.