Morro Bay, California
I'll start this off with a warning - I have no idea where this post is going to end up.
I now have literally months to catch up on. We were out for a family vacation for the month of October and had a wonderful time. We made lots of memories, captured many wonderful moments on camera and were able to see and experience so many great things all while spending time with family and friends.
We flew back to home on Halloween and I had great intentions of actually posting about our vacation which I haven't done in the past. I figured since this has turned into my somewhat public diary this would be an easy way for me to write down my favourite moments and be able to share them with family and friends at the same time.
It wasn't meant to be.
The computer started smoking.
Nope - not a good sign. Of course there is not an electronics store or computer repair store in town so we had to ship it off to the computer doctor. That didn't happen easily though. Initially the computer doctors told us we had to order a new charger for the computer first to see if that was the problem. Of course it wasn't so after waiting a few weeks for the charger to arrive in the mail we then had to ship it off to a friend who could download our photos in case the hard drive was erased. Add another couple of weeks for this. Then the computer doctors fixed it up and sent it back to us with a courier company that doesn't come here.....ahhh, because no courier company comes here. It was sent across the country twice. So - if you are still following all of this computer drama - we finally received it back last week. Oh happy day!!!
Okay - I think I have decided how I am going to do this. I'm going to go through my 700 pictures and pick my favourite 20. That's it. Okay - now that I have a plan in place let's get this together.
.......................................this space represents 45 minutes looking at pictures..................................
Here's the latest play by play. Twenty pictures is not going to cut it. I went through our October vacation pictures and I have 21. Then that still leaves 4.5 months to catch up on. Although many of January's pictures are of the same thing. The SUN! I swear that the week the sun came back I took a couple hundred pictures of it. It was just such a welcome sight after it's two month absence I just couldn't help myself. I think I essentially have a play by play for the week of the sun.
What was I thinking?!? Twenty pictures. In addition to the 21 that I want to add from our October vacation there are also 32 from our winter so far in Paulatuk. So that means the count is at 53....20 huh. Insert snark here ; )
So lets begin this little journey.
I left town a week earlier than R did. So N and I went on a bit of milk run to get back to Nova Scotia. Our first day was Paulatuk to Inuvik. We spent a night there. N saw the trees - being close to the tree line they are small. We don't have any trees so any tree is big to N. He saw them and said, "Wow, big, tall, trees" Once at the hotel there was some grass still showing. He got down and rubbed his cheek against it and said "soft, cuddly, grass" Oh man.
From Inuvik we went to Edmonton for a night. Then finally to Halifax the next day.
The weather in Halifax was great. We were able to experience fall all over again. We went from hats and snow suites to t-shirts and sandals. It was wonderful.
We had a wonderful, warm week with family.
Blissful.
Once R arrived a week later we headed down to where his parents live to visit. The weather stayed beautiful and our wonderful vacation continued.
I spent an awesome day with L, my friend since kindergarten. I have pictures of us with our socks pulled up to our knees, hair in pig tails and various class pictures over playground equipment. As you can imagine we have lots of fun memories and this day was another one to add to the many wonderful ones we already share.
We went on a wine tasting tour in Gaspereau Valley, NS. We rode on a pink double decker bus and toured 3 different places. Seriously - the pink double decker bus would have been fun on it's own, but add wine into the equation....we had a really fun day.
The pictures kind of tell the story on their own. The Nova Scotia part of vacation we spent with family and friends exploring our own backyard. Well, our parents own backyards.
We spent afternoons hiking down old railroad tracks, flying kites, having picnics in sod fields, rolling down hills, visiting museums and just spending time with the people we don't get to see as often as we'd like.
As always, we ran out of time. I had great plans to visit more people, more often. Things just never seem to work out that way. Time seems to slip away while your busy exploring.
Next Stop
California
Well Hello again San Francisco
Oh, how we missed you!
A few years ago R and I travelled to California with another couple and had a great time. We knew we would come back as soon as we could.
There were so many things to be explored and and things to see. We loved it all. My favourite part was Napa. Not only because of the obvious reason - the wine, but I just loved the over all feeling that I got while I was there. It's country. There are fields and fields of vines and amongst them all there are wonderful tasting rooms that you can pop into and visit, talk with not only the servers, but also the wine makers and often the owner is lingering not too far away.
There is also a wonderful river front town that has small shops lining the streets and award winning restaurants tucked in with all this greatness.
Wine, Country, Shops and Restaurants, what's not to love?
We made a deal that we would not open the last bottle of wine we bought in Napa until we had booked a return visit.
We came back with four bottles. I accidentally opened one a few months after we came home. It was the same brand as another bottle we had, but a different type and year. I opened it and R asked me what the special occasion was.....um, Thursday?
Opps.
We opened the second bottle when we sold our house in Yellowknife and we still have two bottle in storage. They both have special occasions waiting for them, but they haven't happened yet, and we didn't want to wait much longer to return.
With a little encouragement from friends - we booked another trip. An epic road trip.
We started out in San Francisco and ended up in San Diego 2 weeks later. We went from San Francisco - Napa - Oakland - Morro Bay - Malibu - Santa Monica - Anaheim - San Diego. Anaheim didn't start out in our plans. We added it in as a late addition because we figured if we were so close it would be a shame not to visit for at least a day. So that's what we did - Disney in a day. After all we were travelling with a 3 yr old and a 10 month old. Yup, you read that right, 2 couples, 1 mini van, 3 yr old and a 10 month old.
It's also worth mentioning that during our first trip R and I were cruising around in a black Mustang convertible.....and this time a silver mini van. As far as mini vans go though - this one ended up being pretty swanky, leather and a dvd player.
There were some seriously funny moments and some that I'm sure we all want to forget, but can't because those too are a little funny, now that they are over.
One of the most classic road trip moments was travelling down Hwy 1. This road goes by a few different names. Hwy 1, Cabrillo Hwy, The Coastal Hwy - all the same road. It is the main road that runs down the coast. It is two lanes, one in each direction and you drive along steep cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There are beautiful views and lots and lots...and few more twists and turns.
Little Miss P (the 10 month old) had a tough time with the twists and turns. She was after all safely strapped into her car seat, facing backwards. I think I may have felt the same as her in the same situation.
The inevitable happened.
Everyone in the van had a different reaction but the award for the funniest reaction (after the fact) goes to R. He was driving and was pretty concerned that the van might start filling up with the smell that comes along with it. I'm happy to report that we all survived and once the twists and turns came to an end, Miss P returned to her regular rock star self.
Epic California Road Trip
I only see the sky - what is Alcatraz?
N loved this - it took us at least an hour to find this playground,
but this smile made it all worth it.
A park overlooking The Golden Gate Bridge
Driving Across The Golden Gate Bridge
Muir Woods
Giant Redwood Tree's
Napa - I love Napa!
These are the little cottages we stayed in.
Have I mentioned I love Napa?
Bachelor Ben.
Yes, it's true. Two grown, adult women hunted
Bachelor Ben's winery down in Sonoma just to meet him.
.....and we were a little giddy about it.......
The sole reason M wanted to come to California
To go to an Oakland game
It is fun to watch dreams come true
N and I went to Disney on Ice across the parking lot from the stadium.
By the looks of the photo's they showed me - they
had fantastic seats. Home team won, icing on the cake.
Morro Bay
This little town was an unexpected surprise. We used it as a halfway point for our drive down the coast but if I ever get the chance to drive the coast again I would stop into this quaint town.
Santa Monica Pier
We spent an afternoon on Santa Monica Pier. I can't help but start singing the song whenever I say that. I wish we had more time to spend there. There is a huge beach on each side of the pier that was almost begging us to lounge around on. We had just come from Malibu and naturally had to spend some time playing on the beach there. So after Malibu and Santa Monica we were Anaheim bound. We tried to get out of Santa Monica in time to beat rush hour going through Los Angelos....but we didn't make it out in time.
LA traffic is INSANE.
Initially the GPS told us we'd be at our destination in 40 minutes. 2+ hours later we arrived. However we did get the chance to see some fun things along the way and maybe if we had of actually been moving on the road instead of at an essential stand still we would have missed. We saw THE Hollywood sign, we saw The Staples Centre and we followed a car down the parking lot...I mean 6 lane highway, who's license plate was "ORLXPRT". Ahum. So of course we tried to give the driver the benefit of the doubt and said they must be a dentist......nope, not dentist. Her Mom must be proud ; )
Disneyland
I took a picture of the $20.00 picture
they were trying to sell us. I love that
R and I are smiling and almost everyone else is
freaking out
San Diego
Because we added Anaheim into our plans we only had 1 full day in San Diego. We went to the Zoo. It was another fun day. San Diego looked like a wonderful city and from all the research I did I know there is a lot for kids to do. Who knows...maybe another California trip is in our future.
A girl can dream can't she.
Before we returned to the Arctic we stayed a few days in Canmore and Banff with our friends that we first visited California with. They have welcomed a beautiful little girl to their their family since the last time we were with them so we also had the chance to meet her. She is beautiful and has wonderful parents to call Mom and Dad.
Here we are after an afternoon walk in the mountains around Canmore, Alberta
There is going to be a part two to the entry. I just have too much to catch up on and I don't want to just skim over it leave things out just to cut down things down. So, "The Lost Months Part 2" will be
coming soon.
I promise.
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