Man and dog

So men go out and hike

They bring a dog

I love this dog

But after this hike 

My love is a little bit less

Because this happened 

And after two baths

He still smells

Life with a dog

Kind of glad I only had to see him in the end

Love

The gardener

So I have learned to accept (and love) the fact that I married the gardener and that he loves gardening. Remember this. Well the completed back meant that the side was free to do. And guess what? This is what the gardener loves so much! He loves loves loves growing food. And I have been the lucky partner to reap the rewards!

Mid May, while I was visiting my parents, a big chunk of dirt was delivered to our driveway (sadly, some still remains, ha ha ha). That was the beginning of the project. 

The gardener was busy away planting little seedlings of lettuce...three kinds, swiss char, corn, radishes, onions, shallots, green beans, peas, beets and potatoes. And under the heat lamp he fostered little cucumbers, squash, watermelons, pumpkins, and cantelope.

And then one warm spring day, we started to see growth. 

And then we went on holidays. While away the brother came by and watered the garden (and thus taking partial credit for the result). Why? Because we came home to this. 

Craziness. Then the days got hotter. The gardener tended to his veggies. Watering. Weeding. And making multiple trips daily to the back to see the progress.  He could even be spotted at night with his headlamp on checking to see the growth progress. 

And so far this is what we have been lucky to receive. 

Fresh salads, raw veggies, cooked veggies and even some to pickle. Exciting. 

And even the dog has been lucky to snag a few veggies. 

Love

Road trip life

This is what road trip life was like for me this summer. 

Open roads with mountains everywhere

Our big old red truck taking us where we wanted to go

Road trip songs blasting through the speakers

Blue skies, little rain

Laughter, lomg talks, few arguments, more laughs after 

Spontaneous stops because we really had no specific destination

Food trucks like tacofino in Kelowna or real authentic tacos in California

Fruit stands, homemade ice cream, chocolate/gas station stops

Remembering your childhood as you passed by mini golf, go carts

You said that we would stop when we saw some amazing water slides...

Those didn't come till 1000 at night on our way home, ha ha ha. 

Stops at campsites in state parks

Meeting some neighbours close by who made homemade fireworks...

One opts out one opts in

I'll let you guess which one is which 

Ordering pizza at a campsite cause they actually delivered and you just can

Learning about Lewis and Clark

Seeing a bear, YIKES, never get used to that

Visiting a lighthouse 

Playing stettlers at night and getting beaten, ugh!

Exploring the towns

Plenty of homemade fudge, salt water taffy and kites galore

Arcade with old fashioned games like a shooting range (toys) and videos

Visiting markets and buying good eats and toys for little ones

Visiting beaches and spontaneously going for a dip

Run, and or play in the sand

Admiring the driftwood

Driftwood houses too

Admiring the surfers and longing to be that good

If only an ocean was in your backyard

Still enjoyable to see

Seeing the majestic redwoods

Having more that a few moments with the trees

Admiring their beauty, stillness, and age

Having wonderment of all that the trees have been around in their lifetime

 

And doing those silly stops like drive through a tree

And noting how humans can mange to make even a tree a commercial entity

Worrying as we were in a one way line if our truck would actually fit

It did

 

 

Driving away as fast as we came

As we had some wine tasting stops that needed attending

And that it was

Yum yum for me as you played driver that day

Thanks!

 

 

Love

What summer means to me

Activities

Bike riding

 To the market

 To the grocery store

 To the mall

 With my partner

 Just to anywhere

Walks

 To the dog park

 Around the neighborhood

 With friends

 With family

 Enjoying the sun

 Enjoying the night sky

 On a mountain

Markets

 Buying fruit

 Doughnuts

 Plants

 Veggies

 Enjoying the atmosphere

Movies

Gardening

 Weeding

 Watching your partner work so hard

 Growing vegetable of plenty

 Enjoying the flowers you plant

 Admiring the hard work at hand

Family

 Hearing stories from the east, central and coast

 Having a special little boy be born smack dab in the middle, welcome baby e

 Having funny stories of magpie attacks

 Having family members take care of your home and pets

 Having a home cooked meal when one comes home from work

 Enjoying summer months with the one you love

Vacations

Hiking

Road tripping 

Seeing new places

Visiting old

Hanging with friends and family

Playing cards

Enjoying the beaches

Creeks

Rivers

All body of water

Food

Green onion cakes

BBQ 

Salads

Fat Franks

Kettle corn

Slushies

Wine (red and white)

Banana boats

Ice cream

Margaritas 

Salt water taffy

Sea food

Restaurants

Food trucks

Snow cones

And knowing it is still going to be here for awhile longer

Love

On top of the rock with the sky in reach

So I am skipping ahead of our vacation to our other one as it is fresh in my mind. This one was less luxiorious as we really had to work towards our destination. I know. Why do I do this to myself. Really.

All joking aside, this hike was one I really wanted to do. Since 2009 in fact. Because this was (one of) the ones that got away. Mark and I had originally planned an 8 day hike way back then. But injury forced us to hike 30km out in one day, before we got to this destination. We called a cab from a satellite phone and paid (who knows what) for a hotel, eating freshly delivered pizza in our hotel room (ahh memories). 

What is this hike I talk of. The Skyline in Jasper. It has been on my list since then as I had heard that it was an incredible hike. And guess what. It was. One of the top three I have done in my books. I loved it!

Plus we had the added bonus of another hiker joining our little team. Anita! The girl really loves hiking, since west coast trail.  It was fantastic having her along as she played off us, alternating in sides through out the trip. Seriously, Anita is probably the best travel companion ever. I always enjoy going on trips with her. So laid back, easy going and up for anything. Hopefully it is felt the same. Ha ha. 

We camped in the overflow the night before. Mark went ahead of us and got a site. We got in around 1030 pm (traffic delays in Spruce Grove had us delayed for an hour and half). Through out the night the train passed through our site approx 8 times. Ask Mark, he was up and tired. We grabbed breakfast at a diner and were packed and off from Maligne Lake.

All smiles before leaving the trail head. The beginning was pleasant. Till we started the ascent up top. Man alive I have lost some of my hiking endurance, while Mark has gained it three fold.  Walking the dog has put him in shape.  

 

It was wonderfully warm the whole day and we made it to Little Shovel for lunch. Something. I think we all needed. See below picture to note how we felt 8 km in. Lol. Not even Nutella and shot blocks could kill the feelings of fatigue. 

After lunch and a little snooze we were off again to Snowbowl (6 km away) And what fun we had. Like how Mark convinced me he touched a squirrel and I did it in return (it was a tree in the end). How gullible am I or sugar deprived?

Amazing scenery with the mountains everywhere. So pretty. Who doesn't love a mountain?

And through the little shovel pass on our first day. Altitude 2200m. From there we went to the Snowbowl site. If you all are hikers out there a bit more work looking for water as the creeks were pretty shallow. But found some in the end. 

And at night we stayed up till dark (and p.s. It was kind of cold, I had mitts!) playing crib. Which if you need to know Mark won each game every night. Grrrrrrr. 

The next day our destination was a Curator. Shorter distance 8 km to walk so a bit more time to enjoy the scenery. First bit was amazing valleys with flowers and creeks and the mountains against the bright blue skies. 

Then through the big shovel pass where we enjoyed some yummy lunch of tuna and pita. And down to curator after. That was the kicker. We has to go down 1 km to the site knowing that we would be coming up the same way to the next destination. 

But you know what was waiting for us at curator. A lovely meal of stuffed chicken, broccoli and cheese, salad, roasted potatoes and cake. With iced tea even! There actually is a lodge at this site that day hikers do. They spend the night and day hike out the next day. Apparently you can pay for supper and breakfast even if you aren't staying at the lodge. So worth it. I told Mark he had to stop spoiling me on these home cooked amazing meals as it will become disappointing when it doesn't happen every time!  He he. Or he can just carry it on his back. 

After a lovely breakfast of cheese scones, pancakes, eggs and fruit we hiked up the 1 km and then some. The notch was the pass. Scorching sun and rock face. Hot hot hot. We think it was 32 degrees that day. But serious feelings of euphoria. Because then you could summit the top of many mountain tops. And that to me made this whole trip worth it. It was incredible to be at the top of the mountains. 

And I got really excited about a feature on my camera. Yup the panaramic is back and easier to do then ever!

And you can count on my partner finding snow at the top and throwing at me.

Overall it felt great to be at the top. The descent down was a bit of a trail. We should have stopped for water before the notch as there is no water in sight till about 2 km away from the Tekkara site approx 12 km total. But we survived with a few bits of burnt skin. Once at Tekkara we may have found the creek a bit refreshing and took a dip/swim which was glorious. There we enjoyed our last meal and laughed in giddiness at our over tiredness. 

On the way out which is approx 14 km it is a lot of descent down. You get to be at the top for about 5 km and then decline. That was bit tougher for me and my new hiking boots I am breaking in so I may have taken them off and hiked down in flip flops which was a 1000 times better. 

We made it down and did our fist pump for Anita. Ahh the sweet sound of cars and civilization. He he. 

Lastly we went to Famousa for our celebratory lunch/dinner of pizza and salad. Great overall trip! Highly reccommend to anyone that hikes or has the desire!

Love

An added message that I would like myself to remember in the future. It's a serious note. When Mark and I visited the redwoods this year I had a feeling of smallness. That these magnificent trees have lived so long. Seen so much and survived through it. Questions of wonder and I found a bit of my spiritual side coming out. 

Same for this hike. In a world where you are surrounded by highways and cars on ground, restaurants, bustle and humans everywhere, even in Japser, you seem pretty huge and significant. You look up at where you were just at the top and you can't see a remote human from ground. Up top, you are small insignificant. Everything around you thrives and relishes without your involvement. It's humbling and beautiful. That's what I felt at the end of the hike. I kind of liked it too. 

Seattle bound

Let's go back to the beginning. Our first destination on this little road trip was Seattle.

Mark had done all the research on this marvellous vacation and tragically there were no camping sites nearby. Thankfully he did come across three out of town. The first was the closest. A KOA in Kent. It was kind of different camping off the road and all. But we had showers, grocery store nearby AND wifi. And really we were just there to sleep. Plus it had an added bonus of being close to the bus route to take us to downtown Seattle! And that is just what we did. 

The first day we were up and out. And it was a busy day! Took the bus on the outskirts of downtown. Walked and looked at the people, buildings and bustle. 

Got to the top of the hill and saw Pike market. Huge and fantastic is all I can say. Okay I can say more. There were dozens of vendors with flowers, beautiful arrangements, for cheap cheap cheap. Fish vendors tossing fish around and calling to the crowds. A bakery that had apple fritters and other doughnuts the size of footballs. Not to mention the odds and end stores throughout the place selling toys, pet goodies and clothing. It was a fun place to be. The only commercial thing they had was the first Starbucks and that is just because when it first opened it was the very first one on that street and it wasn't a chain then. 

 

 

Next we hit up a tour, called the underground tour (not before walking down to the pier). Very fun. We had a pretty funny tour guide who made fun of Canadians and anyone who wasn't from Seattle and then even if you were. Not to ruin it but basically a fire happened and luckily no one died but a rebuild was in need. At the same time they needed to build the city up due to floods. So they built the buildings as is but anticipated a build up so the second stories were going to eventually be first stories. I found it amusing. 

 

During the time we went Seattle/ Washington had just legalized marijauna. I mean that day. And as we walked wouldn't you know that there were already tour buses set up to take you to the stores and get the merchandise and allow you to smoke it in their bus. Interesting although not interested. Ha ha. 

After the underground tour we walked towards Safeco field, because we decided to see a baseball game! But before we had time to kill and I found an antique mall that was absolutely huge and fantastic right by the Starbucks headquarters. Didn't buy anything, shocking I know!

Once at the Mariners game I found myself kind of amazed. It was a super experience even if you are not a baseball fan. The stadium was so clean with multiple food concessions nothing of which I am used to. I had crab and chips while Mark had a brisket that was being carved on the spot. Yummy. And during that time we happened to get seats right beside two guys from Calgary (on a road trip of their own). Small world! Unfortunately the home team lost but fun overall with many bloopers to see in between innings and multiple things to watch. I mean it had to be good if we stayed for all nine innings right?

 

It was a pretty busy first day. Our second we spent going to the space needle and checking out the "duck" tour. A tour that boasts going both on land and water. Again our guide was quite fun as he invented games like saying "ch-ching" everytime you see a Starbucks, played great music, and frankly any tour that encourages dancing to the 'YMCA' when you see construction workers is good in my books.  We went throughout the city and then checked out the houses on the water. Even saw the house from 'Sleepless in Seattle'.

 

 

After that we checked out the gum wall. Kind of gross. All I have to say about that. Then we bought veggies and fresh fish (at the Pike market again) for our journey south. In the mid afternoon we hopped into our truck and cruised down the US 101!

Love