Sarah has arrived, travel has commenced and we are on our way experiencing more of beautiful Canada. Have there been hiccups along the way... yes. But we have dealt with them with humor and a lot of prayer.
Monday and Tuesday were serious packing days. We culled all of our things and ended up with 6 full bags to take to the thrift shop.
Wednesday we were expecting Sez to arrive in the evening, but discovered that her plane in Australia had been cancelled. It turned out to be good as we had an extra day to get all of the things off our 'to do' list. We spent the day finalizing things like accommodation, insurance and of course sending off our possessions to New Zealand. That night, we went to Peter and Carols for dinner. We had the best time (as usual) and left feeling so blessed to have such awesome friends in our lives.
Thursday was a full on day. We started the morning by packing Jelly to the brim with our boxes that needed to be sent home. We then went to Pete's work to collect his tool box as that was going home too. After more goodbyes, we loaded our boxes onto a crate to be shipped home. Time was on our side as we rushed to our ultrasound. However, we were pulled over by a cop. After showing her our license and discovering our insurance had cancelled when it hadn't, we spent half an hour ringing our insurance company to get them to explain that we really do have insurance. Needless to say, we were late for our ultrasound, but we were fit in. Words cannot explain how amazing it was to see our baby on the screen. Pete's face said a thousand words, and he couldn't take his eyes off the screen. I was overcome with gratitude for the blessings God has given us including our little miracle.
After heading home, we rushed about cleaning the apartment readying it for our inspection. In no time at all, we were making our way to the airport to collect our precious Sez. After collecting her and her pretty much empty bag, we made our way out for a bite to eat before heading home for more chats.
Friday we arose early to head to Banff. We wanted Sez to see this part of Alberta as it is so pretty. In Banff we went on a wagon ride. So, is was like stepping back in time to 'Little House on the Prarie' days. Except our wagon was likely far more comfortable than they had back in the day, and our steak meal was cooked for us. We had the best time where we took several snaps of Banff in all its glory. We then visited several tourist stores in Banff town and before we knew it, we were heading home.
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| View from inside the wagon. |
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| Pete inside the wagon. |
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| Beautiful Banff. |
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| Pete was taught to lasso and was pretty good at it. |
Saturday we arose early to give the apartment another once over before our landlord came to inspect the property. After given the okay, we were off. Our destination was a place near Red Deer (about 2 hours away from Calgary). There we went on a train ride that involved us stepping back in time (sensing a pattern?) where there were staged robberies. The bandits shot guns and rode horses and 'robbed' the passengers. I say robbed, but we willingly gave our money away as we knew it was going to charity. We then had a lobster and steak meal in a small town, before heading back to the station. This excursion was over 5 hours and well worth it. We then made our way to our hotel where we relaxed for the evening.
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| Sez and Pete before boarding the train. |
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| The robber on the train. |
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| Sez and Pete killing time after dinner. |
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| Appropriate I think. |
Sunday we journeyed from Red Deer to Winnipeg. The trip was long, and made a bit longer as Jelly (our trusted stead) showed the 'check engine' light. After realizing we would need to get this checked, we settled in at the hotel hoping and praying Jelly's fault wouldn't cost us too much.
Monday Pete brought a scanner to determine the fault. He discovered it was the transmission. So we went to a transmission specialist. Turns out Winnipeg wanted us to see more of us though as it was a public holiday there, so nothing was open. So we booked in at the hotel for another night and enjoyed a swim and a meal out.
Tuesday Pete left us to sleep in while he took Jelly to Mr Transmission for them to sort the problem. $400 and 4 hours later we were on the road. Destination - Sault Ste Marie. As that drive was over 17 hours, we ummed and ahhed about whether or not we would stop. We didn't want to be another day behind as we had pre booked everything. So, we decided to do the epic drive. Pete drove most of the way. We stopped for quick toilet stops and bites to eat, but otherwise we drove and then drove some more. Along the way, that pesky little light came on again, so it turns out the problem with Jelly hadn't been fixed. We also encountered numerous signs warning us about Moose at night. Apparently they are huge and when they see lights, they stop and stare and are easy to hit. So I huddled in the back praying away while Sez sat up front chattering away with Pete to keep him awake. We arrived at 6am to our booked hotel. So we checked in, grabbed breakfast and 3 hours of sleep before gearing ourselves up for more driving. Meanwhile, Pete had forgone sleep to get jelly fixed again. He is amazing! The verdict was that a part would need to be ordered so we would be spending another night in Sault Ste Marie. So we grabbed an early dinner, booked a cabin at the local KOA and enjoyed an afternoon/ evening of swimming, mini golf and relaxing.
Thursday we all made our way to the transmission place to wait for Jelly to be fixed. Once that was done we made our way to Montreal. As we had booked for 2 nights there as I wanted a day to explore the city, we lost out, but it was fine. The drive was non-eventful with no light flashing. Yay! We arrived late and crashed after climbing epic stairs to get into the place we were staying.
Friday we had another huge trip ahead of us, so we filled Jelly with gas, grabbed some McDonalds and hit the road. Everything was in french and everyone spoke in french, so that got a bit much. We were glad to be hitting the road. Destination - Prince Edward Island. After another day of driving, we arrived at the confederation bridge. 13 kms in length, we drove snapping wildly as we went. We arrived in time to settle into our accommodation, wow Sez with the supermarket Sobey's and their salad selection, and relax with dreams of Anne of Green Gables.
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| View from the bridge. |
After our epic travel across Canada, we all slept in Saturday morning. We had breakfast and decided to look around Charlottetown instead of do Anne of Green Gables as things may be shut Sunday. Charlottetown was gorgeous. We loved window shopping and seeing people dressed in period clothing walking around the place helping the tourists. There we watched a show (free!) which was awesome. We then did some more window shopping. To finish off our relaxing day, we booked tickets to see Vacation at the movies. The movie was funny, but oh so crass.
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| A shot from the free show. |
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| Sezzie and I. |
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| P.E.I is well known for its lobster. Tried it and it was good. |
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| Can you spot us? |
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| Inside a stunning church. |
Sunday was the day where my dreams and Sez's were about to come true. We had brought a package deal that took you to Green Gables, the birth place of L.M Montgomery and a show. We started by heading to the L.M Montgomery museum. We loved it as we learned tonnes about the woman behind Anne. There we visited her home and then walked through the haunted forest which lead to Green Gables. I can't begin to tell you how excited we were, even Pete. Green Gables was amazing. It wasn't actually the one used in the movies as by that stage it was the property of Canada. But it was what inspired L.M Montgomery to write Anne of Green Gables. We then had raspberry cordial (could you not) and took a stroll down lovers lane. We then made our way to another museum where we learned more about L.M Montgomery. Before long, we were making our way to the place we were staying to jump into something more comfortable before seeing a show called (Anne and Gilbert). It was one of the best shows I have seen, and was done on a small scale. After our day, we snuggled into bed tired, but oh so content.
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| Sez heading to Green Gables. |
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| A shot from a room in the house. |
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| Us and Anne! |
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| Us in lovers lane. |
That is the first installment of our trip. Next will be America. Stay tuned.
