Category: Adventuring

The Last Hurrah…

Day 5 – July 27th, 2020

 

Mike had told me to sleep in and rest up and I figured that wouldn’t happen, as 6/6:30 had been my usual wake up time.
I did wake up around 5:30 and told myself I MUST sleep… which I then did, until 9 🤪🙈
Which was maybe a little excessive for the plans for our day ahead but Mike said he didn’t dare wake me since I’m never usually able to sleep in 😏

Because of covid our hotel wasn’t serving the usual breakfast, so we had to head out to find substance.
‘Graze’ was where we settled in at and we got the Farm Fresh Eggs Benedict to share.

A few more little shops were entered as we meandered back to the vehicle and then we drove to find one or two more sights to let our eyes feast on, before leaving for Calgary and eventually, home.

We drove up to this view and I’m not sure of what it was called but we sat with our feet in the fresh water for a few moments while coming up with a game plan for where to go next.

I wanted to see Grassi Lakes but the only way we could see to get to them, posed a lot more steep, loose stone lined paths then I felt comfortable attempting to undertake.

So, we waved farewell to Canmore and drove on to Calgary, needing to make it in time to eat at ‘Monki Bistro’ before it closed 🤓

From mountain ranges and lakes, to roadways, vehicles and cityscapes… both unique and enjoyable to gaze upon in their own way… neither my favourite 😉😜

If you’re in Calgary, PLEASE go eat at ‘Monki Bistro’ and think of us 🙌🏻🤤
I ordered the reverse French toast and Mike got the brisket poutine.

They were both potentially flavourful but in the best way possible.

I’m the type of person that if a dish is supposed to have sauce, I want it to be swimming in it and these were both capable of being afloat 😉👌🏻

Leaving a restaurant utterly satisfied and pleased is such a good feeling. Like when you find something on a super sale or feast your eyes on an unexpected beauty.
Think I’m being dramatic? Maybe… but I don’t think I  am and we really, REALLY like food 😁

We needed to stop at IKEA to get blackout blind for the babes room, so we did a decently fast walk through of the whole place.
I found some smaller sized plates I wanted (been searching for probably a year, no joke 🙄) but of course, they were out of stock 😏
Nordstrom Rack and Homesense were also pursued and finally, we left the city.

Much later than planned… our estimated home time being in the wee AM hours and we still had ‘Drumheller’ to stop at… (but we’re young and free so that wasn’t a problem… right?) 😅

I’d told Mike we should really stop there. I’d been years ago and figured I could use a refresher but I thought he would think it was pretty interesting.
Turns out he took it on faith and didn’t look up a thing about it, so he was pretty shocked when suddenly we descended down into a totally different terrain than moments before😜

On our way to Horse Thief Canyon, we drove by ‘The Little Church’.

Which was much littler than I’d even expected😅
Surprisingly, Mike actually fit inside and it was a fun little stop… the slogan of the church being, ‘Seating ten thousand people – six at a time‘… literally, as it had six mini pews inside.

Horse thief canyon certainly evokes images to match its name… making it easily imaginable to visualize herds of horses racing through the valleys, cowboys with lassos overhead, thundering behind them 😉

Driving quickly because of the soon setting sun, we went to find the Hoodoos.

‘A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoostypically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements.’

The earthy tones and warm weather, making for perfect exploration inducing conditions…but we had McDonald’s to eat back in the truck and home to return to, so we didn’t take that exploration vibe too seriously 🤪

 

I made up my mind to stay awake with the husband until we arrived home and besides some slow/heavy eye blinks around Saskatoon, (1hr away from home) I did it 🤓

We never solidified a name for the child but we did narrow the list from three, to two 🤪
Not my favoured outcome but better than zero progress made I suppose 😏

In the end, it was a great trip ☺️💗

The driving having been so broken up for the most part, that I never endured THAT much discomfort, we had mostly beautiful weather, a lot of good food and for the most part, pleasant company* 😉

*I’m referring to myself and my husband for those who could think I was making mention of the friends/family we met up with as perhaps unpleasant, which was not the case 🤪

The time allotment was good too… we aren’t usually super slow lookers/observers etc. so we got to see a lot, in a semi short amount of time and also get a good idea of what we’d want to see again, if ever.
I’d say Jasper and the drive from Jasper to Banff, was our favourite part.
I’m sure there is much to explore around Banff itself but by that time we were fading a little and it was also so busy with people, it lost the allure a little, same to be said for Canmore.
Though we had much less time in Banff/Canmore so maybe we just needed a little more time to find their Jems 😉

We pulled up to our little home around 3:00 am, crawled into bed post haste and awoke to a sunshine filled +22 by 8:00 am.
The official end of the ‘babymoon’ and the start of unpacking, yard upkeep and checking off the rest of the ‘pre-babe to-do’s’ 😉

 

 

Seeking Out Sources Of Delight

Day 4 – July 26th, 2020

We slept in a little bit and decided to forgo the whole ‘breakfast out’ experience, as we had enough snacks to get us going until we needed lunch on our journey from Jasper to Canmore.

The first stop along the route was at Athabasca falls.

The tumultuous water came crashing down, being pounded against the canyon walls below, spraying us with mist and bathing the viewpoints in a coolness only rushing mountain waters like that can bring.

We had beautiful weather and the time passed quickly with the many interesting views to be taken in along the way.

We paused at anything we deemed necessary and after driving past some icy aqua shades of water that ran through a ‘field’ of flat rocks and clay, we turned around to go explore there awhile… because I really wanted to, even though there were no easy pull offs 🤪🙈 Mountains are cool (Hah, get it? ‘cool’🤪) but it’s the water bits with the innumerable shades of blue, that never fail to make my heart pitter patter.

The water was as refreshing as one would imagine, ice cream headache style numbness taking over in seconds, since it was actual run off from the nearby Columbian Icefields 😅
I’m glad I got to dip my toes in it though… even if rocks aren’t as gentle on my aged feet as they once seemed 😜

We may or may not have ended up with two small/medium rocks in the truck cab as natures souvenirs… if one can’t find shells, one can always find rocks and sticks 😉👌🏻

We stopped for lunch at the Glacier Discovery Centre.
It was wonderfully sunny out, so we enjoyed a tasty (and surprisingly affordable) poutine out on the patio, looking out to the Athabasca Glacier.

Enjoying the sunshine but also getting that refreshing breeze off the nearby ice.

Not far from there, we had to get a little splash of gas at the Saskatchewan River Crossing pit stop, the only gas station between Jasper and Banff.

Driving over the North Sask. River bridge, brought with it slightly different coloring and surroundings than the usual Saskatchewan river sidelines we get to see 😉

The wildflowers/weeds that dot the ditches and hills make for such nice little sprinklings of color and this lake was a gorgeous backdrop.

A color I don’t think I could ever tire of seeing.

‘Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight’ – John Ruskin

When we reached Banff area, we were going to attempt to see Lake Louise but that turned out to be a sight we shall have to save for next time.
People and vehicles wreathed all around, parking lots were filled, traffic control directing everyone everywhere and no semi easy way was available to spot the landmark lake.
It was disappointing but we didn’t lack seeing beauty on the drive up till that point, so we continued on, pausing awhile in Banff itself.

We sat by the Bow Falls awhile, enjoying the sunshine and planning out what we wanted to do before heading to our place of rest in Canmore. I wanted at least one souvenir sweater or shirt as I never actually buy those type of things and one was actually immediately found 👍🏻

Mike had gotten us a room at the ‘Creek Side Villa’ and the modern rustic interior immediately charmed us.

We used our room as a menu searching location before heading out for dinner at ‘Blake’.

I wasn’t really impressed with my meal (which aside from pretty much being fancy bacon, was also missing the sauce) or the service, so it felt like a bit of a let down and after making mention of it to our server, she casually said she’d let the management know and just handed us our bill 😏

We drove to a little parking lot to look at an advertised ‘Quarry Lake’ and immediately left it… as it was the least attractive/most people packed little body of water we’d yet to see 😜
There were many elk grazing all around the area though, being thoroughly adjusted to the presence of humans and not at all perturbed by the many people ‘taking pictures of the deers’ as one man behind us stated 🤪

I was feeling pretty sore and we were tired of being on the go, so we decided to relax at the hotel the rest of the evening.
Enjoying our room, AC and a king size bed to watch movies in until we got sleepy 😋👍🏻

Campside Camaraderie

Day 3 – July 25th, 2020

The campers hadn’t planned on having an early morning so neither did we, sitting down at our chosen breakfast place around 10:00 am.
That wasn’t really by choice though, as we had entered and left three other spots before finally settling on our perch at ‘Sunhouse Cafe’… we learnt from the previous evening to be happy with the menu pre settling 😉

The ambiance was very much what we enjoy and the presentation was lovely 👌🏻

Downside, small meals… upsides, tasty, enjoyable atmosphere, good view and nice company 😉

A grocery store was found next and some provisions for the day ahead, purchased.
More campfire sitting, campground walking and visiting ensued for the rest of the morning/early afternoon.

Mike warmed us up some thick slices of buttered sugar bread over the fire, which he’d purchased at ‘Dutch Delicious’ in Edmonton.

Sugar bread being a sweet loaf we purchased often when living in Holland.

A mini walk was taken along the lakes edge, after which I retreated to the truck to stretch out on the back seat.

Cousins catching up.


An ice pack on my ribs and tennis ball beneath my back #comfortable 🤪 It turned into a nap… not all together unexpectedly, nor unfortunately 😉

When I awoke, it was nearly time for supper, which was created by one of the girls on the camping trip and also a couple steaks grilled by Mike and another fellow.

It was all very enjoyed ☺️👌🏻

After dinner, some of us headed off to go on a simple hike near the campground.
We drove a little too far and had to turn around but that was only a good thing because two bull elk were spotted munching alongside the highway.

Their relaxed grass chewing, healthy looking coats and velvet covered antlers, making for a scenic pause indeed ☺️

We found the ‘Yellowhead Mountain Trail’ and began the ‘supposedly’ 2 km trek.
Which was nearly immediately more of an uphill incline than not 😬 I don’t know about anyone else but it didn’t really inspire hope for what awaited us and my heavy breathing had me deeply questioning my abilities 🤪

Hubster picked me some little bush bouquets… they gently got discarded along side the path, as I needed my hands to continue the journey 😉

How hard could 2 km really be though? Also, spot the Mike in the above photo.

Turns out, it could be decently tiring 😂

Onward and upward we went, slowly spreading out a little more, each taking their own pace and finding traction along the mud slick inclines, hopping a couple streams and trying to observe the ‘path’ through 4.5 ft foliage.
The three of us who were a little ways ahead, were starting to question how much farther we should go, when the light at the end of the hike began to shine through some thinning trees 🤪

We called to the others that they were almost there so don’t turn back and then we proceeded to take some rapid fire photos, look at what we came to see and turn around to begin retreating back down, due to the setting sun.

As we hadn’t expected the sun to have time to set, prier to starting said hike 😏

One minor slip caused some leg blemishes for me and Mike didn’t love the downward decline with his knee hinting about its ‘less than prime condition’.
Unfortunately one of our hiking members had a rough go of it coming down, due to some pre existing knee problems but thankfully made it and was quickly given Tylenol, water and a chair and hot water bottle near the fireside back at camp.

All in all, it was a bit of an adventure and really, who wants to talk about the simple little, totally doable walk that they took anyways? 😉

I attempted to look up the hike details later and from what I could see, it truly was only 1.22 km there and back but this flatlander obviously has no experience with mountain side explorations 😛

Black diamond being ‘very difficult’ *…though truthfully that could be referring to the ENTIRE hike and not just the part up to the viewpoint, where we called it a day 😉

We again spent the last evening together by the fireside (luckily with a little less smoke inhalation) and we didn’t officially part ways until around midnight, bidding the friends goodbye until next time.
Getting us back to our hostel and in bed by 1:00 ish.

Bed hasn’t felt so good to fall into, freshly showered and comfortably clad, in sometime 🙌🏻

Gaining – Both Weight & Elevation

Day 2 – July 24th, 2020

It was a fresh morning with some light sprinklings of rain as we left our Airbnb room and headed off to find breakfast.

We decided to take up our old habit of sharing one order of food, not even for the sake of prices but more so we can eat more flavours per day 🙈
Stopping one place, eating, moving on to the next and so on 😉👌🏻

‘Toast Culture’ had many good reviews and an appealing Instagram page so we were looking forward to it.
Though the service was good and the food fine, it wasn’t that burst of flavour we’d hoped for.
Having to generously salt and pepper the food and paying $17.00 for the one dish that was mainly a bowl of potatoes.
It was fine and we FELT good after eating the fresher style of meal apposed to some fried platter but it just didn’t impress us as hoped I suppose.

Since we weren’t really filled from that experience, I looked up cafes/bakeries nearby… the desire for a ‘coffee like’ drink ( since hot coffee lost its appeal over a month ago #pregnantproblems) was strong, I think due to the slightly chilly morning.

‘Chocorrant’ was found a moment away and we readily ordered their lemon meringue and crème brûlée croissants and a hazelnut coffee.

The croissants were delicious 🙌🏻🤤

Just like croissants we’d have eaten in Europe but with the added enjoyment of flavourful fillings, of two of our favourite things.
They made up for the breakfast bowl 😉

We could then begin our 4.5 hr drive to Jasper.
I succumbed to sleeping the first 2 hours away, pretty quickly.
Mike listened to another ‘Father Gilbert’ and said he actually didn’t mind it… he’s not usually big on audio books/radio dramas but having nothing to do but drive or talk to a sleeping wife, must have set the right tone 🤪

We paused for a bathroom/refreshment break at Starbucks in Hinton and that’s also when I pulled out ‘the butt pillow’ 😂
I borrowed it from my sister, (not as gross as it could unintentionally sound 🙈) who’d used it during their road trip from The States to Canada back when they moved.
It’s a gel type pillow that is meant to raise the sitting position for short people, so that the back of the user actually sits in the right spot on the vehicle seats.
It definitely helps 👌🏻

Compressions socks were also fought back on… not the easiest thing at any point in life but for sure not with a baby belly, in a vehicle, when the small person is up in your ribs. Mike may have been roped into sock putting on/removing during future wears 😜

Mountains finally began edging nearer but we didn’t see a single animal besides some fenced in Bison way back at the beginning of Alberta 😜

Personal size fruit cups that mumsie had sent with us were eaten…

I only had my little gold spoons from home to bring with and those, along with my silk pillowcase, made for a rather posh looking road trip moment I thought 😉😋

We detoured a couple minutes off our main route, stopping at Annette Lake, as I’d read it was a good one to do a little walking at if one desired and that was an accurate description.

With beautiful blue and turquoise waters, sunshine’s and mountains in the foreground, it made for a lovely ‘first stop’ and we wondered down the paved path alongside it for a little stretch.

 

We got to our hotel in Jasper not long after, ‘HI Jasper’.

A newly built hostel style complex and it was done so very nicely.
Clean simple lines, lots of windows, a nice dining/shared kitchen area if you needed and our room, though a little sterile, was clean and spacious 👍🏻

We rested there awhile, stretching our vehicle contorted bodies while searching for where we wanted to try going for supper.

We went to The Raven.

First that is 😜

The prices seemed high, which we pretty much expected but none of the meals really jumped out at us either.
By that point it felt awkward to leave as we’d already been served our waters, so we ordered what sounded like a very tasty Brie and baguette appetizer. Brie, rhubarb date chutney, candied pecans, garlic butter spread baguette and pickled grapes. It was very little but VERY flavour filled and tasty, if not actually filling 😜

We walked around town a little more, trying to decide if we should share another meal elsewhere, get snacks and head to the campsite where we’d be meeting friends for the evening or if we needed more food at all.
Turns out we did need more and it was found at ‘Alba’ 🤓

Mich got his ‘once a trip’ calamari order and I wanted gnocchi but decided to try the duck pasta instead, since I can neither cook nor easily order duck easily at home.

Both meals were very enjoyable 👌🏻
Mikes being crispy little strips with a zesty lemon garlic sauce instead of chewy rings and my pasta having a savoury, brown gravy type sauce.

We did not share meals that time and our stomachs protested due to that fact but not in an all together displeasing way 😜

Before leaving town we found a pop machine to fill up a reusable plastic bag boughten from a dollar store at home.
It worked perfectly as an ice pack, as was my intention but I wasn’t sure it would work as hoped 🤪

Standing, laying and walking don’t cause too much pain but sitting has proven to result in much upper back/rib pain for over the last month, so I’d been concerned about the icing options.

Leaving Jasper we headed to find the Lucerne Campground to meet up with our friends and family. We drove too far due to lack of cell reception for our google maps but by doing so we got to see the picturesque ‘Moose Lake’ ☺️

By the time we got to the campground, it wasn’t long until the sun starting retreating and we spent our evening around the campfire and under stretched out tarps, due to light smatterings of rain.
Suffering from smoke inhalation and enjoying the conversation until heading back to our hostel after midnight.

Which is probably one of the latest nights I’ve had during this whole pregnancy 🙈

À La Babymoon

Day 1 – July 23rd 2020

Well, the decision was finally made to take a little ‘pre babester trip’.
We talked about doing some sort of trip off and on, back and forth for awhile but I couldn’t make up my mind…

On one hand it sounded appealing and like something we should indeed do while we could still enjoy the freedom of not having a small person to tend to and on the other hand it sounded like a very, very uncomfortable drive and a frivolous use of funds when the list of needed baby items isn’t checked off yet 🤪

What really did it was when friends/family from BC told Mike that they were going to be in Jasper area during an upcoming weekend.
Due to the Covid nonsense, our June guests hadn’t been able to come out and any other travel plans were not sitting high on the predictability scale, so Mike was feeling the need for socializing pretty strongly, so it worked to make the trip dual purpose 😜

We decided to leave Thursday afternoon after a morning of doctor appointments.
One ultrasound and check up for me and the babe and one check up for Mikes knee which had been swollen and inflamed for over a week, due to too much kneeling at work 😬

The ultrasound tech said the baby was looking like he weighed around 4lbs 10oz annnnd then asked who in the family had the big head because his was big.

Great, thank you, JUST what a pregnant lady wants to hear, that her ‘not to be born for weeks yet’ child, already has a big noggin 🤪👍🏻
All else was fine though, so we continued on, trying to dismiss that bit of information 😉

(I also think he looked better at 20 weeks…lets hope it was just a bad picture day 🤪)

Mikes appointment was supposed to be routine but turned into them draining off some fluid to send to the lab.
As he sat getting clammy hands and taught limbs, I tried to reassure him that it was more than likely just gonna be your average size needle and not to worry.
It WAS NOT your average sized needle and I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle this whole ‘birth a baby thing’ 😂🙈
I knew I did NOT want to look but even while turned away, the doctors instrument sounds and then Mikes intake of breathing while the doctor took his sweet time moving the large needle around in his knee, was enough to make me want to be somewhere else.
I know to anyone in the medical field that will sound utterly pathetic but it’s the truth 🙈

Once we were finally done those tasks, the babymoon could officially commence!

Mike wanted to take me to eat at ‘The Lark’ in Shell Lake.
A restaurant he and his fellow construction comrades had ate at during a stint working in that area and they all talked about its delicious menu options 😉

We shared a Cajun burger and onion rings and it really was worth their glowing reviews 😉

A large patty, really tasty sauce and that sloppy aspect that generally come with when it’s a good, flavourful, juicy burger 🤓👍🏻

From that area it was only a 4.5 hr drive to Edmonton, where we’d be making our first stop.

It was a pretty uneventful drive.
The canola fields were in full bloom, so they periodically brightened up the landscape with vibrant yellows and greens.

We listened the first ‘Father Gilbert’ mystery produced by Focus On The Family to pass some time, didn’t snack to too much at all and generally just passed the time in contemplative silence and watchfulness of the passing surroundings 😉

We did broach the subject of naming our soon to be offspring… not sure we got very far, though it was my hope that by the end of the trip we’d have come to an agreed consensus 😏
I thought we had it narrowed down to three possible names and would make our choice from those, when Mike begin chucking out all these ‘other’ names, in turn aggravating me because I’ve read so many stupid lists of baby names and he just repeats the most common ones around cause they are what he’s comfortable with and I feel like it would be easier to leave the child UNAMED forever at this point 🤪

Moving on, we arrived at our place of rest and because we’d gotten an email earlier in the day, we knew that it was actually a bedroom in someone’s house, apposed to it being the actual ‘house’ as we had at first thought.

Airbnb Edmonton Room

It felt a bit weird, going in through someone’s place of living, especially since they weren’t home to give a little ‘hello and what’s what’  but we had booked it and couldn’t change much at that point and the room itself seemed nice enough 🤪

So we dropped our bags and headed back out to find some food.

Maybe we weren’t in the best area of Edmonton but neither of us were very impressed with the cleanliness of the city nor the genres of folk that were out and about 😬
As we walked to the restaurant I asked Mike if he felt bushed and like we didn’t belong in the city and his immediate response was ‘yes!’ 🤪🙈
We went to ‘Meat’ and decided on sharing the brisket sandwich with pickles, a horseradish mayo and served with their garlic fries.
It was super tasty.
I’m not a big fry lover, homemade or not but these homemade style fries, not too thick and not too thin, perfectly crisp on the outside and covered in a light, almost gravy like garlic coating, were delicious 🙌🏻

The sandwich was also really good, the dill pickle and mayo adding that needed zing to the butter spread bread and brisket.

Back at the ‘room’ it was pretty much straight to bed… having been up since 5:30, gone on an early morning walk with the sister and mumsie, made breakfast, packed up, done town, doctors and 5 some hours in the truck, I was more than ready for sleep and the idea of being creeped out in someone else’s house dissipated as quickly as dream land came 😉

Llandudno Beach Photoshoot

Time to share the photos of our romantic, evening photo shoot at Llandudno beach 🤪

Turn away if you’re prone to cringing at displays of affection! ‘Jessica closes her own blog’ 🤪

Before our trip to South Africa, I had searched out a photographer to possibly get some photos of Mich and I taken while we were there.

It’s been 3 and a half years since our wedding and though I hope we haven’t aged THAT drastically since then (I’m sure I’m mistaken 🤪) I thought it would be nice to document, well… ‘us’ 🙈

At home, so many people use the wheat or canola fields to take photos in and they are lovely photos and backgrounds no doubt, but I didn’t feel like paying for photos of us alone, in the ‘classic’ Saskatchewan background.
This is so hard to word without making it seem like I think field pictures are dumb but that isn’t at all what I mean!!! 😂

We knew we both really enjoy South Africa and beach backgrounds wouldn’t always be an option, so the decision was made.
I found our photographer via Instagram Melissa Brown ZA  and we set up a date and place and come that time, we slightly awkwardly began the photoshoot 🤪
Luckily she was very friendly and helpful with giving us directions on how to look like we were naturally just…awed by each other 😂

Here you see the results 😉 Continue reading “Llandudno Beach Photoshoot”

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