Long drive!!

Sorry for the lapse in posts--I guess there is a reason the blog is called "gone since November!!"....the October part was just extra!! 

Well we left Chilliwack on the 17th and had a great time on our first day of driving.  Hope you enjoyed the beautiful mountain scenes.  From Radium Hot Springs, we drove up through Kootenay National Park and took the Icefields Parkway from Lake Lousie to Jasper.  This was a BEAUTIFUL drive--we literally pulled over every few kilometers to stop for pictures!!  Chris Kelly suggested this drive to us, and we really appreciated the suggestion!!  (Pictures of this adventure to follow, when I'm back on our computer).

From Jasper we made it up to Edmonton and spent two nights with the Little Family.  We saw Heather and Rhonda for dinner, and really enjoyed seeing friends and family as we crossed this country.  We left Edmonton on the morning of October 20th and drove all the way to Winnipeg--yes, the entire way in one day!!  We drove through North Battleford, Saskatoon and Regina--all the Saskatchewan cities we know and love people from!!!  And then landed in Winnipeg, the city our Manitoba friends are from!!  Random point--do NOT arrive in Winnipeg at midnight to try and find a hotel room--they were all booked!! CRAZY!!  A random Thursday night, and we literally stopped at six hotels before finding a place to stop.

From Winnipeg we drove to Schrieber Ontario, where we were first given a key to another patrons room....!  We made our way from Schrieber, through the Soo and Iron Bridge (look at all the home towns we got to visit!!!) and then finally the trek down to Sudbury on Saturday October 22nd and had two great days with all the Sudbury Culls. Was so nice to spend some time with family we hadn't seen in a while and we will be back in the summer to enjoy the beautiful lakes!  On Monday October 24th we drove down to Petrolia, but first we stopped to see Katie's beautiful office building in Barrie. 

We've now been in Petrolia for a few days, and have been so very busy.  Lots to do before we head off on this adventure, but we are making sure to meet up with as many friends and family we can in the meantime.

Next stop--extended drive through Ingersoll/Hamilton/Waterloo/Georgetown/Toronto/New Market, with stops to try and see anyone we can!!  We hope to make it to Kingston by Sunday, with plans to head up to Ottawa next week for our final Canadian city stop.  We fly out on the 4th of November, when the real blogging will start!

Likely one more post before we leave this country, and I do promise more pictures from the drive.

Miss you all!!!

Drive Across the Country--Chilliwack to Radium Hot Springs

We finally made it out of Chilliwack.  It seemed like we'd never make it, with the number of stops we had to make!!  But we ended up having a wonderful last BC weekend.  Saturday entailed some gas station Mexican (actually quite delicious!!) and then a final afternoon of shopping/packing.  Sunday was a good tourist day--we met Lesley at the airport, and had a wonderful trip biking around the seawall in Stanley Park.

We got off to a reasonable early start this morning--only one hour behind schedule!  We made great time coming through the mountains and took some wonderful pics with our new camera.  Steve was a great chaffeur so I could take the pictures!!!  We had lunch in Revelstoke (found a very nice cafe, on the suggestion of our well-traveled friends!!) and were at the Radium Hot Springs by sunset.  GREAT day of travel, and we are looking forward to travelling through Banff tomorrow on our way to Edmonton to visit with family and friends!!

We're homeless!

Well friends and family--we are officially unemployed and homeless!  We gave back the keys to our apartment and will be leaving Chilliwack on Monday October 17.  Before we start on our big adventure, we have another big adventure--driving across the country!!  We plan to make a number of stops while crossing this great country of ours, and hope to see most of you before we leave on November 4.

The agenda for this trip includes:
- October 17-November 4--slowly weaving our way across this country, as Steve introduces Ang to the wonders that this drive can entail!
- November 4--645pm--Toronto to Auckland
- November 6-December 15--New Zealand tour
- December 15-January ???--Australia!!!
- February 11-February 18--sailing off the coast of India with Pat Shay and family
(the rest of the dates/locations to be announced, but we are planning to tour South East Asia and Europe, only to arrive back in Canada for June to celebrate Lesley and Ryan's wedding!)