Hello again! We're now in Medicine Hat, Alberta and I can finally get some photos on here....it's been a bit of a challenge! My promise to blog every day may not be possible, but I'll do my best. Anyway, we are having a wonderful journey and all is well. We arrived here yesterday afternoon and visitted last night with my good friend Sandy and her husband Peter. They came over to our hotel room (they too are currently living in a hotel as they've just sold their house) and watched the hockey game....ahhhh, those Canucks!!! Don't worry, they'll pull it off on Tuesday night! We're going out to a barbeque with them tonight and planning to leave early in the AM....Anyway, back to our trip....
I have been saying every 2 minutes along the way...."oh my gosh David, pull over, I've GOT to get a picture of that!" and he replies...."Tracy, we have 5000 kms to go and a U-Haul behind us....I can't just pull over every 2 mins or we'll never get home!" I guess I have to agree. Plus...I will never be able to capture it in a photo, so I'm trying to soak it all in and then I can tell everyone about it.

So far we have gone from

• Nanaimo to Osoyoos - Day 1
• Osoyoos to Cranbrook - Day 2
• Cranbrook - Medicine Hat, Alberta - Day 3

So, here are a few photos taken thus far.....

This was taken in Nanaimo at Derek's just before we set out on our way...Yes, the U-Haul is packed very full and has quite a little lean to it! But....it's doing just fine....knock on wood!!!


We stopped in Hope, BC for lunch on Day 1 and it was raining VERY hard, so we just ate in the van....here is where Charlie had his lunch!

When we got up on Saturday morning and were ready to go, we noticed a flat on the U-haul....again! Now, it's hard enough to find a place in Osoyoos to replace a flat tire, but even harder on a weekend! Luckily U-Haul found a guy to help us out and we were only delayed about an hour and a half. So....here is the wonderful man changing our tire...hee!hee!

It was absolutely breathtaking driving up out of the Okanagan Valley on Saturday morning!

Now HERE is where Charlie had his lunch on Day 2....NICE, eh? Thank you Derek for telling us about Christina Lake....oh my it was beautiful!!! Charlie just sat here on his blanket and stared out at the lake "oooohing" and "ahhhing" for about 20 minutes with a huge grin on his face! He even forgot that he was hungry!


But...I did feed him eventually and as you can see he was quite pleased with everything!

We arrived in Cranbrook around 6pm after crossing our first time zone. We got up Sunday morning and headed for Medicine Hat... here is a "drive-by" of the beautiful Rockies as we are approaching our final pass before entering Alberta!

And here is another "drive-by" once we've arrived in Alberta. You can see all the windmills on the horizon and the continental divide in the far off distance....it is pretty amazing to see from the Alberta side! Just a straight line of snow topped peaks. I kept saying to David, " I can't believe we just came from the other side of those!"

And this is our first "touristy" thing that we have done. We stopped at "Head-Smashed-In" Buffalo Jump site! It's just outside of Lethbridge (I think) and it's the historical site where for over 6000 years, the Indians ran buffalo off the edge of a cliff and killed them. It was pretty neat. Here are my boys posing with a buffalo!

Well, that's it for now. I'll post again when I can. We're thinking that the next few days may be a bit boring as far as scenery goes, but I'm sure I'll find something to take a picture of!!!!! I hope you are all doing well! Thank you to all who are praying for a safe journey!

And we're off!!!!! Well, we're a couple of days late on our departure (we had hoped to leave on Wednesday), but we left this AM without too much trouble. We had a wonderful breakfast cooked for us, compliments of Lucia and Derek, which was just what we needed to help us start our cross country journey.....Thanks guys! It was raining cats and dogs most of the way, until we came over the summit of the first pass and then we descended into Sunshine Valley...litterally! It was 20 degrees and desert; from rain forest to desert in 4 hours...who knew? We saw a couple of little "gophers" but with very bright breasts (sort of like robins...orangey/yellowey)...if anyone knows what these rodents are, let us know! David thinks they're side hill gougers, but it was too hard to tell if their legs were longer on one side??? hee!hee! They were simply perched on the guardrail on the VERY steep and winding road. Anyway, we were told that tomorrow is MUCH steeper and more winding than today, so we're hoping to get an early start. We're currently in Osoyoos and it's beautiful (in a rugged, tumleweed, home on the range, kind of way). Unfortunately I don't have any photos to post tonight, but I wanted to let you all know that we're "en route" and we made it through the first day and we're still speaking to each other! Charlie is doing well; he just went to sleep though (it's 9:30pm) because I think he's not really sure where he is and wants Mommy. I'm sure he'll get used to car seats and hotel rooms....if not, we're putting him on a plane in Schooner's old pet carrier....just kidding!

Schooner has arrived in NB safe and sound and is LOVING his new bed on Mom's and Dad's pillows....ooops!

Hope you all have a good weekend and we'll keep you posted!

Another new Link!!! Just wanted to let you know that we now have a link to "cousin Sprout's" blog site...David's sister is due to have a baby the end of May.....we're all very excited!.....go check it out....Aly, Craig and family link.


In other news....we had our farewell party last night and got to say good-bye to lots of great friends. Charlie was home with a babysitter and all went well! We had a final yard sale this AM and most of our worldy possessions have now been sold (most of which had a price tag of $0.25 today!! I was calling it "let's make a deal day") We still think that we have way too much stuff to fit into only 6'x12' trailer...we'll see what gets to go and what has to stay on Tuesday when the trailer arrives and gets packed! One thing we know for sure is Charlie WILL be coming with us so no need for all of you back east to worry ....and no need for all of you here in the west to get excited that we may leave him behind! hee!hee! Schooner flew home today to Mom and Dad and will arrive early tomorrow morning. Thank God my Dad's a cat lover, so it makes me feel better knowing he'll be in great hands once he arrives. Although Schooner wasn't very happy with me today when I drugged him and put him in a pet carrier; I'm sure that he will thank me someday for sending him across the country in a crate in 14 hours rather than in a van for 2 weeks!

anyway, I must get packing!!!! Here is a cute little photo that David took the other morning I thought I would share with you. There is sooooo much going on here and we've all been working sooooo hard to get it all done... Charlie just needed a break!



8 months old....where has the time gone????

Oh How the time flies! I can't believe that it's been 3 weeks since my last post....sorry!! As you are all aware, we have been quite busy around here getting packed and ready for the move...which happens in less than a week now...ahhh! Anyway, I was just laying down with Charlie for his nightly feed and it occurred to me that I have been keeping some very good photos all to myself....so, I thought it was time to share! There are alot of pictures....it has been 3 weeks....mostly of our trip to Tofino when Uncle Danny and Aunt Phyllis came to visit the first week of April. I will keep the comments short as most photos are self-explanatory and there are 10 photos to post.

On another note, I have the laptop all set up for the drive home, I will try to post daily on our journey so you can all cross Canada with us!!!!

Charlie helping me pack up my office

Aunt Phyllis and Charlie in our ocean front suite in Tofino!!!

Uncle Danny and David checkin' out the surf from our wrap around deck...which had a hot tub on it too....sorry, those photos won't get posted on the internet!!!!

Read the sign....can't go any further!!! It's a "samsquanch"....nope.....it's crazy cousin Minny!!!
BIG trees in Cathedral Grove - this particular one, they say, could build 2 - 2 storey houses!

Charlie and David in Ucuelet

Aunt Phyllis and Cousin Minny enjoying a barefoot walk in the pacific ocean....their feet almost froze off, but they did it!!!
Charlie and I amidst the mist (say that 10 times fast!!!!)

Well.....that's it! Sorry it took so long to send a bunch of photos we took all in one or two days! I'll try to do much better on the cross Canada adventure! We hope you are all doing well....have a wonderful weekend!
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