April 8 - 15 Back to Alberta with a couple stops.

We have been fairly busy since we got home and have terribly neglected the blog so we'll try to do a marathon and get caught up. 

April 8
Donna & Dennis came over early while we are packing up to leave to say good bye. That's really nice of them to get up and out this early. With hugs and handshakes we said good bye to them and to Penticton around 9:30am. My goal today is Golden B.C.  You could call it a full circle really because that was our first stop when we left home in Alberta last September so very fitting to stop there now. It should be a good day with only 410 km/ 256 mi to travel and we are staying at the same campground as before; Golden Municipal Campground. The scenery today should be spectacular as we cross through the Rockies from Penticton. We are taking the Trans Canada Highway #1 through Revelstoke and into Golden. Leslie got some really nice pics along the way.

Hotel at 3 Valley Gap

Beautiful mountain pics outside Revelstoke BC.

Summit of Rogers Pass on Hwy #1

There are a series of tunnels, snow sheds actually, that you pass through and Leslie always enjoys them so we have pics lol. They are doing work on the interior lighting and some repairs so we got to go nice and slow through there.

Imagine this gets cool in the shade.

The snow slides right over the top....

And from the other side to the bottom.

There are a couple of gun mounts along the side of these areas where the highways department brings in a howitzer and shoots down the unstable snow pack in a controlled avalanche. Beautiful area and a really nice day for travel through here.

We arrived in Golden about 3:30pm and easily found our way to Golden Municipal. It's supposed to be self register but we pulled in while the ladies were working on the sites so we paid them after we backed in to site #2.

Nice spot right on the edge of town.

Our site #2 across from the high school parking lot.

We're all a little stiff from traveling so we want to get out and move on this beauty afternoon. I want to run the trail along the river behind us and Leslie is taking Margaret for a nice long walk along the trail too. 

The bridge into downtown behind me. There is still a little ice on the banks.

I got in 4k with no trouble from my left calf muscle and Leslie got almost the same with Margaret. Really nice to stretch out after sitting in the truck for a few hours. After showers and a brief happy hour we made supper and relaxed in the rig for the night. Only bad thing about this spot is the CN trains across the river are a little loud and they run all night. No horns just the rumble but we slept through it easy enough.

April 9

After our morning routine I did a quick run to get truck fuel and propane. Leslie took Margaret for another short walk before we leave. So nice camped along this trail. We got hooked up and dumped tanks by the office and headed for Calgary, our destination for today.

 Love how they went through the mountain instead of around (just east of Golden)

 Banff National Park

One of many wildlife corridors across Hwy. 1

It's a short 3 hour drive. We are trusting the GPS to get us into Deerfoot Inn & Casino on the southwest side of the city. I did my research and plotted a good path I think. My nephew Kevin and his wife Lisa live in southeast Calgary and the casino is about as close as we can get to them. Most of the campgrounds in the area are still closed. Other than a few miles of construction right in Calgary our path was good and we arrived at the casino with no problems. Leslie went in to register with the front desk and paid $20 for the night in the parking lot with no hookups. Security will patrol the lot all night and we got a good spot under a street lamp. They explained that they charge a fee now because people were staying for weeks for free. We have heard that before; people taking advantage of a good thing and end up spoiling it for others.

Only RV in the lot, nice.

We got set up and had a walk around to check out the area. Kevin & Lisa are working so we're killing time before dinner. Around 6 pm they came to pick us up. Thanks for coming to get us guys. We are off to a place called Beer Revolution not far from where we parked. They have a huge menu of beer choices plus a great food menu. Good choice Kevin! The beer menu was on electronic boards in view of everyone plus a menu on the table. You could order pints or a 5oz sampler of your choice. They have some great beers and we sampled several different ones between the four of us. The food was delicious too and we had a great visit with Kevin & Lisa. Always enjoy spending time with these two but don't see them often enough.

Me, Leslie, Kevin & Lisa.

We drove back to our rig at the casino and all went inside for a cup of tea and a little more visiting. With hugs and handshakes we said good night and they headed home. Great evening guys. Thank you!

Leslie and I watched a little TV and then called it a day as well. We're excited to be getting back to Pineridge Resort tomorrow after being away and traveling for almost 8 months now. Forecast is for showers along the way but thankfully no snow.... for a few days. Long range forecast is below freezing and snow argghh!

April 10

We woke to a cloudy morning and 3C/38F. We took our time getting ready to get past the rush hour traffic. It's not a long drive today either, about 31/2 hours to our lot at Pineridge Resort. Leslie went on their facebook page and asked about our lot which got us a nice picture and reply, that was a nice thing for someone to do. There is a little ice on our garage pad but the lot looks melted already. Good enough to get backed into.

We left Calgary after 10am and headed north on the Q.E.2 highway. I had decided earlier to veer off the freeway and try an angled path north to Seba Beach through Sylvan Lake and some other small towns along highway #20. The freeway would have worked but it's boring and we haven't been up 20 before.

We hit some rain as expected but it cleared as we got turned onto highway 20. Turned out this was not a fabulous choice of roads, it's through a bunch of oilfield towns and there were lots of tanker trucks going slow and the road was pretty rough in sections. I'll probably not go that way again but it wasn't terrible.

Rain on the freeway, not snow but close.

Much nicer off the freeway.

Easy cruising on this part.

We rolled into our lot at Pineridge early afternoon and got out to have a look and assess the softness of our gravel. It is a little squishy but we're good. We got backed in and set up with power and then I tried the water. What the heck?? I have no water? I called the property manager and he said that he should have emailed everyone on our water zone but he believes our water service is frozen! Our service is 8 feet deep so freezing shouldn't be a problem. He explained that they had a warm spell in January that melted the snow cover and then in February they had just over 3 weeks where it was -40C every night and rarely got above -30 during the day. Super happy we weren't here for that! I mentioned that we had frost on our truck twice in the desert but he wasn't sympathetic for us. Wth? 

Luckily our neighbours at site #10 have water, they are on a different zone, so we emailed them to ask if we can fill our tanks from their supply. They are awesome neighbours and replied "please do". Thanks Lynn & Andre. So we have water but using our pump until the line thaws, who knows how long that will be.

We're home !!

Backed in and have power but no water??

Margaret is all travelled out haha.

Leslie is really anxious to see her kids after being away so long so she texted them to see if we can meet for supper somewhere. We decided on Browns Social House in Spruce Grove. It's almost half way for everybody so it works good and they have great food and beer. We got there about 6 and with big hugs and handshakes said hello to Ryan & Ashtyn after not seeing them in person since last September! Mom is happier now and will be completely happy when we see Sam who is running a little late.

It was only a few minutes more and Sam came in and got a big hug and some misty eyes from her Mom. Now everything is better in Leslie's world lol.

Happy Mom, Sam & Ryan.

We talked non stop and had a great dinner, our server was awesome and kept our water glasses full after dinner while we got caught up on things for just over 2 hours! Pretty soon we all had to leave, the kids have work in the morning and I want to get home and relax. Time for my sweats and slippers. Of course more hugs and we all said see ya later for now.

Couldn't avoid those lights sorry.

Me, Sam, Leslie, Ashtyn & Ryan.

April 11
Talk about a slow morning, we didn't do much until 11am. It's fantastic actually. It's only 4C/40F and raining so we just stayed indoors with the fireplace and furnace going. The clouds moved away in the afternoon so I went in the garage and hooked up the battery on the Mustang to get it going while Leslie looked up where we can go to advance vote for the Alberta election. A new rule this election is that you can advance vote from anywhere in the province with the proper id and documentation. That's great for us here in Seba Beach because we can vote and not have to drive the 4 hours to our home riding. Turns out many other Albertans liked this option because the advance polls had the best turnout in election history for Alberta, almost half a million advance voters out of a total population of 4.3 million. Make it simple and people will do it right?

It's alive !! Off the blocks, battery charged and fired right up.

The only other thing we did was make a big mug of tea and walk over to the clubhouse to watch some satellite tv. There is only one or two other sites with people here so the clubhouse is empty.

Got the place to ourselves. Watching Highway thru Hell.

April 12

We had invited Leslie's sister Lorin to Browns last night but she couldn't make it so we made a plan to join her for dinner at her house in Edmonton. It will be a sleepover for sure because we will no doubt have some wine with dinner and afterwards. It was a bit nicer outside so before we go anywhere we wanted to do some chores. Leslie dusted and vacuumed the inside of the rig while I washed the outside. Thanks to our neighbours for their water supply.

Early afternoon we showered and headed to Stony Plain to the advance polling station and got our votes in for the provincial election. First drive in the Mustang since last fall, way more fun than the dually! We headed into Edmonton from there and after a stop for some beer and wine we arrived at Leslie's sisters house. Big hugs as we said hello to Lorin who we haven't seen since September as well. Lorin let me grill the steaks on her barbecue while her and Les prepped the rest of the dinner. Of course it was fabulous and we enjoyed it with some great red wine. We talked for a couple hours while catching up and then sat down for a movie. Aquaman with Jason Mamoa, the girls seemed very happy to watch an action movie.....weird hey?? It was okay but I'm glad we didn't have to pay theater prices for it. After the show we were done for the day, it was almost 11pm!!

April 13

We started our day with coffee and Lorin made a big batch of homemade waffles, so goooood. I had many. We are going to take a walk in the Edmonton River Valley. Lorin walks there often on a park path that is paved for miles along the river. You can tell it is spring in Edmonton by the many walkers and joggers and dogs being out on a nice day. It was a great idea and super nice way to spend an hour or so. Even Margaret loved it with all the smells along the path.

Still lots of ice in the river, beautiful day though.

Lorin & I on a platform above the river

After our walk we gave Lorin big hugs until next time we see her. As we were saying good bye Lorin showed us the remains of a bale of straw that she had cut open in her SUV. It's been in there all winter. Long story short, she cut the strings on the bale in the back of her Santa Fe so it would be easier to carry not realizing that it would expand..... alot! She wanted some for the outdoor cat beds for Smoky and Gizmo and then planned to use the rest as bedding in her garden. It's been a funny conversation piece whenever she opens the hatch lol.

Santa Fe has lots of storage space, a full bale of straw plus lol.

We headed west out of Edmonton but before going too far we called our friends Howard & Chris to see if they were home and up for a visit. Sure enough they are and yes they would be good with a visit, good timing. We stopped in and stayed for coffee and a nice chat with them. Their daughter Carrie and her son also stopped by so it was perfect timing to see them all. We forgot to get pictures unfortunately but it was  great visit and after hugs and handshakes we continued west towards Pineridge and home. We didn't do much more, Leslie did a load of laundry and I did a little cleanup in the yard but we just relaxed a bit then supper and tv for the evening.

April 14

Yesterday was a really nice day and we enjoyed being outside but this is northern Alberta in the spring and that can change quickly! We woke this morning to a lovely layer of snow on the ground !!

The view out our back window.

It's cold and slushy in our yard but the road is just wet so at least our drive later today should be okay. We took our time with our morning routine and then Leslie decided to take Margaret for a little walk. Didn't think we would need our winter gear but it's just nasty enough to haul out the warm coats.

Margaret and Mom in their winter gear lol.

A lovely day for a walk, plaid coat getting covered.

We got ready to go in the early afternoon, the snow is mostly gone already and it's supposed to be nicer in Edmonton where we are headed. Just before we left I was texting our friends Randy & Shelley who were in Hawaii for their sons wedding. I mentioned our weather and sent them a pic of the golf course out our window so Randy was kind enough to send a picture of where he was sitting. Not very nice Randy!!

Our view.....

Randy's view.... beauty!

We got in the truck and headed for Ft Saskatchewan to Graham & Brittany's place to see the kids after a long time of only Facetime visits. Looking forward to seeing the little munchkins, oh yeah the adults too ;)  It took us just over an hour to get there and not far east of our place there was no snow, I guess we were just lucky lol. It was great to see everybody again and so good that the kids were excited to see us, even the dog was excited!

Haha he jumped right up on the back of the couch.

Rylan & Leslie

Katelyn & Leslie

Happy playing.

It wasn't super cold out so we decided to do the short walk to a nearby park for some outside play time. Leslie and I are wearing heavy coats and gloves. The kids and parents put on light jackets and hoodies, they're used to this weather and it's getting warmer for them.

Playin' in the park!

We walked back to their house after the park and had to say so long to everybody. Big hugs all around and we are off to Sherwood Park and a quick stop at my niece, Kerry's, house to drop off her fancy Noteworthy Gin from Penticton. They were expecting dinner guests but we got there just before they arrived so we had a chance to say hello to Byron, her husband, who we haven't seen in ages and Brody and Jetson, her boys. We had just enough time for a quick visit and check out Kerry's new truck! A shiny new Ford F150 Platinum, so nice with all the bells and whistles and that awesome new truck smell! Beautiful truck guys, love it. We just finished checking out the truck and their dinner guests arrived so we quickly gave hugs and handshakes and got back in our own truck with the old dog smell, hi Margaret lol. Next stop is in south Edmonton at Ryan & Ashtyn's place for dinner and Game of Thrones! Ryan has great cable and a 65 inch tv, perfect for G.O.T.  they also have a large L shaped couch with seating for all of us and the dogs. We enjoyed a great dinner and the episode of G.O.T. and then geared up for the 1 hour trip back to our rig at PGR. We got home around 11:30 which for us is a late night so of course we just called it a night and went to bed. We're tired but what a great day that turned out to be seeing everyone again. Life is pretty good.

April 15

We slept in a little and then made a big breakfast to start our day. I was checking my phone a bunch this morning because our athlete buddy Ailsa MacDonald is running the Boston Marathon with her Mom and her sister too. So cool that they can get together for such a big time race. You have to qualify for Boston, you can't just register and go. Ailsa's Mom, Morag, (Scottish heritage) is super fit and has won her age group in Boston before. Ailsa's sister Mhairi (Mary) is also a super fast runner but has been battling a leg injury during her training for Boston. Actually she wasn't hardly able to train for Boston but that doesn't stop her from going out and giving it her best anyway. 

The Boston Marathon has an app that you download and you can track the athletes you want to watch. Works really well actually. So while we were having our morning coffee and breakfast all the girls were running! Boston time is a couple hours ahead of us. Leslie and I were cheering them on and getting through our morning routine. 

Ailsa finished first out of the 3 of them with a great time of 2:51:14 just a couple minutes shy of her personal best at Boston. 

Morag finished next with a time of 3:21:27 which gives her a 3rd place finish in her age group of 60-65 female, which is absolutely awesome! Way to go Morag!! (by comparison her mom ran a full 26.2 miles in less time than I did 13.3 miles last fall in Golden, so cool) 

Even with a sore leg Mhairi finished in 3:46:26 for the full 26.2 miles which is also a fantastic time! Way to go Mhairi!! That's just so amazing to just tough it out and put in a great run. 

L:R Mhairi, Morag & Ailsa  (all 15 feet of girl power!) ;) Barry said that.

Leslie and I were in the rig cheering and high fiving for all of them and we were feeling so good we just had to get outside ourselves. Les can't run but she took Margaret on a nice long walk around the golf course and I went for a run. Good inspiration watching online this morning so you just felt like getting out there too. A little brisk at about 12C/53F but not bad for a run.

We need propane so I loaded a tank in the truck and we drove to Spruce Grove just for a change. While driving we decided to do a little car shopping for Leslie. We are going to sell the Mustang and get something a little more fuel efficient and more comfy for long trips. Last year our long drive back from Victoria helped us decide to get a new ride. Our backs were killing us when we got home. The Mustang is a super fun car to drive but not so much on long trips. Yes we are officially old :(   We checked out a Hyundai Tucson and a Ford Escape for comparison. Leslie wants to try a Honda, Toyota and a Subaru also. She's been doing online research of these brands in the mid size SUV market. We'll check out some others another day though because it's already around 4 and we need propane still. We got the tank filled and on our drive home we decided to go out for supper to the golf course restaurant, 9 Iron Grill. They have good food there and of course it's close to home. After supper was some tv and bedtime.

Tomorrow we are heading to Bonnyville with the trailer for a bit to get started on the spring yardwork etc. We'll post that and more hopefully right away.

Cheers everybody!