Canada....

On the fourth day of the trip....
After dropping Chris off at the Amtrak, I left back north for Canada. Now, remember how I said they're peculiar and specific but no two the same? Going through by myself, the guard didn't seem to car at all about my car. Didn't ask me what I had - plants food pets. Didn't ask me if I had weapons or alcohol or money. Asked where I was going. Why? Can you prove it? Have an email saying you have the job? Not printed, well don't you have an iphone or something? No?! Well...

He let me through. To set your mind at ease. But BOY did he not want to! Couldn't believe I didn't have proof I had a job. Couldn't believe I didn't have an iPhone. Then when I told him I didn't know exactly what the names of the Canadian towns were but simply that I was planning on driving til sundown and catching a hotel room he looked even MORE dubious. Hmph! The other guy didn't care! But this time, at least, I didn't get my car tossed.

So I get through. But I get lost. I know I need Trans-Canada 1. But... I took it East. Then went, EAST?! I NEED NORTH! So I turned around. Almost made it to Victoria (for those who don't know - that's WAY the wrong way.) before going wait... when I looked at the map, it showed it going east THEN north.... ok! So I turned around- for the second time- and went BACK down that stretch of highway. And was finally correct. But I didn't have a map with me. I didn't have directions. My silly self was relying on Chris knowing everything. The man kept talking about the Al/Can and it should be so easy and he seemed to know exactly what he was talking about. Well, he didn't get in, did he?

So on my own, relying on a half-remembered image of a map. Yeah, anyone who knows me and my LACK of directional sense is already cringing. Well, ladies and gentlemen - assuming either still exist - I went basically the right way. See, if you pull it up on a map it kind of looks like an 8 in there. Two separate sides of the eight that meet at Prince George then again farther up. I haven't QUITE reached Prince George yet. I stopped at a very small truck-stop of a town Alavon or something like that. The hotel up here is cute and quaint. I don't know many that would actually like it though. It's got a bit of an old broke-down feel. Internet is shabby, phone service is nonexistent, TV isn't worth bothering with. But it's got a tub, a comfy bed, and the woman who's running it while her friend who actually runs it is out of town is a nice woman. Very chatty. Two men downstairs that seemed nice and welcoming. Another older guy who lives in the RV outside with his old dog.

The kind woman informed me that I only went a little out of my way.. Basically - should have taken the left side of the loop  - the west side - and took the east instead. Quite on accident. Funny part is that I MEANT to go down the road she suggested and just didn't hit all the right exits on time. Wound up on the wrong side and kept going. I'm close to Valemount, but still south. In the morning, I head out for Valemount and then cross the invisible eight to take the west side up the coastal side, through Whitehorse. I know I will get well beyond Prince George tomorrow. Perhaps even up to Whitehorse? Wouldn't that be something.

I've been taking pictures. I can't get my computer to upload them like I want them to just now however, so I will try back again. I will let you know when I get them up so you can look back and scroll through. I have some awesome pictures. Mumford (my cousin's tree fairy) in several. I take more pictures when I have someone to put in them, I've noticed.

Anyway. That's what I've got for now. Update you again later. Last word - still alive. :D

The First Attempt...

As many of you know, the third of this month my boyfriend and I struck out for Alaska. Slowly, rather.
The first day we made our way up to Portland to visit his mother and sister. From there we went up to Alaska to spend the first night with my brother. Had a good time, everything went smooth and successful.

The second day, we made our way up to Bellingham, WA to visit his niece and her daddy. Nice guy. From there we went to cross the border. Not so smooth. But interesting.

You see, the border people are peculiar and specific. But no two are specifically peculiar or peculiarly specific in the same way. The guy we got as absolutely fixated on our car. First the usual - where are you going, where are you coming from, how long in Canada, what are you going to do when you get there, how long are you staying. Ok. Cursory questions out of the way, this one was fixated on the car. That's a lot of stuff back there, what's in there, any plants foods or animals, any weapons, any alcohol, any drugs. Well, you got a lot of stuff so we just want to have a look. Pull over there, give this paper to the folks on the other side. Long story short, our car got tossed. By Canadians. Very nicely done packed it up EXACTLY as they found it. On the down side, due to silly complications Chris wasn't allowed entry. So, before we even really make it INTO Canada - still in the border parking lot, we're told to turn around. From there we have to sit in ANOTHER line to exit Canada - crossing the border the other way. Even though we didn't make it out of Canadian Purgatory. So we get to the front of our line, hand the guy our paper that said Chris was denied entry so we're turning around. You know what he says? You got a lot of stuff back there. Pull into that parking lot and give this paper to the guy on the other side. That's right - our car got tossed AGAIN. By Americans. Everything EVERYTHING was rifled through, one of my earrings was still on the counter when everything else was put in (attention to detail fail), everything was shoved in mismash to where it didn't even properly FIT, AND they broke one of our fishing poles! I need to contact my father to see if it can be repaired. AMERICANS! I was ASHAMED of being an American that day.

So we turn around and go camp in Birch Bay. One night in a hotel, two in a tent. Tent was more fun. And cheaper. I have many pictures but not much to say. We managed to scare off four couples that tried to move into the area beside us. The fifth couple stayed and were super uptight. Kept giving us dirty looks so Chris started antagonizing. Flashing them. Making faces. It was funny. Sleeping on the hard ground sucked when I tried to sleep on my side. Partly because of the cold - super hot day turned to COLD night - and partly because of the hard ground the first night I didn't sleep so good. The second night we got out another blanket and I laid on my back. I slept SO well. Apparently I woke up to barking coyotes and didn't even remember.

After two nights camping, one night in a hotel, and one night with my brother - that's today! Today, we woke up, broke down our site, and I took Chris to the Amtrak in Bellingham. Unfortunately, he has to do some family stuff in Arizona before flying up to Fiarbanks. I have to go on without him. So from here it's just me. And that's the next entry!

Almost There

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, audiences of all ages! We're almost there. Tomorrow we head up to Alaska.
We've got the camera charged and memory empty. We're burning CDs. We'll be packing the car. And we'll be stopping periodically to post and keep updated! :D
Oh, and very exciting, there will be a new blog coming out. This will be a collaboration between myself, my amazing other half, and our newest friend Mumford! Mumford is a mischievous alcoholic wood fairy who will be joining us on our travels. After a few trips he will probably settle down with my cousin Heather, but by then I'm sure we'll have new traveling companions. You've seen the Expedia gnome but just know he's got NOTHING on Mumford!
I will still be continuing my postings on this blog as they tend to be more than just travels - more rambling about work, life, and lifestyles. Mumford's blog will probably have restaurant/bar reviews, amazing photos, that sort of thing.

Back to the trip! I'm very excited. Everything is falling together. Mostly. We'll make it up, I'm sure. As long as we make it across the border!

I have been stressing all this time about this trip; Chris has been trying to keep me calm. Now that we're a day out I'm considerably less stressed and SUPER excited. Chris meanwhile is stressing out pretty bad unfortunately. We all respond to these things differently. I get the butterflies until it's here, then I'm all calm and business. Chris is a bit the opposite it seems, though even as he's nervous and stressed now he's still very on top of things.

There's really very little to post right now. But I will try to keep you updated! :D

It's Been A While

It's been about a half a month since I've written - basically this is because Chris and I have been at my folks house and this blog is largely for my family.

To recap life, we've been having a lot of changing of plans. Between miscommunications, lack of funding, and general confusion we've gone through several plans. The basic thoughts on life are as follows:

Driving our new(to us) motorhome up would cost all in all approximately $3000
Driving our car without hotels would cost all in all approximately $1000
Driving our car AND taking the ferry (to avoid Canada's border crossing) would cost about $2000
Driving our new motorhome AND taking the ferry would still cost about $3000
Flying up and buying a beater car would cost about $2000


Costing all in all included food cost, gas cost, passport cost, room-in-the-ferry cost, with about 1 or 2 hundred wiggle room. I ALWAYS program wiggle room into my plans.

We took the "cheapest" route. It's got a lot of room to go wrong but I have faith. It is not just the cheapest. I secretly really wanted to drive up, even if we can't take all the time in the world this time around to see everything there is to see. It will be an amazing trip and we will still get to see a lot of beautiful sights.

The most expensive and risky part of the trip is actually the passport portion. Passports for two people expedited we suspected would cost $520. We were luckily mistaken as we were calculating for both the book and the card. It cost almost half that in reality, now we just have the risk of getting across the border. Canadian border crossing can be iffy from what we've heard, and they can refuse you for any reason what-so-ever. Anything we can do to help that we are doing. We're trying to make the car look nicer, make sure all our paperwork is in order, everything. Wish us luck on that though.

After that, it should be smooth and beautiful proverbial sailing.

My car, though small, holds a deceptive amount and we are completely confident we can pack everything we need and still have space to kick the seats back to sleep. I hope to be able to hold the bbq that my father has donated to "the cause" in the back and we will be able to cook much of our own food. We plan on taking the tent so that if it is nice enough and we find enough space we can actually camp.

I think it's a good plan that can and will be executed well. My biggest problem is the endless to-do list. We have gotten nearly done with a lot of the things on our list but so little is truly done. It's stressful. I think a lot of the things are basically partial-day-projects, however. This next week we should be able to pull it all together well.

So that's life. Just need to remember - concentrate on the solution, not on the problem. Oh! and to read my next Sword of Truth novel. : D

Doing What You Love as Work

I've been thinking about the possibility of coming back to Meadows. Chris actually has a good job opportunity lined up. It's not in food and beverage. If I come back there are two jobs I would do - drive or greeter. Neither are in food and bev. It got me to thinking.

I love cooking, but I have had the thought before that I need to take a break. A season off. It will help keep things fresh, help me still to do what I love and love what I do. I know some people never do what they love and I know some people never love what they do. Worse, though, is when someone does what they love and then stop loving what they're doing. My little sister, for instance, works part time as a computer-fixer-person. She's still in high school so part time is all she works and it's totally acceptable. She LOVES fixing computers. She loves working with computers, software and hardware. I'm computer-stupid. I can do a bit more than most people but I can't come close to what she does. She used to help me out and laugh and joke and it was no big deal. Now that it's her job and she deals with SO MANY computer stupid people she has gotten to the point where any computer fixing is a chore. She hasn't admitted to it, but it's not hard to tell. She needs a break. She needs to get out of computer fixing fast or she'll hate working on computers. She did Chris a favor with his computer and instead of joking and laughing and no big thing she was unhappy and treated him like a common stupid person. She would never have done that without being burned out.

So I'm taking heed from my little sister's plight. I think next winter I will not do food and beverage. I think I will take a "break" and work at something else. I joke about staying home a winter and doing the house-stuff while Chris works. We all know that's not going to happen though.

This is one of the things I love about what I do. Seasonal nomads change it up every six months. New work, new places. I firmly believe the reason it's taken me five years to even BEGIN to burn out on food and bev is partly due to the fact that even when I do F&B two seasons in a row everything is new. New kitchen, new menu, new co-workers. Nothing to burn out on. The reason I'm starting to now I firmly believe is because of a string of bad F&B jobs. More to do with the company and less to do with the actual work. But, because I'm a seasonal nomad, it's no problem. This summer I'm committed to a cooking job that I'm SURE I'll love, but the season after that I can take off from food and beverage. Next summer I'm thinking maybe I'll do front-of-house. Get a feel for it. I need/want to know how to do it, and I think it's about time. Then I'll have more flexibility. I've also kind of wanted to try front desk somewhere. I think that could be interesting. As my social skills improve I find I almost enjoy working with customers. Almost. I definitely think it's an avenue worth exploring, especially since once we get our food truck, I'm going to HAVE to work with guests and BETTER be good at it/ok with it.

It's nice - never being so burned out you hate everything. Being able to change it up every six months into a new job and new location. It really makes all the difference in the world. Think about your job, and what you would do if you KNEW it was ONLY SIX MONTHS. What job would you try? Would you try your hand at cooking for a season? Maybe try being front desk where it's constant guests.... Or get your liscence and bar-tend for a season. Or get your CDL and drive employee or tourist buses for a season. The possibilities are near to endless. What would you try - if you knew it was only for six months? Where would you want to go, if you knew it was only for six months?

Kinda fascinating, huh?

i,Robot

I'm sitting here flipping channels on TV and I notice a movie that I've seen a zillion times that I like. Nothing else on, so here I sit. Watching i,Robot. It brings to mind endless conversations Chris and I have had.

Technology, getting to big. Everything now-a-days is computerized, automatic, and doesn't need you. Now people don't have social skills, don't understand the art of making things by hand - that espresso is better when you have a barista pulling the shot not a machine. Now - not to sound too conspiracy theorist - the government can find anyone anywhere any time. Now we do nothing for ourselves, but have everything done for us. Now our cars can control us, instead of us controlling it.

So we bought an old car. We plan on tricking it out over the years so that we are self-contained and self-sufficient. And not computerized. Our car is a car. "Technology uncomplicated" is how Chris phrases it. Low-tech life. Not no-tech, low-tech.

We do not want to get to the point where our car can decide where we go, that someone could hack our car and keep us trapped. We're going to have computers and phones and so forth. But at the end of the day, we are the ones in control.

I find it interesting that fictional writers and some movie people can see the potential. Writers going "no man, look, this stuff can get outta our hands real quick" (but more eloquently) but the daily Joe who USES all this technology can't see past his belly. And I suppose that's what it is - people even before all this technology didn't use it, could get by without it, and didn't much care for it I would theorize. People now-a-days not only use it but NEED it. Of course he can't see past his belly - he doesn't know how to do otherwise.

 I say a barista pulling a shot is better than a machine doing it, but how long will it be until people no longer know how because they don't need to - machines just always do it. People already have started to loose the ability to cook, to entertain themselves, to communicate. Will we be surprised when we can't even make our own espresso any more?

And truly, it won't be their fault. We can't breed useless people then blame them for being so. Like that line from Ever After (that's right, I like my Cinderella stories). She proclaims that the kingdom basically breeds thieves, then punishes them for something they have no say over. Society is doing that to the next here. Society pushes us to go with this way of life - this technology-driven way. Now how many parents are proclaiming that their children can't do half the stuff they did when they were the childrens' age? Even you 20-40 year old children. I know a lot of people with kids tell me how we young whippersnappers don't know how to do this, or won't do that, or can't do the other anymore.

In twenty years we'll be saying how back in our day we pulled our own espresso shots. Had people who's entire job it was JUST to pull espresso. Now you stick your cup under a machine and speak the words of what you want to it and it spits it out. No skill needed. No effort needed. People anymore don't appreciate espresso. Can't. Don't know what goes into it. Why, back in my day it took SKILL! Not everyone could do it. Some were better than others. But you kids anymore just don't get it.

Yeah, that'll be us. Because of technology. Nope - me, I'm avoiding all that stuff. Have fun with that....

Problems on the Verizon

I switched my cellular service to Verizon in '10 just before heading to Yellowstone for the second time. The previous year in Yellowstone was a bummer in the cell-area due to lack of service provided by T-Mobile.
Verizon was great. I had coverage NO MATTER WHERE I went. I had a cheap plan that was consistent.

Well, I upgraded. I put Chris on my plan and we made it a bit bigger. We added internet and data onto his phone. And this is where it went to Hades in a handbasket. Since we've done this, the bills have been inconsistent, and they've been charging us for one thing then giving us another -then charging us for overages!

So when we hit Chicken, since there'll be no coverage there, we're going to make sure they aren't charging us for a service they're not providing. We'll probably go the entire summer without cells, since apparently Chicken gets absolutely no cell service at all. Internet we will have, however. So don't worry TOO much.

When the summer is over, I think we'll go to one of those oddly unlimited month-to-month without contract phones from Wally World. If anyone has any input as to network range, dependability, etc, it would be greatly appreciated. Obviously we will be researching before we choose our plan and we will do what we can to keep our current phones and phone numbers so that our contacts aren't affected.