There and Back Again.

The month of vacation has come and gone as quickly as I thought it would. The first two weeks were a god sent, nice and slow although as soon as we ramped up to the 3rd and 4th week things hit autopilot and took off quite quickly. I'm not sure if writing a long post about each little detail is worth the time, as my memories are somewhat foggy about certain situations.

So grab a coffee and a snack, I'm going to give you my top 30 memories! [I apologize if I forget anything as I go through]

(No Particular Order - although I tried to keep with the Province Order)

30. Leaving Kugaaruk - We were barely up in the air when I turned to Hughie and said "You are not on call anymore". At that very moment it was like a weight was lifted off our shoulders and we were ready for vacation.

29. Winnipeg - My first Starbucks coffee - we didn't have a lot of time in Edmonton on our way thru so my fill had to wait til we arrived in Winnipeg. I ordered a Grande Non-fat Latte...mmmmm I can almost remember how my toes curled as I sipped my favorite and first Starbucks. On a side note: We purchased this coffee at the Chapters where I had to run into the change room and take off my long johns!!

28. Winnipeg - Driving a Dodge Calibre around town. I always loved those cars, and after having the chance to drive one I can honestly say I would purchase one if the gas prices were crazy insane when we moved back south and owning a Jeep was not economical.

27. Vancouver - The Sutton Hotel (see photo's on my facebook) - Our room was fantastic and when pairing that with the Chocolate Buffet I would definitely stay there again! Side note: The Vancouver Canucks stay at this hotel when they are in town, I ran into Jason LaBarbera coming out of the elevator and #42 in the front lobby who was being kissed on the cheek and being told "See you soon dear" I'm assuming it was his mom!.

26. Vancouver - A. Aggressive bums trying to nab our beer and homeless people on every corner except when we made it down to Stanley Park where strangely there was hardly any. B. Running across a busy road when around the corner cars were racing towards us as the light turns green. All for a chance to make a pit stop at the local Costco to pee.

25. Vancouver - CANUCKS! GO LU GO! GO LU GO!..The Canucks won over San Jose, when I had the sinking feeling that I was going to have to get really drunk to give me false memories of them winning when really they lost! The game was fantastic and I got a zillion photos from that game. I love GM place - just the feeling you get when you walk thru the doors.

24. Vancouver [Stanley Park] - After leaving the ice and snow of Kugaaruk I was very happy to see flower and grass and trees with leaves blooming. To go for a walk through Stanley Park and ending up at the Vancouver Aquarium was a great way to spend the afternoon.

23. Vancouver [Aquarium] - Dolphin SHOW! I got to see real live dolphins finally! Along with Belugas (Which was sad considering the last time I saw them was in their natural environment) and Otters and Seals...Lets just say I had a great time and highly recommend going there if you are ever in Vancouver. Although make sure you give yourself enough time (4 or so hours at least).

22. Vancouver & Maritimes & Toronto [Shopping] - Shopping was a highlight for me in every Province. Coming from a community that has a co-op grocery store I was in awe!

21. Vancouver - Drunken Chapters shopping where I was able to purchase Treehouse & Max and Ruby DVD's for Brookie. I also recall typing in nasty words in the search computers...can't remember if anything I searched came up with anything viable.

20. Vancouver - Granville Winter Ale. I know it seems morally wrong to give a beer its own number in this countdown but this beer isn't a "get drunk" type of beer it is a relaxation beer. One sip of these will have any person craving and wanting more. It is like a comforting sip of fresh vanilla. I will go to Vancouver again just for this beer.

19.. Nova Scotia - Being welcomed into the Maritimes by driving to Antigonish in Snow without a plow to be seen.

18. Nova Scotia [Antigonish] - Meeting my nephew Kaelen for the first time. Wow what a little cutie he is. So curious. I look forward to seeing him grow up and maybe having the opportunity to visit him in Peru!

17. Nova Scotia [Halifax] - A. Being able to hang out with friends and to reconnect was a highlight of this trip to the big city. Hanging out with the newlyweds Jen & Kevin and the new parents-to-be Angela and Blair while playing boardgames and watching the Halifax Mooseheads was what this vacation was all about. B. Build-A-Bear - we went off to the Mic Mac Mall to build bears for Brookie & Dawson. I'm not sure who had the most fun, myself or Hughie who took building his Edmonton Oilers Bear for Dawson very very seriously!

16. Prince Edward Island - A. The best thing about Nieces and Nephews is that you get the spoil them and feed them full of junk food and then pass them back over to their parents! That is just what we did! B. Having Kelly remember who I was and almost immediately asked Hughie for a Cookie.

15. Prince Edward Island - Being able to hold my little solid Nephew Dawson for the first time and realizing that he loved Hughie more than me ;). Seeing the personality changes in Brookie was almost staggering she has grown into such a little lady with a bit of a princess/devil attitude. I would expect nothing less considering I know who her mom is!

14. Prince Edward Island - St. Patty's Day - A. Partying it up at the Ol'Dublin Pub with Ryan, Cortney, Amy, Mark, Tiffany and Chad. After wading through all these OLD folks we finally got a table where the food was served hot and the beer was served cold! The only downfall to the whole evening was that "Brown Eyed Girl & American Pie" are not IRISH SONGS! B. Stealing 14 straws at the local Wendy's and bringing them home to Mom the next day. C. Ryan placing his St. Patty's day hat in the middle of the street on the way back to the Van after drinking a few drinks at the Ol'Dublin Pub.

13. Prince Edward Island - Charlottetown - Hughie knows what this means and if he ever does anything like that again he will be wishing he was in the Hospital.

12. Nova Scotia - Back in Antigonish we had to complete a few necessary things! We managed to eat Wheel Pizza and Wong's Chinese food all in one day! The best way to accomplish this is to eat small portions of both.

11. Random - At this point I was starting to miss my dogs like crazy. I did call to verify their airport drop off and found out they were having the time of their life hanging outside in the outside kennels and being lured back to their inside kennels with treats! Knowing my dogs they were being stubborn just to receive the treats.

10. Nova Scotia - Leaving Nova Scotia the same way we arrived in Nova Scotia with snow, slush..and not a snowplow to be seen.

09. Toronto - A. Having Andrew's, Hughie's and My Visa cards be rejected in the parking pay terminal on the way back to Andrews place...weird! B. Taking Andrew grocery shopping with two people that are in awe at Grocery stores and all the selections. (Not sure he will ever shop with us again)

08. Toronto - Hockey Hall of Fame - A. Seeing all the history of the hockey world and realizing that Hughie will spend alot of money in the adjoining store when he gets his own basement. B. Finn McCools for Supper with Laura and Andrew - it didn't disappoint - lots of cold beer and great food. The fact that the waitresses are very cute with short kilts wasn't lost on Andrew & Hughie.

07. Toronto - Maple Leafs vs Washington Capitals - I am going to hell I cheered for the Toronto Maple Leafs! Although it was a great game and Gerber was worthy of being cheered until he was THROWN OUT and Cujo came in to save the game.

06. Toronto - CN TOWER! HOLY CRAP that building is high. I even stepped on the glass floor without being too scared. I felt like Chakotay when you pick him up, he puts on the brave face and freezes!!

05. Toronto - Eaton Centre & Younge Street - A. We had to spend two days downtown to complete the whole Toronto shopping experience. I love this city. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe which was fantastic and shopped our little hearts out in the Eaton centre and HMV! B. We took the TTC & The Go bus on a couple of different occasions, and except for a few sketchy people we didn't get mugged or shot!

04. Winnipeg - Louie Riel Hotel - while looking sketchy on the outside housed the most modern room I've ever seen. The bed was comfy and was walking distance from the MTS centre.

03. Winnipeg - MOOSE VS Bulldogs - MOOSE WIN! Hughie and I have a winning record in that arena and that game didn't disappoint except it was a fairly boring game for the first two periods. It was like a Sunday afternoon skate with a few hockey players mixed in for a bit of excitement. Although we had club seating which had our own bathrooms & bar.

02. Winnipeg - Shopping at Costco & Safeway - we filled up two action packers full of goodies to bring back with us to Kugaaruk! Lots of treats, rice and movies to get us through the next 4 months!

01. Yellowknife - Kugaaruk - Yellowknife - We arrived in Yellowknife without a lot of fan fare. We jumped on our plane to Kugaaruk like we normally would and about 20 minutes outside of town we got detoured to the next community on the route. There was high crosswinds blowing across the airstrip....BLAH!!! So we had to fly back to Yellowknife where we had to spend a day and two nights in our local Super 8! The dogs were well behaved and it gave us a chance to pick up a few more things for the next 4 months.


So as you now know we are back into the old routine. Hughie is back on call and back at work. This week will prove to be busy. There is a big hockey tournament in town that will add approximately 50-75 people to our town, and considering they come from communities that are not "dry" things may get a bit crazy.
Nunavut had their 10 year anniversary on April 1st. I don't believe our community did anything to celebrate, although considering we flew into town on that day we were in no condition to partake in celebrations if there was.

Well I hope you enjoyed my first long post in quite sometime. I apologize again if I forgot something vital in my post about my vacation. I will make any addendum if need be as I remember things!