I'm back. I really don't want to be be, but I am.
Mr Roberts and I left Wednesday night after I got off work, struggled through the rush hour traffic to get out of the city and hit the open road. We were an hour out of the city mulling over the things we may have forgot when it hit him. His toiletry bag was still hanging in his bathroom at home. We made a quick pit stop in Red Deer for some A&W and the use of the local Walmart to get some products for him and some snacks for the road.
We were back on the road shortly, and after making a quick phone call to my friend Erik in Calgary (who was working nights and not available to visit with or steal a couch from) we decided to cut through Airdrie and Cochrane and completely avoid hitting Cowtown. We got to Cochrane at about 8 or so for fuel and a quick change into sweaters (the change in temperature is apparent when you start approaching the mountains). After listening to some of the 18 year old local flavour raving about getting laid in the Fas Gas parking lot, we cranked the 80's tunes and headed out to the Trans Canada where I made a big deal about my points of interest (where I used to live, work, party, stop, etc etc).
We pulled into Canmore about 11, had a smoke and decided what to do next. The muni campground on the outskirts of the city is free for tenters, but it was also a tent city with french hippies and pot heads running around drunk, so we passed on that and figured we'd try our luck in Banff.
The girl at the Banff gate charged us our $17.50 and wished us luck in securing a camping spot at midnight, but suggested we try Tunnel Mountain since they generally leave their gates open for late arrivals. We lucked out and found a decent camping spot there at midnight, pitched our tent and settled in to catch a few winks.
A word to the wise -- NEVER stay in Banff in a tent with a REGULAR sleeping bag. Even in mid August.
At 2:30 or so, I woke up with numb hands, a chilled face and literally no body warmth. I pulled on my pants, my sweater and huddled under the sleeping bag hoping to breath a little warmth into the air surrounding me.
At 3 I woke up again, this time I snuggled up next to him for warmth. In his unconscious state he wrapped his arm around me and tucked his head in behind mine. This was good for 20 minutes until he evidently felt overheated and rolled over to his side again.
I shivered and checked the time on my phone, contemplating just getting up, starting a fire and sitting around that for the remainder of the night. I didn't though. Sleep won for another hour, and I basically repeated that process all night long until 7 when I woke up and stared at the tent walls until he opened his eyes and looked at me. We took advantage of the bathrooms and showers and were back on the road again before 8.
We had a pretty leisurely drive through the parks. I tried in vain to capture
Castle Mountain (which is my favorite mountain in the entire range) on my camera, but that's where it completely decided to STOP working.
We passed some behemoth pillars and road construction on the side of the highway heading into Golden. I guess all the pressure to make the TC1 4 lanes is having an effect on BC's government
We stopped in Golden for more gas and eats. And Red Bull, which as per usual is my mainstay in stead of coffee. Just in the off chance, if anyone knows if any younger, brunette actresses hail from this small mountain town, can they please let me know since I can't pinpoint who the 20 pictures on the wall of the gas station are of and I'm still trying to decide if the cashier is obsessed or just proud of a small town girl making good.
Has anyone ever heard of the Enchanted Forest? Has anyone else been as stupidly excited as we were about stopping to see the biggest treehouse in Western Canada? I already said it, but I'll reiterate. We were excited. So we stopped, paid our $14 to get in and wandered around reliving our childhoods.
It was cute, and we had a blast playing around and setting up photo ops. I fed some ducks, and we got on the road about an hour or so later to head the other 2 hours to Salmon Arm.
And Salmon Arm.. what a riot! I spent every day in the water or on the beach.
Wayne's birthday was on Friday night and we bought him a big cake and embarrassed him when the 20+ members of my family surrounded him to sing him Happy Birthday. But he was great all weekend, and my family all adored him.
My surrogate brother, Joshy came down from Kamloops and talked me into 'drinking like we used to'. I woke up the next morning feeling dead from exhaustion but yet still hungry enough to down a Sausage and Egg McMuffin from Mickey D's, and Wayne readied himself to drive to Kamloops to visit his dad and to check out thier new place.
I went the hair of the dog route after he left -- downed a remnant Canadian in a pathetic 2 hours and went to the beach to sweat off the rest of the hangover. My brother Garhett is at this annoying age where everything about him gets under your skin and you seriously want to throttle him, and after an hour in his company, I called my dad to take me away and pack to the campsite so I could either drink more or sleep.
I chose the former, and nursed glasses of wine interspersed with cans of Red Bull all night until supper when Mr Roberts got back.
We had a wonderful celebration for Nana's party. A few tears were shed, plenty of food was ate and I think most people had a great time.
I continued to nurse my drinks all night, still managing to drink more than I should have, and we fell into bed with exhaustion until 7:30 the next morning when the sun came up with a vengeance and prompted us to either roast or get up.
This is the thing I miss the most about Southern BC. It's 8 in the morning and you're capable of getting a tan running around in your PJs.
We had the family over in the morning for a pancake breakfast and people dispersed from there after they'd been suckered into a few photo shoots and eating more than they needed to.
Wayne and I had been flipflopping about whether or not to head back to the city on Sunday or to head out to Adams Lake with my folks. I hadn't been out there in years, and was really into the idea but didn't want to burden him with doing the whole drive in one day.
And this is how sweet my dear Mr Roberts is. He readily agreed and then was even happy about my childlike enthusiasm when we got to the lake I had spent so many of my childhoods in.
Mom and I made supper, he and I went swimming with my brother Trinity and his girlfriend Robyn and enjoyed our last day in the Shuswap and Aunt Sandi, her boyfriend David and her kids all came and ate and made s'mores with us.
After a few rye and gingers I can be convinced to do most things.. including going swimming with Ashley at 10 at night when it's dark outside and the water is nice and refreshing...
And it was actually just very nice and refreshing, and not really cold at all.
We woke up early the next morning, dad handed a cup of joe to him and a cup of hot water for tea to me, and we grabbed our soap and shampoo and had baths in the lake to wake us up for the long drive back to Alberta.
Which I really was not enthusiastic about.
Altogether it was one of the best weekends of my life, and in a few years I'm moving back down there. Without a doubt.
To the above sexy beast, thank you so much for being there this weekend. Isle of View.
