All posts in Adventure and Me

… will not be my last.How often is the actual traveling part of a trip so relaxing and nice that you can hardly wait to get back on the road again? Hasn’t really been that good for me before the train experience. With chairs that fold out so you can lay in them, pillow, blankets (provided by via) and that constant motion and mournful horn to rock you to sleep how can you go wrong? I love napping so it was right up my alley.

(My niece passed out, FINALLY napping on the train.)

I traveled down with my older brother and his family but home alone. Their little one kept them very very busy, she is so cute, so on the way home things where a lot quieter.

I managed to stay awake enough to watch a movie on the way out to Winnipeg and read ‘Mere Christianity’, for the first time, on the way back. Explored the skylight car and took in one gourmet meal in the dining car just for the experience (SO WORTH IT).

(A couple pictures from the dining car. I was so hungry I ate my dinner before I remembered to get a picture.)

Took in the dining on the way home and I was seated with a couple from the states and a woman my age from Manitoba. I had the duck and it came with garlic roasted potatoes, plenty of veggies, blue cheese and pear salad (MY FAV), onion soup, fresh bread and coffee and a BIG piece of cream cheese iced carrot cake, phew, it was FAB!

There are many reasons for me to sing the praises of the train and many reasons to be sad that it appears to be dying in this lovely country of ours. We have one of the most famous train routes in the world (cross Canada and through the mountains) and yet we are kissing it good bye:( Riding the train was a childhood dream of mine and now that I have done it I realise it is easily with in reach and will do it again!

(Winnipeg’s beautiful ‘Union Station’.)

P.S. More to come about my actual time in Winnipeg, it was really quick but lovely. Took in as much as I could with only a bit of time Friday morning and Saturday morning but enjoyed it all!

TTFN

Breakfast in the hotel again and then lunch at the ‘Olive Garden’. We had been told we HAD TO check it out by a few people and it was all they said! Bread sticks and salad and fresh made mushroom ravioli in cheese sauce made us both very happy!

We stopped in a Vegreville, not to just get these pictures but to also see Mirelle’s brother and sister in law as well as aunt and uncle. Some great coffee and cake and we where on our way home. We made a few stops but both of us where pretty happy to be heading back to our men and our kids.
It was ALMOST an uneventful drive home… but… we stopped for coffee and Mirelle spilled hers all over the drivers seat. Jokingly she said it was now my turn to drive and for a second I thought she was serious. Well off to the near by Walmart we went on a hunt for towels. While she found a deal I managed to find each of my kids a toy! PHEW! It was nice to have something for them! Who knew Mirelle would end up with some nice new towels this trip? He he he, she sure didn’t plan on spending money on that!

Our big adventure ended with rain and us trying to get everything inside quickly. A hug and a smile and Mirelle had dropped me off and was heading home to her family. Reality hit quickly and hard as I soon found out my littlest baby was sick and needed surgery on Monday… It just made me realized how relaxed I had really managed to be on my trip… a big accomplishment for me as I am not the relaxed type.

Mirelle and I are already talking about next time… no surprise there:)

TTFN

We found a treasure right at the end of the day. After trying to find a sit down restaurant with no wait time (due to wanting to make it to a movie on time) we decided to check out the food court. I was so thankful we did! There was a CREPE place! Any of you who know me well know I have a thing for crepes but I had never had them this way before and will have to go back every time we visit this city in the future! Mine was full of bananas and strawberries, whipping cream and chocolate, YUMMMMMMMM! We where all very happy with this kind of supper and even the next day we where still talking about them!

There was time to explore some more before the movie.
We spent the buck each and had a walk through the ship we had spotted at the start of the day and it was worth it:)

Oriana meet up with her husband and we said good bye:(
Earlier in the day we had gotten tickets at the famous DRAGON theater in the mall. We stayed to watch the dragon and I found it amazing how hot the flames really where, a little much for me.

Mirelle and I made it to the movie… a good end to a busy day, sitting for two hours! Made sure to rub it in to our men that we saw Iron Man2 first. I enjoyed it a lot and the popcorn and root beer Mirelle got me as well! We where both pretty tired when we left the mall but we found the umph to dress up a bit and check out the hotels pub. A couple of nice drinks and we where happy to head to bed. This was a late night for us so we would for sure sleep in before heading home the next day. I got my tea before bed once again and sat thinking about the day long after Mirelle was out for the night. It was amazing how much we accomplished because we didn’t have kids. You sure can do a lot without kids when you are used to doing much with them:)

TTFN

I really liked the rink. It was calm and pretty with the sky light over head. If I had thought more about the day I wouldn’t of ware a dress, that way I could have partaken in the skating and the bumper boats with spray guns (now that looked fun).
We rushed through the rides area for a couple reasons, first we had hopes of making it to the last sea lion show of the day, and two I think Mirelle knew there was little chance of me wanting to actually go on any rides anyhow.
I tried to take more pictures of the interesting rides but the rest are very very blurry. The sounds kept startling me and I felt like some of the rides where gonna mow me over even though I was supposedly in the safe walk way. At one point a roller coaster roared over my head as I tried to take a picture of something else and as I stifled my scream I realised I am talented enough to through up without even going on the ride so why pay for that experience?

Well we rushed back for nothing really… some how we managed to miss all three shows! We watched a bit from the bridge but it wasn’t that interesting when you can’t hear what is being said. The animals where cute though:)FOOD COURT! So we where almost disappointed about missing the sea lion show for a minute but then we spotted an Orange Julius and all was well again as we explored the malls BIG food court.

(Ok, she caught me texting once… I let her have the camera.)

TTFN

I really liked the rink. It was calm and pretty with the sky light over head. If I had thought more about the day I wouldn’t of ware a dress, that way I could have partaken in the skating and the bumper boats with spray guns (now that looked fun).
We rushed through the rides area for a couple reasons, first we had hopes of making it to the last sea lion show of the day, and two I think Mirelle knew there was little chance of me wanting to actually go on any rides anyhow.
I tried to take more pictures of the interesting rides but the rest are very very blurry. The sounds kept startling me and I felt like some of the rides where gonna mow me over even though I was supposedly in the safe walk way. At one point a roller coaster roared over my head as I tried to take a picture of something else and as I stifled my scream I realised I am talented enough to through up without even going on the ride so why pay for that experience?

Well we rushed back for nothing really… some how we managed to miss all three shows! We watched a bit from the bridge but it wasn’t that interesting when you can’t hear what is being said. The animals where cute though:)FOOD COURT! So we where almost disappointed about missing the sea lion show for a minute but then we spotted an Orange Julius and all was well again as we explored the malls BIG food court.

(Ok, she caught me texting once… I let her have the camera.)

Can you see my pink purse in the above picture? Ah yes, we stopped to move all our stuff from our old bags to our new purses! Mirelle and I each got a styling new purse. She got her burgundy one first and I must say IT was what got all the spending started! I was surprised that she bought one and was busy picking up a soft pink one and putting it back after a pat, over and over, when Oriana insisted I obviously liked it if I couldn’t leave it alone. So as you can see, they started it!

(THE purses!)

We managed to go dress shopping AND found some great dresses! I got a couple little jackets after Mirelle and Oriana couldn’t agree on which to buy… so I got both;) We also took the time to find our three mom’s (yes three, we share a mother-in-law) a mothers day gift at the mall! I was a bit stressed at one point because I didn’t find anything special for my kids, and really wanted too, but that passed and an opportunity for that would present itself on our way home.

TTFN

Mirelle and I where very excited to get going. We left as soon as possible on Friday morning and made it to Edmonton by 5. We had to check out our hotel first and it proved to be spacious and really comfortable. The beds looked very inviting! This looked like it was going to be a very relaxing weekend (and it was!).Being in town so early we decided to leave Saturday free for the BIG MALL and hit Ikea on Friday for supper and shopping.

(I enjoyed catching Mirelle texting to her man all weekend. I did the same but kept bugging her by taking pictures!)

I was very impressed with the meals at Ikea. My meal, stuffed salmon with apple spice cake for dessert, was really good especially considering the affordable price! Had to take a picture. We both agreed by the end of the weekend that the food was one of the best parts of our trip. We made sure to stop at a nice place for all our meals and so had lots of pretty dishes to take pictures of.

(Got you texting again Mirelle!)

It is amazing we both weren’t busting a gut for this picture! We felt kinda silly using the timer to take this shot in one of the Ikea living room displays but we really wanted a together picture. Yes I noticed the people stopping when they heard the ‘beep beep’ count down and wondering what the heck? Yes yes we are just two silly tourists… AND LOVING IT!
When you think every bed at Ikea is FABULOUS and you want to take them all home you know you are too tired and ready for bed. I was just gonna test the bed out but then it felt so good I almost didn’t get back up!

We bought a few things but managed to control ourselves. I know Mirelle is very well behaved when it comes to shopping and I though if I could just stay close to what she spends I would be okay… little did I know she was gonna let loose in the mall…
Did I mention the beds looked very inviting? Well they where another absolute favorite little thing about our weekend. We talked a lot about how lovely they where and how fab it was to spreed out in our own big bed, loaded up with pillows!

We hit a grocery store on the way back to our hotel to get some healthy treats (Mirelle’s brilliant idea) and then got to bed pretty darn early for a trip.

I had brought some of my favorite tea and was thrilled to see I could use the coffee machine to steep it, that way I could still have my evening ritual of a cup before bed! We tried to snack and chat but both of us succumbed to sleep pretty fast.

And with that DAY 1 was over.

TTFN