We embarked on our Canadian journey on Friday, June 24th. The original plan had us leaving on Sunday, but Jim got Canadian fever and felt the need to leave a few days earlier than planned. I had some last minute things to take care of, quickly packed myself and the kids, cleaned the house, found someone to dog sit Corky, and then we were on our way to the Great White North.
Jim decided to take a new route to Canada this time. The new route was BEAUTIFUL, definitely more scenic. Unfortunately the scenic route came with a price. The price? Windy windy windy roads!! I get a little car sick from windy roads, and we're discovering Hunter shares my dilemma. We both started to get a little sick and that's before we drove by a sign that read, "99 more miles of" and then there was a squiggly road drawn beneath the words to let us know we were in for 99 miles of pukiness. After we passed the sign Jim asked, "Is there any way you didn't see that?" I informed him I had in fact noticed the sign and was bracing myself for the journey. It's funny, I don't get sick on roller coaster rides at all, but windy roads mess with my head. Jim on the other hand gets sick on rides, but windy roads don't effect him at all. I wonder what that's all about? Tralee never gets car sick either. In fact, she said to me upon hearing me complain about the windiness, "I love this road Mom, it's super fun!" I'm glad she enjoyed it, and I tried to focus on the beauty around us instead of my swirling head and fussing Hunter. Anyways, back to our journey.
Part way through the 99 miles of quese-inducing roadage, Hunter had had enough, Tralee had to pee, and I was ready to stretch my legs, so we pulled over and took a break. We were out in the middle of no-mans-land, so we pulled over at the first place we could. It ended up being a nice little spot by the river, so we all took a turn taking care of business (if you know what I mean). Tralee actually did really good with the old squat-and-go technique. It was her first time having to do this, and I was worried she wouldn't, but she had no problems. After we all felt a little more comfortable, we spent some time throwing rocks and sticks in the water. The kids dug in the sand, and looked for bugs. I snapped a few pictures, and let Jim change Hunty's bum. We had a nice break, and felt refreshed when we had to climb back into Lucy and continue on our way.
We pulled into Missoula, Montana around 10pm on Friday night, and booked our stay at a nice hotel. It felt GREAT to be out of the car after seven or eight hours. I was also happy that Hunter and I made it through the 99 miles of windiness relatively unscathed. It was also nice to stretch our legs for the evening, and sleep in a comfy bed.
The next day we packed up our gear, and continued on our way to Canada. Tralee was SUPER excited! We kept telling her all the fun things we would do there, and that she would have a little cousin her age to play with while we were there. She kept asking, "Are we in Canada yet?" or saying, "I can't WAIT to get to Canada!" We couldn't wait either!
We stopped in Kalispell, MT for lunch that afternoon. We ate at a delish place called Montana Wheat Company, at least I think that's what it's called. They grind their own variety of wheat there, and you can buy it. You can also grind your own wheat flour at the front of the eatery, which I thought was cool. This place had a wonderful selection of delectables! There were HUGE cinnamon buns, muffins, croissants, and cookies in their display case. Their menu consisted of several yummy sandwiches (made on a variety of different home-made breads), several soups, and yummy looking salads. The kids split a grilled cheese sandwich (made with homemade whole-wheat bread), they each got apple slices (ones that were sliced right then and there, not ones that had been sitting in a bag pre-sliced for who knows how many days), and Jim got a yummy sandwich which came with a side of potato salad, chips, and a pickle. I ordered a super yummy home-made vegetable soup inside a bread bowl. It was all so yummy and fresh tasting! After eating, Jim ordered both of the kids their own ice cream cone. They got a little sticky and messy, but nothing we couldn't handle. We honestly didn't care as our motto for the trip seemed to be, "Who cares? We're on vacation!!" I think Jim and I said this a lot on our way to Canada.
After lunch we stopped at a used sporting goods store so Jim could look for fishing stuff. While waiting for Jim I found a nice used hiking backpack for babies and toddlers. I strapped Hunty in and we walked around the store while Jim looked at all the sporty wonders it beheld. If Hunter was a little younger, I would have bought it, but at two he's pretty capable of holding his own on a hiking trail. Meanwhile, Tralee tested out a kayak, raft, and hid behind sleeping bags while we waited for Jim to pick out his outdoors-man treasures. In the end Jim settled on some fishing lures that were only .50 cents each. SCORE! We left the sporting good store, and took on the last leg of our journey into Canada. As we traveled we took in the scenery, drove by all the tourist traps, played "I spy with my little eye," and counted down the hours before we were in the land where maple leaves roam free.
Before we knew it, we were at the border. We told Tralee that we had to stop and talk to someone who was in charge of letting people into Canada. We said, "they need to make sure we're nice enough to go into Canada. They only let in the nicest people. Do you think they'll let us in?" Tralee nodded, and she was right! We got right in! Yahoo!!
About a half hour after passing through the border we pulled into Ross and Judy's house in Mountain View, Canada. Oh boy the fun was just about to ensue!!
Stay tuned for all of our many adventures!
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