Three years and counting

You forgot to remind me again this year and we passed by the blogiversary without a whisper!!

Naughty readers! 

(2012)

It has actually been 3 years (!!!) and 29 days that I've been sharing my life with all of you. September 1, 2012 is when it all began.

(2013)

I thought this would only last as long as my trip to Europe. I would share the adventure of a lifetime, come home and then go back to life as it was pre-blog. 

Clearly that didn't happen. I fell so in love with this space and I just wanted to keep sharing, even if no one was reading. To this day I don't know how many people actual read what I write, but I don't mind at all. It's just as much for me as it is for you. 

(2014)

I've shared some of my highest moments with you and written out drafts of my lowest. Maybe one day I'll post those too. 

We've experienced 13 countries together, celebrated many holidays, tried new food and found some hobbies. I say we because all of you, the blog readers, are sharing my experiences. I hope to have so many more. 

(2015)

As life continues to change and evolve my space will change with me. I hope you don't mind. 

Stick around while I find out where life is taking me and what will happen. 

Happy 3 years!! 

Jasper - Version 2.0; Summertime

R and I finally ticked off a few more things from our to-do list this weekend! 

1. Camping 

2. Visiting Jasper in the Summer

3. Canoeing 

For our first day we left home at a time that we thought we make for good timing and we could avoid long weekend traffic. We were wrong. So so wrong. We waited in traffic to get through the Jasper park gate for about 45-60 minutes and then we waited another 30-45 for construction.

Beyond that we had a ways to drive into the park and also had to find the campground because neither of us knew where it was. 

To make the long drive a bit better we got our first glimpse of the wildlife! 3 huge Elk in the water at the side of the road. And about a million tourists snapping pictures and getting too close, but that's how it always is there. 

We wouldn't have been able to drive through the area very easily so we stopped and took a few pictures as well. Once we decide we should try to get going one of the elk walked right up to the car, paid it no mind and walked right in front to cross the road. He was close enough to rub the front end of the car. 

When we finally did arrive the rest of the group we were joining was off doing something so we took the time to get our tent set up. 

Since we don't have a tent of our own we borrowed one from R's dad. Very convenient. Unfortunately when R checked the tent over he didn't look in the bag to check for pegs. Therefore, we didn't have pegs. 

I wasn't super concerned but I also didn't want a freak gust of wind to take anything away. 

R's brilliant fix for our predicament was putting large rocks inside the tent in all the corners. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first, but it worked perfectly!!! And bonus points for not having to struggle putting pegs into hard ground!

By the time our tent was up and the beds were unrolled and set our friends still hadn't returned. 

The first thing I noticed when we got to our campsite was that we could here the rushing river clearly and so I assumed it was very close. We decided to explore that theory further.

A few campsites and a walking path later we found ourselves on the banks on the Athabasca River. Rough, cold water rushed passed us but all I could think of was how beautiful everything is. Jasper National Park is truly one of my favorite places, I never get enough of its unending beauty, vast landscapes and towering peaks. 

A bit further down the path that runs parallel to the bank is a large "beach" area. Of course you couldn't swim there and it's mostly rocks instead of sand, but it's the same idea! 

A spot of crazy weird luck hit me as I looked down into the small sandy area and found a piece of seaglass!!! Or riverglass as it would seem.. You know how much I like that, it made my day!

Back at the camp we found that our group had returned and everyone was ready for food! 

Each couple brought enough food to feed everyone supper for 1 night. Our first evening we had pizza sandwiches made on the fire. It sounds a bit bizarre but they were delicious. They also made a dessert. Banana, chocolate chips and mini marshmallows wrapped in foil and put over the fire. Everything was really good. 

Having finished supper R and I headed out. We knew we wanted to see Athabasca Falls while we were here because we've never been. 

As it turns out, along the way is a beautiful little lake as clear as glass and perfectly reflective, natures mirror. 

Looking at the water and seeing the clouds is pretty spectacular. Lake and sky and fish and dock, all in the same lovely snap. 

We thought after supper would be a good time to visit the falls because the cool air and Mosquitoes should hopefully keep tourists to a minimum. 

We weren't far off. There were still plenty of people checking out the falls but not nearly as many as I would imagine to be there during the day. 

The falls are massive and beautiful but they show there strength too, even the rocks yield to the power. 

We had a really great time exploring the area and trying to outrun the Mosquitoes in the treed areas before heading back to our camp for the night. 

Lastly, before lighting the fire for the night the whole group took a walk down to the river again. A few of us took our shoes off and got our feet wet. The water was absolutely freezing but also so invigorating. I feel confident saying I would jump in if the current wouldn't take me away in a second. 

Many more mountain adventures are on the way!

{East Coast 13+14}

It seems like the trip just started and somehow also like we've been in Nova Scotia forever, either way, it's almost time to go home! 

For our second last full day R took me to a place that he used to spend time when he was younger. 

We drove to Brass Hill, parked and trudged out into a peninsula in the bay. It's a large area that is partly tree'd or covered in tall grass and partly rocky shoreline. 

The tall grass freaked me out a bit because I have an unreasonable fear of ticks even though I've never seen one. Despite that, we made the long trek through, flip flops and all. 

R mentioned before hand that we might spot some deer in the area and we actually did! 

We stepped in wet sinky holes in the grass, avoided thorn bushes and eventually hopped from rock to rock along the shore until we hit the very top of the peninsula. 

From the tip we could see a small island and I was convinced that there were dogs on it, but Ryan pointed out that it has no connections to the mainland and that would mean it has a self sufficient pack of dogs that live there permanently. Or they're really good swimmers... Any which way, I've been convinced that the "barking" I heard must have been something else. 

Our little adventure took us a little over an hour round trip and I came out with no ticks!! Ryan on the other hand did find one, but it was only on his pant leg. I can now say that I have seen a tick, and I never want to again. 

With the excitement of our day over we picked up pizza and went home to watch old movies on Netflix before bed. In our combined times in Barrington we watched Sabrina, Catch me if you can, Jumanji and Cheaper by the Dozen. 

In the morning on our last day we packed up the rental car and hit the road headed for Halifax. This time R's little sister came with us. 

Along the way we made our third stop at the LaHave Bakery. I'm a bit obsessed if you can't tell. You would be too if you had any idea how delicious it was. We had scones and muffins and brownies and tea and I loved every bite. We did eventually have to say our last farewell and get back on the road. 

Straight on to Halifax, through the crazy traffic and weird roads and down to the waterfront. 

The Halifax harbour is a buzzing, lively place packed to the edges with tourists. Ice cream, museums, shops and restaurants are a few of the things that you'll stumble upon. Also, art installations. 

We saw the harbour hopper tour "bus" and Theodore Tugboat, people partying on tied up sailboats and street entertainers playing their music. 

After stopping for food at one of the many vendors we headed back to the car to make our way to our hotel. I know I said this was our last day, but we have one more sleep before an early morning flight. 

The hotel we got is right next to the airport for a convenient early morning checkout and 6 of us shared the two bed room to keep it inexpensive. This meant that R and I were sleeping on the floor, not really a problem for us though. 

To kill some time in the evening R, his 2 sisters and myself all went swimming. We had silly competitions for who could swim the fastest or hold their breath longer, and had a ton of fun doing it. Eventually we all got tired and headed upstairs for showers. 

Clean and ready for bed we all made a quick trip to the store downstairs to stock up on junk food. Just because. 

After a very short sleep we drove to the airport and returned our Jeep. 

During this trip we drove 3300km through 2 provinces and had an amazing time! I honestly want to stay in Nova Scotia permanently. I've wanted to move here since I visited the first time and this trip just reiterated that feeling for me. 

Due to some crazy thick fog our flight was delayed about 3 hours. That time in the airport wasn't much fun but we made it through and eventually touched back down in Alberta. 

{East Coast 12}

To start our time back in the Barrington area we decided on a beach day. The first place we went was just for the sand, we had no intention of going in the water. 

The causeway beach between Barrington Passage and Cape Sable Island is quite small and the water is very cold, but the sand is perfect. Soft, fine, white and glittery.  It seems so tropical! 

We saw a few families on the beach, but only the little ones went in the water and only in 1 area. As we walked away from there we found a bigger area with no one on it so we ditched our shoes and enjoyed the soft sand and warm sun. 

When we got to the side of the beach facing the causeway R had the idea to write words in the sand. We made a giant HELLO for all the cars to see and then decided we should get going to the actual beach destination for swimming. I walked in the water on the way back to the car and came to a conclusion. No matter how cold the water may be it always seems like I could swim in it anyway. When you live inland it's necessary to soak up all possible chances at being in the ocean. 

Once we got back in the car and onto the causeway we couldn't help but pull over and see what our HELLO really looked like. Unfortunately the beach is pretty flat so it was harder to see than we hoped!

Another 40 minutes down the road and having gotten lost only once, we made it to Welkum Park beach. A lake instead of the ocean this time. 

It was a scorching hot day but at the lake it was quite windy so that made it a bit harder to get in the water. We eventually did though and it was absolutely freezing. All the kids in the water didn't seem to notice the temperature at all, but it took us quite a while to get adjusted. 

We swam for about half an hour before we decided it was just too cold and got out to dry off in the sun. 

By the time we were dry and ready to leave we found ourselves too hot again and decided ice cream in Shelburne would be just perfect. 

When I was researching places to visit before we came to Nova Scotia I kept seeing Pinterest posts about Moon Mist ice cream. Apparently it's only in Nova Scotia and it's a must have. So I had it. 

I'm really not sure what the flavour is but it was good!