So I am writing this reluctantly from a laundromat in Jasper, Alberta (Dad- can you say that without singing the John Dever song?) The sky is grey and it is raining. We were hoping to get some hiking in while we are here, but hikes aren't much good when you can't see. The hostel we are staying at is very different. First off, check out is 11am (which is normal) but check in is 5pm....seriously??!! The dorms have 40-something beds in them. And there are 3 toilets and 3 showers for all of the women staying at the hostel...school camp and SEP...takes me back. There is a bear in the area, so we had to bring all of our food into the hostel from the car. I don't think they were prepared for all of our food from the housekeeping days. There is no Wifi, which would honestly be fine if we didn't have a bunch of accommodation to book and no laundry. So that brings us to the Laundromat, where we get free wifi if we do our washing.
SO the last post left off with us being in Seattle, the next day i lost my passport. It was a big debacle and too much to write, and to be honest i don't want to revisit the whole experience because it was so frustrating. I will say that I now have a new passport and have crossed the American border with no more hassle then usual... really those guys are such douchebags!! Losing the passport also meant we got a surprise trip to San Fran and we were in the wonderful city for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We had gorgeous weather, and we can't wait to go back to San Fran with Kat and Roberto. While we were there we stumbled upon a antique arcade games museum. so freaking cool, and strange all at once. I also found out yesterday my travel insurance claim has been approved, so the travel to san fran and one nights accom was included in it and all up the claim came to $1200!! So glad i got it all back!!!
So after San Fran we headed to our next wwoofing post. on the way we stopped into Yellowstone national park and we were greeted with snow. To save money we had been sleeping in the car, and we woke up surrounded by snow, definitely not what we were expecting. So once again we couldn't see much because of the grey. Still cool to go and see all of the wildlife. Dick's favourite part of the trip was seeing a Japanese guy wandering the snowy national park in a full suit.
Our next wwoofing place was in a little town called Millarville about an hour out of Calgary in the foothills of the Rockies. We were helping a lovely family set up their new winery and plant their garden for the summer. Dick built them a new greenhouse and i helped with the gardening, picked dandelions for their spectacular Dandelion and Honey wine (Seriously the best wine i have ever tasted!!!), and worked in the kitchen. Hugo and Ilse pretty much live completely off the land. Hugo and his son hunt every year in hunting season with a cross bow, and what they kill is the meat for the year. So the only meat we ate while we were there was Moose, Deer and Elk, and it was delicious! They really know how to cook their game so it doesn't taste 'gamey' at all. Before the wwoofers, they also only really ate their own veges. And then there are the goats, which were giving about 10 litres a day of milk, so isle and i would make cheese, yogurt and ice-cream from it. It was really inspiring to see and be apart of people actually living the organic life to the fullest, it makes you realise it can actually be done. So not only did we learn heaps about gardening, ancient beer making, bees, cheese-making, and the benefits of eating non- GMO but we learnt quite a bit about ourselves.
Hugo has lead a very interesting life, and we had some fascinating and enlightening conversations with him. He doesn't dance around issues, he asks you the important questions, and in turn you actually learn a lot about yourself. He's (among many other things) an author, and has written 3 books. Was a really amazing place to spend 4 weeks at. What a wonderful opportunity to meet such an amazing family.
Out first and second wwoofing families couldn't of been more different, but we enjoyed both of the them so much. We will never forget our time with them and have plans to see both of them again. We even got tearful goodbyes, so it's nice to know that they also enjoyed meeting us!
After leaving Millarville, we headed to Vancouver to pick up Kat and Robbie. We needed to drive through Revelstoke to get there. There is one main highway linking Vancouver with the rest of Canada and the road is prone to mudslides, and we got stuck in Revelstoke. There is another road that will get you to Vancouver, but it is a big detour and you need to cross a ferry. When we arrived, the ferry already had a 8 hour wait and they had closed the road getting to the ferry, to prevent anymore congestion. So there was no choice but to hang out in Revelstoke, we drove up outside Maccas, and watched a movie, stopping only to use their bathrooms....we were pretty shameless and didn't once buy anything from them. At midnight we headed down to see if the road to the ferry had opened, and were told it would in 15 mins, so we parked on the side of the road and waited, turned out to be another 3 hours. From there we waited another 6 hours to get on the ferry. I was fine and slept pretty much through the whole thing, but Dick had to wake up every hour to move the car forward. When we finally got to get on the ferry, the car in front wasn't moving, we beeped the horn and everything, but the car didn't move, so we just went around him. When we drove past the guy was fast asleep! He would have woken up an hour later, and looked around to see all different cars around him.......So from the time we arrived in Revelstoke it was 13 hours until we got on the ferry. It really is crazy! Because the ferry is so small, no trucks can get on, so the whole town is filled with trucks. They were meant to be reopening the highway the next day, but as the info line informed us "Confidence level is low..."
We spent a couple nights in Kelowna (THanks Aly and Jamie!) and caught up with some Big WHite friends, then picked up K+R in Vancouver and drove to Seattle. (not without a pit stop to watch the Euro-cup semi final). We spent 2 nights with them in Seattle and then 1 night in portland. It was so nice to meet up with friends from home and to see my girl! The first night we arrived we went to a baseball game, couldnt really catch the vision though, pretty boring! The night after Roberto cooked us an amazing Mushroom Risotto and they shared their bottle of french champagne they got free from their flight with us. We went out for a dance to a random Irish pub with a couple of others from the hostel and i embarrassed dick by whipping out my Irish Dancing skills. There were lots and lots of laughs, we had a great night!!
We left Kat and Roberto in Portland to go to Kat's brother's Ben wedding. and we meet up in a week or so. Next for us is the Calgary Stampede. We are staying with Hugo and Ilse, it will be wonderful to see them again. Then the west coast of U.S with Kat and Robbie.
Love to all, love all of the 'non-news' as you call it!
xo Jordy and Dick
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