Tuesday, 15 July 2025

New York….you go to bed at midnight?!

Whew! What a day! After eating 16 pounds of raw oysters (but after a quick calculation it is only 16 grams of protein!!!) we slept like angels until 6:00 when we were rudely awoken by our early morning wake up call! Off to the air[Orr and security. Only 2 things in life make me seriously nervous….pap smears and airport security. A few serious questions…..where are you going….why are you going there….how much money are you going to spend…..are you telling your husband…..

Made it through security and straight to Wolfgang’s for an early morning Caesar. Delicious and made getting up early totally worth it. Sat through the airplane emergency procedures and then had to listen to the 5 year old beside us for FOUR FUCKING HOURS! Honestly, that kid did not stop talking. At one point I dozed off and she screamed, I then woke up and screamed, “Fuck!” She scared the hell out of me and it was a reactionary yell on my part. I was proud of myself for not hitting her. Made it to JFK and had to go outside and wait for our car. Honestly, it was 87 degrees outside. The hottest 87 degrees I’ve sat through without a margarita in my hand! Smoking hot. Then the WORST TRAFFIC EVER! Holy, we drove 35 kilometres and it took us an hour and a half, with a driver that spoke 18 words of English and 4 of those words were, “I don’t speak English”. 

Anyway, we had the best supper (thank you Margaret M. For the recommendation!) and had our tarot cards read! Save that story for another day. Went to Times Square and it was pretty quiet….. 

Off to bed, big day tomorrow…..

New York….start spread spreading the news, I’m leaving today….🎢🎢🎢

Not quite New York, but the downtown streets of Calgary post stampede are close….

So guys, Jen and I are on a weekend parole, and we have been allowed a hall pass to New York. Yep, the boys didn’t want to come with us so here we are  spreading our wings again in New York. We have both had the opportunity to visit before (Momsie, your ears should be ringing in heaven!) so this time no touristy shit…..only good food, good shopping, good shows and Rod Fucking Stewart…

Full disclosure, this was supposed to be a Billy Joel concert but he was diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydro-Cephalus so he cancelled. Now, it is not fatal. So I will talk alot of shit. He is expected to recover fully so….that mother fucker. He is on my bucket list. 

After a quick consult with my co-traveller, we decided, “Fuck it”, we are still going.

SO BUCKLE UP NEW YORK HERE WE COME!

Friday, 4 July 2025

History Lesson


So this is not my usual blog, this is a history lesson. Full disclosure, I read this story in The David Thompson Highway Hiking Guidebook so i'm taking it as gospel. But, to be honest, it does rate Vision Quest hike as a "steady climb"and my description would be "incredibly steep climb where you will question your existence" so maybe you be the judge.

In 1811 Alexander Henry, a fur trader in Rocky was going to escort fur traders from Rocky to Howse pass but in order to make the trip they had to go through Peigan territory. The Peigan were were intensifying their blockade of the fur traders' direct trade with the Kooteney. The Peigan were afraid, justifiably, that the traitors would arm the Kooteney, thereby making them more formidable enemies. When Alexander Henry left Rocky, he told the Peigan he was headed downstream, and he headed that way initially and then doubled back and headed upstream.
The travellers and dogs, that made the trip, depended on food, left by hunters that were stored in caches as they carried little to no food themselves. If the caches had been "penetrated" or hunters were unsuccessful then there would be no food for the travelers. The snow was deep, so men ran ahead on snow shoes to break trail for the dogs. One man fell in the river, and on another occasion a dog team fell through the ice. One hunter had to be left behind due to swollen knees.

There is stories of abuse, Henry wrote "I awoke my men to prepare for departure, but as they have not slept for more than two hours, fatigue was still heavy upon them. Their emotions were therefore slow; but what grieved them most was having nothing to eat before starting. This made them surly; they first quarrelled among themselves, and then gave full vent to their ill humour upon the poor dogs, which they beat most cruelly" So complete side note - those fuckers. I don't care what your situation is, that is terrible. Suddenly I am hoping for bad weather, broken bones and them getting caught. I can only hope they are reading my blog....in hell! Okay, back to the story...

They were successful with their fur trading with the Kooteney. Now to put this entire story in context, this trip happened in the middle of February when temperatures were well below zero, the distance travelled was 600 km in 11 days, with an average of 55 km per day traveled. The last day of the trip they were camped at Shunda Creek (for those of you who don't know, that's Saunders) the party left at 2 AM and arrived in Rocky at 2:30 PM on the last day which was freezing cold. They travelled 80 km that day alone....ON FOOT!!!

I bitch when there is a slight wind chill and I have to leave the house and get firewood. Ryan and I drove in the motorhome to Preachers yesterday and we were complain about the wind.... We discovered we are running low on toilet paper and we are panicking. I am concerned about the amount of ice in my cooler and whether it will keep our beer and wine at optimal temperature. I have to remember to take our steak out early and season them. We are excited about the great radio station we found. We are spending the day playing bean bags and having (hopefully) well chilled beer. We truly have no idea of the great life we lead. This story (minus the animal abuse)is such an incredible story. 



But to end on a positive note, there is no animal abuse on our watch. Riggs just finished his 3 course breakfast after sleeping on the leather couch for the night. Ryan got up at 2:00am, not to start a journey,but to take the dogs out for a pee. Turk is living his best life -chasing birds and hounding Ryan to get him treats. Turks biggest complaint is the allergies he suffers from and his super short haircut! Today is a great day. 
And much love to my Bestest Friends who are not having the best day. Ladies, love you so much and you are the most amazing women I know. I’m lucky to have you in my life. πŸ’œ



Thursday, 2 January 2025

January 2

Wrapping up the holiday. What a great vacation. So many laughs, no tears that I aware of. Wonderful weather and met very nice people (Except you Saskatchewan, you know who you are). So here is Mexico by numbers: 
- 4287 kms from Strachan (I know this because this is how far I am from Riggs’s air tag)
- 822 ice cubes made and consumed
- 166 bottles of beer bought at the grocery store (and consumed)
- 60 showers
- 42 eggs consumed for breakfast
- 38 stairs to the roof deck (climbed 6 bloody times a day!)
- 22 kgs of limes
- 22 rolls of toilet paper used (yep, true story)
- 20 loads of laundry completed 
- 12 sleeps
- 8 raccoons seen (none by me)
- 6 turtles seen (none by me)
- 5 five gallon litres of water consumed
- 5 barracuda’s. 1 black finned tuna, 2 red snappers, 1 Amberjack caught
- 4 cenotes swam in
- 4 bags of nachos and 3 jars of salsa consumed
- 2 lbs of cheese consumed (1.8 lbs consumed by Darian alone)
- 2 40’s of scotch, 2 40’s of whiskey, 2 26’s of gin, 1 40 of Smirnoff consumed
- 2 broken shot glasses
- roughly $258,874 pesos spent supporting the Mexican economy
- 1 very memorable holiday!

Thanks Darian, Mike, Dekker, Suzie and, of course, Big Daddy, Ryan. Thanks for a wonderful trip!