Back

I suppose I owe you all a bit of an explanation (and one hundred thousand photos) but instead I trust you all understand the cause of my absence and aren’t to hard on me for it. Life in the UK has totally taken control and over ruled my online life and I’ve been okay with that BUT I’m taking steps to re introduce myself to this life once again.

I have loads of stories to tell , pictures to post and thoughts to share and I can’t wait to get started again. I’ve missed you, and hopefully you’ve missed me too.

Eilean Donan

On our way up to the Isle of Skye we stopped and visited one of Scotlands most picturesque castles, Eilean Donan. The weather was grim, but it was great for photo taking and exploring the bay. I even found a pretty Scotch thistle to complete the photos!

In other news, sorry for my vacancy these days, but life has been so filled with excitement that it’s been hard to find the time and words to display here for you. I promise to catch myself up in the next few so just hang tight!

From Glasgow

A few fresh shots of my first couple of hours spent here on UK soil. I haven’t slept in about 30 hours, but staying awake a little bit longer to enjoy this beautifully sunny and HOT Scottish day was 100% worth it :D

I am growing incredibly fond of the Scottish accent and bagpipes already :3

Cross Country Kitten

I promise to get fully back into this blogging business in the days to come, but right now my priority has been having no priorities and that has been an amazing spot to be in.

Since our last adventure up to Waskesiu we have packed up our lives (and cat) and driven half way across the country back to the west coast to spend our final few weeks here in BC before taking off to Scotland. If you know me you know that my favourite thing in the world is long drives. I can patiently sit and happily stare out at the views for days on end and be as content as can be. I do admit that the first stretch there through the prairies was quite a challenging one, with the vast flatness and nothing much more, but I did enjoy it to it’s fullest and am really thankful to have gotten to make that trek at least once more in my life.

As we left Saskatchewan behind happily saying goodbye to it from the rear view mirror, and as the mountains slowly rose in the distance I could swear I could already taste the salty ocean breeze.

Waskesiu

^{Our private beach front campsite in Waskesiu}

Last weekend Andrew and I were in need of a vacation from the city. With our big trip coming up in a months time everything seems to be ticking away so slowly yet, the speed of things is still pushing/pulling us down quite rapidly. We decided on taking a very random little vacation and that evening we headed north. After a night spent in Saskatoon with friends what we came up with was that we would head to Waskesiu Lake (was-ka-soo) !

Waskesiu is located in Prince Albert National Park, about a 3 hours drive north of Saskatoon in the central part of the province. The park is one of the first established National Parks in Canada and was once used as an early trading post for the Hudson Bay Company. It now doubles as a popular summer destination for hikers, fisherman, beachgoers, back country campers, wildlife watchers…..and thrill seekers of all kinds. We loved it there and because we sought out our own private camping spot on the opposite side of the lake than the town, we definitely got to experience a small taste of everything the park has to offer!

<sup>We picked up a rental car from Hertz and away we went!


This is what much of the drive looked like as I’m sure you could imagine :p


We grabbed from Saskatoon berry waffles just to be all patriotic about the province or something, they were super yummy!



After another 3 hours of driving we made it to the town of Waskesiu, the place could ALMOSt pass for being in BC if it weren’t for the mass amounts of bizzaro bugs!



After a bit of exploring we ventured around to the opposite side of the lake to set up camp


A pelican wandered by to say hi, A PELICAN!









Those last two images mean camping to me!</sup>

I was serenaded by banjo sounds as the sun went down, and we stayed up until 2 staring at the flames of the fire and feeling it’s warmth. The horizon didn’t get much darker than it is pictured in those last two photos, and I was really hoping to be able to see some aurora borealis but it didn’t happen. I did however get my fair share of horrible big bites that didn’t stop itching until yesterday, but that’s central Canada for you.

If you ever find yourself stuck in Saskatchewan with no Idea of what to do then I would definitely suggest heading North. I wish we had had more time up there, but I guess there is always the option to return if I ever so choose…. but that’s something only time will tell.

BOOM

To anyone who’s ever said to me “I wish I had your big curly hair’ (before I dreaded it of course) still wishing?

This is what manifests when I un-braid and unpin my bangs that I keep on lockdown most of the time. It’s actually like a bomb goes off on my head! Prior to dreadlocks I had to live with and ENTIRE head of this for my entire life, I just wanted to share that bit of insight with you :p
Of course if I were to have not have straightened it a week ago and then combed it out with my fingers a bunch the curls would be a lot more defined, but that’s often not the reality of it at all haha!

Pack the cat and go!

Well, now that the adrenalin is good and gone and I’m sitting here all wired I might as well make something out of what I just experienced.
Now, I know that systems like this probably happen quite often out here, be that maybe not with quite so many severe thunder/lightning/tornado/flood warnings all at the same time. But I am a west coast girl, and even thought I’ve spent some time watching adrenalin junkie shows like Storm Chasers (there were actually a bunch of storm chaser/watcher duded here with camera crews today) I can’t say I ever figured I’d experience something like this myself.

I won’t step around it, I was scared shitless. I was running around like a stressed chicken at the slaughter, back and forth to every window trying to see if any tornadoes were coming and I was pretty sure that it was happening since two already had touched down in my area today. To my knowledge now none did touch down within city limits…but then again I still have to check the news for that one. Everything was happening so fast, all of the clouds were moving at like light speed and the lightning was directly overhead for over an hour. The rain came and it was more intense then anything I’ve ever seen before – That coming from a girl who grew up in a rain forest…. By about mid point I was positive this was happening and so really not know what to do I packed myself a ‘survival kit’ grabbed my cat and headed to the basement.

I’ll save you another paragraph of ramblings and just say that everything is fine now. My basement has flooded a bit in the corner and my shed out back looks like it has been kicked in but that’s it. My poor kitten somehow cut his nose as he was frantically pacing the living room but he will be alright. After the storm is when it all get really interesting. We were graced with an entire sky full of Mammatus Clouds! Soooooo cool, I’ve never seen anything like them in my life (aside from pictures) and they really are amazing. I actually felt like I was in super Mario or something! Pictures can’t do justice but I’ll try.

Anyways, last paragraph. I’d like to show you what, in my adrenalin/fear rush I so whole headedly packed into my ‘survival kit’ haha. I think for my first ‘emergency’ situation I did pretty good, but I’ll let you decided for yourself :p
Pretty good for a first timer hey? I was going to grab my pack of rice cakes to cover the food department but it just didn’t seem thaaaat important. Please leave your comments and tell me how I did/make fun of me all you want BUT FIRST check out some more pics and the clouds! For me they put a whole new meaning to ‘the calm after the storm’ :)

My crazy neighbor was out there in just his shorts and an umbrella, no idea what that was about. Oh and I know what you’re thinking. Yes, tho I packed a pretty spectacular survival kit I was clad in only a leopard print mini…. But in my defense I strapped on the converse faster then any of you have in your life AND you would be wearing the same thing if it were like 40 degrees where you live. Anyway that’s enough of me, have a good night!

*p.s. so no one else is confused, yes I know everything that actually should be in a survival kit, this is more just a laugh :p (those that know, know)