How to tag a dogger

As I arrived on the cusp of ski season just in time to watch the snow line creep down the mountians I have come across the term "tuque and dogger. While reasearching the meaning of this word i have found:

Tuque

-noun

a heavy stocking cap worn in Canada - origin 1870-75

Dog

-noun

a domesticated canid....I found many defininitions for this word and was amused the most by this one -a dispicable man or youth.....lol - orgin bef. 1050; ME dogge, OE docga

However this noun changes form into a verb when paired with an object ....I guess like a Tuque.

Tuque and Dogger

-verb

a heavy cap wearing individual who rolls into town primarily to ski with there dog in Canada

origin - Revelstoke locals 21 Century

This has described my whole family!

I picture this person to be a mid twenty's male, who lives by the seat of his pants with a jovial attitude of this life could lead to anything as the road is wide open. Except here he has a ozzie accent a smile to kill and the charm right from the leprechaun himself, somewhat the resemblance of my hubby minus the accent. ( and about 13 yrs younger )

I find myself at the bottom of RMR gondie watching my sweet little boy go on his first ride up the mountain....as I am in my biggest puffy winter coat adorned with my tuque holding a squirmy 15mo baby who is crying NOOOO dad ( as I am sure she thought he was forgetting her) just a picture of pure mommyism.

I am waving like a total freak would at the passing gondie when I realize.........I am getting a big wave right back. I totally freeze and feel my face heat up as I am now aware that I am being watched . As this being approaches with his charming smile giving me back a huge wave he asks me..................

"you must be the welcoming paaaarty?" in this off the grid ozzie accent. I stammer some sort of response of how it is my sons first ride bla bla blaaaaa, he interrupts to ask if I am going to get a drink to wait.........

I look at my baby and said "well.....umm no I have my baby with me?????? wtf...........

"next time then" was his response.

Next time....next time.......could the universe is telling me something? Could this be a glance at what my next life holds for me?

Back to reality and with a little ego boost, I am sharing my how I tag a dogger story with my most handsome other, but he doesn't seem to have the same reaction as me. You would think that he would be totally impressed that I was HIS wife.....instead i got this blank stare of....what? really? hemmmf!

As I secretly smile to myself and my new found fame of being a mom and I think to myself............wow I just tagged my first dogger.

(well maybe my second as I tagged my first 13 yrs ago)

Rollin into Revy

Writing this post has let me ponder the pictures I have taken and the road has been travelled. I remember wondering if Revelstoke was going to be where we stay and lay our bone for the winter or will this well travelled road lead us closer to the coast. Either way Golden is history and a distant memory and we are on route to Revelstoke.





Following the ole familiar uhaul that is leading us up mountains over glaciers and through tunnels rollin right into Revy. with grey skies over us the landscape show us deep shades of luscious green that is the most welcoming and rain forest like. The mighty pillars of this community is adorned with life like sculptures of the mighty grizzly which also welcome you to the town core. We GPS'ed our accommodations and found the lamplighter campground and were turned away due to no vacancies.

We were sent down the road a little further west on the Trans 1. Our first impression of high cliffs adorned with green foliage with mountain stone speckled throughout. Once we made pleasantries with the owner ( a fellow Ontarian actually a Hamiltonian) by pleasantries i mean a question and answer period as most people want to know about the folks with the two kids and uhaul. our who we are banter we had down pat and this time around it was quite fruitful.

our view from our campground

Our little lady getting in and out on her own now.....geeesh

Just so happens that this friendly stranger has many connections in Rev...one being her son, who hooked us with an apartment in town, work contacts....all within 4 hrs. We had a roof over our heads and employment and we were taking our trailer down as fast as we put it up.(thank goodness as it rained for the first 2-3 weeks)

This amazing feeling of being in the right place at the right time was present as well as our first of many rainbows, double rainbows at that. Writing this now as I am thinking back, the pattern for good things happening to this family upon a rainbow sighting is a pattern. Is Revelstoke for us.........I think so!

local pub! Which was our first stop here, and a place where Caleb loves to go as he gets to say Idiot.

Lovely outdoor area fenced with old ski's.

Such a quaint small town where Caleb's school is actually called Mountain View. We are tucked right between two ranges of the Monashee and the Selkirk. I love answering the question of "how close are the Mountains?" As they are in arms reach, I welcome the small drifts of clouds that join me throughout the day as I wonder around the town. We have only been here for a small amount of time our days have turned into weeks so fast and it feels good. As I have been enjoying my time with the kids, our time has been filled quickly with new friends, playdates, coffee chats, hot spring outings with new friends and evening out with great food and good drinks in the company of wonderful people. Even though it seems to a smooth start in Rev my thoughts float back to Huntsville often in the last few days. There is a price to live in these pristine conditions and you pay in realistate.....lol Our humble abode (meaning tiny apartment) is the feeling of old days of college but this time doing it with our kids and dog and cat. Which makes a backyard like our only more desirable to be in.

Our backyard has my handsome hubby on Mt. McPherson for the last few weekends mountain biking with some play hard types. The ones who enjoy that burn in the thigh and driving and chucking themselves up trails over trees and handle bars just for the thrill of going down....fast! The biking hazards can get severe as I have seen a smashed shins that have bruising all the way around. the sense of security came for Caleb this past weekend as his ski pass was ready and he got his picture taken with the standard thumbs up pose. The first looks as we walk out the back door each morning is to measure by eye how much snow is lieing atop Mt. Begbie and how far the line comes down.

In a community of kindness, happiness and peace it is not uncommon for strangers to smile at one another and say good day or soon to be giday...as the ozzies are coming as fast as the snowline appears. our friendly little man fits right in as his song is heard every morning while riding our bikes to school. And bless his honest little soul as I try to convince him to lock up his bike for safety. I look around and don't see a bike that has been locked. Could this be the perfect community where the patrons of this town rely on honesty as the best policy. In the mind of a 6 yr old his response to me is......."

I will just leave my helmet on the my bike, then someone will know it belongs to someone else"

Down town Market day!

The logic that this one old soul has showed me is what true kindness he is made of. We saw another rainbow today........more good things to come for this family:)

the Columbia river Sept 25 2010 most beautiful day for the new moon festival

Love this sign

A trip to Revelstoke Nat. Park a long and zigzaggy road....beautiful views!

A picture of a picture of Mt Revelstoke....lol

mmmmmm Local dry cider.

We saw the salmon run here in this creek.

Sephora walking in her new rain coat....she just loves it!

My sweet little man

This is our neighbour at the back of our apartment,
she does all her own gardening and landscaping and gave us some wine grapes....Caleb looks so thrilled until he tasted them....which we held off until we were down the road, as we knew his response would be of the dramatic sort....lol

RMR gondie, this picture was taken in October, it now shows lots of snow here....just waiting for opening day:)

Here AGAIN is Mt Begbie, one of mt favorite pictures with our Country's flag

Side note: The time between writing this blog and posting this blog has been about a month and lots new things have come our way.......first off on a not so good note ...Caleb's bike did get stolen from school hard lesson there, it was also returned to the school bent and broken.....grrrrr

Ending on a high note we bought a small abode to call our own....a good start to our new lives here and we move in Dec 1st........and I will try to keep my blogs closer together as it is hard to remember everything as time passes so fast..........and the holidays are around the corner.

Andrea

banff to golden

The closer we get the bigger they are...............

Leaving the flatlands behind and with the Rocky's in view the anticipation of reaching our final destination was at large. The infinite boundless range that is growing larger with every kilo we drive has left me speechless through the drive. It was a blessed ethereal feeling, one like none other that I have ever felt. An overwhelming load of what my eyes can take in while driving into and through the Rocky's was amazing and to enjoy it in silence. My favorite part of these particular pictures is that my eye starts at the blue tint of the peaks then is drawn down to our uhaul driving right towards them.

Yes! I did say that my admiration of this fragment of the drive was in silence, both kiddies were asleep. Caleb was exhausted from his couple of days of pure kid fun in the drum, he was wiped.





Approaching Banff at the end of along weekend we were defiantly going in the right direction, as the other way was bumper to bumper for hours. Stopping at the park entrance booths awaiting our turn to answer " No ticket needed today, we are moving to BC" The smiling ticket man was happy to wave us through to the "new world" of the Canadian Alps........




We took our time and stopped in the village of Banff and found a park to stretch our legs ad take these beautiful photos. The closest I have been to mountains other then holding a picture and fantasizing that this day will come........as the boys run around, charlie and I take up a piece of green to chill and enjoy this moment. The pooch and I did some catching up, snuggling, which is the obvious invite to lay right on me:) Our animal family members are stellar and just doing so well!

As the weeins slip back into slumber and the rain has joined us for the drive I settle in on what I am told is the treacherous part of the of the drive. This is where the white knuckling starts, maybe the sweats will arrive. So the pit of stomach tells me to get going already. BUT I still managed to take the needed welcome sign photo op. And still debating if a camera would be considered a hand held device and frowned upon to use while driving. ( which is another picture I deleted by accident)

Rolling on through driving between the Rocky's and the Columbia Mountain Range requesting that the walkie talkies be used at a minimum as I wanted total concentration in hitting these hills, dips, valley's with all I got. Preparing for tunnels, gearing down with accuracy and becoming more confident with each tire round, I hear some tussling around.

"MOM".......... he's awake....lol "Look how close we are to the mountains, the closer we get to the snowy mountains the bigger they get" Yes hunny we are almost there!

Nearing our day of driving we need to make one last descend into Golden, it was called something like the 20 kilo descend. Geeze this hill went forever, we even found our hotel before we hit the bottom. The above picture was from our balcony in Golden.

At this time I want to thank everyone for the good thoughts, prayers of safety as we could feel them upon us like bubble wrap. We had a smooth road to Golden town. I had this idea to keep very open to bad luck, waiting for it to show it's face. But was very happy that we did not have to meet. I want to thank those who scared the begeezers out of me about the risky, scary, nail biting drive! I expected the worst and got the better! Happy to rest our bones and mind with some food and good cheer as we are here!

The wanting of food helped get the kids back in the car to scope out the town and get our first dining experience under our belts. Picking a local establishment that had good food paired with food drink and that much needed shot of tequila. A pretty trendy eatery with a bar turned us away.......No kids allowed....pfft, really it like only 5:30 no where near the time where we may meet a messy bar patron....but Ya NO KIDS. We moved along to a grizzly pub that was able to accommodate our baggage.

A little dishearten by our first dining experience, we will sleep on it and start fresh in the morning. Starting our day with our tag along coffee maker perking it's heart out, lounging with the fam and planning our day of exploring the mountain town of Golden. We head to the Info Centre that was brand spankin new and happy to hand out an abundance of brochures on local fare.

Finding a lovely bridge over the kicking horse river, a river you can see the beautiful clean green-blue water...amazing! It is nice being able to see in person what I have been researching
and the familiar sights coming to life. Picking a deli for lunch which is detrimental to our survival in any town, well for this family anyways, we walked into a authentic deli. I really mean authentic, like right out of NYC baby. The busy front counter of patrons ordering the line up growing out the door, the pastries making there way into our senses it was all very intoxicating, until we were brought back to reality by a quite annoyed abrupt counter gal who was clearly not happy to serve us. Short with her answer, barbaric in her expressions and just pissed off we showed up to order food. Anyone with hungry kids will know, I cannot possibly leave this restaurant for another....AGAIN

So I ordered as fast as I could and after being shot down with curt answers, I dare not ask anymore. In the pictures below you will see two happy kids eating and papa was so agitated by this young lady he could not possibly order food as their sandwich's were premade ALL with mayo. Except for the ones she made for other more familiar customers while we were sitting right there.

oopsy I deleted a photo of our little dude eating a sausage roll :(

Soooo our next stop is another restaurant or some take out....poor guy! At this point Jeff was ready to hit the road to Rev......Golden was not so golden and our sparkly shade of emerald green turned to a shade of black and quick. These mishaps could of happened anywhere, however we as a family never got that feeling that Golden was for us. We gave it an extra day to drive around but nope just not for us.

A variety of hot sauce........seems to be big deal in these parts

A well developed Ski Resort of ten years couldn't of even changed our minds.

We woke the next day bright and early and relieved for the comfort of the open road that we have grown to love.

Andrea

good-bye moose jaw....hello Drumheller

Rolling into Moose Jaw at about 9pm on the longest day ever was......blissful. Again taking direction from my electronic inner voice of the GPS. The kids getting tired, hungry and ready to stretch their legs. I took direction and left hwy 1 at the first exit and entered "the jaw" with it hitting past dusk in unfamiliar surroundings, I am sensing the same feeling as Sudbury and this inner voice has led us AGAIN to a less desirable part of town. Sure the GPS route is a easy thoughtless process leading you into any neighbourhood and I do mean the "hood" Silence was broken by a very observant 6yr old dramatically declaring that he hopes he doesn't die here!

Great! Now I am tired and grumpy and wondering what the heck are we doing! As Jeff pulled up puzzled, I handed the GPS to him and said I am done for the day......your turn!



Taking the hint, hubby found a wonderful hotel "suite" with a cozy bed comfy pillows...I am sure he exceeded our agreed upon amount for nightly accommodations. Now having done a big stint of driving is it worth it to stretch your days to achieve maximum KPH to get a good lead on your travels.........I'd say NO! As the double thick curtains were closed, we slept through the night and good part of the morning, we are no further ahead then if we would of stopped early and started early. But the acconidations rocked!



Hitting the Alberta boarder was exciting, knowing that we were going to be in the company of an old friend this afternoon held our spirits high! But where are the mountains?

The hello sign came and went and there was still no sign of mountain to be seen, just large vast Fields of crops that meets the horizon. Now I get it! This is why people say the prairies are soooo long they go right into Alberta. I guess I was naive to assume that crop lands stop right at the welcome sign and the majestic mountains would be there to greet us....if you stop and listen I am sure you can still hear Jeff laughing....at me!



Our destination for the day is Drumheller Dino capital of the world in Alberta. This day will be a slice as the wonderful hospitality of an old friend who has arranged our campsite for us at a great park.....on a long weekend. Again, the effect of the No plan, plan could of been detrimental to our travels...phew Thanks Terrina!

We kept driving and wondering just where would people go camping here? We then descended into the deep canyon lands of Drumheller.....this phenomenal wonder that mother nature has created in the middle of farm land is truly something to see and as mentioned before also the Dino capital. The worlds largest dino lives here, you get to climb up the dino and look out his mouth at the town of Drumheller. For a small fee of course....lol

Yes he is that big, that is Caleb and I on the foot of the Dino! We couldn't even get the head in the picture.....lol

The family who owned the campground housed lots of bunnies, wabbits and cottontails. This little one was the size of a 1/2 of a cob of corn. It was hours of fun for Sephora walking and chatting with her new little friends. Caleb on the other hand was gone as soon as his bike came off the trailer. After setting boundaries and gearing up the walkie talkies he was off with the local campground kids, hunting wabbits.




Happy to be out of the car and camping even if it was raining!

Whoever says 1 yr old can't camp have not met mine! Both of our kids love the outdoors and love to cuddle up at night in the trailer, boys on one side girls on the other.

The Hoodoos


I had not even heard of the hoodoos before arriving in Alberta. We almost didn't make it to see them as It was a last minute decision to meet up with Terrina before she left town. It was the most spectacular land formation, especially that we found it in the prairies. Enjoy the pics!

The fam:)

There was a stone path that led you through the formations.

It was very mucky from the rain, about 3inches of muck in my

boots, but fun none the less.

Terrina and me :)















Eager to get on the road we left Drumheller a day early as we were wanting to get past the boarder into BC. In the distance at the horizon line you can see the mountains forming....I know they look like pointy clouds with a silver lining, I was reassured they are mountains followed by another chuckle.

I have pretty much mastered my picture taking out the window technique but will be happy to be able to relax and enjoy the outdoors once we arrive in golden with my clicker!

I am leaving the next set of pix for my next blog as this one has taken me sooo long to produce.

Hope you enjoyed it

Andrea