Kara and Julie Adventure to CANADA!!

Here are the pictures from Canada that I promised you a while ago. Better late than never? Yes.

So! Now it's time to adventure back to Canada with me and Kara! Here's what we did:


We left Berwick very early on 31 January. Like, really early. Stopped a few times for bathrooms, food, unsuccessful trips to the bank aanndddd.... NIAGARA FALLS!!!










A "Defunct for the Winter' Amusement Park!!! Martin's Fantasy Island, to be exact. Western New York's favorite and most affordable family theme park! Who knew?!





We had no idea where we were going, we just followed signs for The Falls until we hit this parking lot:




We ended up not parking there, because it was like, $10. But, we parked right across the street for $5. Of course, it was like the coldest day ever in the history of upstate New York, so that extra few feet across the street was painful. But, worth the $5 savings.


But then BAM -





Snowy Niagara Falls!




Picture where Kara fell asleep real quick. Too much excitement!

We looked at the picture and I was laughing so hard, and we took another photo:





We finally got it together. This is a nice one, actually.








I like that last one too. 'Oh, sister my sister.' 'Sing to me of the man, Sister...' 'It was the best of sister, it was the worst of sister.' 'Thank God Sister got that job at the bank!'

And that was the segment of the entry where I take well-known first lines of books (and a poem) and replace them with the word 'sister.' (that last one was for Maria. i hope she's reading.) Blog points if you can name the books/poem the lines come from!


And then the next day, we woke up early and took the airport shuttle to the Toronto Pearson International Airport for our flight across the country! We ended up in Vancouver, where we found the "super small plane" gate, and took a super small plane over to Vancouver Island!






Plane shots! To quote the lady sitting behind me on the plane, "This is no better than flying in a tin can!" True that. The scariest part was actually just sitting in the plane. Once we got in the air, it wasn't so bad. There were like, maybe 25 seats total. It was crazy.

So then we landed and saw MY DAD!!!!! Who we hadn't seen in over 5 months!!! That was the longest I had ever gone without seeing him. It was a very fun reunion which immediately included a trip to the nearest Tim Hortons. The reunion with my Canadian Gram and Aunt and Uncle was also awesome and SUPER FUN. We hadn't seen them in like.... 5 years? Or some outrageous amount of time that should never happen again.

Kara and I slept good that night. We were tired. And we had the most comfy bed ever to sleep in.

The next day, Kara and I decided we were going to TAKE ON THE DAY and adventure out on an enjoyable walk. There is something called the 'Courtenay Riverwalk' that is about 5 minutes from my dad's house and it's a nice path along the river that stretches for a number of kilometers. It is described on the website for British Columbia as, "a lively promenade for walkers, joggers and people-watchers."

These next photos showcase the glory and wonderment that is the Courtenay Riverwalk.





This is the Courtenay Airpark, which is where tiny planes fly in and out of. It's very fun to sit on a bench along the riverwalk and have a tiny plane land like, 50 feet from you. Trust me.





Ya know, snow-capped mountains. Like, right in your town.





American HOTTIES on the Riverwalk!










Yep, we're adorable.





Canadian pride on the Riverwalk!!! Who wouldn't be proud to be a Canadian?!?!





Dad's Cookies in the grocery store! This has a story:

So, when my American family was up in December celebrating my Grammy's 98th birthday she kept mentioning this company, Dad's Cookies, that used to be at the end of Princeton Street in Somerville,MA, where my mom grew up. And nobody had ever heard of Dad's Cookies before, and for some reason she kept bringing it up. This location of Dad's Cookies was confirmed by some of my aunts. So imagine mine and Kara's amazement when we found Dad's Cookies in a Canadian grocery. AMAZEMENT.


That Saturday, our Aunt Liza took Kara and I to Hornby Island, which you have to get to by ferry, by way of Denman Island. We drove the car onto the ferry, then drove off onto Denman Island, then had to drive across that island to the next ferry point, and then drove onto the final ferry over to Hornby.

While on the Denman Island ferry we encountered a hitchhiker hippie. Ya know, like you sometimes do. Her name was Raje... or something like that. She said her real name was something like, Susan or Nancy, but the name 'Raje' was given to her while she was in India at age 21. Yep. She was basically a Hampshire College student. And she had lived on Hornby Island for like, 25 years or something. Crazy island folk. Anyways, she hitched a ride with us while we drove across Denman Island to the other ferry point. And then we dropped her off at her house once we got onto Hornby. Nice lady. And the first time I had experienced picking up a hitchhiker. Canadians are so freaking nice.


Then! We went to a beach!!








There was lots of driftwood.






And cool rocks!






We walked up a secret path we found leading away from the beach and ended up at this Isla Taco place!!! Who knew?! It was closed for the season, which was a bummer.





And right next to it was this creepy little graffiti hut! An island bathroom, perhaps?


While on the island, we were on a fossil mission. We wanted to find some hardcore, awesome fossils and pretend like we were fossil hunters. So, with information given to us from Raje the hitchhiker, we found the best place on the island to fossil hunt. (Hornby Island is kinda famous for its neat fossils.)

Lucky for us, it was this other gorgeous beach with beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background.








We found some maybe-fossils that day. We had this great rock smasher tool that we used. You may not know this, but it feels great to smash a rock into tiny pieces.


After our rock-smashing adventure, we headed back to the ferry dock to catch the boat back.









What a great day we had!! It was super fun having a girls day with Liza, who is totally awesome.


We arrived back at my dad's house to the horrible news that our grandmother had passed away. So, we unexpectedly had to take a flight out the next morning.




TINY PLANE to get off of Vancouver Island!!! Not much bigger than a person, as you can see here.






But - how awesome - we could see right into the cockpit!!! It RULED. I want to be a pilot. It was super foggy the whole way to Vancouver. Kinda scary, especially knowing you're around all these giant mountains. But, we made it!!!

We had like, maybe a 2 hour wait in Vancouver before we flew back east to Toronto. From Toronto, we called the hotel shuttle and this darling man came to pick us up. He was the best. I might have already mentioned how awesome he was. But, he was seriously the best.

It was like, 11pm by the time we got back to the hotel, but we knew the Denny's is open 24-hours, so we drove over. The waitress remembered us from when we were there the week before :) It was nice. Like, coming home! We had delicious Denny's food! Yumm.

Then we headed back to the hotel, slept like princesses, and woke up semi-early the next morning to take on the long drive back to Maine. It was a looonnngggg drive back. Or, at least it seemed that way. But, we didn't hit any rush hour traffic through Albany, which we were semi-worried about. Smooth sailing all the way home!

So, that was our beautiful, awesome trip to Canada! Everyone should be Canadian, because it rules.

Hope you enjoyed taking a mini-blog-vacay with me! Let's do it again soon!!

I will be blogging again soon with MORE PICTURES, STORIES, AND EXCITING TIMES. As always, duh!

Have a great Friday!!! What's with this nice weather?! Enjoy!!!!

like fuel on a fire

1. My birthday was Friday. 25 on the 25.
+
2. River City Extension was yesterday.
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3. Academy Awards are tonight.
=
Julie's Ultimate Birthday Weekend


Last night was so fun. The band was playing at The Space, down in good ol' Hamden, CT. This was the third time I had been to this venue. It's so great. If I lived closer, I would definitely hang out. Although, I would spend way too much money on trinkets found in the vintage store.

It was great seeing everyone! Wonderful people like Holden and Ben Silver and Jo! And all the fabulous people that make up River City Extension. It had been way too long since seeing them. Like, unacceptably long.

And MAN they killed it. It was a crazy good show. I have pictures and videos that I'll post soon. Like maybe tomorrow. They played a great set. Like, A GREAT SET.

And then - we all went to a diner. "We all" meaning, us and the band. Um, yeah. Ya know. Cause sometimes you go to diners with awesome bands. Yeah, that happened in real life. IRL.

It was a classic night that was made of awesome. Followed by a terrible, horrible, awful, did i mention terrible, drive home in a snow storm. I thought I was going to die. But, more on that later.

Oscars tonight!! I'm rooting for Michelle Williams and Jesse Eisenberg!! Neither of whom will probably win. Also - CHRISTIAN BALE. If he doesn't win - I'm going to be angry. That should be one of the very first awards of the night.

Ok! Have fun at your Oscar parties! I won't be dressing up this year. Definitely going to pajama it up for the event. I'm exhausted today.

Have a great end to your weekend! I'll be in touch soon. With PICTURES. :)!


∞

'keep the love and burn the rest'

Oh, friends. It's been way too long. A lot has happened since we last talked. I have some pictures from our trip to Canada that I want to post, but I'll do that at a later time. I'm tired now, but I've got a few free minutes to blog. And, I've been thinking about this blog entry for a while, so I want to get something out there. Also, I miss you!!

So, Kara and I went to Canada! I last updated from the airport in Vancouver. That seems like yesterday, but it also seems like a thousand years ago. It's one of those weird feelings about time.

But! Did I mention that we went to Niagara Falls?? If not - WE DID. And we were the only people there! It was crazy. We only had to pay $5 to park in the lot that was like, across the street. It was like this weird ghost town. Kinda seedy looking in the winter, actually. But, we had a lot of photo shoots. Got some good shots!




Like this one!! This is my FAVORITE photo from the whole trip. Kara was just so excited that she fell asleep for a minute! Aww. What a great sister pic! Also - Niagara Falls in wintertime is really beautiful. REALLY cold, but I highly recommend it. It's like, this ice world. That's what it is. This picture was taken on the American side.


After the exciting post from the Vancouver airport, we took this super tiny plane over to Vancouver Island. SUPER TINY. Like, this plane wasn't even six feet across. It was one of those where you walk up to it outside. And the stairs fold up into the plane. There was a lady sitting behind us and just before the plane took off, she said, "oh my god this thing is a tin can!" It was a tiny plane.

But, flying in it wasn't actually as scary as I expected. I picked out some good plane music for flying over beautiful scenery...



'More' - Usher (seriously though, I'm obsessed with this song.)
'I and Love and You' - The Avett Brothers

But seriously guys - LISTEN to that Usher song. It's maybe the best dance song ever. Kara and I heard it on the radio station in Toronto and I said,

JULIE: OMG I just LOVE this Canadian hip hop!!
KARA: Umm...this is Usher...

I had no idea. All I know is that I LOVE that song and I LOVE dancing to it. And I'm also currently loving that song by The Avett Brothers. Check it.

Anyways.

I'll post more pictures from the trip soon. That's a promise. Oh wait! I have one more that I love.

This is me and Kara on the Courtenay Riverwalk, which is a walk along the river that runs near my dad's house. Like, a five minute walk away. There are always tons of people on this walk. We met some pretty awesome kids, actually. They were like, maybe 3 or 4 years old and they came over on tiny bikes and asked,

LITTLE BOY: Have you seen Owen?
JULIE AND KARA: Umm...no I don't think so.
LITTLE BOY: Have you seen Owen? He was riding his bike fast.
JULIE AND KARA: Hmmm....
LITTLE BOY: He was a pirate for Halloween.
JULIE AND KARA: Wow!
LITTLE GIRL: I was a princess!
JULIE AND KARA: You were?!
LITTLE GIRL: Yep!

This conversation actually lasted quite a while. This Owen kid sounds like kind of a big shot in the toddler community. But, they were totally adorable. Then their moms started yelling for them to catch up, so they rode off. It was a lovely encounter.

Anyways, this is a picture from the riverwalk...




American hotties!! We owned that riverwalk for like, three days. It was great.

So, we were supposed to be in Canada for a total of 17 days. However, after five days, we got a call from my mom saying that our grandmother had passed away. She had been sick at the beginning of January, and was kind of up and down ever since. It was like a take it one day at a time, thing. So, it was sad. And we had to come home. We were able to get a flight out the next morning. We flew into Toronto the next night, stayed the night at the hotel we stayed at before, and then drove home the next day.

* May I just say that the hotel shuttle driver from the airport to the hotel was the nicest guy in the whole world. Such a great soul. We loved him. *

So, we arrived home. And then the next week was really hard, really sad. Amazing to see all our family who came up. Some people who I had never met, or hadn't seen in a million years. My cousins Mark and Evan came up, which was fun. We hadn't all been together in... 10 years? (that's a joke.) (not funny unless you're in my family, i guess.) Actually, I don't know how long it had been.

It was really great seeing everyone.

So, that's what happened. I've been home for a while now. It's okay. We're okay.


OTHER THINGS IN MY LIFE:

1. I start a new job tomorrow! Like, TOMORROW!!! Actually, today. I'm excited about it and will post more info as it becomes more in the present and less in the future.

2. Kara and I have become obsessed with the TV show Ghost Adventures. It's on the Travel channel. I HIGHLY recommend this show. We caught it one night and at first thought it would be too scary to watch. Some of them are pretty scary. But, these guys, these ghost hunter guys, are the most awesome people ever.

It's Zak, Nick and Aaron - three dude-bros who live in Las Vegas. Yes, they actually live there. (Nick is actually from New Hampshire!) They're super funny together and take the ghost-hunting very seriously. Zak wears super tight black t-shirts that look like they're about to burst over his muscles. He's kind of built like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Except way more cool and accepting of people. It's a pretty great show. We've watched like, 3.5 seasons on Netflix along with watching most of the new episodes on TV every Friday. And, the stuff they find is pretty cool. Like, spirit voices and sometimes a full-body apparition. Crazy stuff.

3. I am OFFICIALLY a Maine resident once again! I re-registered my car and switched over my license!! And I have the super pretty, 'support local agriculture' license plates!! I was very excited about this. They look great on Morgan. I feel good moving back to Maine. It's a great place. Like, the other night, Kara and I just drove to the beach! Of course, we couldn't get out of the car because it was freezing... but, we were there! And it was beautiful!


So, I think that's all for now. Oh, wait,


4. I'm feeling pretty good about everything in my life right now. Like, pretty good. And, I guess I just wanted to tell you that. Because, it's a good, happy thing.


OK!!! Take care! We'll talk soon - promise!



✭!

YVR

hey you guys!

i'm at the airport in vancouver right now. no, like right now. free wi-fi! it rocks. kara and i are waiting for our tiny plane to bring us over to the island.

flight this morning out of toronto was good. snowy, but good. the flight was very bumpy, but that was okay.

i drank some apple juice. delish.

so now we're just waiting in the airport.

OMG. there's a song called 'Waiting in the Airport' by River City Extension. and now i'm listening to it.

it's PRETTY COOL.

okkk.... that's about it.

i'll talk more later!!!! hope everyone survives the giant snow storm headed for the east. we just missed it!

take care, all!! i will do the same.


✈ ✈ ✈

Updating from a service plaza in upstate new york!!. Exciting, right?.

kara and i left this morning at 6am - trip has officially started!!. I wayyy wayyy WAYYY overpacked, as is the usual.

we rolled into albany just after 10am. We thought we could change american dollars into canadian dollars at the bank on western ave. That's what the lady told me when i called the bank on pearl street to ask if they could change over the money. Nope. But definitely the one on western.

so, we drove there. Nope - they ran out of canadian money last week.

this was like, our third failed attempt to change money over at a bank, so after that we decided to just wait until canada.

anyways, we're back on the road now. Making good time. Deciding whether or not to stop at niagara falls for a minute or two.

i'll send another update along later...maybe from the hotel. Hope everyone is having a great monday!.

Beginning of the week is a great time for an adventure...