Oh, Canada!

I'm sure you remember our run-in with the deer, but I never really told you the end of that story. How, after spending a few hours in the ER and an extra day in Helena to rest and recover our wits, we decided we might as well just pick up right where we left off. And so we rented a car and continued the long drive to the outskirts of Edmonton, Alberta, from whence came my mother-in-law, to hang out with J-P's Canadian family and see some of the Canadian Rockies while we were in the neighborhood.

On the drive up, we kept passing signs for this place, which, between the name and the image of the cliff-diving buffalo, sent me into a fit of giggles sufficient to keep me occupied and J-P annoyed for DOZENS of kilometers.


Now, despite my city-girl ways, I love visiting Canada because J-P's family is more than happy to educate me in the ways of all things Canadian. And I always learn something that just blows my mind. Like the fact that Ski-Doos are an important form of winter-time transportation. (An aside: known as snowmobiles to the rest of us, Ski-Doo is pronounced ska-DOO and can also be used as a verb, as in "Do you Ski-Doo?") Or the fact that J-P's cousin and her kids go hunting in the mornings, and once saw a moose ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY. Or the fact that J-P's uncle has a real, live, functioning, honest-to-goodness horse-drawn sleigh. Or the fact that there's a curling rink in town, no joke.

Just makes you want to pinch Canada's adorable little cheeks, doesn't it?

So when J-P's uncle told us that the rodeo was in town and that he happened to have a few extra tickets, we jumped at the chance to go. J-P had been to the rodeo before, but I never before had the pleasure. (And I should add here that the coolest thing about the cultural exchange between myself and the Canadian family is that they were just as shocked -- SHOCKED!! -- to learn that I had never been the rodeo as I was to learn that even J-P's ten-year-old cousin had been MULTIPLE times.)

Now, lest you think that the rodeo is some low-tech, back-woods affair, make no mistake: this was the Canadian Finals Rodeo, which is Canada-speak for Majorly Hugely Important Serious Rodeo. And such a big-time event requires some big-budget entertainment, starting with fireworks, limos, lightshows, and a grandly-orchestrated introduction.


Once the lights came up and the smoke cleared, it was clear that the place was packed. And that there are many, many people wearing cowboy hats, no irony necessary.


I soon learned how bare-back really got its name:


saw a man tackle a cow:


and watched a woman whip around a barrel in a cloud of dust and rhinestones.


Later that week, after the rodeo had wrapped up, they somehow managed to get rid of all that dirt and return the arena to its usual, ice-covered state, and we got to see the Oilers play on their home ice, up close (real close) and personal:


Look at my cute boy. He was SO. HAPPY.


And, providing further evidence of how adorable Canada is, here's the giant oil rig that the players skate through when they are introduced because, like DUH, what else would you expect the OILERS to skate through?


In between all this big-town excitement, J-P and I got to squeeze in a few days at Banff to see the mountains and get in some hiking.


Skiing was sadly out of the question, but the view (sort of) made up for it.


And all too soon, we were once again U.S.-bound.


Until next time, Canada.

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We are so not talking about Jersey Shore

As you may or may not have figured out by now, we are back in the ol' Jerz: Hello, my name is Melissa, I'm thirty-two years old, and I live with my parents.

Awww yeah.

But we're pretty sure that our current state of housing will not last for too long, as things are very promising for J-P on the employment front here. I don't want to say much more yet, observing all warnings about counting chickens and jinxes and whatnot, except a very quiet and very preliminary yay! More details once the Is are dotted and the Ts crossed, but it's safe to say that if everything works out, this opportunity will keep us in the New York metro area for at least the next year, and probably the next few.

For all those we've seen over the past months of traveling, who tried so valiantly to convince us to settle in Seattle! no, Vancouver! no, Portland! no, Bend! no, Chicago! no, Minneapolis! no, Nashville! no, New Orleans! no, D.C.! all we can say is that we can't tell you how wonderful it is to be wanted by so many of you. We loved so many of the places that we visited and so enjoyed the chance to see those places through the eyes of our friends who live there, that we spent many nights lying in bed and fantasizing about what our lives would be like in this city, or that. We've seriously entertained the idea of living in most of those cities (ok, Minneapolis was never seriously in the running, hello freezing-ass winters), and the realization that all of those alternate realities will not come to pass is, of course, a little bittersweet. On the other hand, having a little more certainty in our lives is definitely a welcome change at this point. And this is hardly the end of the road for us in terms of geography. If we've learned anything over the past few years, it's that we never know where we'll end up or how we'll get there.

And, yes, I know I owe you some more travel pictures and stories, and we'll see about getting around to that. All in due time.

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Travel Snapshot: Day 71 - Day 78

During this stretch we breathed in the salt air on the Oregon coast, sampled the local brews, visited friends in Portland and Bend, Oregon, and wandered around Temple Square in Salt Lake City, just waiting to be exposed for the secular liberal elites that we are.

I'm a sucker for the weathered, nautical look of fishing towns:


A bevy of male sea lions make Newport, Oregon their home for the winter, while their female brethren winter in warmer climes off the California coast:


These suckers may move like ballerinas when they're in water, but they are some ugly, awkward-looking mofos when they're on land:


A few days later, J-P had his new old Mariners' hat co-opted while we were in Portland. But who cares when the kid's got a mug this cute?


We toured the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, where the guide was just a touch too excited about brewing beer, but the Black Butte was delicious:


Finally, we toured around Temple Square at night, where the Christmas lights and Jesus-loving were in full effect:


The little paper-bag luminaria with words in different languages were my favorite. I'm easy to impress.


Best of all was finding one bag with the word "light" in Armenian, which J-P was a able to pick out of the crowd in a heartbeat:


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Travel Snapshot: Day 68 - Day 70

After camping in near-freezing temperatures in the heart of the Olympic National Park, we made our way to the thin strip of parkland along the coast, where the temperatures were much more mild. We hiked to see some crazy rock formations, and some wicked cool marine life in the tidal pools.

At high tide, all of this would be undewater:


Anemone!


Notice the reddish starfish right at the pool's edge in the foreground:


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Travel Snapshot: Day 63 - Day 67

We celebrated J-P's birthday at a dive bar within stumbling distance of our friends' house in Seattle. As it turns out, there was karaoke.


Which was the beginning of the end.


Here are J and L, singing and dancing to a song that is, without a doubt, their signature karaoke jam. If I recall correctly, that jam was none other than Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."


We spent the rest of our time in Seattle visiting friends, including L and pudgy little A:


As for the sights, we did get this glimpse of the Space Needle as we waved goodbye to M and E one evening:


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