You don't know what you've got till its gone...

...or "there are pros and cons to every place"...

(you don't know what you've got till its gone...like a good blog to read, eh? ....okay maybe not so funny, sorry I disappeared from the internet world, but hey, I'm back!)

Came across this gem of an article the other day on CBC. Not only did it strike a chord with the statements that "people aren't meant to be alone" and family and friends being important - but simply with the pictures of my beautiful north. :)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/norwegian-adventurer-alone-in-remote-nwt-1.3365743

You truly don't know what you've got till its gone. Now before you get worried for me, this post isn't meant to be heavy at all, we are quite enjoying our adventure. But the constant changing environment makes you appreciate stability and the familiar. So when this guy literally pops out of the woods and says, in effect: 'I miss and appreciate my family and friends so much more now' it resonated with me. The northern backdrop, my definition of "home," helped with those impressions.

We get to see and experience a lot of different landscapes on this adventure, especially so in the last four weeks.

To recap: we left Drumheller in early September after experiencing unseasonably cool wet weather for the badlands - weather for which we were partially grateful: a hike around the museum grounds with 3 small fry was much less arduous (or worrisome) on an overcast-yet-pleasantly-warm fall day than a melt-your-face-off hot summer day.

We followed that up with another pit-stop in Edmonton to see friends and let our kids just play for a few days - oh the benefits of visiting friends with similar aged kids: toys! new toys! new/old friends to play with! no driving! bigger house! yard! room to run! I had not seen my kids so mellow and focussed at the same time in a while. There was rain, and lots of it one day, which made for good puddle adventures.

Look Ma!

After that it was a 3 night stop in the Wapiti campground in Jasper. This was where the slow-down we'd been waiting for started to really happen. This was, to date, the most "camping" feeling stop. No hookups and semi-secluded forested spots. Oh, and the Wapiti. The place is aptly named.

They like us!

These guys were everywhere. And loud. Jacob took to exclaiming "Elk! Scream!" every time he heard them. Which was often. Our camp spot seemed to be located on one of their favourite trails, the heard literally walked around us one evening while we were eating dinner.

I've been told Wapiti is another word for Elk

Anyway, we also visited friends and spent a lovely day hiking with them.

We also spent an entire day sitting around the campfire enjoying the sun and "perfecting camping weather." Not too hot, not too cold, no bugs. Dreamy.

After that it was one long-haul drive day through the interior of BC through a heavy rainstorm, a quick overnighter in the Fraser Valley and pop in visit with a friend then up the sea to sky highway to Tim's stomping grounds in Squamish. We've agreed that the RV park there has the most decked out washrooms we have seen yet, though they are still not my favourite in terms of usability ("seriously guys? tile and cedar planking but no bench and only one hook?")

Anyway, I digress.

We checked out the newest Squamish attraction, the Sea to Sky Gondola for my birthday and spent the evening with dear friends.

The RV park was in the middle of town and a completely different experience than Jasper, understandably, but when Jacob heard some teenagers screeching in glee a few streets over he jumped up and yelled “Elk! Scream!” …. Um… not quite kiddo.

Anyway, Squamish trips always make the husband nostalgic for living there and the easy access to all his favourite outdoor sports. He usually ends up verbally scheming different angles whereby we can move back down to the area. That's one of the beautiful things about marriage - getting to dream together and side-by-side. It's fun to watch. None of the ideas have moved past dream stage thus far though.

One morning we were visiting a local attraction and I struck up a conversation with another mother there. We got to talking about jobs and mortgages and all the sorts of things that used to seem so boring when I was a kid, but are now quite intriguing. At one point we were talking about housing affordability and she shrugged in a sad sort of way and said “well, you know Squamish.”

“No, actually, we’re from out of town, can you elaborate?”

She went on to tell me that since the Olympics in 2010 Squamish real estate prices have boomed as the town is looked at as a bedroom community for Vancouver. Prices have skyrocketed but income has not, forcing many young families to pay exorbitant rent or take out unaffordable mortgages. She and her husband are both working to make ends meet and putting dreams of a second child on hold until the day it becomes a more affordable option.

Scratch that idea, I like being a stay-at-home-mom.

Next on our list was a stop in Nanaimo, BC to visit relatives. This was the longest stop we’ve made but it involved a family wedding and other family fun. It was nice for Tim to get a break too from hauling the trailer.

After a while we were itching to go and get back on the road and away from the wet, wet, wet weather. The West coast is beautiful, but it’s WET.

We headed down the Washington and Oregon Coast with 2 weeks to get to Palm Springs where we met my mom for a 5-day visit. We saw a lot of beautiful countryside on the way but the biggest thing that impressed me was the variety. From the beautiful cliff-rimmed pacific ocean drive in Washington and Oregon to the Giant California Redwoods to the sudden, abrupt change to dry grasses, scrub brush and drought-apparent lake on Hwy 20 it was all beautiful. After that we stopped along the way to take in a beautiful beach picnic, an aquarium and a very scenic dive and hikes through the redwoods. Once we turned east and crossed the mountain range though, things changed fast. Rainforest changed to dry grass hills with blackened trees almost instantly and once we were out of the mountains in in the plains it was vineyard after orchard after vineyard on the flattest earth I’ve seen.

BIG trees!

And BIG logs too!

Tree-hugger's dream!

And then it was flat...and dry!

And there were orchards

The dryness was a welcome change, especially living in an RV, and so was the sun. However after a few days and more signs of drought (literally, billboards argued drought management most of the way south on the I-5) we noticed another benefit to a wetter climate: drinking water taste. Its been fine for the most part but there was that one campground…..bleah.

We finally arrived in Palm Springs and checked into the campground we’d picked in our Passport America catalogue…..to find it was mostly packed with seniors and park model (permanent) homes with only a few RV spots. There was a heated pool and hottubs though! The summer weather was gorgeous… until the winds came. Reminded us of Weyburn and answered the question we’d had when we arrived: what’s with all the windmills?

We finally found sand and sun!

We made homemade nacho chips!

Obligatory pretty food picture

Grandma arrived and we spent a happy day at the Magic Kingdom where our resident princess met some of her heroes. We also discovered an awesome Children’s Museum and enjoyed a farmers market one evening. We attempted to climb and hike a bit at Joshua Tree park but the kids are still quite small and the wind had picked up again, maybe we’ll have better luck in a few months if we swing back through.

READY TO MEET PRINCESSES!

Dream

come

true!

And dream come true for climber parents - climbing at Joshua Tree at 3 years old

After Grandma left (her visit was the highlight of the week for the kids), we packed up too and moved a few miles closer to LA to a park that was a bit more family friendly (read: it has its own playgrounds). We’ve been here since and will be until after Christmas.

So, there have been things we’ve enjoyed and things we’ve missed in every place we’ve been. Water tastes better in the rainforest. But its easier to get outside in the desert. Outdoor activities are easier to access in Squamish, but housing is (gasp) more ? affordable in Yellowknife. There’s family in Yellowknife, but the winters are brutally long and cold. We went to church this past Sunday and watched the kids’ Christmas play, and then put our sunglasses on before heading outside. But we miss friends and family and Sara didn’t quite understand why she wasn’t dressed up as an angel too?

Merry Christmas!

There are a lot of freedoms of the open road. Adventure, chasing nicer weather, more time together, seeing new places. But there are things we miss. Family, friends and the security and stability that comes with being in one place. Knowing what to expect out my bedroom window in the morning is one thing I hadn't expected to miss. When you're in so many places and then it gets dark you have to think long and hard what's on the outside of that window. And while we might be enjoying skipping winter this year...it was neat to me reminded of what I miss about home. 

One last thought: the kids have a book called “Where is home little Pip?” It is about a penguin chick who gets separated from her family and encounters many other animals on her quest for “home.” They all describe to her their homes based on physical appearance, but the descriptions never match the description her parents had given her, so she continues searching. Her parents finally find her at night and they suggest going to bed, right then, right there. She is flabbergasted and asks “AREN’T WE GOING HOME?!?” The parents’ response is beautiful: they say, in effect, home isn’t a place, its feeling safe and being with the ones you love.

So, the desert looks nothing like the rainforest, which looks nothing like the north…but I’m home.

PS: our fun adventure last Friday, December 18