Hi again!
Well, I'm currently in Fox Creek... back in Alberta.
Since my last post, I've stayed in Vernon and Vancouver in BC and one night in Jasper, AB.
While I was still in Kananaskis, I met up with my friend Meagan and had dinner in her hometown, Canmore. She also took me on a little tour of the town after - very pretty.
The next day I packed up and left there to head to Vernon. On the way I stopped in Banff to get lunch with Meagan though (she works there), and had hoped to get some really nice pictures buuut of course it was rainy, and clouds were covering most of the mountains. Quite disappointing. Luckily we had such a delicious lunch - it lightened my mood.
The drive to Vernon was pretty interesting.. first passing through the rockies, then driving on a mountain cliffside in a thunderstorm, then getting into the lowlands where it was actually warm and sunny - quite a big deal given that rain seems to follow me everywhereee I go. I also saw a helicopter service that ran rides for just $50 in the smaller mountains which I really wanted to do but the weather was still really damp and cloudy so I didn't bother.
A coworker was staying in Vernon too, so we saw a movie - Bad Teacher (which I was expecting to be just horrible and was quite surprised to find was alright). Other than that.. didn't do too much in Vernon besides gawk at llamas and hang out in my hotel room. (the weather wasn't ideal most of the time)
After Vernon, I headed to Vancouver! On the way I stopped in Kelowna to visit a friend, Tessie, who's living out there right now. I have to say, Kelowna is beautiful! It was the nicest day I had seen yet this trip, the beach was very nice, there were mountains to hike, gorgeous views... wine tours (was wishing I could have done that haha). Shame I couldn't have stayed longer.
In Vancouver, I stayed with at my brother's place which was so nice. I got to see my pregnant sister-in-law and feel my nephew kicking! All very exciting! I also was very brave with exploring different foods (for me).. I had squid twice, tried new types of fish, annnnd tried my first oyster! It was at the really cool restaurant under a bridge on the water in Granville island really close to their apartment. The view was pretty sweet. I had shopped around a bit in Granville the day before and bought my nephew his first stuffed friend :D Also saw my cousins, aunt and uncle while in Van, which was nice.
The morning I left Vancouver, I was on the road by about 9:45... had to go pick up my equipment, stop by and say hi/bye to my aunt and was on my way. I arrived in Jasper at 1:00 a.m. Clearly a loooong day in the car haha. There was a mudslide on the highway near Chilliwack, about an hour outside of Vancouver. The highway was closed, and I spent hours in park with the car turned off sitting in a mass of traffic that didn't budge... added about 4 hrs on to my drive. Thank goodness for the Harry Potter audiobooks haha.
I was greeted in Jasper by a friend, Kirsten who let me stay in her residence with her - she's working at the Fairmont there. The next day we met up at her lunchbreak, and also met up with my housemate's sister Katie who's also working there. Katie was done for the day so we went and did a short little exploration of Jasper buuuut of course the weather wasn't the nicest so I couldn't see the mountains too well. I DID see some wildlife up close and crossing a river... I thinkkk they were male elk?
After that, I headed out for Fox Creek which is where I am for the next few days. I believe the town has some Canada Day celebrations in a park.. might go see if they adopt me into the festivities tomorrow haha.

CURRENTLY
Odometer Reading: 29,900 ish
Hotel Number: 13 (including fam/friends stays)
Harry Potter AudioBooks Completed: 4
Animals Seen: deer, rabbit, fox, beaver, groundhog, pairie dog, gopher, llama, elk, mountain goat, MOOSE!
Big Things Visited: Nickel, Baseball, Canada Goose, Winnie the Pooh, Golf Ball, Lima Bean, TeePee, Bridge, Cornstalk, Sausage.

Forgot to mention.. finally saw my first moose of the trip! I spotted her when I was driving down Fortress Mountain... she was hurrying back into the forest though because she heard the car, so I couldn't snap a pic unfortunately. Also saw what I'm fairly certain were fresh cougar paw prints in some mud at the mountain peak.. I was mildly worried that I might be attacked while up there haha

That's about it for now!
Happy Canada day tomorrow!
Erin

Hello again!
I know it's been a while since I posted last (Tim and Kaiti), so I figured I'd try catching up.
After I left Elbow, SK I headed to Lethbridge, Alberta. I found it so funny.. first place I stopped when I got into Alberta (Medicine Hat) I noticed lots of men were wearing cowboy hats. Talk about filling a stereotype haha. Anyways, in Lethbridge I did a tiny bit of touring - saw the high level bridge which was really cool I thought, and then went and visited the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden which was really pretty. Kind of small, but I still really liked it - wish I'd brought a book with me or something.
After Lethbridge, I headed to Edmonton! This was highly exciting, as I stayed about a 3 minute drive from the West Edmonton Mall - might as well be a miniature town. The first day after I arrived, I actually didn't do any shopping because I went on a full day excursion with my boss doing various work tasks in the area(give or take hours haha). Asp part of this excursion, we went to check if the fires in Slave Lake had affected the pillar that we attach equipment to - which it didn't. I have to say though, driving through Slave Lake was crazy. Heading into town for kilometers it was just burnt sticks sticking out of the ground which used to be all forest, and then the actual houses - everything was literally just flattened. Biggest thing you could see were the skeletons of burnt trucks. It was also strange to see houses that were just across the street from totally ruined homes were in either perfectly fine condition, or just had some melted siding. So unfortunate for all those families living there though.
Back in Edmonton the next day I did a little bit of exploration with a coworker. The mall has everrrything. Waterpark with huge slides and a wave pool and bunjee jumping etc., Amusement park (with quite large roller coasters actually!), Skating rink in the middle of the mall, shooting range, hotels, movie theatre, sea lion shows and scuba divers, chinatown, a street of restaurants, annnnnd just about any store you could think of. I didn't want to leave haha (particularly the pet store.. wanted to steal several puppies)
It was also nice in Edmonton to see all my coworkers again... it had been arranged that we would all be there for the night to regain some sanity.
After Edmonton, I travelled back to saskatchewan and spent 2 nights in Kindersley. Not a whole lot going on over there while I was visiting, so I tried some workout vid that a coworker had given me and am still feeling quite sore from.
From Kindersley, I drove to Kananaskis (it's like an hour from Banff or so). I chose a route that would take me through Drumheller so that I could see a bit of the badlands which was really cool. Also got some sweet pics of a giant T-Rex. I also stopped in Calgary though and had dinner with Lane and Brian (2 friends from Queen's), so that was nice to see some familiar faces. Driving out of Calgary there's this one kind of hill that you go over and you finally get a pretty good view of all the mountains on the horizon... this was fantastic. After looking at a lot of flat so so long I was basically squealing from excitement as I was driving into Kananaskis Village surrounded by huge mountains. They're just so big and pretty!! Instead of heading straight to my hotel (which has possibly the comfiest beds ever), I went to check out my site so that I would have an idea of where it was/how long it would take to get there in the morning for set up etc. buuuut since Fortress Mountain is now closed, and is where my site location is, I didn't have access to it. There were locked gates about 8km away from the pillar. Sooo my boss came in from Calgar to check it out, and made some e-mails and calls. In the end, he was able to get a hold of someone today who was able to grant me access, so all was okay! This point is located pretty much at the verrrry top of Fortress mountain, so I drove up as far as I could, and then had the pleasure of hauling the 50 pounds or so of equipment up the last 500m or so of mountain slopes - I was tuckered out by the end. But the views definitely made up for the muddy/snowy climb. I think I took about 20 pictures which all look the exact same, and do the actual view no justice whatsoever. Oh wellll. I have no idea how i'm going to get the equipment back down the hill tomorrow without taking some huge tumbles, so with me luck with that.
The amount of wildlife that I see around here is extraordinary. Elk, deer, fox and mountain goats literally just hang out on the road, or just beside it. Trying to take as many pics as possible!

CURRENTLY
Odometer Reading: 26400 ish???
Hotel Number:9
Harry Potter AudioBooks Completed: 3.. nearing 4
Animals Seen: deer, rabbit, fox, beaver, groundhog, prairie dog, gopher, elk, mountain goat.
Big Things Visited: Nickel, Baseball, Canada Goose, Winnie the Pooh, Golf Ball, Lima Bean, Teepee, Bridge, Cornstalk, Sausage.

I'm sure I've forgotten a few things, but I really want to go and enjoy this rare sunshine!!!
Miss you all!!
Erin

Hi from ELBOW, Saskatchewan... the name hits right by the funnybone. eh? eh? hilarious, right? ya, i know.. I"m a regular comedian.

Anywayyy, I just got here last night and I'm staying at a cabin (it's right by Lake Diefenbaker), which is something a little different. I went on a killing spree with the various spiders in here last night, then moved on to mosquitoes. It was such a sound sleep afterward haha

For the past 3 days I was in Dafoe, Sk. This 'town' consists of 11 houses (4 of which were abandoned), some sort of factory, and the truck stop/restaurant/convenience store/gas station/motel which I stayed at. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my little motel room off the highway. During my spare time, I visited the nearby town, Wynyard... hit up a store closing sale. The store was second hand older women's fashions, so naturally I bought some [not used] pantyhose and bonded with the ladies. I contemplated hitting up the golf course but figured the other players would just get mad at me for holding them up since my skills aren't quite up to par. (see what i did there? hardy har har)
I also decided to go for a run along the highway once. This was interesting..
I was stalked by a bird flying directly overhead (not sure if it thought i was prey, or perhaps just wanted to poo on me), was nearly blown over my the wind (both natural and produced by the 18-wheelers zipping by), annnd almost threw up by a rancid smell, which I discovered to be a rotting deer in the ditch next to me. I switched sides of the road.
My gps equipment was also on the fritz, so I visited Saskatoon on my drive from Dafoe to Elbow, where my boss was staying and was able to fix/replace the faulty items.

CURRENTLY
Odometer Reading: 24147
Hotel Number: 9
Harry Potter AudiBooks Completed: 2
Animals Seen: deer, rabbits, fox[dead:(], beaver, groundhog, cows, horses, herons, sheep, llamas.
Big Things Visited: NIckel, Baseball, Canada Goose, Winnie the Pooh, Gilbert (golf ball).

Other Notes
As you can see above, I have now spotted some lamas.. tried to go hang out with them but they kept to the other side of the field.
I'm lovin' the sunsets in Saskatchewan! It's just SO flat here, and there aren't really any mini forests to separate land like there were in Manitoba, so the view is always amazing.

That's about all that's new!
Miss you all,
Erin

P.S.
OMGGGG just had the most amazing jogging experience ever! I got to go right up to the edge of this cliff/dune and run along there overlooking the Lake, ran down a hill to the beach, and on my way back up noticed i was about 25 meters from a deer who was just watching me comfortably (I guess I don't look too threatening when dying from climbing up a serious incline)... kept running and saw a rabbit mother and 2 babies, then saw another deer (different one) who was even closer! annnnd to top it all of there was a rainbow. It all reminded me strongly of a cheesy movie scene.
... but of course I was just loving it.
Just thought I'd share!
byyeee

Hellooooo from Yorkton, Saskatchewan!

THERE'S ACTUALLY FULL CELL PHONE COVERAGE HERE! It was all too exciting of a time, driving into the area and receiving all the delayed texts and messages!

Anyways, to keep you updated... I arrived here on Saturday.
Since my last post, I pretty much was just heading to my point once a day (since it was a 4 hr round trip journey from the hotel - usually you check on it a few times a day, but this was a special circumstance given that I was so far away) with a coworker who was staying in dauphin. I would just add another battery each day to ensure all the data was effectively being collected. On the dirt/gravel road that I spend about half the drive on each day, I came across a really sad beaver. It had a broken leg. It wasn't even frightened by the car barrelling down the road at it.. just kept limping across the road on 3 legs. I wanted to rescue it so badly. It ended up swimming away in a 'lake' (former field) off the side of the road though, so hopefully he'll be alright!
I believe I also managed to ruin my immaculate record of zero animal killings. A bird flew into my windshield. Didn't see where it went, but I doubt it was in very good shape. Sad day.
I also found a tick on me 3 hrs after being in the grass by my point... that was fun.
Also learned they're quite difficult to kill, so I just flushed it down the toilet haha. I now wear rainboots whenever I go into the tall grass around here.

On my drive to Yorkton, I stopped in to get an oil change when I saw a GM goodwrench that had a big NOW OPEN sign... buut when I stopped, it appeared not to be open whatsoever. All doors locked, very empty inside. There were a bunch of cars at the next lot over though, and I could see and Esso sign in the distance, so I figured I'd pop over and see if I could get it done there. Turns out it was an auction! So now I can say that I've been to a real live auction haha. I only stuck around long enough to see a large old fashioned milk churn being carried away by a jolly little woman, and hear the craaazy fast talking of an auctioneer (of which I couldn't understand a word).

CURRENTLY
Odometer Reading: 23500 ish..
Hotel Number: 7
Harry Potter AudioBooks Completed: 2
Animals Seen: deer, rabbits, fox[dead :(], beaver, groundhog, countless cows, sooo many herons, sheep.
Big Things Visited: Nickel, Baseball, Canada Goose, Winnie the Pooh, Golf ball town mascot.

Other Tidbits
Booked all of my accommodations for the rest of my trip so that I won't run into any of the issues that I did in Fairford. (phew)
Had another incident with a creeper from my last hotel following me into the elevator and to my floor etc. while maintaining excellent creeper eyes. No harm done though.
Was talking to another man at my last hotel over breakfast about how worried he was as to what was going to happen to he and his wife. They were staying at the hotel because they had been evacuated from their home (along with many others at the hotel) because the water level on much of their land was up to his waist. All of his crops were ruined, which were his livelihood and source of income. So sad. It also stormed later that day. Poor guy :(

On a lighter note, it was sunny today!?

Miss you all!
Erin

Whaaaat aaaa dayyy.

Alright, so my day started off by getting the keys locked in my car.. i know.. i'm embarrassed. Anyway, my boss was nearby so came and opened it with the spare set.

Drove from Winnipeg to Fairford for my first solo location. On the drive I really started to get a first hand view of how bad the flooding has been in Manitoba.. one house had an involuntary moat. I took a few pictures off the side of the road where it looks like there are lakes right up to the pavement/gravel. Some areas of one of the roads I drove on had water going totally up and over it. 

Anyway, the point of today was to get to your point, set up, take a few hours of data, and then take everything down and send it in (like a mock solo survey to make sure we know what we're doing for tomorrow). After I set up, I went off to find somewhere to stay for the next three nights. This was an ordeal. As I was driving in, I passed some questionable looking motels and figured there was no way I'd be in staying somewhere like that. Wellll, the first "hotel" that I tried was even worse. And fully booked. The owner explained that with all the flooding, lots of workers have been brought in to help, and are filling up most of the hotels in the area. So I carried on to 3 other questionable motels for lodging, all with the same deal. After my 4th rejection and an older creep trying to hit on me, I was starting to get worried. I threw on some 'Big Girls Don't Cry' and regained composure. 

Talked to my boss and asked if I would be able to head to the nearest place with a real motel or hotel (rather than a restaurant/motel/gas station that most of these were) with available rooms... he understood and allowed it, so now I'm in Dauphin, MB at a Super8. Such relief to not be homeless for 3 days! 

CURRENTLY

Odometer Reading: 22380 (or something around there)
Hotel Number: 5

Harry Potter AudioBooks Completed: 2

Animals Seen: deer, rabbit, fox[dead:(], beaver, groundhog/prairie dog(not sure which one), way too many cows, looots of herons.

Big Things Visited: Nickel, Baseball, Canada Goose, Winnie the Pooh.

Other Notes:

Finally had a sunny day!

Bought some sweatpants before leaving Winnipeg. Also got a really good haul of things from bulk barn.

Didn’t listen to any HP at all today! Big achievement.

Had a solid 2.5 hr rock session with me, the vue and my ipod. Gt’s.

Was moo’ed at by a bull when I started getting closer to it (for a pic..) and eventually I had to go away because I could tell he was probs gunna charge at me if I stuck around.

That’s pretty much it…

Peace G’s

Hi friends!

Soo after being pestered enough to blog/tweet/inform all of you of my next 2 months, I've decided to go with the blog... clearly.

To get you up to date, I spent last week from Tuesday-Friday training in Ottawa for my new job which involves GPS surveying of land elevation at various points around Canada. There is a team of 9 of us in total.. 5 returning students from last summer, 3 new ones(including me) and my boss. Also got my car at the end of the week.. it's a dark red 2009 Saturn Vue and it's a hybrid :) ... I think I probably got the best deal haha. aand the beginning Odometer Reading was about 19700 I believe.

Then on Saturday, we did a final test run on a military base in Ottawa, and hit the road for North Bay. 

The next day we all drove from there to Sault St. Marie, and then from the Sault to Thunder Bay on Monday. 

Yesterday most of the group drove to Winnipeg (a couple had their first points in Ontario so stayed back) which is where I am now. From first impression, Winnipeg kinda sucks. Granted, I'm saying that mainly just because of the current state of weather. Almost got blown over when I was filling up my car, and it's freezing and rainy. But the people seem nice?

CURRENTLY

Odometer Reading: 21432
Hotel Number: 5

Harry Potter AudioBooks Completed: 2

Animals Seen: deer, rabbit, fox[dead:(], beaver, groundhog/prarie dog(not sure which one)

Big Things Visited: Nickel, Baseball, Canada Goose, Winnie the Pooh.

Other Notes: 

Wishing the summer weather would finally arrive because some of the views along the drive were gorrrgeous - even in crappy rain which is mainly what we've been dealing with.

I have decided I need to try weening myself off the HP audiobooks... worried I'm getting through them too quickly. 

I had a little mishap involving the location of my purse, so I had to walk around the side of the highway in Nepegon, ON for about 40 mins wearing a safety vest and trying to flag down others from the team as they drove by so that they could come fill me up... always fun. The purse was located in the end though, so all is fine and dandy. I just felt dumbbb.. but what else is new.

Alright, well I don't really know what else to write, so I'm gunna go pack up my stuff and head to Farirford, MB. woo?

Wish me luck finding a hotel!

Miss you all,

Erin