adventure to Canada

I've been in Canada for almost two days now and I think I'm really going to love it. Allow me to share with you my adventure to get here. Bear with me, this first post is long!

Dad flew into Lubbock Sunday evening and we headed out early Monday morning. We decided that we would just drive as long as we could each day and then find a hotel once we started getting tired. So Monday, we drove and drove and then drove some more. I thought we would never get out of New Mexico. The scenery there was NOT the best of the trip, for sure! As we drove through Albuquerque, there were a lot of dark clouds around us and we were sure that we were going to go through a crazy rain storm. Of course that would be our luck to drive through Albuquerque on the only day of the year that it rains. Luckily, we went through a little rain, but nothing severe. Funnily enough, though, not long after passing through Albuquerque, we heard the radio saying there were flash floods and rocks falling on the road we had just driven on. Praise God for allowing us to avoid that!

We drove almost 700 miles on Monday (approx 12 hrs), which seemed like only a small dent in the 1782 miles total we had to drive. But the speed limits on the first day were constantly changing and were hardly ever over 65 mph. But we drove all the way to Monticello, Utah Monday night. It was a cute little town and we found a little Inn that allowed us to stay there with the dogs. (By the way, the dogs did great the first day!) We rested up and headed out by 7:30 Tuesday morning. After leaving Monticello, about 25 miles later we came across Moab, Utah, which we decided would have probably been a better place to stop the night before, but we didn't know. :)

So we drove and drove and drove some more. The scenery gradually got better and better and we went further north and west. We saw SO many beautiful rivers and bodies of water. I was amazed at how full they all were....NOTHING like Texas "rivers" or the playa's in Lubbock :)

Tuesday we drove through the rest of Utah, through Idaho, and into Oregon. Here's a fun fact for everyone...if you don't already know....the brand of potato's OreIda (like frozen fries, hash browns, tator tots) comes from potatoes in OREgon & IDAho! Haha...that should've been an easy one for me to figure out without having to drive through those states. :)

We were able to drive about 12 hrs again, but we put in considerably more miles on Tuesday because we were able to drive 75 mph or more during a large portion of Tuesday, so that was WONDERFUL! Tuesday night we ended up in Baker City, Oregon. It's a historical city, so it was old and cute. Again we found a little Inn that allowed the pups and we set up shop for the night. And we headed out by 7:30 on Wednesday morning.

(Side note: For those of you who were concerned that dad and I might kill each other during this trip, we did GREAT!! haha! :))

Wednesday, we only had about 400 miles left to drive to get to Seattle where I was dropping dad off at the airport. Looking at the scenery made time fly so much faster. The mountains were beautiful! And we were finally seeing mountains with snow on them! Crazy for me to see that in middle of summer! Oh and by the way, dad and I had to turn the HEAT on in my car on Wednesday morning...that was too weird for me to be doing at the end of June! :)

As we got closer to Seattle, I started getting more and more anxious. Anxious excited, anxious nervous, just anxious. We arrived in Seattle with time to find a place to eat before dropping dad off at the airport. It wasn't too difficult getting into the Seattle airport area. The GPS led us a little astray, but we quickly got where we needed to be. It was so strange though to pull up to the airport to drop dad off, though. I felt so bad to just drop him off after driving 3 days with me. He said it was like taking his football players to the game and then leaving. He wasn't getting to experience the end result of the trip: Canada and my new home. But we parted and I began the last stretch of my drive to Surrey.

When I was leaving Seattle, it was about 4 pm and traffic was BAD! I got SO nervous. At one point I called Richard and made him pray for me because it made me so nervous to be in a total foreign place to me, in CRAZY traffic, with no idea where I was going. Plus I was just anxious to finish the drive on my own. I was so afraid the GPS was going to lead to some random place I had NO desire to be. But it didn't :) Thanks Darla (that's what dad named the lady on the GPS)!

Two hours later, I'm pulling up to the Canadian border! AAAHHH! Now this part made me nervous. I was so afraid they were going to tell me that I couldn't cross the border. I pull up and the man starts asking me all sorts of questions. He wasn't the friendlies person I'd ever met. He made me pull my car over to this area where they were checking vehicles and he told me to go into some building...at this point I didn't really know what was about to happen. Luckily, a really nice officer just asked me some more questions and let me go on my way! No one checked my vehicle at all! (Praise the Lord, b/c it was packed top to bottom and window to window! It would have been such a hassle!) They didn't ask for the dogs vaccination certificates. They didn't check the dogs! NOTHING...it was WAY too easy! So this was it! I was only 7 miles from our home!!

These last few miles were full of excitement and anticipation to see my sweet husband! As I pulled into our neighborhood, I was so pleased to see how beautiful it was! Then I see Richard standing outside waiting for me!!! :)))

We reunite and all is well. THE END!

Just kidding! When I pull up he's so excited to show me the basement suite he rented and for me to meet our precious landlord, Ms. Dolly, from Scotland!

So, we head down the stairs and into our new home! It's adorable! And suits us perfectly right now! God is SOOO good and so faithful! (I'll post pictures soon!)

Our landlord, Ms. Dolly, is about the sweetest thing you could imagine. When she found out that Richard and I were arriving with no furniture, she brought us a few things she wasn't using: a little desk with a stool (where I'm sitting now), a cute bench to put at our small bar in our kitchen, and a couple of padded lawn chairs to use until we go rent some furniture. She also left some dishes for us, a shower curtain, 2 bath towels, a bath mat, a rug in the living room, hangers for the closet, and window curtains in the kitchen and bedroom. She is precious! She sounds a little bit like Mrs. Doubtfire! :) I LOVE it!

She brought us upstairs to see her home, which is beautiful, and she kept offering us coffee, tea, and wine! She told me to call her or come visit her upstairs if I need anything or if I get lonely while Richard is working! :)

Oh, and our basement suite doesn't have a washer/dryer in it, so initially she had said that we would just need to go to the laundry mat to wash clothes. But after meeting us, she gave us a key to her home so that we can use her washer and dryer anytime we need to! Goodness, she is such a blessing! We're already trying to figure out a way for us to live here again next fall!

The dogs are doing great here. We have a small little yard that is perfect for them and I can't wait to find a park/walking trail to take them to.

We went to the grocery store yesterday and barely got anything and it was OUTRAGEOUS how expensive it was! Just gonna have to get used to it, though!

I suppose that is all for now. I'll update again soon with pictures.

LOVE and MISS y'all!