ramblingLOVE: the little blue ass

A good portion of June and July were spent preparing for our family's greatest adventure yet - a backpacking trip on planes, trains and other mobiles between the Maritimes and Edmonton.  7 provinces, 3 weeks, by plane, train, amphibious bus, tall ship, fishing boat, sea kayaks, minivans, and metros.  I'm paranoid (I can admit it) and didn't really like the idea of publicizing our house was sitting empty for that long, but family and close personal friends were kept updated via a travel blog which I am excited to finally share!  

To sum up, we flew to Moncton, NB, drove through the Maritimes for a week, took the Via to Montreal for a few days, drove another rental van to Ottawa, then took the train to Toronto and Niagara Falls for the last week, with a pit-stop in Winnipeg on the long train ride home.  While it was obviously not enough time to see everything, the idea was to have see and experience as much of Canada as possible, visit family and friends who live out east, and spend some much-needed time hanging out as a family unit, something that often proves difficult with kids ranging in age from 6 to 15.  We started planning the trip 3 years ago, deciding it would have to be 2010 as it would probably be the last year Wil would be young enough to not have other commitments for the summer, and the first one Serejane would be old enough to remember much of the trip.  To finally embark on it was nothing shy of a dream come true.

I didn't want to buy 900 souvenirs, and instead decided that the LBA and the subsequent album of photos would be my souvenir.  Donkey lasted only a day or two before losing his first leg, and by the end of the trip he was down to only one hoof, but he is safe and sound in the house now, with the most Hipstamatic amazing photojournal a plastic farm animal could ever hope for.

PEI: Village at Avonlea, Cavendish Beach, Brackley
Nova Scotia: Halifax, Lunenburg, Peggy's Cove
New Brunswick: Hopewell Rocks, Moncton
Quebec: Montreal Fireworks competition, Montreal Tower, Old Montreal, Biodome, Botanic Gardens, Inn Between -THEE greatest apartments to rent in Montreal, with THEE greatest host on the planet, the adorable, tri-lingual, incomparable Fernando!
Ontario (Ottawa): Capital Hill, family and the tennis courts, Mosaika light show
Ontario (Toronto): my soul sister, Zoo, Honest Ed's, Kensington and Chinatown, CN Tower, Hippo Bus, chihuahuas and great danes
Ontario (Niagara Falls): Skywheel, Wax Museum, Maid of the Mist, Minolta Tower Hotel
Train Ride Home: Winnipeg (the Forks), auto graveyard in SK, sunrise on the home stretch in AB

The pictures from my actual camera are in their own albums above, but the travel blog itself was updated once to several times a day from my iPhone and features pictures of a little blue plastic donkey that came on a frothy and delicious bellini, with longer detailed updates as time and internet connectivity permitted.  It's a lot to read, and there are about 1400 pictures to flip through NOT including the two family sessions I managed to squeak in while we were in the t.dot, so grab a coffee and some cookies and get comfy...

Without further ado, X-Can 2010 featuring the little blue ass.