Taco Twerk for the Labour Day Long Weekend

This weekend seems like ages ago, and really it's been a while. While O'Hara was busy training for another Mine Rescue competition, I decided to take a mini-break to LA for a long weekend. I only just discovered that I can fly directly from Kelowna (a 2hr drive away) for the same as it costs from Vancouver or even Seattle! Huge fail taking so long to work that out. It also means we can go during winter and not need to brave the Coq.

This was a last minute decision trip, as Rachel had just told me her family was having a Taco Party for Labour Day. It doesn't take much to convince me to take a trip to visit Rachel, so the promise of a beach weekend with a taco party meant I only needed to briefly check flights to work out it would be a good time.

LA put on some awesome weather for us while I was there, I tried once again to use a standup paddle board but failed even worse than in the lake. I can't quite work out my centre of balance, which should really be surprising considering the giant nature of my body. On the Sunday morning in preparation from the taco party, Rachel's dad hosted a cross fit class for the 10 people who were keen to work out. It ended up being a competition between 2 teams of 5, where each person had to get to 250 points by doing various exercises. I thrive under competition (shock!), so didn't really feel like I was working out super hard. That turned out to be a huge understatement as I struggled to walk, and lift things for the next 5 days. As they say, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

One of my favourite things about living in Canada, is being able to see American friends more than once every 3 years. I love that I can visit Rachel and her family for a weekend, you don't know what being hosted is like until you've spent time with this family! I now recognise US Customs workers at Vancouver airport, so I think that's a sign I am utilising my living arrangements perfectly (except that we STILL haven't been to GA!).

Shuswap Cabining Weekend

We made the most of the rapidly disappearing summer last weekend. Our lovely friends have just as lovely friends who have a cabin out at the Shuswap.

Cabining is an age old Canadian past time. The equivalent of going to the shack or beach house in Australia. It reminded me of the good old days, spending your summers on the boat, swimming and developing a great tan before going back to school. Remember the days when you actually got tanned over summer? I guess my skin health thanks me for not doing that anymore, but I miss the envious "you're sooo tanned" comments.

This wasn't just a weekend of meeting some friends of friends (love doing that!) and hanging by the lake. This was a weekend of firsts. Some had their first keg stand, some their first cliff jump into a lake, some their first view of the salmon run, some their first paddle board, some their first homemade cider keg stand (everyone?), some their first skinny dip in a lake, and some their first skinny dip full stop.

Unfortunately we're at that age and some have professional careers, so including photos of these events isn't really appropriate. We had a wonderful weekend friends! Here's hoping Autumn brings just as much fun.

Some Summer Weekends in Kamloops

We've been in Kamloops for the last three weekends which has been really nice. Last summer we were travelling a lot, so didn't get to enjoy the lovely summer heat in town very much. We now don't have a weekend at home until October so I guess it was good timing. Summer has been awesome in BC as well, as long as you like hot and no rain (who doesn't?). Kamloops is dry as a chip, so it's not pretty but it's hot.

The first weekend was the August long weekend. Our friends Greg and Lil came up to the 'loops because Greg was playing in a soccer tourney. We floated the river TWICE that weekend. The river was moving a fair bit slower than the Channel in Penticton but there aren't many better things to do than float down a river, in the sun, drinking beers with a good group of friends. My underwater camera has decided to die so I sadly didn't get any photos on either trip.

This is what happens when you try and fit people and floats in your car!

Next weekend was the much anticipated Kamloops Ribfest. We missed out on going last year, but had friends that loved it. They loved it so much the went all three days, and it sold out each day. We were in Vancouver for work during the week, but came back Saturday so we could attend. We were pretty excited! On Sunday we got the kayak out (finally) and paddled down the river to Ribfest (again). I think we would have tried 4 different types of ribs over the weekend. Not sad about that at all!

Granville Island Brooms and a blurry kayak shot.

People will wait for these delicious bad boys!

This last weekend we had a quick visit from an Australian uni friend and his wifey. They moved to Vancouver at the start of summer and were on a cheeky interior trip before their baby arrived. Looking forward to visiting them in Vancouver with their new bub soon! We also went out to Barriere for a chicken rotisserie BBQ. Homegrown chickens and everything! I don't think I've ever had chicken that tasted that good. There is no comparison!

I'm looking forward to the weekends of fun that are coming up. In particular a short trip to the Motherland in September!!

E is for "Eh!?"

You'll notice "eh" is larger font than "freedom"

Ahhhhh, Canadian slang. This phrase is both surprisingly popular and not. All at once. Confused? I was too, until I realised it's the Australian version of "but", so it's popular in some areas but not others. Where we are in southern BC it's not all that common, but you'll still hear it enough. The problem is, it's kinda catchy and really easy to slip into saying it. I think I probably did a bit before moving here, so now I have to consciously avoid it or hear the dreaded "ohhh do I detect a bit of Canadian" when I talk to people from home.

I don't really understand the spelling to be honest, I see it it more of a "meh" sound, but we all know how they pronounce "out" so I'll leave it ;)

I do like it how Canadians embrace the phrase. Around Canada Day (and really all through the year) there is a lot of merchandise you can buy with that phrase on it. I love that they own it!

The scary part comes when you have an Australian living in Canada and you get classics such as "it's good but, eh?". Lost!

Jasper - We Saw a Bear!

We had one final weekend with my parents before they (sadly) had to go back home. We decided to do  a trip up to Jasper. a) because we hadn't been there before and it's on our bucket list, and b) because it's supposed to be bear central, and O'Hara was getting desperate. 

Dad loves having his photo taken almost as much as O'Hara

I also developed an obsession with photographing wildflowers

We booked our accommodation really late so the only place left was the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Fairmont Hotels are generally pretty fancy, and this one had some really beautiful grounds but the hotel room was pretty sketchy. There was a mouse in our room, never a good sign. 

Our room was shit but there were fun props!

Jasper however was incredibly beautiful. Canada in the summer, especially the Rockies is incredibly busy. There seems to be a huge mix of people touring, but I guess when you have 300 million neighbours you're always going to have lots of visitors. 

These are the things tourists come and see!

We spent the weekend hiking, viewing lakes and canyons, eating and drinking out delicious stash of wine from the weekend before. We also managed to fit in some pretty incredible wildlife viewing. O'Hara finally saw his first bear. He's only been here 15 months. Pretty sure Mum and Dad managed to  get into double digits in their 2 week trip. It was a decent sized black bear who walked in front of our car, stopped next to us to eat some berries and then wandered past our car. O'Hara had the biggest smile on his face. We also saw a herd of Elk ladies with their babies, and one daddy Elk with his giant set of antlers. Best.

Hi family! Hi bear!

Can't wait to see the family again, I hated having to say goodbye all over again. Sometimes being and expat is truly shitty. Luckily Skype and the Internet exist. I wouldn't have coped nearly as well 10 years ago.

Penticton with Friends and Family

We've had my family in Canada for two weeks and O'Hara did an amazing job of host for the first week. They arrived after a long journey and thinking they were going to have a chance to rest a bit... but no chance of that. The first three days while I was at work they went hiking, downhill biking at Sun Peaks and canoeing down the river. None of those activities are restful!

Extreme downhill biking and kayaking

For the weekend we went to Penticton for a wine tour and channel float. Another item on the bucket list all checked off. Win! We also visited the farmers markets in Penticton and I had my first PROPER Aussie pie in about 18 months! You probably can't understand how good that was. It has since lead to the discovery that there is a pie truck in Vancouver by a different Australian. The bastards cost $8 a pop there but it's worth it.

MEAT PIES!!!

For our wine tour we toured again with Grape Escapes which was again amazing. We went to Naramata bench and visited 5 wineries and well and truly worked out our credit card. Our wine rack is stocked up for summer which is always good. Hopefully we get more guests to drink it with us!

On Sunday we braved the cloudy skies and floated down the channel. The original plan was to only do a half float, but the water was moving quickly so we decided to go the whole way. This. Was. FUN! We finally got to get out our giant floating Havs, luckily the water wasn't too cold as these bad boys are not really designed to keep you dry. O'Hara was nicknamed Señor Froggy as he wore a sombrero and pulled us around by frog kicking on his thong. It worked a treat!

Finny is a float dog with Señor Froggy 

Floaty float and now a floating eski dog

I love our weekends in Penticton, they're always a blast and it was great to see it in summer.

Wisconsin Wedding and Chicago Weekend

We were lucky enough to be invited to a beautiful summer wedding in Wisconsin last weekend. It was for our friends Karen and Connor (who we visited in Boston last year). I worked with Connor in Sydney and it was amazing to catch up with some of my old colleagues. It's pretty awesome when 5 people who used to work together in Sydney get to catch up in Madison, WI.

These people,

are wonderful!

It was a one of those hectic but wonderful weekends. One day in Madison, one day driving and Milwaukee and one day in Chicago.

In Madison we spent the morning at the Dane County Farmer's Market. These are the largest producer-only markets in the USA. Being Wisconsin the produce generally consisted of cheese, meat and maple syrup. There was also hundreds of different delicious vegetables. We ended up buying scones, sausage, snap-peas, smoothies and Cajun flavoured cheese curds. Fresh cheese curds are INCREDIBLE! They should be eaten as soon as possible, I think within a day or two. They are squeaky when you eat them. Squeakylicious!

O'Hara enjoying some market treats

Some loves!

We drove with Lu and her boyf Enrique to Chicago on the Sunday with a cheeky stopover in Milwaukee. Chicago was also beautiful. We went to the top of the Willis Tower (originally Sears Tower), walked around the parks, visited the Bean, shopped and ate delicious food. The Willis Tower had a pretty cool set up where there is 4 "sky decks" where you can walk out over a glass ledge. There was a decent amount of people up there, but it didn't take long to step out. We were rushed by some rude randoms who then spent the next 15min taking their photos on the ledge, but it was a cool experience.

Standing up really high at the Willis Tower

Hey pretty city

After a hectic day of walking we went to a steak restaurant for dinner that aged it's own steak. I ordered one that was 28 days and O'Hara's was 45 days. Delicious! I don't think we'd tried aged steak before, I'm not sure if it's worth how much it costs but it's very nice for a treat. We had a weekend of eating and drinking which is really my sort of weekend. I hope it isn't too long before I see these people again!