Well, we made it back to PA! Woo-hoo! What a vacation! It was such an exciting summer! It went so quickly. I feel that we were planning for so many months, and now it’s over. (tear!) It’s back to reality. (many tears!) On the other hand, I’ll be back in my OWN BED and not living out of a suitcase! We’re definitely taking a break from eating out! We have so many good memories, as well as some ones that we hope to forget very quickly!
One piece of good news: Our luggage was FOUND! It never left the Toronto airport! And, of course, Air Canada had to call me and tell me how excited they were that THEY found our bag OVER and OVER and OVER again. Umm, NO you didn’t find our bag! WE FOUND IT! I’m so happy to be done with them. Thank you for my $100 and my wonderful new Wellies with Australian sheepskin insoles…yep, that’s right I’m spending your money and there ain’t nothing you can do about it!
My thoughts on the touring life: exhausting! I told Jon I don’t think I can do this next year…maybe if it’s just 2 or 3 weeks, but definitely not the whole summer. Besides, it was actually summer in Lancaster and everywhere where we were, it was FALL/WINTER! He’s definitely got to make it up big time next year with some amazing tropical vacation… stay tuned!
Let me just say we never saw clear skies and sunny days here in St. John’s, NL. We arrived in St. John’s on Thursday missing a piece of our luggage, an important piece, ALL of our clothes and toiletries. Luckily (for Jon) all of his show gear arrived. We had a carry-on, but it contained all of Jon’s show clothes. Everyone was very positive that the bag would show up that night. To our dismay, it never showed up. We are sitting in St. John’s airport right now ready to go home. Talk about being depressed. I had no makeup this entire weekend and it was my birthday! How dare Air Canada ruin my birthday!
The worst part of this trip: calling Air Canada every day and hearing some guy say, “I’m sorry for your inconvenience, Ms. Burns” OVER and OVER and OVER again. You can stuff your sorry’s in a sack, mister! I am done with you!
Now, let’s just say I’m not the only one depressed here. Jon was supposed to have 12 shows over the three days of the festival. He had two AND they had to be held indoors because of the miserable rain, wind, and cold temperatures. “I’m sorry for your inconvenience, Mr. Burns.”
I’d also like Air Canada to know that Jon and I are not XL’s, but thanks for the fabulous night shirts. “I’m sorry for your inconvenience, Ms. Burns.”
The only good thing about this trip was probably the food. We had hot turkey and hot roast beef sandwiches at Velma’s Restaurant, ate banana pancakes and cinnamon citrus french toast at Blue on Water, and enjoyed a caprese salad and a calzone for my birthday dinner at Piatto.
Not exactly what I was expecting for my birthday, but at least I’m with the one I love.
PS – If you see me in the same pieces of clothing in every picture, that’s because that’s all I had…”I’m sorry for your inconvenience, Ms. Burns.”
On Saturday, July 30th, Jon performed at Sunfest in Calgary, AB. The festival was good. Jon had 3 great shows. We hung out that night at a comedy club and saw one of our friends, Byron Bertram, from the festival do stand-up. He was the funniest one. We hung out afterwards and called it a night. The next day, we drove to North Dakota, got stopped at the border, and interrogated! Can I just say that my heart was pounding out of my chest terribly! We did everything we were told. We were asked to sit down in the office while our car would be inspected. Yes, sir! Then, an officer took me away separately into a room and hammered me with questions. (This was when the heart pounding started.) After going through my purse and asking me questions about our business of fruit, weapons, and cattle ranching, I was asked to sit outside. Then, Jon was interrogated. I guess we passed the test because we made it back to the US. What’s really funny about this whole experience is that Jon said, “Oh, we’ll be fine! We’re just getting back to our home soil. They won’t pull us over this time.” HA!
We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday driving towards Toronto, ON. We stopped in Fargo, ND, Minneapolis, MN, and Madison WI. The most exciting thing we did was enjoy a Juicy Lucy in Minneapolis. This burger’s got molten cheese in the middle oozing out to make for a tasty treat. One of the most boring things we did was see the World’s Largest Teepee. We decided to skip the World’s Largest Buffalo and keep on driving.
Currently, we are in Toronto, ON and tomorrow we catch a flight for St. John’s, Newfoundland. Jon will be performing Friday, Saturday and Sunday (MY BIRTHDAY, in case you would like to know.) And then on Monday, we head back towards home! I can’t believe this trip is almost over.
Ok, I think we are caught up!
Oh and by the way, some North Dakota driver ran into our back bumper while I was driving and a tractor-trailer ran me off the road… just another day in the car. (Everyone’s safe and sound.) ☺
We set up the air mattress in the back of the CR-V. We don’t have any backseats, so we knew it would fit pretty well and seemed like it would be a comfortable bed. Well, that really wasn’t the case. We woke up with the sun around 6 a.m., freezing (the temperature dipped to 40ish degrees overnight) and with back, neck, and leg cramps. We definitely didn’t sleep very well, and you know what that means…cranky Lauren! It wasn’t a very pleasant morning, especially since we both smelled like fire smoke (disgusting!) and I had to eat more tube meat for breakfast. All I really wanted was a nice, long, hot shower. Well, too bad because that was impossible. The day before we were each given a token for a short 5-minute, cold shower. We decided to skip the shower, build our 2nd small fire for warmth, pack the car, and get back to civilization. But first, Jon had to get his fill of water by jumping in Lake McDonald. There was no way I was getting into the 50ish degree water. Instead, I enjoyed skipping rocks and taking in the majestic views.
We started driving down the main road to exit the park and stopped along the way to see raging rapids, large mountains, flying eagles, beautiful waterfalls, and interesting avalanche areas. As we were approaching a humongous mountain, I noticed shiny objects moving along the top, thousands of feet above us. I mentioned this to Jon and he said, “I guess that’s where we’re going!” My mouth dropped open! I couldn’t believe that is how we were getting outta here. Well, we did live to tell about it and it was actually a really amazing drive, a bit scary at times. We were getting hungry for lunch, so we pulled off to the side and made a peanut butter, Nutella, banana dog, one of Jon’s creations. The drive up and down the mountain took us ALL day. We probably left around noon and didn’t get down the mountain until about 5:00 p.m. We weren’t expecting that!
We got into Calgary around 8:30 p.m. and stayed at a Holiday Inn (THANK GOD for a shower and a bed!) It was the best night’s sleep that I can remember.
Wednesday, July 27th: From Spokane, WA, we drove to Glacier National Park in Montana where our camping adventure begins. We took all this camping gear in our roof rack, so we felt we HAD to go camping, at least once. We got into the campgrounds around 4 p.m. and they were mostly full! Who would have thought sleeping outside with bugs, bears, no bed, and in 40 degree weather was so popular?! There were only 2 campgrounds that had space left. We ended up checking out the Fish Creek Campground, and lucky for us, they still had space! We chose our campsite and began setting up for the night. The plan was to pitch a tent, take everything out of the car, put everything in the tent, and sleep in the back of our car on an air mattress. This is the only way I would agree to “camp.” No way was I getting attacked by a bear, wolverine, squirrel, etc., right?
So, Jon and I pitched the tent with little difficulty, set up our lawn chairs around the fire ring, and began to build a fire. This was where the tricky part came into play. First, we went to buy some wood and ended up not getting enough, so Jon had to make a 2nd trip back to Apgar Village, where they had a motel – Jon said “No, Lauren. Living in the woods will be an experience.” Anyways, it didn’t take long to get the fire started, but it took about 2 hours before we could actually put a large enough log onto it to keep it going. Now, it’s probably about 7 p.m. and we hadn’t eaten lunch. I didn’t want to, but I HAD to rip open the bag of BBQ chips because I was starving. I’m not eating anything but cheerios and lettuce when I get back home.
Before entering the park we stopped by a local grocery store to pick up our dinner for the night. We decided to buy a package of sausage, mozzarella cheese, an onion and pepper, corn on the cob (my idea), pizza sauce, a loaf of bread, marshmallows, graham crackers, a chocolate bar, and 4 S’mores sticks all for one night of camping. Never go shopping when you’re hungry! We picked up some salt, pepper, and mustard at a DQ and butter from our hotel breakfast that morning. Jon’s thinking was that we could have sausage sandwiches, sausage pizza mountain pies, and sausage in the morning for breakfast. All I could think was, “That’s a lot of tube meat, plus it was already so late. How were we going to eat sandwiches and mountain pies?” Jon explained the mountain pies were a late night snack…oh great, just what I wanted. But I was trying to go with the flow. Jon seemed to know what he was doing.
In the end, our dinner actually turned out to be pretty good. We actually cooked! We hadn’t done that since June 27th! After our sandwiches and corn, we roasted marshmallows and made S’mores. That would have been enough for me, but we brought the mountain pie makers, so they needed to be used. At this point, it’s about 10 p.m. and everyone else in the campground was going to bed or else fast asleep. We were the only ones up. Was this a bad sign? It didn’t stop us! We wanted to enjoy the fire that took us so long to make. Jon decided that the mountain pie makers should go into the hot fire coals in order to get them “ready” and “sanitize” them. When we pulled out one of the makers, it was glowing red and part of it melted. Sorry, Barry! The remnants made for a good fire poker and log adjuster. Luckily, we had another maker that remained intact. The mountain pies were just as we remembered them: cheesy! Just as I was about to bite into my cheesy mountain pie, we heard a growl. At first, I tried to ignore it, but then I thought maybe I should say something to Jon. He looked at me and knew exactly what I was thinking. We both fled to the car immediately. We weren’t taking any chances. The brochure said, “People have died from bear attacks in this park.” We later realized it was probably just a snoring neighbor. Fortunately, we lived to tell about it, or did we?
Stay Tuned for Part II: Overnight and Exiting Glacier Park, an All-Day Extravaganza!
One week ago… On Monday, July 25th, we took the BC Ferry back to Vancouver. We planned on seeing our friends, Seth and Maggie for lunch, but the timing didn’t work out because of our late night partying. Let me explain. So the last night of any busker’s festival is usually a “big party” held in a loud establishment with lots of people. Of course, Jon and I love “big parties” filled with movies, popcorn, and board games. This “big party” was a little different filled with lots of tiny glasses, salt, and lime. Well, that was a first! Does that explain it? Ok, so we met Seth and Maggie at a coffee shop in Vancouver and Seth realized he had 5 minutes to chat before he had to head out. It was SO nice to see them, and SO unfortunate that we didn’t have more time to spend together.
We got into Seattle late and went out for Pizza at Talarico’s with Jon’s friend, Matt. It was Karaoke Night and it was our lucky night! We got to hear the most interesting karaoke singer ever! We’re disappointed we didn’t record it for you, but let me try to explain. So, imagine an unrecognizable ballad sung in falsetto by a 70 year old man who then sat down and fell asleep in his booth. Twenty minutes later, the wait staff woke him up for his second selection. And again, same style! We were told all of his songs sound the same, and he always sings the same four. He’s known as “chicken teriyaki” guy. What a treat! Matt and Lara graciously let us sleep in their second bedroom/office for a night and they were extremely hospitable! Thanks, guys! ☺
The next day we had breakfast at Bakery Nouveau and then headed into downtown Seattle and visited the Columbia Center, the famous Gum Wall (it’s a brick building covered in chewed gum…yes, disgusting and beautiful all at the same time), and the Fremont Troll. By the way, Jon and I did add some gum to the wall. For lunch we decided on Paseo, a small Caribbean restaurant semi-hidden alongside the road. Our Cuban pork sandwiches and rice and beans were extremely tasty. (A superb meal idea for those of you food lovers!) We know our friends Jeb and Allison would have loved it! After lunch we went searching for Sam Baldwin’s (Tom Hanks) houseboat from the movie “Sleepless in Seattle.” We searched and searched the docks, but were disappointed. We left the dock and as we were driving down the road, I kept my eyes peeled. I’m pretty sure I caught a glimpse of what looked like the same houseboat. This thing was massive! It was only a glimpse, so I didn’t get a picture. Aww, shucks!
I’m sorry to say that I was happy to leave Seattle, mostly because I didn’t have to listen to the Frasier theme song anymore…
That evening we drove to Yakima, WA where we stayed in a nice hotel, Red Lion, for only $59 (regular rate $110). Way to go, Priceline Negotiator! Jon loves that jingle a little too much as well. We spent the morning and most of the afternoon at the Yakima Library because I had an assignment for my technology class due by 11:45 p.m. and hadn’t really started it. It was a PowerPoint presentation. I had an idea, but it just took FOREVER to finish! I actually used this cross-country trip as my project and it turned it out well! Tuesday evening we drove to Spokane, WA. We ate dinner out on the patio of Mizuna. I couldn’t believe we could actually sit outside! The weather was perfect! We’re finally able to wear shorts again.
Check back later (when we actually have Internet) to read about our Camping Adventures from Wednesday into Thursday! You don’t want to miss this one!
Well, Jon’s luck has changed significantly! He’s doing really well with all of his performances. We still have 4 more days of the festival in Victoria. We haven’t been able to do much sightseeing, but we have eaten at a couple of wonderful restaurants. Last night we ate at Il Terrazzo. We were both really hungry for homemade Italian comfort food…pasta. The restaurant was quite quaint with sparkling candlelight and rustic brick fireplaces. For the first course, Jon and I shared the Formaggio di Capra, a salad of mixed baby greens with poached pear, sun-dried cranberries, and a lemon, pear, and port-wine dressing topped off with a hazelnut-crusted disk of warm goat cheese. For dinner, Jon ordered Linguine con Polpetti di Carne, basically spaghetti and meatballs with a carbonara sauce. I had a very difficult time choosing, but I decided on the Melanzane al Forno, a lasagna style noodle with breaded eggplant, roasted mushrooms, garlic confit, spinach, asiago and gruyere cheese baked in a creamy tomato sauce topped with fresh basil. We were both pleasantly satisfied! Surprisingly, Jon had no room for dessert, but I wanted to enjoy the ambience a little longer, so I ordered an after-dinner drink, Coco Loco Coffee with Bailey’s, Kahlua, and Frangelico. Maybe we’ll go back for dessert and order Tiramisu.
Then, today we decided to try out Red Fish, Blue Fish for lunch…no green eggs and ham here. Their most popular dish is Fish and Chips. Jon and I didn’t feel like ordering something so heavy, so we opted for some sandwiches. We said we would come back to try the Fish and Chips soon. The “restaurant” is basically a storage container converted into a food cart located on the pier with a long line of hungry people. They do have plenty of seating available looking out at the boats and water though. I ordered the local shrimp roll (lobster roll style) and Jon ordered the RFBF BLT. Both were wonderful choices. It was quite funny, but when we were relaxing in our room later, we were watching the Food Network and this show called Eat Streets came on and they visited this same restaurant! What a coincidence! You can check out the episode, too, at their website. After watching so many people enjoy the fish and chips, Jon and I are definitely heading back!
Jon and I were both craving something sweet tonight, so to satisfy our sweet tooth, we went to our hotel restaurant and ordered a fancy banana split: tempura bananas, vanilla ice cream, and a drizzle of caramel, chocolate, and raspberry sauce. It was the perfect ending to our day!
So on Wednesday, July 13th, we packed up our bags and said “Goodbye!” to our hostel in Anchorage, AK. It was a delightful stay, just a bit scrunched in our tiny dorm room. We flew back to Seattle that night and spent the next day walking around the market and doing a bit of shopping. We ate lunch at the Athenian Inn which is the same restaurant featured in my all-time favorite movie, “Sleepless in Seattle!” I even got my picture taken in Tom Hanks’ barstool! I wish we could have had even more time there because Seattle has so many cute shops. Jon said that maybe when we come back through we can stay an extra day. But for now, it was time to head to Vancouver. We did get pulled over to Customs as we were crossing the border because they saw our very packed car, didn’t understand what Jon was doing in Canada with busking, and saw his beautiful wife…it just didn’t make sense to them. But everything worked out in the end.
Our next adventure was taking the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, BC! With very little instruction, we drove our car onto a boat and headed up to the passenger deck. Fortunately, this ride was very smooth, so no seasickness, as long as I didn’t look out the window. When we got to Victoria, we stayed at the Executive House Hotel (GORGEOUS ROOM and VIEW) and did our laundry for FREE! It’s odd that I’m excited about free laundry, but this trip has really taught me a lot…
1. I miss home, A LOT! (Along with my friends and family)
2. I despise cold weather! Why couldn’t we have gone where there’s a beach? Honestly, I wear like 3 layers everyday! I have to be very creative with my outfits. I think I need to go shopping…
3. I miss cooking at home.
4. I can’t get mad at Jon because he’s the only one I have to talk to.
5. Living on the road makes me feel like I’m running away from something.
Anyhoo, we only stayed at the Executive for one night and then transferred to the Harbour Towers (nice, but not as nice). That morning we headed to the Blue Fox Cafe for brunch. When we got there, the line was out the door! Obviously, this place has a reputation! We found it using Yelp (the best app in the world when you are traveling)! Jon ordered the french toast with ambrosia apples. It came with 3 huge slices of french bread slathered in cinnamon paste and ambrosia apples. It was so worth it! He couldn’t even finish it, which is very rare for him. I ordered the Triceratops Benny. There were several spins on the original eggs benedict. This one had 2 poached eggs sitting on top of spinach, grilled tomatoes, and a bagel with feta cheese crumbled on top. Served along side were seasoned potatoes. Absolutely yum and I ate the whole thing! (I worked out that morning, so I was starving!)
Jon has done 4 street shows so far and each time he has experienced something strange. I think he’s cursed! It poured during his very first show and he did a full show in the rain! During the second one, he forgot some of his props and had to borrow an apple from an audience member! During the third one, some drunk local street performer interrupted his show and started yelling at him – I got it all on tape! And also during that show, at the very last second when he began to collect his tips, it poured down rain and everyone left! Not good for the hat. Then, at his last show, he found a lucky penny and we’re now hoping his luck will change!
Ok, so we’ve been fairly busy on this adventure recently and I apologize for not posting sooner. We’ll have to back up to Tuesday, July 12th to start.
On Tuesday, we went down to Seward, AK (a 2 1/2 hour drive) to get on the Kenai (pronounced keen-eye) Star. We booked through Major Marine Tours which came highly recommended by some local friends. We boarded the ship and were seated on the top floor in a “heated” cabin (still pretty chilly). It’s a good thing I was bundled up! We came prepared with gloves, scarves, and hats and we needed them! Some people on the ship were wearing shorts, sandals, or t-shirts! After getting settled, we met a retired couple who was sitting across from us and learned all about their life story…yes, everything! Nice, just very chatty.
Luckily for us, we did not have to stay in our seat for the 7 1/2 hour ride. We were allowed to roam the ship freely to get the best view of the wildlife and glaciers. On board with us was a national park ranger who was in charge of teaching us interesting factoids, answering our questions, helping the kids on board become junior rangers, and looking out for wildlife. Just a few minutes into our trip we saw 2 bald eagles perched on top of a buoy and an otter hanging out in the water. So cool, but it gets better! Shortly after that, we saw orca whales and humpback whales in a feeding frenzy! Apparently, this is not a typical day out at sea! We also saw puffins, sea lions, numerous birds, starfish, and more otters and eagles.
The worst part of the trip: Seasick Lauren! We went through the Gulf of Alaska which was really rough waters and caused me to feel VERY sick. It was a good 20-25 minutes of nausea, and I was even wearing those wristbands. I didn’t want to take the dramamine because I would have been crashed out at my table for the whole trip.
When we docked around 5:30 p.m., Jon and I were starving! We opted out of the salmon and prime rib buffet offered on the boat and packed our lunch: carrot sticks, granola bars, nectarines, peanuts, a small bag of party mix, and some kind of munchies that Jon ate most of. We asked the locals where to go and were told about the Salmon Bake Restaurant where their slogan is “Cheap Beer and Lousy Food.” That’s not completely true because our sandwiches were delicious! Jon and I shared a halibut sandwich and a cheesy mushroom burger. We even got to pick our own pickle from the pickle barrel.
Our last adventure of the day came when we were driving home. Jon kept telling me to be on the lookout for wildlife, but it was useless! I never saw any moose! THEN, I look out the window and I saw, in this open patch of grass and woods, a brown bear!! A REAL BEAR in the REAL WOODS! It was HUGE! It was just walking towards the road! What did I do? I SCREAMED AND GRABBED JON’S ARM (which he did not appreciate) and told him to turn around! First, he told me never to do that again, especially not in the wild, and then he found a safe place to turn around at and we headed back. As we approached the area, we saw the brown bear run across the road and head back into the woods on the other side. So, we finally saw a real bear fairly close and that was close enough for me!
Today was our day for an Alaskan Adventure! We started out heading down the Seward Highway to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. This center takes in orphaned and injured animals and provides them with spacious enclosures and quality animal care on a year round basis. Some animals will have a permanent home at the center; others will move to different facility. Most of these animals cannot be released into the wild for various reasons. We saw moose calves, Kodiak brown bear cubs, adult brown and black bears, musk ox, wood bison, elk, caribou, an eagle, and owls. It was really exciting to see these animals up close and personal, especially since there was a fence keeping us safe from a bear attack. We even got to see the bear cubs at feeding time! The cubs will be moving to a new facility in Sweden next year. In 2013, the center is planning on reintroducing the wood bison into their natural environment. They were once thought to be extinct, but soon enough they will number in the tens of thousands!
After visiting the center, we drove to Alyeska Hotel and Resort and took the tram up to the top of the mountain. We learned about how the resort is surrounded by multiple glaciers. Avalanches are common! It began to drizzle on our way up, and by the time we made it to the top, the rain was coming down even more. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see too far in the distance because of all the clouds. It’s been overcast everyday, but this is the first day it actually rained here.
Food today: For lunch we stopped at the Turnagain Arm Pit. Yes, I cringe every time I have to say that name, but honestly, it was SUPER Delish! I had a pulled pork sandwich and Jon had the beef brisket sandwich. Each meal came with sides of beans and slaw. For dinner, we visited Maxine’s Glacier City Bistro which we wanted to go to the first night we got here, but there was a private party. The menu had a lot of different dishes. We decided to order some small plates so we could sample a little bit of everything. We ordered the Meze which included hummus, falafel, pita, pickled veggies, olives, feta cheese, tabouleh, harissa, tadziki, and tahini. We also ordered steamed artichokes with a tomato jam, a green salad with goat cheese, almonds, and a balsamic vinegarette, and the surf and turf roll. We even had room for dessert: molten chocolate lava cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Wow! It was a FABULOUS dinner!
