Well, I seem to have left most of the updating of this blog up to Michael for quite some time. Figured it was about time I posted a new entry, too!
As Michael mentions below, we are indeed in Edmonton after our road-trip odyssey. It was an interesting trip, even if we didn't have time to stop as much as we'd have liked to. I'm glad we decided to break up the trip by going through Denver. By the time we got there a rest was more than welcome. Plus, I haven't really had the chance to get to know Michael's brother and his wife very well until this point (they had moved from Edmonton by the time Michael and I got involved), and it was really nice to spend some time with them at last.. Malini teaches grade one, and she took me to her class one afternoon, which was really fun. We also had a chance to do some shopping and go out for dinner a few times. All told a great visit.
Thankfully we had a relatively easy border crossing at Sweetgrass/Coutts. I always worry that something will go wrong every time I have to cross, so it's always stressful for me. Fortunately we ended up well prepared. the only thing we hadn't done was assign a value to all the things on our moving inventory, and as it turned out we only had to spend about an hour on that. The agent that helped us said that many times people come to the border without any preparation beforehand, and spend about 7-8 hours there doing all the paperwork they need to hand in, so I think we got off pretty lightly! Even importing my car went off without a hitch.
We spent our last night on the road in Lethbridge, and took our last day of travel a little slower. I drove the last day, even though it was Michael's turn, because I've never been through Alberta as a driver rather than a passenger and I wanted to do the last leg myself. We slept in a little later than usual, and stopped at the Penny Coffee house before leaving town. I used to love that place, but going there just proved that there's truth in the idea that You Can Never Go Back. The independent bookstore that used to open into the shop was gone. All the funky posters and pictures on the walls were gone. All the feminist posters and quotes were gone from the womens' washroom. The place had been completely stripped and sanitized and it's fun-hangout character was gone. On top of that, the cappuccino I ordered was watered down to a latte with a little bit of foam on the top...something that always irritates me. Oh well. I still have the good memories from when it was a good place, I guess.
We stopped in Claresholm around lunch time, so I could show Michael where I lived and worked there. The place does not really look good in some respects. Lots of empty storefronts and empty houses. Even some of the churches have closed! The town does have a very nice brand-new public library, however, and the greenhouse I worked in looks really good, so at least that business is thriving!
We also stopped in Red Deer, not far from Edmonton, so that Michael could show me where he lived and went to school the years he was there. The house they were in was almost exactly the same as he had left it!
We stopped at Michael's dad's place when we got into Edmonton, and his mother and stepfather happened to be visiting, so we got to see them all at once! We spent the first few days at my parents' house, then moved to Michael's dad's, and have just set up again today at his mom's place. A little bit different this time around, as we are moving together and have to balance three different families.
Unfortunately not much to report as far as progress goes since we arrived in Edmonton. Our moving truck is late, and we can't really do any out-of-town visiting until it gets here. Whenever that will be. We have to get Alberta drivers licences before we move, which is harder than it used to be--we have to show proof of residence and then wait 2 weeks while everything gets vetted in Ottawa. Thank goodness we both kept bank accounts open here--bank statements are the only thing we would have on the list of acceptable proof! But I have to wait for my statement, then wait for my licence, and what with that and the things to get done with my car before I sell it it's going to be a longer time than anticipated before we will be ready to move overseas.
Not that I've really been able to wrap my head around the reality of our actually moving to Abu Dhabi yet! But, one step at a time I guess!
What with everything that's going on I think this blog needs a facelift/makeover. I'll try to get to that soon....
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