what a whirlwind of a week. i have traveled more in the last 3 months than i did in the 12 months before that. it's been fun and exhausting and exciting and i feel so lucky to get to have these experiences. on top of thatcher taking care of the kids and winnie and working, our house became a construction zone due to a leaking pipe in one of our bathrooms. never a dull moment, it seems! but let's back up...
last monday was back to work for azalea. it was another hot hot hot week in minneapolis, but i got to escape the worst of it. i was feeling a little bit of pre-trip stress since we had our car in for service, but i also needed to get a lot of stuff done around the house and some errands and ashford did his zoom piano for the week on monday instead of wednesday. but i got everything done including painting my nails - woo!
tuesday morning my mom picked me up at 5:15am to take me to the airport to fly to halifax.
my first leg was from minneapolis to chicago, which is always easy peasy. and since i was just there in may, it felt familiar navigating the airport during my hour-long layover. i made it to my next gate with time to spare. my second flight was on a smaller 2 and 2 across plane. that flight was a little over 3 hours long. it was so pretty coming into halifax. i couldn't believe how little development surrounded the airport.
i navigated customs on my own for the first time ever, which went smoothly. vanessa picked me up, it was so wonderful to hug her. it's been a year since she left seattle. she's only about 20 mins from the airport, so when we got back she gave me a tour of the house and i get settled in my lovely guest room. matt made us smash burger tacos on the grill for dinner - so yum. and it got to spend a little time with ewan, their son who is ashford's age. we sat around and chatted the rest of the evening and watched a show before heading off to bed. the sunset was so pretty from her deck.
wednesday morning we dropped off ewan at camp, then drove to peggy's cove about 40 minutes outside the city. it's an old fishing village with shops, a lighthouse from 1811, and rock formations you can walk on. there are signs everywhere warning you not to get too close to the edge as people have gotten swept into the ocean and died. eep! it was so so beautiful.
then we drove part of the way back and stopped at a cute coffee shop called 'labour day picnic cafe' where i had an iced americano and a carrot cake scone. so good!
we spent the afternoon going to a bunch of thrift shops, which was fun.
we came back to vanessa's so i could do a tiny bit of work (i needed to work since i was gone for so many days, but only a little each day). then we picked up ewan from camp, dropped him off at a birthday party and she took me to a favorite canadian chain restaurant 'swiss chalet'. when i saw they had hot chicken sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy on the menu, i was sold! we did some more shopping at an outdoor mall and then came back and sat on her deck and enjoyed the beautiful evening.
thursday morning after dropping off ewan at camp. we drove to downtown halifax and parked near the waterfront. it was so pretty with the ferry and other boats going by. it wasn't too crowded down there, which was nice. we walked along the waterfront for quite a ways and also went in some shops.
when was the last time you saw this many payphones?! ha
we stopped to get coffee at this cute shop/bookstore called 'trident'.
one of the coolest things we did was walking through this cemetery with gravestones from the 1700s.
the halifax public library was gorgeous.
we drove over to another neighborhood and got lunch at 'the narrows', which was a pub in an old house. it was the cutest spot and the fish and chips were unreal.
our last stop was another nearby neighborhood to go in a couple more shops and to visit her friend who was working at a bakery called "luke's.' i was so full, but i got a ginger molasses cookie and it was worth it. we went back to her house and took a little nap, watched a show, then picked up dinner at the grocery store.
friday morning we headed out for a beach about an hour away called 'martinique beach'. vanessa had not been there before but her friend recommended it to us. it was such a pretty spot. we brought towels, chairs, snacks, and sat and enjoyed it for a couple of hours. it wasn't the warmest day - it actually felt chilly every time the sun went behind the clouds. and the water was freeeezing. 48 degrees to be exact. dipping my feet in was enough for me.
then we went back to vanessa's and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. we went out for dinner with matt and ewan to an irish pub called 'finbar's'. i had really good nachos! ha! then we stopped at a famous spot called 'the chicken burger' for ice cream. vanessa recommend the 'moon mist' flavor to me, which is a nova scotia thing. it was banana, grape, and bubble gum. just about the weirdest thing i've ever had but i was glad i tried it since it's a big deal. haha. they also took me on a little driving tour of their childhood homes, school, etc.
we ended the night with finishing the show we started, 'elle'. i had to walk out to her deck when i saw the beautiful sunset.
saturday was my last full day there. vanessa had made a reservation for us at a nordic spa over an hour away from where she lives. she had been to another nordic spa a few years ago, but she had not been to this one. we made the drive and stopped at a coffee shop in a small town on the way.
we finally arrived there, it was in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone service. the spa was called 'salt air' and i wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a beautiful facility overlooking the ocean with various pools of different temperatures, saunas, a steam room, a cafe, and areas to sit and relax. most everything was included in the price, which was nice. and it wasn't super expensive, especially for me with the us-canadian exchange rate. the only downside was that you weren't' allowed to have your phone out while you were there, so i quickly took this picture before we went in.
we were there for five hours and it was so lovely and relaxing.
they did come around with an ipad and ask if we wanted a picture taken and emailed to us. yes please!
we drove back to vanessa's house, stopping in the same small town to go to a couple shops on our way. for dinner we decided to have all the things i had talked about wanting to eat, but hadn't gotten to yet. ha! so we had scallops and seafood chowder and homemade poutine. a very rich delicious dinner :) we went to bed fairly early because i had a 4am wakeup call the next morning.
vanessa graciously drove me to the airport in the dark, in a total downpour. the first leg of my trip home was from halifax to newark, which took a little over two hours. i had a 5.5 hour layover in newark, so a couple days before the flight i reached out to my aunt lea in case she wanted to hang out at all during that time (she lives about an hour away). she said that she and my uncle raymond would come pick me up and take me to brunch in newark. so nice! we went to a diner called 'tops diner' and it was really delicious. it was also the fanciest diner i've ever seen.
they got me back to the airport over 2 hours early and security was pretty quick. my final flight was supposed to leave at 2pm and it ended up getting delayed until close to 3pm while we sat on the runway because there was a temporary no fly zone at the airport because of a scheduled flyover for the final world cup game. i was so happy to finally be back to my family, including winnie girl.
while the leaking pipe added extra chaos to last week, thatcher and the kids also had some fun. they went mini golfing with grandpa durant for his birthday gift.
and winnie had her first experience at a doggy daycare. the employees said she was a little hesitant at first, but she quickly warmed up to the dog buddies she was placed in a room with. they have a webcam, so we can watch her during the day, which is fun. it's nice to have this as an option for times like these where we are having loud work done on the house or if we are going to be gone somewhere for an entire day.
as much as i wish i could just jump back into regular life here, we have the added stress of an unexpected home repair. we also have two sets of friends coming from seattle this weekend. thankfully the only person actually staying at our house is azalea's friend sisi, but my goal is for the house to look as livable as possible. wish me luck!
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