This Girl Is Following Me Everywhere I Go

aaaaalright.  so a lot of you have pre-requested that I blog so you can stay updated on us.

Nosey aren't ya?

 ah what the heck...  I enjoy updating you on the adventure lifestyle.

while all of you (meaning most of you) live your stable, planned out lives.

Polly and I are just doing what we can.  Not really having too much idea of what life is going to look like on the horizon.

I get jealous of you, you get jealous of us. That's the way it works I guess.

One thing I am getting good at is thanking God every time he gets us to whatever the horizon happens to be.

oh. By the way, I want to say a HUGE thanks to Jake Dugard for re-designing my blog.  He did a great job didn't he.  - rhetorical question,  because I know the answer.


So what has been happening?

Well on Sunday night, Polly and I loaded up and drove to Little Rock and stayed at my Uncle Tracy's house so that we could get a little head start on our drive.

Monday we drove straight north to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then headed west to stay the night in Chamberlain, South Dakota (which is right on the Missouri River).  For lunch on Monday, we stopped by Kansas City to see my brother Steele.  He was kind enough to treat us to some authentic Kansas City BBQ.  What a guy right?

yum

On Tuesday, we got up and after dusting a sub-par continental breakfast off our shoulders, we drove to Billings, Montana where we stopped at Montana Brewing Company (it was a re-visit for me).  We started with the sampler then Polly got a Taco Salad (all you tech students who eat on campus can eat your hearts out) and I got the Black Jack Bison Burger...because it was so incredible two years ago that I remembered it.

With full stomachs we headed to Cabela's to buy some Bear Pepper Spray.  I tasted it, it's not too bad.

Annnnd then we drove north to Great Falls, Montana where we stayed the night.

Wednesday morning we left our Holiday Inn and drove to Canada....well sort of.  When we got to the border they did background checks on us, which took like an hour.  They probably re-checked mine like 10 times because I look so dang lethal.  Then they told us that we weren't welcome in Canada because I was packing heat.  So they sent us back across the border, and we drove to the nearest town, where we went mud riding in the Honda on their mud streets until we found the nearest honky-tonk.  In this honky-tonk was a guy named Danny.  I convinced Danny that he needed a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum, and he bought it for $300.  It blue books for $345 so I feel like I did ok.  Then we drove back to Canada, and this time they let us in.  Even though they still probably didn't like letting a lethal looking foreigner like me in their turf, and I think they suspected that Polly was smuggling in fruit and firewood.

ANYWAY. we wasted no time driving to Banff where it has been gloriously CLOUDY the whole stinking time.  But we have still been able to catch glimpses of Banff's beauty...

Our first night in Banff we stayed in this very trendy hotel called Banff Aspen Lodge.  Super cool place.  We ate supper at a place called The Keg...we thought it was going to be like burgers and stuff, but it was actually a really fancy steakhouse that we were not prepared for(financially).  We ordered their cheapest items and enjoyed our meal, and we tried to keep in mind that it wasn't the restaurant's fault that it wasn't what we thought it was.

The next day (Thursday) we had a "Rocky Mountain Continental Breakfast" featuring local bakery bread and the hotel's homemade granola (they were supper eco friendly).  Then we headed to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine.  I hadn't been to Lake Moraine before, and I am glad Polly and I went because it was amazing.  On our way back from Lake Moraine we saw a rushing river that we thought was cool so we stopped the car, threw on our hiking shoes, and tumbled down a SUPER STEEP piece of mountainside to get to the river.  It was worth it.

oh and Polly got up in a porcupine's grill to get a pic of it.  I have to give her props for getting as close as she did.  Even though they can't do anything, I didn't expect Polly to be fearless like she was.

2 slaps on me for underestimating.

After getting a little snow on our shoes and a lot of dirt on our rear-ends, we took the party back to Banff to check into our new hotel, the Brewster Mountain Lodge.  It is very....lodgey.

We did some Facebook picture posting, then went out on the town.  First stop - Maple Leaf restaurant (because we earned a $25 voucher there when we booked at Brewster) where we had fondue for two and asparagus tempura.

Then we walked down to the Banff Brewing Company to have a pint while we watched the Bulls get beat by the Heat.  We think the NBA finals will be a good series, and we have decided that we are going to root just a tad more for the Heat, but we can be happy with a Mavs win because they deserve a championship.

ok

We love Banff!

Tomorrow we will begin our journey through beautiful British Columbia.  We are planning on making it to Fort Nelson, BC.  Then Saturday we are planning to drive the last leg of the journey to Skagway, Alaska.  I hope to blog again at Skagway or on Sunday when we get to Juneau.  Hopefully we will have more pictures of wildlife to post.