I'm home :) I left Fort McMurray, Alberta 10:00 hrs on Friday, February 20 and arrived home in St. John's, Newfoundland on Wednesday, February 25 at 21:00 hrs. I have not seen a blade of grass since October 2008 as the entire country is blanketed in snow.
I slept over at Rueben's house Friday night and Saturday morning while brushing my teeth I froze and convinced myself this was a horrible idea and didn't want to go through with it. Friday night I curled up in my old bed with Rueben's dog Cosmo curled up against my leg. I was warm and at peace and felt ok. The thought of driving 6585 km in winter seemed even too big of an idea, even for me.
I did it though. Once I made it to the Manitoba border I started to relax a little. The drive through southern Ontario was monotonous and took two days. I slept in my car in Thunder Bay, ON and North Bay, ON. I had to stay over in North Bay because the OPP pulled me over outside of Sault St. Marie and told me to get a burnt out headlight fixed. I stopped in Ottawa for my second meal in 3 days. Yeah, I know but I get motion sickness.
I made it from North Bay, Ontario to Riviere Verte, New Brunswick in one day considering I drove through a snow storm from Montreal, Quebec to Quebec city, Quebec. Quebec was sketchy as all the signage is in French. I got turned around in Quebec City because I missed my turn off. That added an additional 20 minutes onto the journey.
Riviere Verte, New Brunswick to North Sydney, Nova Scotia was easy driving and I made it to the ferry terminal by 18:00 hrs. The MV Joesph and Clara Smallwood set sail at 23:00 and it arrived in Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland the following morning at 08:00. One cool note, at about 03:00 the ship felt like it was slamming on its brakes and ramming head first into something. Dudes, it was ice! Apparently the ship is also an ice breaker of sorts. Ice jam on the North Atlantic. Coooooool. Anyways, once I drove off the ferry it took about 13 hours of driving to get home to St. John's. I'm tired, I have a headache of epic proportions and I have no idea what I'm going to do now. I do know, however that tomorrow is my 33rd birthday and the start of Project Noble Beaver.
Darren and I. This photo was taken about 30 minutes before I left so this was the last time I saw Darren. I don't know how to explain my friendship with Darren except that it's complicated.
Talk about adding insult to injury. These 3 pictures of my new office. My supervisor had me move everything from one building to another. Two minutes after I finished the task, that's when I found out I was laid off. Yeah. Whatever, I got paid.
Looking out towards Plant 92 and the Evaporator
The Kastle, where I spent the better part of the last 2.5 years.
Ironic, since I was actually leaving Fort McMurray. I stopped at the tourism Canada kiosk and picked up some free travel guides to all the Canadian provinces I would be visiting.
Outside of North Battleford, Saskatchewan
Leaving Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I do love Saskatchewan and will miss living there.
Heading towards the Manitoba border.
Manitoba border. By then my nerves has finally settled and it was an uneventful drive to Brandon and onto Winnipeg.
I know what your thinking but no, they are not the same lake. This is southern Ontario in the winter. You drive through the woods, you go down a hill, you see a lake then you repeat this ad nausea for 2 days.
Nova Scotia :) The home province of my mother and also of many of my friends. If Newfoundland doesn't work out, this is where I'll be heading next. Beautiful province. I love Nova Scotia.
The Table Mountains outside of Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland.
On the way to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland.
Overlooking the city of Cornerbrook, Newfoundland.
Springdale (I think....), Newfoundland. Beautiful town. They enticed me to visit by putting out a sign on the road saying they had coffee.
Sunset outside of Gander, Newfoundland.
When I was little we drove from Ottawa to St. John's every summer. The table mountains are so familiar to me, that when I saw those pictures I knew exactly what they were :)
Posted by: Yvonne | Friday, March 20, 2009 at 08:33
Yvonne ~ that's cool :) It was my first time driving in Western Newfoundland since I only ever flew in and out of St. John's. It's surreal and gorgeous. Too bad I won't be able to see it in the summer like you did.
Posted by: Sonja | Monday, March 23, 2009 at 01:11