If we come, they'd better build it . . .
We crossed the 49th parallel heading north at 9:15 am Monday the 2nd of August.
We crossed the 49th parallel heading south at 3:30 pm Wednesday the 25th of August after spending 3 weeks, 2 days, 6 hours & 15 minutes in Canada
Still to come: statistics (miles, dollars, etc.), impressions, achievements, and more.
We’ve made new, lifelong friends while in New Westminster. Dan and Heather O’Keefe had us over for dinner earlier in the month. We met their daughter Shannon and her husband Cyprian that night and their two girls. Fiona and the girls got along very well and they are her new best friends. We’ll definitely be staying in touch!
Last night Shannon and Cyprian had us over and Cyprian grilled hamburgers, chicken and hot dogs for dinner. Shannon made rice and salad with toasted walnuts. The girls played at the park, in their bedrooms, watched a movie and played some marbles. We had a wonderful time and know we’ll keep in touch.
. . . and they’re off. Again.
Two things are immediately apparent:
Ian and Caitlyn have arrived for a quick overnighter before Trip #2.
Beans on the stove, brown rice and cornbread in the oven, homemade salsa in the fridge.
It’s gonna be a great dinner, followed almost instantly by waffles (or pancakes, no one’s decided for sure) for breakfast.
By bedtime tonight we will have tripled the amount of time we’ve spent with these folks whose home we’ve been living in for more than two weeks.
Saturday we finally took Fiona on her long-promised Skytrain ride. We each got an all day pass that allowed us to ride the Skytrain, Seabus and city buses in any zones. So we took full advantage of it. After lunch we walked the block to the bus stop and then took the bus to the nearest Skytrain Station. From there we rode the Skytrain all the way to Vancouver.
Joel taking public transportation:
Fiona didn’t want to sit. She loved hanging on to the poles and getting jerked around as we came to a stop and started again. She had a blast! In Vancouver we took the Seabus across to North Vancouver. We walked around the Waterfront Park and then walked across the way to the other side of the Seabus station. There was a very high stair case we climbed which Fiona actually didn’t enjoy but she did it. Below there were kids playing in bubbles in water. I mean the children were enclosed in these huge plastic bubbles that were in the water and they had fun playing in them. We shot video and will have to post it later.
Fiona on the Seabus:
We took the Seabus back to Vancouver and then chatted for a bit with a lady that’s originally from the UK. She’s traveled to Spain and Scotland as well where she has cousins. Then it was to the bus to go to Stanley Park. Where Joel will tell you in another post about our walk and how close we were to the Rose Gardens when we first arrived and how long it took us to actually get there.
At Stanley Park Fiona also saw ducks and raccoons. Then she got to play at the park and make a new friend while Joel and I swung on the swings. We finally took the Skytrain back into New Westminster and ended up walking home, much of it uphill. Joel will also share more of that story.
It was a great adventure day and we all had a lot of fun!
Updated August 19, 2010 with pictures!
Today has been a typical day for our family. Except we can do it as a location independent family. We did all the usual things we do when we’re living in our rented home in California – except we were able to do it from New Westminster British Columbia from the home were we’re house sitting and dog sitting.
We had our usual breakfast and lunch and the usual routine in Fiona’s non-school day. Well, we do have to make sure the dog eats and gets out regularly. Fiona loves that!
Sue was able to send out two client newsletters, Joel and Sue both had client coaching calls via Skype, updates were made to client websites, and preparations were made for next week’s group coaching call for virtual assistants. All the same things we would have done if we were in our home in California. But we aren’t tied down there as we are able to work from virtually anywhere as long as we have internet access. It’s great!
Would you like to work as a location independent virtual worker?
Since we arrived on Monday it’s been non-stop work. The Client Communication Clinic yesterday in Vancouver went well. We met an aspiring virtual assistant that we are meeting again next week at a North Vancouver Waves Coffee Shop to chat with and see how else we can help her get her business up and running.
Today is the first day since we left California that we have all to ourselves to relax and not work. It’s very quiet this morning since the construction workers aren’t working next door on the weekend. It has decided to rain a bit. We’re not sure how that will affect our plans yet to walk to the Skytrain station later. Fiona really wants to ride the Skytrain and we’d planned to do that this afternoon.
Yesterday afternoon we went to the library and Fiona checked out 10 books – all of which she had read before bedtime! I’m going to do some cleaning around our ‘home’ today. And we’ll let you know how that whole Skytrain trip turns out. Stay tuned!
Updated August 19, 2010 with this photo of Brodie the Canine we were dog sitting (I think he was wishing we could go for a walk):
