Leaving on a jet plane...

In less than eight hours I will be taking off from Whitehorse, Yukon and heading south back to my beloved Vancouver/Fraser Valley, BC. And of course reunited with RB and my friends and family.

Here's a map:

For those of you from down south this is mostly a map of Canada. It isn't in fact all bare up there hahaha. The red check marks are places I've lived. The black dotted line is my flight tomorrow morning--you can see how far north I was for three months.

The black hearts (not so fitting but what odds) are places where important people live, namely my best friend, my mama and Liv and Aussie Chic hahaha I thought they'd get a kick out of that. The red line is of course our road trip route that I am uber excited about. The red heart is where I was born and raised and my family is.

Well anyway back to packing, just thought I'd share my geographical skillz with ya'll.

Cheers, eh?
Dawn

here I am, the only living girl in new york...

Click on the photos to see the author of these beautiful photos. TIME SQUARE OMG!

OMG! I just looked at google maps and it will only take 8 (count 'em EIGHT!) hours to drive from Guelph to New York City! ROAD TRIP!

Note: I do understand that I haven't left Yukon yet, not even taken our summer road trip and am already thinking of another one. There are no help groups for this, I checked. You'll just have to live with it.

Wollman Rink! Gotta go here, except that I can't skate. Well I can, for 5 minutes and then my feet are killing me worse than a pair of 6 inch heels.

Eat pizza in Greenwich Village!

Rockefeller Center and ice skating!

Give respects to the Lady

Brooklyn Bridge!

Manhattan!

Bridge in Central Park- Autumn in New York!

Okay, I have to stop now. These are just a few of the places I want to see in New York City.

I hear that Autumn is the best time to visit New York for its beauty. What do you New Yorkers think??

Next places up for review as future holiday spots:

• Maine--anywhere in Maine.
• Boston, MA
• Nashua, NH (paternal family is from here originally after coming over on the boat)
  
• Hyannis Port
• Elizabethtown
• Savannah, GA
• New Orleans, LA
  
• Austin, TX
  

Road Trip!

Now Aussie Chic has inspired me to talk about road trips. I was going to talk about the one that RB and I did last summer, but instead I have chosen to talk about our upcoming one--I will talk about past ones later. Also, I am uber excited about this one.

We will be driving a hefty 5100km (3060-ish miles for my friends to the south). Each road trip so far takes us up to Edmonton, Alberta first where my best friend Kathleen, her husband Bry and their two kids (my little darlings) live.

The Gore family (L-R: Me, Kathleen, Alexandria, and Mikayla) Kathleen and I have been friends for almost 8 years now. We worked at Orange Julius together in 2001 and have been pretty near inseparable since except when she decided to take off from BC to Alberta on me. I guess I can't really talk as I have been to various provinces and territories. I've managed to see them at least once per year since 2005 anyway...some years 3 times per year.

These are the dearest girls I've ever known. I've known them since they were in mommy's tummy and I love them like they're my own. And miss them too! Don't worry girls, Auntie's coming soon!

Now I don't have favourites, but I do love this one of Alex. They love to put on their princess dresses.

So the first leg of our journey will take us from Langley, B.C. to Edmonton. We'll definitely be seeing this sign again. Hopefully we get out early in the morning and we won't see this in daylight. As we'll be towing a trailer we will have to allow ourselves the extra hours it will take to get through mountainous terrain.

We'll be leaving August 24th in the wee early hours (I am wanting to kick RB's butt into gear around 2-3am. I used to be a competitive swimmer with swim meets that started at 5am so I have no issues waking this early...he was a sea cadet and that's supposed to make him an early riser but....alas, no.) We'll be spending about 5-6 days in Edmonton before we take off south toward Montana. I've shown Montana pics before so I won't again...well, maybe I will show new ones :)

Coming into Butte, Montana

We are planning to stay in Butte over night and then in the wee early hour head south into eastern Idaho, to Utah and south through Salt Lake City where we will hang a left to head into Colorado. I am hoping to stay overnight in Colorado--though not sure where. Any suggestions????

From Colorado we will keep on the interstate heading northeast into Nebraska--through Nebraska all the way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. From here we will go to Chicago, head south a bit around around the southern bend of Lake Michigan into Indiana and then over to Ohio. We will then head north from Toledo into Michigan up to Detroit to cross back into Canada heading to Guelph, Ontario our final destination point. I will post a map so you can see this whole trek--as I am a geographer, and I do love my maps.

Our super-awesome-fantastic road trip 2009

So, all said and done, we would like to know of places near the interstate or near our route that could potentially be of interest to us. Some of the places that I know of are:

• Lewis & Clark Caverns
• Mormon Temples in Salt Lake City
• Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado
• Iowa 80 truck stop

Any other suggestions????

Beautiful Montana

Beautiful Montana, originally uploaded by dawn_adams.

Just a few of the reasons Rob and I will be visiting Big Sky Country again in August this year! Absolutely one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on earth.

Travels

Once again, this summer Rob and I are heading across the US on a trip to Ontario for one more year of my schooling (keep fingers crossed!), and we're pretty excited. There is something about the US that intrigues me and keeps me coming back. Each state has its own charm, its own beauty and mystery that captivates you even if you're simply 'driving through'.

In last years episode, we drove from Vancouver to Edmonton and then Edmonton down into Montana. The furthest south we hit was Jackson, Wyoming simply because I wanted to say I've been to Jackson Hole! The highlight of this trip was certainly Yellowstone National Park See image below.

Yellowstone Lake

En route Ontario we pretty much stuck to the northern states, that bordered Canada such as North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. We even took the high road and went north from Wisconsin and took the northern peninsula of Michigan and crossed into Canada at Port Huron.

This year, however, will be different. The first part of our journey will remain the same. We will head north up to Edmonton (where my BFF and her husband and kiddies live) for a few days. After this we'll head straight south through southern Alberta and into Montana. Our first stop will be Butte, Montana. Instead of heading southeast then and onto Yellowstone, we will continue our journey south into Idaho, and Utah. We will then head east from there into Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and then up into Michigan and cross into Canada via Detroit.

I for one am looking forward to our trip to Colorado. It has been a dream of mine to visit. Everytime I dream of Colorado I can hear John Denver singing Rocky Mountain High. Well you don't need to dream folks, just click below to hear! BONUS: Listen to a live version of Steve Earle's Colorado Girl as performed on David Letterman only a few weeks ago!

MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Almost home and counting

So I've been informed by Rob that there are only 36 days left until I fly home to Vancouver from Whitehorse. Certainly at the beginning I felt that 3 months would be forever. However, time has proved to fly well once again. I want to say I'm excited--I am--kind of. I still have so much to do in terms of my field work that I just know time will zip by so that I'm left wondering what the heck happened and rushing to finish everything.

I will tell you one thing. I am looking forward to enjoying even 1-month of a B.C. summer. Mmm days of 30+ degree weather. Look out tan-lines! Look out lakes! Look out fishin' holes! Dawn's'a comin' home!

Chars,