Tuesday morning we awoke way too early considering we hadn’t fallen asleep until almost 1am. It was just 5:20am, and time to hit the shower before checking out of our hotel. We had spent three nights in Saskatoon, hunting down our dream property, and now it was time to start making the trip back home.

First, we would be making the drive one last time, to meet the realtor at the property we had decided we liked best.

The largest property of them all, with the lake right next door.

The fixer upper.

I wanted to take some video for the kids. They needed to see this too. They needed to know what was ahead of us if we made the decision to try for this move, this dream, once more.

This would be it. Our final try at our goal of having a ‘real’ farm.

We wandered the property one more time, and took a second look at the issues that would be needing the most work, and would be the largest expense. We discussed things some more with the realtor, and stood around in the kitchen and chatted with the present owners as well.

It was good to get a second look.

We wanted to know if we’d feel excitement, or dread, going back to the property a second time.

We felt excitement.

After the viewing, we drove around the area for a bit. We really didn’t have time for this, but we felt we needed to get at least a small ‘feel’ for what the surrounding area was like. We drove around and checked out the nearest neighbours, the town, etc. before heading on our way. We needed to get to Calgary, Alberta that night, and that was going to be another very long drive, and a long day.

We made it to Kindersley, Saskatchewan in time for a late lunch.

We soon left Saskatchewan, and were into Alberta.

It was time to leave the dream behind, for now, and think about all that lay ahead of us.

We drove straight through to the hotel in Calgary, Alberta, arriving at the worst hotel we had stayed at during our entire trip!

We were too tired to care, too much…
I wondered if I’d be able to sleep. It smelled as though they spent their days wandering the halls spraying cans of air freshner all day and night! The place was a little dilapidated as well. I was not impressed. We had tried to stick with inexpensive, yet decent hotels once we had left the West Edmonton Mall, but the hotel in Saskatoon had been much nicer then this one. I dreaded the following night as well, as the hotel we’d be staying at the next night, the last night of our trip, was from the same chain as this current hotel.

Despite the ‘atmosphere’, we actually slept pretty well and for the first time in days, we slept through the night. The room had an air conditioner which I had set on ‘fan’ to drown out any noises, and this seemed to help. We woke up at 7am and were checked out by 7:30 and on our way to British Columbia. I couldn’t get out of that hotel, and the over powering air freshner smell, quick enough!

We hit the road again!

This had been one part of the drive I was most looking forward to. Driving through the Rockies was something I had loved since I was a child and my parents would to take us camping in Banff and Jasper Alberta.

I knew we wouldn’t have time to stop very often, but I did have VERY high hopes for some quick photo opportunities along the way. We had gotten a glimpse of the foothills the night before as we arrived in Calgary, and I was very excited to see more!

The closer we got to the mountains, the more excited I became.

I imagined all sorts of photographs of gorgeous mountain peaks towering amongst blue skies.

I had been imagining this since my husband first asked if I would be interested in making the drive back home with him!

However, this leg of the drive was sorely disappointing. It snowed the entire time, and the weather was so thick we could barely see way out in front of us, let along the majestic mountain peaks we knew were hiding amongst this ‘fog’.

I also had imagined all the wild life we would see. I had made this drive MANY times throughout my life and every.single.time. I had been impressed by the wild life we saw but this was the very first time I’d be making this drive with a good camera.

Again, big disappointment. We didn’t see a single animal. I saw some tracks in the snow along the way, but that was it. I tried to make the most of it and snapped some photos of a few views we saw along the way.

We stopped at an interesting looking restaurant, the Golden Grizzly Cookhouse, just inside BC, for lunch around noon.

And then we hit the road again.

This was a very familiar site as we drove.

We were going through the Avalanche Area.

Our day was only half over so far, we still had quite a drive ahead of us.

I learned later that night on the discovery channel, that they actually have a very small army base in this area who’s sole purpose is to shoot ‘canons’ (that may be the wrong term, hee hee) at avalanche areas right through here, Rogers Pass, to keep the avalanche’s from occurring on their own, without warning. I thought it was pretty neat to have just driven through the pass and then just happen to see this on tv right afterwards! I had literally turned the tv on for a few moments to see if I could find out about the next day’s weather, and Rogers Pass happened to be on Daily Planet. What a coincidence!

 

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Some of you have emailed me asking what happened, how the story ends??

I feel I should add a bit of a disclaimer here so you’re not all left hanging as I go through the rest of our trip here on the blog over the next few days.

During the time since we first discussed with the realtors in Saskatchewan that we were interested in the one property for sure, the largest one we viewed, they suggested we put in a conditional offer to get our ‘foot in the door’.

We thought about it, hard, and discussed it, but we’ve been down this road before as anyone who’s been following our blog, or is a part of our lives, knows.

We decided against it, and decided we’d have to leave Saskatchewan without putting in an offer.

Instead, we would head back home, and get our present hobby farm on the market as quick as possible and hope for a sale, in time to put in an offer on the property we had fallen in love with.

We know this is a ‘gamble’.

But we’ve been down this road before. For the past several years in fact. Always wondering what’s holding things up, yet at the same time, truly appreciating the time we have had on this beautiful Island on the West Coast of Canada.

We do not, and have not, take our time here for granted. We love the ocean, we love the mountains, the beauty, the wildlife, and the sometimes very mild winters that surround us here.

We also love that we have family near by. My parents, and my sister & her husband, are also here on the Island and this makes the desire to move to farmland ‘bittersweet’, and more difficult.

However, our family has a dream, we have had this dream for many years now. My husband and I have had this dream from the beginning, since we first were married over 20 years ago, but at that time we never dared to even think that one day our dream could become a reality. We have both loved the country, farmland, homesteading, and all it has to offer, since our childhood years.

As time has gone on, and our children have all expressed the same desire for the same dream (lots of land, small scale farming, horses, etc.) we realized maybe this is a dream worth pursuing. We tried to pursue the dream here, however, land is very expensive here. The only way we were ever able to buy our 5 acre hobby farm was due to an incredible jump in  housing prices on our previous home, in a small nearby city, and happening across this dilapidated, junk ridden, 5 acre property that no one else wanted. No one else wanted to do the work it required. We gave up a 5 bedroom, over 3000 square foot home on a large city lot, and traded it for a 2 bedroom fixer upper on 5 acres.

This, afforded us the opportunity to jump into a small acreage. There was no other way.

This also gave us a small taste of country living, and we love it. All of us.

We want more.

MUCH more.

To get it, we know that once again we will have to jump into something needing work, and it will have to be away from the Island. This is something we’ve had to think over very seriously, all seven of us.

But we feel it’s worth it, so we’re going to give it a try. Again.

We truly appreciate the loving support so many of you have given us through it all!