Our first stop after leaving Calgary was our Rocky Mountain getaway in Fernie.  We’ve decided not to let the basement suite in our house this summer and, when we have the time, use it ourselves.  It’s been an incredibly relaxing few days and there’s no better place to get over the inevitable jetlag that comes with the eight hour time difference.  We still had the usual 4am revile but lots of fresh air and sunshine certainly helped and after a few days we were back to a more reasonable hour of between six and seven.

Generally our days followed a similar pattern.  Mornings were spent walking the dog on the many trails around Fernie, with swimming in the lake, fetching sticks in the grass and exploring new smells in the woods.  We then headed back to the house for some DIY, cleaning and lunch, followed by an afternoon nap for Jack (and sometimes for Lucille).   Afternoons involved more cleaning and DIY and a run along the Elk river with Jack spotting the marks left by beavers from his buggy.  On one occasion our morning walk along the trail had to take a diversion through the neighbouring suburb.   Our first hurdle was a flooded path and with our wellies sitting somewhere in Calgary with customs, we had to negotiate an alternative route through the James White park.  Unfortunately, this route was out of bounds due to a dangerous animal in the area – we’re not sure what, but a bear seems the most likely!

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As you can tell, there’s been plenty to do in the basement suite and on the whole house.  Never have we seen so much dust and dirt in such a small place.  Needless to say, it is now sparkling clean and hopefully we’ll just have cobwebs to deal with when we return.  Jonathan has been as happy as a pig in, well – you know what I mean!  He’s been fitting skirting board, boarding out a cupboard ready for plastering, fixing the roof on the house and most excitingly, planning a deck for the outside area of the suite.  We’ve had numerous trips to Home Depot, Home Hardware and Canadian Tire for screws, tools, fixings, wood, plasterboard, a staple gun, ladder, drill and a book on deck design!

We were due to head to BATUS to take over our new quarter and home for the next two years on Monday, but after having such a great time in Fernie and discovering that our furniture won’t be arriving until a week later than planned we delayed the journey by a couple of days.  It’s now Wednesday 25^th May and we’re on the road to Ralston.