How old was I in 2007?

Every so often I think everyone has a moment when they say something completely moronic and instantly regret it. Sadly, there are also those who have those moments and have absolutely no idea why an entire roomful of people goes silent and covertly glances at their companions. Poor, poor girl.

But I digress. Luckily for us the weather improved by this morning and our flight left on time. Also very lucky for us the ridiculously slow line through customs and security only took an hour and 45 minutes so we were able to catch our punctual flight!

I was very excited:

So was Coreen:

Kathleen thinks we're a bunch of jackanapes:


By the way, the full body scanners - piece of cake! Much easier that a pat down by the customs officer who looked like the Swedish assistant on 50 First Dates.

After landing (during which the pilot must have allowed his pet monkey to operate the plane) and a harrowing shuttle ride to the car rental facility, we took the last 2 Chevrolet Aveos, much to the chagrin of another couple who ended up with a Hyundai, and made a quick pit stop at Walgreen's for the essentials:


Dear readers, those of you who live in Alberta will have driven highways that sported signage warning of "wind gusts". Let me tell you about wind gusts. Have you ever driven a Chevrolet Aveo through a hurricane? That is the GD highway from Las Vegas to Mesquite.

Before I describe the ass-clenching drive from Mesquite to St. George, if you are ever in the lovely municipality of Mesquite and find yourself craving a little Mexican, be sure to visit Los Cazadores Mexican Restaurant. Bueno!



Now, those of us who are used to driving in the mountains would think a little jaunt on an interstate through a canyon would be a walk in the park. Not so. Coincidentally that was my turn to drive. Enjoy the next few pictures as taken by Loralee as she enjoyed the scenery while I pooped my pants and tried to keep all four wheels of a wannabe hovercraft on the pavement:




Clearly, we survived, or your beloved hero would not be typing this blog entry.

Have you ever noticed...

...that no matter HOW much you plan ahead, everything goes wrong at the last minute? I can only imagine what I did in a past life for karma to poop all over me today. I will spare you the details but in a nutshell computers hate me and I managed to tear a muscle in my side while operating a desktop. Only I could achieve this, and I did so in grand style.

Also, I loathe Windows Vista. The entire Windows corporation should be lined up on the street and stoned to death.

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 8:15 AM. I have to be at the airport for 6:15AM. So I have to leave the house at 5:30AM. The alarm going off at 4:30AM is going to come awfully quickly...I hope!!

An obligatory post about the weather...

Well, I've been an Albertan for almost all of my days (I was a German for a short period of time but I was in diapers and trust me, no one wants me to remember those days), and Spring snow storms are no surprise.


Coreen checked and our flight is still going, though. If it doesn't I'll start walking. I'm sure a nice trucker will take pity on me trudging along the desert highways - that is, if I make it past Okotoks before I collapse.

A few people have asked me where we are staying while we're there. The Sanctuary does have cabins available on site, but they were already booked up when we (by we, I mean Coreen) checked back in January. So, we are happily booked in to a lovely pet friendly place called the Treasure Trail Motel. Now, please hold all comments regarding the name of this fine establishment. I'm sure, just as "fanny" has a slightly different connotation in the UK, so must "treasure trail" have a different meaning in the US. Or, the owners have a sense of humour much like my own. So, I assure you that any jokes you may have come up with in this regard have already been thought up and uttered by yours truly.

You may have noticed that I mentioned the motel is pet friendly. Why would this matter, you ask, as surely you aren't bringing your dogs to Utah with you? Well, the really super fun thing about Best Friends (among other equally super fun things), is that they encourage volunteers to work closely with animals at the sanctuary, and allow them to take dogs on sleepovers, to accustom them to life outside the sanctuary while they wait for their forever home (and likely cats - though this particular topic will be up for some serious debate should it come up while we're down there as cats and I have an uneasy truce at best). So of course we plan to take advantage of that!

The only challenge I can forsee is how on earth I will smuggle a dog or two onto the plane after I fall in love. And then there will of course be the challenge of convincing Rob that ABSOLUTELY we can handle 5, or 6 dogs. Hey, what's 2 more when you already have 4??

The final countdown...

Great, now I have that song in my head.

It is t-minus 2 days until the girls and I head off to that wonderful place, the rescue that all rescues wish they could be, 30,000+ acres of awesome, The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary!!

What is The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (besides amazing and clearly the best place on earth), you ask? Check out their website here.

How did you find this place, you ask? Do you have the National Geographic Channel? If not, get it. If so, check your listings for the next airing of a wonderful show called Dogtown. This amazing series allowed viewers a glimpse into the world at the sanctuary, in one (comparatively) small area called Dogtown. Here is where homeless dogs find love, acceptance, medical care, and a chance at their forever home. And if they are too old, too sick, or just misunderstood, they will have a permanent home in Dogtown to live out their days.

How did you get involved, you ask? It started as a thought, and thanks to the most organized woman in the world, it became reality. Good "old" Coreen contacted Best Friends and told them a group of us wanted to go. They directed us to join the Best Friends Network, and to fill out a volunteer profile. Once that was done, and even those of us who are computer challenged (Kathleen) were able to figure it out, it was a matter of telling them who was going, when we were going to be there, and what we wanted to do.

A seat sale to Las Vegas was all it took - we booked our flights in January to fly out April 30th. From there it's a 4 hour drive to Kanab, Utah, and then they set us loose on the Sanctuary!

Okay well they don't really set us loose. Our first morning is a tour and then orientation and then we go from there. Loralee, Lauren, and I are going to be volunteering there (and of course enjoying ourselves) until May 7th, and the rest of the ladies will be there for the weekend.

Since I'm a narcissist I assume everyone will be DYING to know how it goes - so I decided to start this blog to chronicle our adventures.

Stay tuned for updates - 2 MORE SLEEPS!!