February 2011 in a single blog post

What a crazy couple of weeks…

The shipping company came in on Jan 31 to pack up the house, by 2pm our house was full of boxes and every cupboard was bare, including the liquor cabinet… Before 8am the next day a huge semi trailer backed into our little alley. Virgil the long distance driver introduced himself and oversaw a team of three who had everything packed into the trailers and on the road East by 1pm. Blaine and I dashed over to Burnaby for our JIBC Emergency Management Certificate grad ceremony and returned home to an echoing, empty house. We moved into the downstairs office, sleeping on foam mattresses on the floor, to vacate the rest of the house for the contractors. Thank you to Steven the “Mudder Like no Udder” and “Great Scott” who came in at the last minute to complete the renovations that we didn’t have time for. OK so we spent about $15,000 in about 4 weeks but at least the house is ship shape.

Sleeping on the floor, eating take-out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, everything covered in drywall dust, contractors in from 8am to 8pm, and we were still working. The annual pilgrimage to South Lake Tahoe to snowboard Heavenly was much needed. We both got really sick so spent a good deal of time at Snow Beach imbibing medicinal Margaritas in the sunshine. Our last weekend in BC was spent at Sun Peaks with the Guertins. Temperatures hovered between -10C and -28C so it was good acclimatization for us all, although Johnny would have been happier had I not forgotten his coat in Vancouver! Trails Edge Unit23 was the nicest SP rental yet, a big townhouse on 3 floors with comfy beds and a steaming hot tub. The much anticipated Saturday night hot tub party was rather short and subdued as we were all exhausted, I think we were in bed by 9:30! Sheldon and Shalla did an outstanding job of catering, serving up homemade treats such as pulled pork and salmon cakes, with breakfasts of bacon and eggs, and apple pancakes.

Monday and Tuesday night we worked until 1am cleaning, tidying and packing. Needless to say we were getting pretty frazzled and exhausted and couldn’t wait to be gone so at least it would be too late to worry about anything. Tuesday morning the alarm went off at 5am, we fed the dogs, showered, dressed and packed our four suitcases, 2 carry-ons and the 2 dog crates into the truck and headed to the airport. First stop was Air Canada Cargo where Blaine filled out endless paperwork while I walked the dogs around the parking lot. Sage and her crate cost $750 to ship to Ottawa. At the departures terminal Blaine dropped me off with Johnny and the bags while he went to park. The check-in lady was a stickler for weight but we had enough time to repack our bags a distributed the weight more evenly to get under the 50lb/23kg per item limit. Johnny and the 2 extra bags cost $170.  At the gate we just had time to grab a coffee and sandwich to take on board then it was time to board and fly to Ottawa.

It was not until 3 hours into the flight that the enormity of this whole thing hit me. I got really quite overwhelmed and had to cry on Blaine’s very kind shoulder. The exhaustion, the huge number of unknown factors, and having to leave without time to say goodbye to my friends all took its toll. Bizarrely the trigger for this upwelling of emotion was during the film Unstoppable when a news caption referred to a community with a population of 12,000 as a ‘tiny hamlet’. Iqaluit has a population of 7,500 to 8,000 people and is the capital of a Territory with a population of only 33,000.

We arrived in Ottawa and collected the dogs from their respective locations (oversize baggage and cargo) then made our way to the Capital Hill Suites. We had a decent room (thanks to the kind lady who upgraded us to a kitchenette suit when I telephoned to confirm the booking) with two queen beds, one for the bags, one for us and a nice corner for the dogs. Blaine attended meetings, I walked the dogs, went shopping and tried to unwind a little. Other than walking the dogs around Parliament Hill and driving over to Gatineau I didn’t do any tourist stuff but I did make a list of things to do next time we are in town including the war museum and going to the top of the clock tower. Nancy recommended some fabulous looking restaurants but we just weren’t in the right frame to appreciate them so have added those to the list too.

Saturday we got up at 6am, fed the dogs and took them out for their morning pee then loaded up the Suburban and drove to Ottawa airport via Starbucks. Our last Starbucks for some months to come.  Because First Air flies passengers and cargo we didn’t have to take  Sage to a separate drop off, rather they both went as checked baggage. First Air has a fabulously generous baggage allowance too so we checked in our 4 70lb/32kg bags without problems. The flight was half empty so we moved from our assigned seats and settled in for the 3hour flight. We read the complimentary newspapers and magazines then ate a complimentary breakfast and snuggled with the pillow and blankets. No in-flight entertainment but the old school touches were much appreciated.

As we approached Nunavut, the smooth ice of Hudson’s Bay become rough as it gave onto the landmass. Seated on the right hand side of the plane we had a bird’s eye view of the Southern most suburb of Apex and then of Iqaluit itself glistening in the bright sunlight as the plane descended to the runway. The short walk from the plane to the airport building was not long enough to appreciate the -32C welcome, however once we retrieved our bags and dogs we made several trips to load the truck and let the dogs do their thing at which point we were able to appreciate the briskness of the day. Chief Chris kindly came to pick us up and gave a quick tour of town, showing us the firehall and our house before dropping us at the Capital Suites Hotel. The check in staff were very sweet and upgraded our room to a 1 bedroom suite, a kind and much appreciated gesture that has helped us to settle in all the better.

After dressing Johnny in his coat and boots, Sage in her boots, then ourselves in Canada Goose etc we set out for a walk. After a few minutes to orient ourselves we decided to walk to the house to have a longer look and figure out which rooms will be which. It was a longer walk that it seemed on the drive but it isn’t too far out of town, at least not on a nice sunny day like today… While Blaine and I looked around the house the dogs slept, but Johnny made sure to sleep right by the steps so that we couldn’t escape and abandon them again! The rooms are pretty small so the bedroom furniture is likely to be a challenge but the kitchen / dining /living room layout is nice and we have a view of the bay.

Back at the hotel we locked Johnny in his crate and put Sage to bed then headed downstairs to ask the hotel reception where the closest place to eat was (we had enough of the cold for now), she suggested the Nova or the Navigator. We opted for the latter arriving for a very late lunch only to be told by the Nova hotel receptionist that the pub was closed and would open in 15 minutes. We asked her if the Navigator was open, she confirmed that it was, and serves breakfast all day. We enjoyed a surprisingly good Chinese meal, although distracted by the man wearing shorts at the table next to us. He even went outside for a smoke!!! I had beef with onions and ginger, Blaine had lunch special A (a spring roll, chicken fried rice, sweet and sour chicken balls and honey garlic ribs) to drink we had a cup of tea and a can of coke. As we finished our meal, the Nova hotel receptionist arrived for her shift at the Chinese restaurant… we paid the $65 bill and headed back to the hotel. Blaine went to visit at the firehall for a bit, I went back to the room to silence Johnny’s feeble cries. We spent the evening relaxing, watching TV, soaking in the bath, putting booties on the pups for their evening pee. For dinner we ordered a 14” Hawaiian pizza, a snip at $40.