On 23rd May 2009, Shannon Fennell, Canadian Face and Body Artist will be embarking on a 2,500 km road trip through the Rocky Mountains and the Province of Alberta with Anne Freeman (UK based Annie’s Funny Faces and official distributor/manufacturer of Face Painting Products.com/.co.uk) with both of our moms tagging along. Watch here for our latest escapades, photo’s of Anne balancing on the glaciers of the Columbia Icefields, the Calgary Face Painting Jam being hosted by Liz Small, Anne being eaten by a dinosaur in Drumheller and lots more. Daily updates and photos for viewing.
May 21st:
Anne and Jill arrived last night… lots of bags (not them, their luggage!! 
) Within minutes of arrival Anne made their space look like her flat the last time I visited… lol
I had to take RAV4 in for servicing this morning (to make sure it was good for the road trip) so Anne came along and I drove home afterward the really long way… then home to mow the lawn (can’t leave it for a week as we wouldn’t find the house when we got back if we didn’t cut it now!) Anne decided to help out when I was almost finished and Jill took photos – don’t let her claim she did it!!
Took Anne along with me to the theatre tonight as I am on the final week doing the make-up and hair for Catcus Flower and Anne spotted a deer on the way home, yelled for me to stop, made me back up so she could take a photo of it… her first Canadian deer. First of many I would imagine given the route we will be taking on the road trip.
Tomorrow we are going to be getting packed for the road trip and taking a short drive out to Beaverlodge to see the world’s biggest beaver… eat your heart out world!!
May 25th:
We meant to post each day but the (*&$£|&^%£$*&^ hotels in Jasper and Banff had useless wireless connections and I was NOT paying $2 to use the machine in the lobby!
Anne mentioned she spilled her coffee in my car… she’s also been eating Doritos… my poor Rav4 will never recover!
We’ve seen lots of wildlife! Mostly white tailed deer and big horn sheep… and lots of prairie dogs today around Banff.
Here’s the count:
LOTS white tailed deer
4 Mule deer
1 male Elk with a BIG rack
6-8 female Elk
4 Mountain goats
1 Pine Marten
25+ Big Horn Sheep
2 Coyotes
2 hawks
100s of ravens
Lake trout
12+ prairie dogs
2 poodles
47 rottweilers
1 westie
1 rabid jack russell
2 chipmunks/sqirrels…they all look alike
36 Canadian Geese
Duck, loons, grebes and coots…
We stopped at Maligne Canyon on the way to Jasper for a picnic lunch and photo op. We were surprized that the water was so low. But it was a hard winter and a late spring for the mountains and lots of ice is still needs to melt.
On the way to Banff yesterday I made a detour to go to Lake Louise… stupid lake was still frozen and the toilets were all still “closed for the season”… the mom/mums were a little, shall we say “stressed”… luckily not too far to Banff.
We’ve been lucky – it is so early in the season that we have not had any waits at the places we have stopped, not too many tourists to get in OUR way!!
Will post photos a bit later – Anne needs to load them and edit the best for your enjoyment!!
May 28th:
Some pathetic pair of bloggers we turned out to be!! I blame the hotels for having bad wireless connections… we tried, but some just didn’t work! Then, Anne got sick and we ended up staying an extra night in Calgary (she went back to bed and Gummy Slug, Mom and I went to the Calgary Tower and the Zoo…), skipped Drumheller and then today drove home from Calgary, stopping for lunch and shopping at West Edmonton Mall… only took 13 hours and 27 minutes… I’m zonked. I drove… and drove… and drove.
So… what was the last thing we mentioned… hmm…
On Tuesday we took a 9 hour day trip with a tour company from Calgary to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Fort McLeod and The Nanton Lancaster Museum (as in Lancaster Night Bomber! a real intact one that we got to go in!) Fascinating stuff… we basically had a private guide/driver as we were the only people booked so the company owner took us in a mini-van rather than a bus.
I’m going to have to add more tomorrow… my eyes feel like sandpaper and I am very tired…
Well, it’s our last day here in sunny Grand Prairie and what a blast we’ve had………….4 days in hot hot hot Vegas, exploring casinos, seeing the Grand Canyon from the air (getting air sick in the helicopter too) and then going onto Canada where the temp varies from day to day as does the clouds or blue sky on the horizon.
so what’ve we done here……………well hardly any painting or work on the e-book for sure, but we’ve been some great places, met some great people, hsd some great illnesses (lol), ate some great food and seen masses of things we’d never have seen at home.
we’ve been to:
The Rockies: Jasper national park, Banff national park, Glaciers, Calgary, Head Smashed In Buffaloo Jump, Fort McLeod (spelling?), Edmonton, seen the biggest beaver in the world at Beaver Lodge (and nope it wasnt a real one lol).
we’ve been to loads of good food houses, had steak sandwiches with fries and gravy………….home food not a par on this
we’ve also been to the cinema to see Star Trek – brill film………………..did you know that Harry Potter will be out over here before it is as home………..that’s bad………..its by an English author (sigh) oh well.
all the food and meal sizes are so much bigger here than at home…………they dont do senior portions lol……….actually its quite funny referring to mum as a senior lol lol.
we went to see a real rodeo and stampede and chuck wagon race finals on sunday night and that was simply amazing………….never seen nothing like it at home………the cowboys just leap on the horses…….like they’re on springs………not like at home where you have a foot in the stirrup first etc. took some good piccies of cowboys for the females back home in the office……………some where hot hot hot lol
people loving the english accent over here…………..its a topic of conversation everywhere here lol…………….nobody to say aaaarrrrrriiiiggggghhhtttt to tho cos nobody gets it over here lol.
bought MASSES of sweeties to bring back to the peeps at home in the office…………also got loads of M&M souvenirs and other stuff………..bought new clothes…….stuff for the girlies………….did buy myself a nice new Roots watch and mum like it so much she’s got it now lol
we’ve had a good day today so far, cutting the grass, strimming and tidying up the garden. had a phone call bout our house purchase this morning and looks like fingers crossed………we’ll be able to go to exchange and complete next week which will be fab. It’s been really mind boggling dealing with all this and I’ve had to turn away so much work incase it coincided when we may or may not be moving……..its really annoying. still Guiness said today that they are looking at having the foreman sign off the remedial works tomorrow, then they’ll phone the solicitor, the solicitor will call the surveyor who will go back round and reinspect the works ‘allegedly’ undertaken and report back……if thats all ok then we’ll go to exchange on Monday…….at last.
Dad’s been checking on the home for us and is getting in some bits of shopping for us when we get back cos we’re due into Plymouth bout 4pm and I have to be at theatre at 6pm, so need to unload, eat and get costumes together to take up there with me then. Then we have full dress rehearsal on Friday and then the show on Saturday…………..I get a day to relax and open mail on Sunday, then solicitors monday morning and then back to work on Monday afternoon……….on my birthday of all days lol lol
still……………WOOOWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe………..what a holiday………..gonna miss Shannon and June so much when Mum and I go home………………they won’t know what to do with all the peace and quiet lol
well………..that’s the update for now…………..shannon’s cooking tea today we got fish and rice and yummy things and then June’s made a lovely cake for afterwards……oh, did I tell you bout the peanut butter cookies???????????????? they melt in your mouth…….am scoffing some now…………oh and the cinnamon buns were better than shannon said……….and I’ve still lost bout 15lb since being over here……..although that was probably down to me being poorly lol
catch you all laters.
xxx
Saturday 29th May 09
had a blast working with shannon today………….finally got to grips with painting her T-Rex face…………….am dead chuft with that lol lol.
was a busy afternoon with non stop painting, then our official break, then more painting up to 7pm. Was really weird getting to grips with the Canadian way of having to rinse and wash brushes in alcohol and letting air dry before using them on the next person lol. shannon said i commandeered all her best brushes to use lol………….should have bought my harbin kolinsky……i’d have been completely in my element then lol lol.
we’ve had a good day tho………massive big clouds of dust………. note to self……….do NOT wear black at a rodeo/stampede………wear jeans even if it looks unprofessional lol lol. we looked so dirty at the end of the booking, we’d have been more presentable in jeans i think lol lol.
went thru diary queen drive on way home and got a burger, fries and a smartie blizzard……….all just like macdonalds lol lol. that was really yummy…………June had made peanut butter cookies for us too………..so the cookie jar is full………but only for tonight lol lol………….am loving it here.
mum still has her cold……i’ve nearly shifted my cough……and poor June now starting to come down with sniffles and cough….hope she will be ok……..shannon still trying to shift her cough too. tummy problems appear to have all disappeared now thank goodness, altho if i bend over still get lightheaded and disorientated……..but that usually takes a couple of weeks to settle after a bout like i’ve just had. think i scared everybody here……including my mum who’s seen it all before lol.
well tomorrow is sunday……….we’re off to rodeo in the evening to watch the finals of the chuck wagon racing………….hopefully going to see new star trek film on monday at piccies………..then packing on tuesday ready for return journey…….altho both me and mum would like to stay here……………dunno if shannon and Mom can handle us for that long tho lol lol.
well we arrived in Calgary today about 2.30pm….due to internet access issues at other hotels, we couldnt log on earlier than today to update the blog.
WOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE what a time we’ve had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! shannon now has a headache from me lol lol
(mum has a migraine from me!!!) seriously tho, we’ve had such a good time so far.
we left grand prairie on saturday morning……..and i got the day off to a good start by spilling coffee in the Rav4……much to shannon’s disgust………….but then that was ok cos it was starbucks coffee and actually, she spilt some too………so that made it even…….we blamed the cups!!
we had a fantastic drive thru the big horn highway and i saw deer on the way there…….then we got closer to the Rockies and you could see the white tipped mountains somewhere in the distance……………that looked fab.
we got closer and a coyote ran across the road and we screeched to a halt and out came the camera (again!) and we took more piccies…………….we also took an excellent piccie of a deer having a crap!!!
………….we’ll try and get that one posted up later tonight for you to see.
we got into the Jasper National Park (cant be bothered with all these caps you know) and saw an elk with a big rack (keep it clean girls lol), and a bunch of young big horn sheep with little horns.
we also saw cows and ponies and the usual stuff……like MASSIVE ravens and poodles lol.
Jasper national park is truly amazing……..like being in another world…………we went up a tram – also called a gondola – up the side of a mountain and we were over 5000 feet high……you know they squash over 20 people into the little car…………i nearly pooped my pants when i realised all i had to hold onto was the door handle of a door that opens!!!!!!
amazing tho. we walked around the top of the mountain and we saw 4 mountain goats – the white shaggy snooty looking ones – and a pine marten. he was really cute and posed for lots of piccies……….we’ll post those up later as well
by the time we came down from the mountain, i was poorly…..i’d been coming down with a cold for the last 24 hours and the cold air sortof burnt my throat – it was so dry and played havoc with my asthma……….so poor shannon, Mom and Mum had to put up with my snuffles and racking cough and deep sighs lol. Am feeling much better today tho…………altho i think i’ve passed it onto Mum and onto shannon
(do hope i havent tho cos shannon will tell me off!!!)
we also went to the columbia ice field…………i thought i was gonna collapse trying to get up all the steps into the building cos of the cold air scorching my throat…….never felt pain like that before……..and dont wanna again….but do think it was a mixture of altitude, asthma and my cold that made it hurt to breathe- was only like it outside, not inside.
anyway……ohmygawd……..if you get to the Rockies you WANNA get up the ice glacier………its magic!!!!! we got to go on big catapillar type coaches (as we could call them back in the UK) and up and down the most steeps hills – 18% grade…………but actually, it was steeper than a 17% hill we have in Plymouth so on a UK level, it was steeper than 18%!!!!
i got to have my piccies taken STANDING ON REAL LIVE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you know how i’m always going onto shannon bout sending me some snow and it never reaches me cos it melts…………….well i got to stand on the edge of a glacier that was 1KM THICK with snow and ice – how cool is that?!!!!! we’ll post up some piccies of that too later.
today (monday 25th May) – we’ve been in Banff national park and gone on a tour looking at national places of interest in the park, learning bout some of the history, seeing some spectacular views and seeing more animals. Had a lovely pub lunch and am now in Calgary where we are based for 2 nights.
we’re off to Head Smashed in Buffaloo Jump tomorrow for the day and then a facepainting jam with the Canadian nutters tomorrow night. (liz are you ready for us???????????) lol lol.
so all in all………..we’ve had a fabulous time………..am loving the scenery, the food and the company. Mum is finding it all totally amazing too and am really glad she’s having such a good time………..even if her legs are bad tonight and she as a bit of a cough (me looking guilty now lol).
Will post again tomorrow……………..over to shannon for updates and other bits……..ie translation from uk speak into Canadian speak lol lol.
Yep, I travelled over 3,000 miles (well, actually i dont have a clue how many miles it was to get here), and i came all the way to mow shannon’s lawn lol lol lol
saw my first deer today and took a piccie, will bung it up on here later. had a blast at shannon’s theatre group tonight. they are completely mad……….much madder than the Society Players in Plymouth (you’ve lost your mad trophy Anita lol lol).
we’re off to see the world’s biggest Beaver tomorrow………..and i’ll no doubt fall asleep in the Rav cos i keep wanting to sleep, altho shannon wont let me cos i need to look out for moose and grizzlies and sheep and bears and deer lol lol
we’re having a blast tho. didnt like the plane from Edmonton to GP cos it was tiny and rattled like anything. Mum’s disabled assistance didnt turn up in Chicago so that was a bit of a nightmare and dunno how many times we’ve had shoes on and off to be screened……………they let mum keep her bananas tho lol
Mum is completely worn out and sleeping a lot………….more than in Vegas but that’s cos she was only going to bed at 2am!!!!!!
forgot to post the postcards to work and home from Vegas so will post from GP – but the mail is slower than snail mail and i’ll be back at work before it arrives lol.
we leave for The Road Trip Experience on Saturday morning at 8am……………and you guys know I just don’t DO 8am lol lol. mind you it was 7am today so we could take the RAV for the service………………saw some leftover snow from the day before and had a fab breakfast at a local diner…………eggs and sausage and potatoe and endless coffee…….much better than at home…………………..hey Pete B……………..it was on a par with your coffee too
well………..am finally going for some much needed snooze time now…….its 10.30pm here……………which is 5.30 UK time…………….so we’ll catch you tomorrow.
Hugs to all my fan club lol
Shannon forgets however that we’re also visiting Head Smashed in and that I have all her face painting goodies in my suitcase
hee hee.