Our Trip to Calgary.

Alright, the moment you've all been waiting for: hearing about our THIRTY TWO HOUR DRIVE from Grand Rapids, MI to Calgary, AB. Well, here it goes...

But before I get into the details of the drive, let me tell you about my final weeks in Michigan while James was already working in Calgary. The house sold within three days (thank God) so I didn't have to keep the house in pristine condition for long but movers came December 19th & 20th, so I had to make sure all the items I didn't want them to pack/take, were hidden in my car (and my bathroom lol). I will say, the movers were super professional and great with Ella. Copper was (obv) at daycare both days because working from home + watching two dogs was out of the question.

Ella, Copper and I had the pleasure of sleeping on an air mattress with all of our stuff in totes, finishing Christmas shopping, and visiting friends that weekend. It would have been a perfectly fine weekend if Ella didn't go and scratch the shit out of her eyes, resulting in a vet visit, ER visit, and spending $700 on her so she'd get better. Luckily James flew home the night after the ER visit so I didn't have to give her 4 eye drops and 2 pain pills (multiple times a day) by myself.

We spent our final days in Michigan at my sister Jenn's house which was so nice. I'm glad we could spend time with our families over Christmas! We got to see just about everyone before the move.

We decided to hit the road Saturday morning, December 28th. We woke up at 5:30 am with hopes to get on the road by 6 am, but we were a bit delayed because of all the stuff we had to pack up and saying goodbye. I knew I would cry but thought I could at least get through telling my nephew that we wouldn't be gone forever. Nope, I started crying but Quinten finished my sentence for me and told me we'd be back soon. He's the smartest four-year-old I know and I'm so thankful for FaceTime.

The drive was pretty smooth as we drove from Michigan>>Indiana>>Illinois>>Wisconsin. We rented an F150 and put up the back seat so the dogs had plenty of room to sleep and get cozy with each other. Ella tried to come up to the front several times so we had to put the middle console up. That was a game-changer. Once we got past Madison, WI I started to drive and the rain came. That rain slowly turned into sleet as we made our way to Minnesota. James took back over once we got through Minneapolis because the sleet had now turned into snow.

The drive from Minneapolis to Fargo, ND was seriously miz. The worst drive ever. Everything was icy and we saw multiple semi-trucks jackknifed in the ditch. We were just under two hours from Fargo and I swear an hour later the GPS said we still had two hours. That's how slow we were going. The entire time I kept thinking of The Office episode when they had to work late and Kelly yells, "I'M DYING!!" because she's so bored. Thankfully we made it safely to our hotel in Fargo, got some Bdubs and went to bed.

Sunday morning we woke up to seriously the worst blizzard I've ever seen in my life—which is saying something coming from West Michigan. The wind was blowing sideways and the snow piles were 3x my height from plowing the parking lot. We got in the truck and grabbed coffee before getting on the highway. Or I should say attempted to get on the highway. We saw what looked like barriers going up to shut down the highway and decided it was probably best to go back to the hotel for a bit. We didn't technically check out yet so we were able to get right back into our room and not five minutes after that, they had officially shut down both major highways out of the city and told people to NOT be on the roads whatsoever that day. It was only going to get worse.

So...there we were...stuck in Fargo in a hotel with two very active dogs and nowhere to go. The wind was so bad and so cold that we couldn't take them out for long and almost every store and restaurant was closed so we didn't have many options for food besides the grocery store that was open next door. Lunch was cheese and summer sausage, dinner was frozen meals and the snacks our family and friends gave us for the road trip. SHOUT OUT to Brittney, Mo, Andrea, the Sechrists & my niece and nephew for getting us snacks for the road!! We also binge-watched TLC (what up Say Yes to the Dress and 90 Day Fiance) and believe it or not, James was genuinely interested in both shows.

We woke up Monday and the highways were still closed. I was borderline freaking out that our new life would be in Fargo because it was never going to stop snowing. We literally kept refreshing the NDDOT website and watching the news so we could get on the road the minute they opened up. Finally, one of the highways opened at 11 am and we knew it would probably still be a bit sketchy but the radar showed that if we drove about an hour and a half away from the death trap named Fargo, we'd be in the clear. So we packed up and headed out.

We were very much behind in our timeline so we decided to stop at Swift Current, SK (which we were going to stay Sunday night anyways) and LET ME TELL YOU....the most boring drive you'll ever make in your life is the drive from Fargo, ND to Swift Current, SK. Fields for days with no end in sight. When we came to Calgary to house hunt at the beginning of December, James's new boss said that Saskatchewan is so flat, your dog could run away and you'd see it for a mile. He wasn't kidding.

We got to the border and were asked a bunch of random questions (which was expected) but then were able to get through with no problems. After being on the road a bit in SK, we encountered another obstacle: FOG. The fog was so thick, James had to slow way down because you couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of you. I'm not even exaggerating, it was that bad. Luckily a semi-truck passed us and we were able to follow closely behind him and made our way to the hotel in Swift Current. It was midnight central time and we planned to get up at 6 am Tuesday to get into Calgary by noon mountain time.

Ask us if we slept well on this drive...the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT and that was especially true of our stay in Swift Current. I swear there was no one else on our floor but Copper heard every sound within a mile radius and kept barking. Luckily the room had two queen beds because Ella and I had to sleep in one while James literally held Copper down to get him to calm and go to sleep.

After about three hours of sleep, we got on the road again. I drove the rest of the way because James drove all day Monday. It was smooth sailing all the way to Calgary, and we were able to get all of our stuff up to the apartment, grocery shop, and get a nice hike around Nose Hill Park before relaxing in for the evening. It's safe to say the champagne went down quickly on NYE as we tried our best to stay up to midnight our time. We didn't make it but we made it to midnight eastern time and that's what matters!

New Years Day, we got the keys to our house!! But we're waiting until our stuff gets here (hopefully next week) before we move into it. I cannot wait to be able to just open the slider door and let the dogs out into the yard again. Taking these dragons down 22 floors and outside to the park by myself is a hot mess that I don't recommend to anyone. But at least I offer some comic relief to those driving by.

It's been quite the two months since we found out we'd be moving and I seriously cannot express to you how happy I am to be here. James is back to work and I'm getting used to remote work-life but so far so good. It also still doesn't feel real that Banff National Park and the Canadian Rockies are minutes away from us. We're so fortunate to be here and while it's cold AF, the sun is out EVERY DAY and the city is seriously gorgeous. Cheers to 2020 in a new country!!

xoxo, Stef