Winter?

Well it's been a little while since my last post, mostly because I'm home now and I'm in full swing with being back at school and work and riding horses and whatnot, also because non-Disney is so much less fun to write about! I'm getting my condo ready to sell, finishing the last class in my program, and trying to not miss the sunshine state so much. Victoria was glorious the last week or two and then something happened and now it's freezing!!! So upsetting, I'm so cold all the time. Orlando made me a big baby about cold!! My mom and I went on this really cool house tour of 6 amazing houses in Victoria. It was really neat to see, I love architecture and big houses and I'm one of those really nosy people who always wonders what the inside of other people's houses look like. So it was a great little afternoon adventure for us. It made me really think about priorities. Having a really nice fancy house on the ocean really seems like something I really want, in theory. But then I spent the day really thinking about what is most important to me, and I would rather have no home and a passport than a big fancy house tying me to a city. I love travelling and seeing the world. Obviously if I had unlimited capital then I'd buy a fancy house on every continent. But at this point, I'll settle for just getting to every continent. And that's what's important. But gosh were those houses gorgeous!!!

Customs

Well I'm in the Seattle airport awaiting a connecting flight. I know what you're thinking, and yes, I'm off again. I'm headed back to florida for a little bit, I'll be back on the island again by Monday. I just have to talk about customs agents for a minute because I think they don't get enough credit. Everyone complains about them but I love them. I've never had a bad customs experience. Even today, I was selected twice for random extra screening and all of my customs agents were great. The first one joked and laughed with me and we had a lovely time. I think that they have a job that sometimes sucks but if you are happy and co-operative with them, then in my experience they are the same way with you. Call me crazy but I always have fun going through customs. And I got a special screening test today that I've never had before, they wiped my hands with a gun powder residue pad and then scanned it!! It was just like CSI, I was so excited!!

New Friends

I have been meaning to post this photo for quite some time, however with the travelling across Canada, it was a little bit difficult. I met a couple of lovely ladies just before I left Florida, they were staying in the resort and I got to chatting with them. Carol and Deb were delightful and are a fabulous example of the amazing people that I get to interact with on a daily basis at the lodge. They had some great advice for me in my future endeavors and even took a photo of us on the 6th floor! If you ladies are out there reading this, it was a true pleasure to meet you!!

DLP

So I'm home now, and it's amazing to be back here.  I just adore Victoria and am so happy to be home. I miss Orlando tho, and I'm excited to go back for a visit next week. I have some great news, I spoke to the recruiter from Disneyland Paris and they've approved me for a later start time. I still have one class left to finish to graduate and I wanted to take an advanced french class as well, just to make sure my french is up to par, and if I started in September I wouldn't be able to do that. Plus this way I can tie up some loose ends here at home and that's very nice. It's a big weight off my shoulders, moving to another continent is a wee big stressful!
So I get to stay home for a bit, sell my condo, etc, and sort my life out before I leave! Yay!

So much to say

Well it's been a delightful time! We went to Banff, visited my friends over there, saw the mountains, and ate at my favorite restaurant. Which is 'The Grizzly House'. It's a fondue/hot rock restaurant and it's so much fun!! I adore it there. Derrek ate all kinds of crazy animals. Snake, shark, venison!! Etc. I ate chicken!! It was so wonderful to see my Banff friends and catch up. As per usual we didn't get to stay long enough, and it was hard to leave. From there we went to Penticton to see Lindsey which was wonderful also! We floated down the channel and enjoyed the sun! We only got one day there and then off to van we went. I got to see an old friend there that I haven't seen in a very long time so that was amazing. And now I'm on the ferry to the island!!! Huzzah!!! I can't even express how happy I am to be going home. I'm giddy!!! I haven't been home since January! Yay! .

This is the view of the Bow valley from the resort I used to work at in Banff, the Rimrock! So many memories

The Bow Falls.....still unsure why they call them falls, they're just big rapids!

You know you're in Banff when you run into lots of these guys!

This is actually Penticton as seen from Lindsey's balcony!

 

Niagara Falls

So we left Toronto and headed to Niagara Falls for the day! The way the buses worked out, we got to Niagara at noon and then would be able to leave in the evening for Winnipeg! So we spent the day at the falls. When you get into Niagara, the area around the bus stop is the 'old downtown' area and it's kind of like something out of a zombie movie! It's all boarded up and desolate. No people anywhere. We opted to walk to the actual falls and by the time we got down there, it looked more like civilization again. The falls are stunning!! Absolutely gorgeous! Then there's this random street called Clifton Hill that is like a little mini Las Vegas that just appears from nowhere. It also reminds me of highway 192 in Florida. Crazy buildings and haunted houses and massive dinosaurs coming out of buildings and stuff. Totally random. Massive tourist trap. There's also a few lovely parks and things that we wandered through. Overall I really enjoyed Niagara Falls, I would like some more time to explore it!!  

Toronto

So we just left Toronto. It was lovely. I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the last time I was there, probably because I had some friends to show me around. We had a lot of fun wandering around during the day, we went to Chinatown and all over! Then we went for dinner with some of my friends from Banff, it was so nice to see everyone!! I enjoyed Toronto. I think I could live there, I like how much is going on all the time!