Better Safe Than Sorry

Ryan and I got back from Toronto on Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday afternoon, Ryan left for his family's farm at Morrin (just north of Drumheller) to put the crop in for the year. Instead of being home alone for a week, I decided that I would pack up the girls in their kennels and drive to Penticton to surprise my parents, maybe go to Starbucks with Karen & Angella if they were around, and just relax and enjoy the long weekend. After doing all of our Toronto laundry, I re-packed my suitcase, packed all of my travel snacks, gassed up the Envoy, and I was good to go. Oh, but just wait. This certain mountain pass that gives people enormous grief in the winter decided to prolong its misery for motorists ~ yes, the beautiful but sometimes treacherous Rogers Pass. My belief has always been the Rogers Pass is safe to drive on between Easter and Thanksgiving, as in, no snow. And while snow on the pass isn't a problem right now, the 250 cm sitting up top that's now melting is. There's been mud slides and falling rock, so much so that twice since Tuesday, the pass has been closed for 18 hours, including overnight. In fact, as I write this, the pass has been closed since last night at suppertime, and their confidence level is LOW that it will re-open at noon today. And when it does periodically re-open, it opens to one lane of alternating traffic with delays of up to two hours, and the situation is expected to continue through the long weekend. Well, it's already a 10-hour drive from Red Deer to Penticton so 2-hour delays don't interest me, especially whilst travelling alone with two little cats in the backseat. I'd hate to be a) turned around and then try to find a hotel in Golden with all the other motorists when I have the girls; and b) I'm not really interested in being in the middle of a mud slide or falling rock.

So here I am, blogging in my house by myself with the girls, but I'll make the most of it. I'm going out for lunch today, I have a lot of cleaning to do around here, there's bedding plants to be purchased, and I'd like to go through my closet and put away my clothes that don't fit anymore, which should leave me with about 10 items of maternity wear that I've purchased. And on that note, I was thinking the other day, it's kind of like I literally have no clothes and I have to build an entire wardrobe.

But I digress. There will be other chances to go to Penticton in the next couple of months, and Penticton will always be there, right?