This morning, I, like Henry David Thoreau went for a walk in the woods (no pond was involved, but I am writing about my experience, so I too am now a prolific Transcendentalist). What I learned is that I should have worn thicker socks and maybe a scarf.

St. Albert has a lot of parks and such but there is a little wooded path behind our billet so that is where we chose to walk. I was hoping for a longer walk because the path turned out to be pretty short but it was nice all the same. Mandy lost me at one point because while she kept moving forward to try to stay warm, I heard a woodpecker and needed to stop until I found it; these are the types of things that happen when you ask me to interact with nature.

Thoreau's camera wasn't quite as good as mine.

Soda Jerks

During auditions, we give ourselves some time to talk by asking the kids a few questions, normally what they like to do or where they like to eat because then it gives us some ideas of where to go. Soda Jerks was one of their suggestions this week.

Now, their tagline is seriously "Burgers & Bottles" so this probably wasn't the place for two vegetarians, one of whom doesn't drink any soda, but away we went. We did, however, see that they sold milkshakes before we went, and that is always a reason for us to go anywhere.

We went with the build-your-own-burger option and I took a picture of my order card because you will not believe some of the options they had. Highlights include:

• Eggo Waffle buns
• Peanut butter
• Strawberry jelly
• Maple syrup
• Potato chips
• Fruit Loops
• Doritos
• Fried pickles
• Calamari
• Mini donuts
• Candy bacon
• Chocolate-covered bacon
• Mac and cheese

My burger was very boring compared to all of that, but still delicious. It was a tasty veggie patty that had some kick to it!

I also grabbed a pic of the milkshake/drink menu because even though I went with my beloved vanilla, there were a wide variety of options to choose from, including shakes with bacon. You could also add alcohol to any of these for just a few extra bucks -- we didn't. I do wish I hadn't quit the soda at this moment though, because it all came in glass bottles, and isn't that just the greatest?

Now, I took a picture of my meal and shake because certain family members of mine were a little upset that I didn't properly document all of the milkshakes I drank in Calgary. The milkshake I had today was the one I deserved in Calgary. Thick! It came with a spoon (ok, they can always be thicker, but a spoon is a good sign!). Mandy insisted on getting in the pic.

Do you see this?

Rehearsal today was awesome as well! The kids got through the entire show in their first run and that NEVER happens. There was only one bad part of the day -- I fell on some more ice. This time I broke my fall with the other hand and instead of a bruised thumb, I ended up with a bleeding palm. I invested in some more band aids at Target (another closing Target, by the way! How is that even possible?) and now both of my hands hurt.

Now I'm relaxing, watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, excited for the eggs I'll be cooking up for myself in the morning! It's a good week.

I cooked an egg!

I love breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day. Sometimes I even pull a Lord of the Rings and have second breakfast like a hobbit.

But being on the road has meant a lot of hotel continental breakfasts and Tim Hortons! We actually haven't been able to cook at all unless you count a toaster and a microwave. Our billet this week has been pretty insistent on us taking advantage of everything they have to offer and last night, I had a need for eggs the same way The Flash has a need for speed and I thought this might be my chance to be good looking and get cooking.

After our morning workout (glutes and thighs today), we headed upstairs. Our host was in the shower but I dutifully waited, not wanting to start anything without permission (I did, of course, check the fridge for eggs in advance). Mandy asked if I might be able to make her a sunny-side up egg and went for a short skype conversation with her sister and her nephew for a bit, expecting to be back shortly.

Our host told me to get to work, so I made myself a sunny-side up egg and two thick slices of toast (that I had to slice myself! These people don't have sliced bread -- ok, they do, but I went for the fresh stuff). Despite being out of practice, I made myself the perfect egg and happily ate it all up with a glass of orange juice for good measure.

At this point, Mandy had not returned! Our host had left for the morning (but not until I'd given her a shopping list for us which was basically avocados for Mandy and smoothie supplies, still mostly for Mandy) and since I was already up and moving, I kept going. I put Mandy's egg on the stove (a gas stove, that was new for me) and peeled and sliced an avocado for her since she'd mentioned that that's what she'd like on the side instead of toast. I'm an overachiever though because I didn't just stop there; I remembered her mentioning that she liked salsa on her eggs and our host had some fresh salsa in the fridge so, of course I had to scoop some into a bowl for my tour partner who was celebrating the miracle of life! I tried to bring it to her in bed so she could stay on her computer but she sent me back up to the kitchen and came up for breakfast a minute later.

So, yup, I actually got to cook an egg! And Mandy said that her egg was good as well (although I did a pretty awful job at slicing the avocado...), so eggs again tomorrow if I have any say about it! Yay!

Musee Heritage Museum

Today we went to St. Albert's Heritage Museum. It was very small but also free, which makes it my favorite type of museum. I'm still a bit upset that the grain elevator portion of the museum is closed during the winter but I might drive over there anyways to check it out, because a museum for grain and the related elevators sounds equal parts dull and fascinating.

The Heritage Museum (which is literally called Musee Heritage Museum because of Canada and their two official languages) is in a very science-fictiony looking building. Strange, I know.

I wish that the Heritage Museum had had more of an introduction to the actual heritage because I'm not quite sure where things began or ended. Apparently St. Albert was founded by the missionaries and the Hudson Bay Trading Company also came here and got with the natives and developed their own language and then there was a violin on display that didn't seem related to anything at all. There was also some taxidermy because I seriously needed more of that in my life.

They also had an exhibit that was for birch bark biting. Yes, it was art made of bark that women had bitten to make patterns. It was beautiful but still, they did it with their teeth. A) Who thought that was a good idea? They plaque literally said that they don't know where the tradition came from! B) Who has time for that?! C) Who pays for their dental insurance?

 I'm like the Michelangelo of magic markers

The highlight of the museum was probably the kids' section, where we got to color. Were we supposed to be in there? No. Did we go in there anyways? Of course. But seriously, I don't think the people who work there should really be complaining because I bet we were the only patrons they saw all day. I colored this lovely picture of berries. Mandy colored in a tree and the show off used colored pencils and did shading and all sorts of fanciness. 

Today in rehearsal, the kids told me that I remind them of the Youtube star, Miranda Sings because I talk about how awesome I am (and I really am awesome). Miranda Sings is an intentionally bad singer though so I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I'll take a compliment when it comes my way, regardless of the amount of shade that may or may not be attached. (They did say, however, that they love the woman who plays Miranda Sings who is a Broadway caliber performer, so that was reassuring). I am also responsible for giving Mandy major street cred with the high schoolers because yesterday I did her hair in "The Katniss Braid" which they thought was incredibly hip, so basically I'm cool, I just can't braid my own hair trendily enough.

Update on the baby. Henry Owen Lacey was born this morning, officially making Mandy an aunt. He weighed 9 lbs 9oz and was 22 inches long. Big. She is very excited and has already changed the background on her phone.

This is where I get to blog from! It's not like it's my room or anything, but look at all of that Canadian sunshine! (Two words I never thought would go together...).

This morning's workout (wrong blog, I know) needed a treadmill, but we don't have one of those, so Mandy decided she would run outside and I just said NO. Plus, yoga in an hour!! (And Mandy's dictator-ish work out regime includes a second workout for today. I did not sign up for that).

I think the plan for the day (post-yoga) is to make our business calls (because sometimes we do actual business) and head to St. Albert's Heritage Museum or Musee Heritage Museum (with lots of French accents). St. Albert also has a grain elevator museum BUT it's closed in the winter, which is super disappointing because who doesn't want to learn about grain elevators?! Then after that, rehearsal and who knows? Well, you'll probably know later when I blog about it.

Peace and love.

Morinville: Growing Together

No, I don't know why their logo looks like the Cote d'Ivoire's flag.

You really can't make up these slogans. I feel so inspired, Canada, thank you!

I'm going to try to start including these images for all of these places because I really don't think people believe me when I say that these Canadian towns actually do have taglines that sound like the title of a Lifetime movie special.

We got a little lost trying to find the Morinville Cultural Community Centre (henceforth known as the MCCC because nobody has time to write all of that) because my GPS doesn't know how to do her job but we still made it there with plenty of time.

We're still trying to figure out what exactly we'll do with our free time this week (although another yoga class is in our future) but a stop at Morinville's "Amanda's Pizza" will happen sometime soon. Am I allowed to eat the pizza if it's Amanda's? Oh well, I'll do it anyways cuz it's pizza.

For a small town, the MCCC is a great facility! Definitely one of the best we've seen so far and the people are so kind. Although we had to cut kids at auditions today (always the worst part of the week, no matter what else happens), it looks like we're off to a great start.

Also, Sandy Beach, Alberta. I saw a road sign that said that and almost lost my mind. What is this place?! Cohasset has a "Sandy Beach" but we also have THE OCEAN! Craziness, I know. Research and maybe a field trip are in order.

Do you know what goes great after four hours of auditions and rehearsals? A full body workout, but hey, I'm using yoga techniques to make sure that my muscles were oxygenated and did surprisingly well for myself! Go me!!

P.S. Mandy's sister is in labor everyone. A small human is about to come into the world.

200th Post!

This is my 200th post. Thanks to everyone whose been reading for the past two-ish years (Hi Mom and Dad).

That isn't all I want to say here though. I just want to say, what is up with these Canadian's and their beautiful, freakishly clean homes? We just arrived at where we'll be staying for the rest of the week and oh my goodness, you'd barely know that anyone lives here. Plus they're super nice.

One thing I've noticed in all of these little Canadian towns (or maybe I should say the bigger ones we've been staying in: High River, Strathmore and now St. Albert) is that they all really give off the same feel. They have these main drags that have pretty much every supermarket, fast food joints, banks, etc. that you could ever want or need. If it weren't for the street names, you might think you were in the same town. Not a criticism, just an observation.

Anyway, I'll try to get a pic of the lovely backyard view we've got soon (and their entire back wall is made up of giant windows! It's glorious). Thanks for reading!

St Albert: Cultivating Life

St. Albert: Cultivating Life. Because every Canadian town needs some type of inspirational motto. And it needs to be weird.

We aren't actually working in St. Albert this week -- we're working in Morinville -- but once again, we're staying about 20-30 minutes away from where we're working.

St. Albert is only a half an hour away from Calgary so it was an easy drive. We started this week's adventure with a yoga class (see other blog for details) because we couldn't check into our hotel until later in the day. That's another strange thing about this week, normally we're in a hotel or at a homestay (or billeted as the Canadians say) but this week, our contact got us a hotel room for tonight and then we'll be staying in her basement for the rest of the week. She wanted to give us some privacy since she knows that life on the road has some challenges; she, of course, didn't know we had the week off but it's still incredibly considerate and we appreciate it all the same.

I'm taking advantage of the hotel's gym and laundry as we speak. Yes, this girl is blogging from the treadmill; I'm a woman of many talents.

P.S. The tour partner has started a blog of her own that I will be providing a link for whenever I have a link to provide. But, we all know that my blog will forever be the coolest and that she totally copied me cuz I'm awesome.

The Blue Plate Diner

Just so everyone knows, we went to the Blue Plate Diner for dinner. We had mac and cheese and corn bread. They did not actually have blue plates.

The Athletic Adventures of a Fatty Fatty No Friends

Mandy is very serious about working out and I'm half serious about it and this is leading to the revival of my old blog, The Athletic Adventures of a Fatty Fatty No Friends. The link is on the right hand side of the page, but just in case you don't want to scroll that far down, here is the link: http://fattyfattynofriend.blogspot.ca/

I'm now going to blog about the BFF work out I just endured... Check it out. Or don't. I can't tell you what to do.

More West Edmonton Mall

I definitely would never run out of stuff to do at the West Edmonton Mall; anyone who tells you that they would is a liar.

We started the day off with a trip to the post office (because this mall obviously has one) and then a sea lion show. Yup, there are sea lions AND penguins at the mall. They have a freaking aquarium. We decided to be cheap and watch from the side but we still had a good view of the show.

Normal mall stuff. Not.

After that, we started the adventure of Mandy wants to buy this but can't (and Thomson spends 20 minutes debating whether or not she actually wants to try something on). Actually, I got a pretzel first. I will admit that I was a little ticked that a mall with 800 stores has a Wetzel's Pretzels and not an Auntie Anne's, which is obviously superior, but I still wanted a pretzel. The line at Wetzel's was infuriating, especially when I ordered the last unsalted pretzel they had, hoping to avoid the long wait, but for whatever reason, they decided not to give it to me and have me wait... Wait I did and when I finally got my pretzel (which they put salt on anyways hehehe), it was probably the best pretzel I'd ever had. It was so fresh and soft. Mandy snagged a bite and agreed.

Now, we circled the mall about 100 times because that's what happens when you're in a monster mall and don't have a plan. Today, Mandy officially fell into the trap that has plagued many -- depending on me for knowledge that I could not possibly possess. I'm sorry Mandy, and others (mainly my mom and Whitney) for somehow convincing you that I know everything but when Mandy wanted to go get sneakers, we started walking and when I asked her what store we were looking for, she said, Oh, I was following you. How I could ever know this, I do not know, but I'm expected to, apparently. Do not worry though, Mandy got her sneakers.

We definitely got a good work out in for the day! We're headed out to dinner soon and I think this has been a good week off but we're both excited to get back to work!

World Waterpark and the West Edmonton Mall

It was a three hour drive from Calgary to Edmonton during which we encountered lots of flat landscape and some really strange weather. Upon crossing city lines into Edmonton, it didn't really seem like a city to me and my main thought, knowing that the largest mall in North America is across town, was why the hell is there so much shopping? What else could these people possibly need?

We checked into our hostel, this time we're in a six bed female dorm but we're the only ones here so far. No complaints about that, except that the bunks are incredible close together and I'm on the bottom, so you can bet there have been/will be some bumped heads.

We left for the West Edmonton Mall -- the largest mall in North America -- pretty quickly. Upon arriving, I'd say the first surprise was that the Target was having a going out of business sale. Since when does Target go out of business?!

Actually entering the mall was like entering another world and I was pretty intimidated at first. We found the food court (except they don't call it that -- too mundane -- we found The Gourmet Center) and ended up getting really, REALLY spicy grilled cheese sandwiches. There is still a fire in my mouth, everyone!

Just so you all know, The Gourmet Center is attached to the mall's theme park, Galaxy Land. We didn't visit Galaxy Land, but here's a pic.

Yeah, that's a roller coaster in the background

We headed to our real destination: World Waterpark, which features the world's largest indoor wave pool.

Look. At. That.

It was a marvelous time. The big deal for me was that I went on a water slide in Whitney's honor. Do you see the slide that loops up, instead of down? Yeah, I did that. Whitney would have died if I hadn't, so I did. Not only did I do that, but it was one of the water slides where the floor drops out from underneath you and away you go. I did that.

I did that.

We wandered the mall some more, scoping out activities for today and deciding that an 8pm movie would be a good way to end the day. During this time, I got a cupcake and the who am I question popped back up, because I actually tried and liked the frosting! It has Oreos in it! Who am I?

We saw The Duff which was surprisingly cute, albeit predictable. HOWEVER, their mascot was the Blue Devils, they used the song Sexy Silk AND the actress who plays Nina from Easy A were all in it. It was like Easy A junior.

When we left the mall, it was snowing and I took a massive digger trying to clean off the car. No bruises to prove it but I landed right on my thumb of all body parts and it hurts to type! I'm clearly dedicated to my blogging hobby.

You Gotta Eat Here

The place you REALLY need to eat in Calgary is The Big Cheese Poutinerie because how can you possibly skip an entire restaurant that is dedicated to fries and gravy?!

We returned here for dinner tonight and I ordered the mac and cheese poutine again, this time making sure to get pictures because some of my family members seemed a little confused about the idea of this delicacy literally just being a heap of mac and cheese on top of a heap of poutine.

Before

During. See the deliciousness?

 After poutine, we walked to Fat City Frank's, the final stop on our milkshake tour and the only place in our journey that has been featured on The Food Network. It was featured on You Gotta Eat Here! which is apparently only about Canadian restaurants which is fine because Guy Fieri barely comes to Canada anyways. We got their milkshakes and sat back. Once again, I was a little disappointed with the thickness of my shake! It was roughly the same as Burger Inn but what gives, Calgary? I'm basically searching for a shake so thick that it's really just ice cream I'm pretending I can suck up through a straw and you give me a creamy slush. Hmph. It was very vanilla though and I did drink it all.

Now for the very scientific milkshake breakdown:
First place: Burger Inn
Second place: Fat City Frank's
Third place: Galaxie Diner
*Last place: Clive Burgers -- we went there because they were on the list but their ice cream machine was broken. Their burgers, however, smelled divine so you should probably go there.

Price breakdown:
Cheapest: Burger Inn ($3.50)
Most Expensive: Fat City Frank's ($6)
Pulp Fiction Reference: Galaxie Diner ($5)

What you SHOULD get at each restaurant:
Burger Inn: Burgers, duh. They have elk and ostrich burgers among other exotic meats so be adventurous (or get a veggie burger cuz they're good too).
Galaxie Diner: Breakfast food. All of their meals (breakfast and lunch) come with endless hash browns, so that's a no brainer! I got a burger but I would go back for the breakfast food after checking out the rest of the diners.
Fat City Frank's: We didn't eat here even though they have a veggie dog, so I'll say get the San Antonio Black Bean Chili Dog in honor of my partner's hometown.

Honorable Mentions (places I would go back to, even though they don't have shakes):
Lazy Loaf and Kettle: MAC AND CHEESE
Ship & Anchor: Fried pickles and Savanna Dry
The Big Cheese: Eat ALL the poutine!!!!!

That Awkward Moment...

When you see a kid you worked with three weeks ago, but that comes later in the day.

We went for a run Rouleauville Square this morning and by that, I mean I walked while wearing running clothes. The Square isn't much to see although it used to be its own distinct town and later became the French quarter (or something, still not quite sure and a little bit disappointed that we couldn't find a French bakery!). After our run/walk, we ended up at Wave, a little coffee shop that sold very large cinnamon rolls. These things were bigger than my fist and since I'd exercised, I had clearly earned one.

We took the train south of Calgary to go to the movies which only cost us $5! We went to Big Hero 6, which I may or may not have already seen twice, and it was super nice to just relax for a few hours. This, however, was where we saw one of the kids we'd worked with in Cayley. We saw him and both had a moment of, oh, I thought that was... and then we realized that it was, in fact, him. He did not see us which we're pretty thankful for, but it was still extremely awkward.

The train Calgary is very clean and quiet. Like a lot of the places in Europe, it has a bit of an honor system because they never actually check your tickets. We paid for ours anyways because I believe in supporting public transportation. I am a little ticked though because I left my water bottle, aka one of my most prized possessions, at the train station.

We were going to go to the Fine Diner for dinner, a diner so fine that you actually have to make reservations (maybe they take walk-ins, we don't know!), but we decided that heading back to The Big Cheese for some epic poutine and then on to Fat City Frank's for the final chapter of the Calgary milkshake debate was a much better use of our time. Mac and cheese poutine, here I come!

Burger Inn

The hunt for Calgary's best shake continues!

I posted earlier that we'd won a $2 gift card to Burger Inn, so that is where we went tonight. First off, Burger Inn is hard to find because it isn't actually on the street it says it's on. We walked like three blocks past it before we turned around and realized that the entrance was actually on the side of the building BUT, moving on, they've got some good burgers.

We had veggie burgers, obviously, but Burger Inn does sell regular burgers, elk burgers, ostrich burgers, wild boar burgers, salmon burgers, prime rib burgers and a bunless burger, among others. Their fries were really good too and then... we got to the milkshake. They had your standard chocolate and vanilla (my choice) but they also had a lot of fruit flavored shakes. In my opinion, it was light years beyond Galaxie's shake (see what I did there?). It was so much thicker and less syrupy (also way, way cheaper!). If I wasn't absolutely stuffed from my dinner, I'd go have another one right now because they were that good!

Tomorrow, we hope to go to Fat City Frank's, a hot dog place, for shakes. We'll be skipping the dogs but they were featured on Food Network's You Gotta Eat Here and their shakes are supposedly very, very thick. I will be the judge of that!

Yoga and Gaga

Yoga today was... an experience. I still haven't decided if it was good or bad. We got there very early for our 12:10 vinyasa class so decided to go with the slightly earlier 12 o'clock warm yin yang class. I've never done yin yang before but I figured, having balance in your life is always a good thing, why not?

After I'd signed up, I asked for a better description of the class and was told that it would start with speeding things up and then slowing it all down at the end. Great.

I spent most of the class trying not to burst out laughing! It was extremely full -- probably the biggest yoga class I've ever gone to -- and the instructor must have been an auctioneer in a past life. I'm not sure if all yin yang yoga is like this but I think it's really funny when the instructor keeps saying "we're going to do the pose in, 5, now we do the pose, 4, we're going to do the pose, 3..." etc. It might have been just a little fast for me but I actually think I did a pretty good job -- vinyasa, however, is still my jam and we probably should have stuck with that class instead.

After class was over and we'd peeled our disgustingly sweaty bodies off of the floor, we walked about a half a mile to Pizzeria Gaga, which we went to solely for its Lady Gaga related name. It did not have anything to do with Gaga, obviously. We split a margherita pizza which has way too much garlic on it in my opinion. I'm pretty sure my breath alone will be slaying vampires until the day I die now.

On our walk from the yoga studio to pizza, we saw Brulee (it has way more accents than that) Pastry, which we'd seen on the internet, so after pizza, we walked back the way we'd came to check it out. Mandy got a cheesecake brownie and I just sniffed around, enjoying all the yummy smells.

Wandering to get back, we passed the Lougheed House, which I'd seen signs for but didn't know what it was. It was built in 1891 for a senator and his wife and now is open for tours and lunch. Good to know.

Back at the hostel now, I decided that a change of scenery was in order and am blogging from the common area instead of my room. Nothing interesting is going on at the moment; everyone is either on their phone, laptop or asleep which is exactly what the rest of my dorm mates are doing, but unlike the dorm, no one in the common area is snoring.

Oh, I feel like people should know that a girl in the bunk across from me just asked me "Do you know how I got home last night?" When I said "No" -- and what I really meant was, No, I've never even seen you before... -- she just laughed and said "Neither do I."

Hostel living, people.

Dear Parents

I thought you should know that the ambiguous, often-misspelled name you lovingly bestowed on me at birth has continued to bewilder the masses; I had to call the hostel we're staying at in Edmonton to confirm that I would be in an all-female dorm instead of an all-male dorm after rechecking my reservation details and realizing that I had gotten two emails with conflicting information.

Everything has been resolved. No worries.
Thomson (yes, it's a girl's name) Jaffe

P.S. Mandy will never let me forget that she thought she had a male tour partner when she first got her casting information.
P.P.S. I will never let Mandy forget that I'm still bitter about the time she encouraged the kids to call me Thomas.
P.P.P.S. They call me Thomas no matter what we say.

Punk Rock Bingo

Our hostel is pretty cool and we've really enjoyed our stay here. They advertise a lot of fun stuff to do in the area and yesterday, they had a posting for Punk Rock Bingo at a local bar, Ship & Anchor. Curious, we decided to attend.

We arrived at the bar at 7 even though bingo didn't start until 8 and that turned out to be a very good decision because the place quickly got packed. Before we even got to bingo, we got dinner and the food there was really good. We started off with fried pickles and then I had fish and chips (I'm working on being a pescetarian, not a full-blown vegetarian over here). The most exciting part of the night (even more exciting than bingo if you ask me) was discovering that the bar carries my most favorite South African treat, Savanna Dry Hard Cider.

This hard cider might be the love of my alcoholic life. In fact, it might just be the love of my life! Looking it up, it is the third-largest cider brand in the world and sold in 40 countries but you still can't get it in the States! I found it last summer in Germany and brought a bottle home but I haven't had the heart to open it yet. Trust me, I will be the first person in line to buy it when it comes to the US. As I texted my sister last night, there is Thomson BSD and Thomson ASD (*Before Savanna Dry/After Savanna Dry) because this cider changed my life. Mandy took a taste and really liked it too! I'll be scoping menus here on out to see where else I can get it when we go out.

Punk Rock Bingo is a lot like regular bingo except the music is louder, there is more swearing and a lot more drunkeness. There were a lot of prizes to be won (including gift cards to the local tattoo parlors because what is more punk rock than that) and mini-games in between rounds to win even more prizes for the bingo-ly challenged. Each game had three rounds, the first round you just needed to make a line of five, the second you needed to make a specific shape and the third you had to black out the entire board. We came really close to winning but alas... Mandy, however, did win one of the mini-games and got us a $2 gift card to Burger Inn, which just happens to be one of the restaurants on our milkshake hit list. (She actually won two $2 gift cards but my tour partner is a decent human and gave the other one to the game's loser).

My tour partner also happens to still be asleep despite the jack hammer outside of our window right now. We're going to yoga in a bit and then we have to check out a pizza shop called Gaga Pizzeria simply because it's Gaga and Mandy's Gaga obsession knows no limits.

Galaxie Diner

I love milkshakes and since we can't really drink during the week, milkshakes have become part of our ritual, so before we came here, I looked up where the best milkshakes in Calgary were.

One of these places was the Galaxie Diner and this is where we decided to set off to after the show. Only a mile and a half away!!

Several times during the past few weeks, all of my family members have asked me who are you and what have you done with Thomson? But today at lunch, I asked myself that.

Galaxie has all day breakfast and lunch and endless hash browns with everything. Breakfast looked good but I was in lunch mode so I went with the veggie burger. The burger came with the standard lettuce, mayo, tomato combo plus cheese, onions, banana peppers and sautéed mushrooms. I requested no mushrooms but forgot about the lettuce and tomato but when my burger slowed up, I ate them! Who am I?

It was all very delicious, extremely filling and just a tad pricey but we still has space left for shakes! I got my beloved vanilla and Mandy got apple pie (their most exotic flavor was probably Tiger which was orange and licorice). It was very yummy although I prefer a thicker shake; the hunt for the very best in Calgary is still on, people!

Speed Dating for Sperm Donors

Today, we fed the insatiable theatre beast that dwells within us by going to see the world premiere comedy, "Speed Dating for Sperm Donors" at Calgary's Lunchbox Theatre. (It's called the Lunchbox Theatre because they do their shows at 12:10 so you could hypothetically see it on your lunch break!)

The play, based on the real life experience of playwright, Natalie Meisner, is about two lesbian looking for a sperm donor and all of the wackos they encounter along the way. Like the Russian physicist who donates sperm as part of his plot for world domination. Or the sex addict. Or the lawyer who tries to get them to sign over all their assets to him if/when they die. Or the priest who doesn't want to donate at all but is trying to save them from their satanic ways. And more.

It was really funny. Two men played all of the potential donors, which meant they did more of the heavy duty character work than the women who played the lesbian couple but the cast was really strong. The set was very simple, with periactoids to help distinguish where the action was talking place (when not in use, they were turn to a side that had, you guessed it! Images of sperm). It was definitely the coolest show/most interesting piece I've seen since I cemented my own eternal damnation in South Africa when I took Sister to see Long Street Nights. 

We, like the characters in the play, ended up having a lot of laughs and a happy ending.

The Calgary Flames

Doesn't it seem a little counter-intuitive to name a hockey team after a heat source? But then again, what has a bear got to do with hockey.

The hockey game tonight was a lot of fun (even though the Bruins ruined everything at the last second!) and I'm glad we got to go.

We were wayyy up at the very top of the Scotiabank Saddledome as in, we were probably closer to Heaven than we were to the hockey game. But we were also damn close to center, so not too shabby for girls who bought their tickets on Friday.

God's view of the rink

I resisted the urge to buy a soda but I did buy a monster bag of popcorn for the game time festivities.

Do I know anything about hockey? No, not really. Except I did know key words like hat-rick and facts like that hockey has three 20-minute periods. I also know that the Bruins managed to lose it in the last second of the game. They had been winning up until the third period and then BOOM! Tie game. They went into overtime and it looked like it was going to be a shoot out but with one second left, ONE SECOND LEFT, Calgary scored! Obviously, it was pretty cool to see "The C of Red" celebrate a pretty spectacular win but it would have been nice to see the Bruins win too.

On the way out, Mandy apologized that the Bruins lost and I said that it was ok, because it wasn't like they were the Packers or anything. I'm a horrible tour partner.

Twas a Mac and Cheese Type of Day

We had a very lazy morning here in Calgary, staying in until our tour guide came to pick us up. James was very nice and told us he was going to take us to one of his favorite restaurants. We climbed in his car and zipped off.

He took us to the Lazy Loaf & Kettle, a restaurant that had come up in our search for veggie-friendly eating but I had given up hope on because it is on the other side of Calgary and we're not interested in doing any city driving this week, so that was pretty perfect! It was mainly a soup/salad/sandwich place but they had a mac and cheese special and since that is my jam, I went with that.

I made the right decision! It was delicious and everyone was very jealous of my awesome meal.

We walked around a part of Calgary called Kensington and visited the Peace Bridge which is apparently a bit of a joke here because it was ungodly expensive and sort of strange looking. I just want to know why the Canadians bothered to build a covered bridge that was only partially covered? Because this thing had all sorts of holes for snow and the wind to blow through.

We hung out at a pub for a bit and then went for ice cream at a little hole in the wall shop called Village Ice Cream that we never would have found if not for James (it was legitimately hidden. You can't see it from the street!). I got melted chocolate ice cream although their "seasonal flavor" of the moment is cereal milk crunch which I guess must taste like cereal milk and is apparently very popular.

We said goodbye to James and then Mandy and I spent a few quiet moments at the hostel before setting off for Stephen Avenue. This little shopping street is closed to cars for the majority of the day, so it is super easy to navigate BUT you'll never guess what we saw when we were there!

I'M FAMOUS!

Yup, Calgary named a restaurant after me! I'm famous.

We kept walking along, bringing my beloved book crawl to Canada when we stopped in at Shelf Life Books for some browsing. We marched back to 17th Avenue and headed to The Big Cheese Poutinerie.

Yes, Canadians are so serious about their poutine that they have dedicated entire restaurants to its goodness. It's a good thing I'm not eating meat right now, otherwise, I never would have left! There were so. many. choices!!!

I went with mac and cheese poutine. My entire life had been leading up to the moment that the heavenly goodness of mac and cheese would combine with the heavenly goodness of poutine and I am a changed woman.

It's almost time for the hockey game, which happens to only be a few blocks away. We haven't bought any Calgary Flames swag yet, but it might have to happen. We shall see!

You meet all types...

Like the guy downstairs who is originally from Taunton, MA. Judging from his shirt, I won't be the only Bruins fan at the game tonight!

Wicked Hostel

I forgot to put this in my earlier post, but if you want to get a feel for Wicked Hostel, take a look at my receipt.

They seem super great and on Sunday, have a free family dinner type thing. The one problem for us was that it was a turkey family dinner, so we still needed to go out. I had searched for vegetarian restaurants in the city to give us plenty of options and we went to the closest one, The Coup.

Mind you, it wasn't particularly close but oh well!

I would say that this has been my first failed meal as a vegetarian. The restaurant was totally vegetarian/vegan so we had lots of options but none of those options looked good. I ended up going with a veggie burger that had tempeh, pickles and dressing and was served on a ciabatta bun. It just wasn't good. Mandy got the same burger and neither one of us liked it. I also got rosemary yam fries, as in someone had a brain aneurysm and said, instead of frying these perfectly good potatoes, I'll just cook up this yam. And I ate it. And it didn't taste too bad. It also came with a garlic dipping sauce which was probably the best part of the whole meal.

There is a lot of shopping to be done on this street by the way and we'd planned on going tomorrow but there has been a slight change of plans.*

We headed back to our hostel and caught the tail end of dinner and spent a good hour talking with a Brit, an Aussie and a Canadian (which does sound like a joke...) who had just come from a wedding in Banff.

This was when we realized that on our way home from dinner, we'd passed a restaurant that supposedly served some of the best milkshakes in Calgary. We needed to go back! So we headed back out but when we got to Clive's Burgers (which smelled so good it nearly broke my heart), their ice cream machine was broken! We ended up walking a few more blocks to have some really awful Dairy Queen... But, better milkshakes are definitely in our future!!

Now we're back in our bunks (mine is F) and this girl in the bunk above me will not stop laughing. We don't know what she's doing but apparently it's very funny.

Tomorrow, my dad's friend's nephew is meeting us to show us around. (*This would be the change in tomorrow's plans I was talking about. Shopping was on the agenda before James had texted us back to make plans and we assume that he doesn't want to go shopping with us). We don't have a clue what we're going to do but he already seems pretty nice since he's taking his day off to show us around. Maybe we can all get milkshakes!

Oh, by the way, while Americans will be celebrating President's Day tomorrow, the Canadian's have Family Day but we don't have a clue what that means except that some things are closed and James is free to hang out.

Welcome to Calgary

Today marked the beginning of our first unbooked week ever. That means no kids for seven whole days -- ok, there will be kids somewhere but they're someone else will be in charge of them and their theatre education.

We had a lazy morning in Strathmore, waiting up until the very last second to check out because well, why wouldn't we?

We arrived at our hostel in Calgary at around 12. We are staying at Wicked Hostel on Macleod Trail SE because it was the only hostel that showed up in our Google search and it was cheap. This is the sixth hostel I've stayed at, it's Mandy's first. I'm a big fan of hostels, so I was amped.

Just from checking in, this place is interesting. We're staying in an all girls' dorm with six other girls but there are boys all over this place. No complaints, just an observation.

Pretty much immediately after checking in, we said goodbye to our little red truck and were on the move (by the way the only thing stranger than parking our moving children's theatre billboard outside of a party hostel is when I stayed at a hostel with a nun).

Earlier this week, I saw that the Chinese Cultural Centre was going to have a carnival for the Chinese New Year this weekend and that was our first destination. Actually, it was our second because we stopped to get lunch before we went in (and by that, I mean that we walked all the way to the Cultural Centre before deciding that we wanted to get lunch first). Around the same time I heard about the carnival, I found this list on Buzzfeed -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/delicious-cheap-eats-in-canada#.ajrD8Y0ye -- and we like cheap things and we need to eat, so we made a date with #11 Thi Thi Vietnamese Submarine. We both had the veggie sub and an order of vegetarian spring rolls and not only was it cheap, it was delicious.

Post-lunch, we went back to the Cultural Centre for some celebrating. Crowded, but beautifully decorated the highlight for Mandy was the free ten-minute massage (which wasn't even Chinese). I skipped on that one because I might be trying lots of new things on this trip, but I'm still not ok with strangers touching me.

After that, we decided to go to the Calgary Tower since the day was still young and we didn't have any other plans. The tower is 626ft tall and we went for the free audio tour to get our money's worth.

Brilliant marketing right there

One of the craziest things about the Tower was the plexi-glass floor. It was just a small portion but it was still freaky!

And now we're back at the hostel, chilling in the common area, looking up stuff we can do the rest of the week (local theatre is looking like a very good option!).

It's going to be a good week.

Sweeney Todd

We named our little red truck, Sweeney Todd way back at the start of our tour. And then we came to Rockyford/Strathmore, which didn't have much but it did have this.

Also there is a bottle of local (fruit) wine in our future and we're headed to Calgary for our week off on Sunday.

P.S. I just bought tickets to a hockey game. As in a professional sporting event. As in professional hockey. Mandy and I are going to a game on Monday night. Oy vey.

As promised...

Here are photos from Crowsnest Pass.

Both photos were taken on the AB side of things, but if you read my last post, I bet you can guess what photo I took facing British Columbia!

Back in Canada, Eh

I have been meaning to write and failing miserably since I left Whitefish. But rest assured that I am safely with our neighbors to the north.

The first hour of our drive here was useless, thanks to my crazy GPS which took us in a giant circle! We crossed the border without any issues and then were up into the Canadian Rockies. Having missed the road sign on the way to Montana, I caught it this time and discovered that we were driving Crowsnest Pass and reached about 4900ft above sea level. The craziest thing about all this was the ferocious rain we had in BC that absolutely disappeared the moment we crossed into AB. I took some pics from the AB side that I will try to post when I'm blogging from a computer and not my phone.

We're staying in Strathmore, AB at a Days Inn that has a waterslide. It's ok to be jealous.

The Whitefish Winter Carnival

Today was our last day in Whitefish, MT, our last day in the States until April and our first day off since we left Missoula.

Normally, Saturday is show day. Sometimes we'll have a show on Friday, but this week, we only had a show on Friday. One show for the whole week and one whole day off for us before we head north again for Alberta.

Somehow, we were fortunate enough to find ourselves in Whitefish for their Winter Carnival, which is quite a big deal. We still don't know what the carnival is for but we celebrated all the same. We started the day with a few errands. We considered driving to the city beach to watch the Penguin Plunge but it was raining and we wanted to sleep in anyways.

We heard that parking would be a challenge and headed downtown mid-morning to find ourselves someplace to park and get some breakfast (a Parmesan herb and cheddar bagel for me!). This left us with quite a few hours to kill before the Winter Carnival parade began at 3, so we did some more shopping and wandering. We visited a local chocolate shop and had huckleberry truffles (EVERYTHING is huckleberry here. Have I mentioned that yet? Because it is the truth... More huckleberry to come). P.S. Yes, I know I didn't have just a regular old chocolate truffle, it shocked me too.

We did some more wandering until we realized that we had never visited the local brewery. Well, wasn't this just a stroke of genius! Being only about 100 yards away, we headed right in. We figured we would get some of the Great Northern Brewing Company's Wild Huckleberry beer, but we needed to be sure so we started off with a sampler platter of all of their beers. Sample we did, eventually coming to the conclusion that yes, we would have the huckleberry beer. We opted out of getting their special 20 year anniversary two-pint refillable mug just so everyone knows. We planted ourselves at the steadily filling bar and worked our way through the beer and a couple of plates of chips and queso before heading out for the parade.

Even after standing out in the rain for several hours at this parade, I still have no idea what it is about. I know that there is a king and queen and that vikings and yetis are involved but other than that... nothing. Apparently the yetis come and kidnap girls sometimes... We didn't get kidnapped but a yeti did get awkwardly close. There are also viking women who will kiss people on the cheek, leaving big lip marks and draw Vs on their faces. The theme was honoring the veterans this year so there was lots of camo and applauding. Mandy mostly cared about the candy that was being passed out -- although we also got free toothbrushes. At one point, a girl road by on a horse and asked her mother, who was standing next to us, if she would take her beer because it was spilling on her and she pulled a can of beer out of her coat pocket. Ok then...

We left a little early because we were absolutely soaked, but happy we had come.

See? Happy!

Post-parade, we drove to Kalispell looking for somewhere Mandy could get her hair cut. With every place either closed or full, we had to return to Whitefish looking the same as we'd left it (Mandy was, however, able to find a new band for her FitBit, so it was not a lost cause entirely). We tried our second Whitefish pizza joint, Jersey Boys (strangely enough, the first pizza place we visited this week was Second Street Pizza) and got a white pizza which smelled, as Mandy described, like heaven had farted. It was delicious and we ate the entire thing.

So, goodbye Whitefish, goodbye America! Tomorrow we leave for Rockyford, Canada and won't be back Stateside until April!

Peace and love.

Mermaids take Whitefish 2015

Glacier National Park

Do you know what goes well with a long day of rehearsal? I long car ride!

Ok, so it wasn't that long, only about 33 miles to today's field trip, Glacier National Park!

Going-to-the-Sun Road is the Park's most famous road, but it is also mostly closed in the winter. Only the first 10 miles of the road are open but we decided that it was worth it to just get a glimpse of the fabled national park. $15 to go 10 miles? Yup, mhm, worth it!

Our homestay described Going-to-the-Sun Road as the most beautiful road in America and I have the distinct feeling that they were right. 

After Glacier National Park, we drove back to Whitefish and went to the Buffalo Cafe for dinner. I did something blasphemous here and ordered a *gasp* garden burger like a friggin' rabbit (my vegetarian tour partner is brainwashing me). Said garden burger was actually pretty good BUT I am still a traitor to my people.

Unlike our past few residencies, there is lots to do in Whitefish! We're looking at going dog sledding this week and we're definitely going to a yoga class soon. Updates to come!

P.S. Do you know what's great? Whitefish has a lot of great restaurants, but it's really great when the school you're working at invites you to lunch AND that lunch is delicious, which is exactly what happened to do. We'll be eating school lunch for the rest of the week, thank you very much!

Whitefish, MT

So, there wasn't a whole lot to blog about in Cayley/High River, AB; we were busy and there wasn't a whole lot to do. We had fun, don't get me wrong but I don't think blogging about my tour partner taking me to get a pedicure is the type of stuff that belongs on my travel blog.

BUT, today is Sunday, which means a whole new town. Today, it also means a new country because we are back in the States!

We drove to the States via the Canadian Rockies, reaching an elevation of at least 4,500ft -- thank you, modern technology. We could have driven via Highway 2 and gone through Glacier National Park but that road is notoriously bad and since we couldn't get a clear weather report, we went up into the mountains. Don't feel too sorry for us yet though because Whitefish, MT (our current location) is just 30 minutes from said national park and we should be hitting it up this week.

Funny story about the drive... We went through British Columbia without any clue that that's what we'd done. I had checked map after map to make sure I knew we were going and even when we passed a sign that said entering British Columbia, I was not convinced. We stopped for lunch and quickly found out that we had, in fact, crossed into a separate province. Oh well, have no fear, BC, we'll be back.

Crossing back into the US was about ten billion times simpler than going into Canada had been as it lasted roughly four seconds. We aren't criminals -- what a surprise!

So now, we are in Whitefish, which is a pretty darling little ski village. It is most definitely populated -- the Starbucks count is up to three -- but has TONS of local stuff for us to dig into! Including the winter carnival this weekend.

Psyched to be back in America for another week! Peace and love.