We are so very nearly home, and yet so very far away! However, we have until July 28th to "hang out" before we really do head home. We had a great visit in Winnipeg with yet another "old" friend from Fort St. John (who left and never looked back)... AND visiting with Alissa and her girls meant we have seen her entire family from west to east on this trip, after seeing none of them for over 25 years!

I have to put in a positive plug here for my techie friends - we couldn't have done half the things we did or seen half the people we saw without the remarkable use of the internet and Facebook. What an amazing tool. The internet has changed the traveler's world entirely. When I roamed Europe 26 years ago, my parents had a sketchy itinerary of where I ought to be and I would call collect from every country I entered so they had some idea of where I was... This year we have planned our itinerary only week to week (if that) and yet everyone knows where we are and we can talk face to face on video chat for free! Yay for technology!

Right now we are having fun with Tim's niece's family in Northern Saskatchewan. Mike, Heidi, Loren, Toby, and Tyler are doing a fantastic job of entertaining us (Tyler in particular is outdoing himself...) and the food is of course superb. (I'm not sure if it is entirely genetics, but I have had many déjà-vu moments convinced I must be back at Kathy's place again.) Tim and Eli are in their element driving tractors, big trucks, little tractors, quads and boats... Naomi, Eden, and I are trying to help Heidi with whatever she is too pregnant or tired to do. Of course there is a lot of picnicking, visiting, napping, and ice-cream eating that just has to be done as well.