November 25th - 28th, 2005
Hey, I just got back from Edmonton. I'll give you a rundown. This post hopefully won't be as long as my last post about an Edmonton trip.
We left for the ferry terminal after I got home from school on Friday. My poor mom was really sick and had a really hard time trying to drive me around from school to home to the back to home and then to the terminal finally. So we get to the terminal at 4:15PM on Friday and the ferry leaves on time, basically everything is going great. We're all looking forward to another awesome trip to West Edmonton Mall, like the last one. It was also bound to be fun for me, because Ryan and I got the back seat (which has three seats instead of two, so it's a lot less crowded if there's only two people sitting there). Pretty comfy so far.
We make it to the Rockies with no problems, except that some of us are getting hungry and our last rest stop was Merritt. We're planning to stop soon, when a tire blows out. This happens at about 2:00 - 3:00AM. We're close to the Mt. Robson rest stop, so we decide to stop there and call for help. The repair people say that we're third in line on a waiting list and that it won't be long. Well, we were stranded at the rest stop (which was closed for the season) for eleven hours. Yes, eleven.
It was really fun for the first half, because at the rest stop, there was a huge field of freshly fallen snow, and we had snowball fights and ran around and climbed the surrounding mountains. Then it got boring and we were all just sitting in the bus waiting for something to happen, and bored with the scenery. Not to mention really hungry. Finally a repair guy came at around 3:00PM on Saturday. We were expected in the original plan to be at West Ed by 10:00AM on Saturday, so our plans were long since ruined. At this point, we thought that we might get to the mall at 6:00 or 7:00PM that night, and get at least a couple hours of shopping in, so that the trip wouldn't be a complete waste.
By the way, this whole time I haven't slept once. Ryan and I kept each other awake, hah.
When we finally made it to Edmonton, it was 11:00PM on Saturday and the mall was long since closed. We see Al for the first time, and he tells us that he's called our parents and they've agreed that we can stay an extra day. Well, we're happy about that but pretty much all we want to do at this moment is go home and sleep, or at least get away from the crowded bus full of people. We drive to a nearby church and are told that we're sleeping on the floor. I'm thinking "Well, that's fine. My sleeping bag should be enough". Then I'm told that they've lost my sleeping bag. I'm thinking "Well, that's fine. As long as it's quiet, I can sleep". Then when I'm trying to get to sleep, I hear the unmistakable sound of the Backstreet Boys playing from some floor underneath me. I'm thinking "Okay, this is not cool". The music kept me up for a really long time, and I had a horrible sleep. In the morning we were woken up at 5:30AM or something like that because it was a church and we had to be out of there before any of the masses were to start. I was really, really sore, but I finally started having a good time again. Al bought everyone breakfast at McDonalds because he's such a great guy. That must have been so expensive, ugh.
Then we got to the mall. It hadn't opened yet, because it wasn't 10:00 yet, but the doors were still unlocked. We went inside and got a short rundown on what was happening, and then we all went our own ways. As soon as I could, I called Manda and Sheldon, and tried to get them to come to the mall, since I let them down on Saturday. They both couldn't because of homework. So that really depressed me. After I hung up with Sheldon, I fell against the wall outside and started to cry. It was inevitable though because I felt the trip was just going so badly for me. My mom says that we're just victims of circumstance. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that this whole time, about half of us were sick with a really contagious cold (Thanks a lot Jacob). I had this cold and I was getting better in the days before we left, but obviously, with all of this stuff combined, I got worse again. Yeah.
So, when I finally pulled myself together, I got up and went inside, changed and re-did my makeup and everything. I was feeling better after that. I did most of my shopping alone and between 10:00 and 11:30AM on Sunday. I got a lot of Christmas presents for people, mostly. After that, I met up with Jacob, Jamie and Curtis. We went to Bluenotes, or as it's called there “Thrifty's”. Then we walked around and bumped into a lot of people from YoungLife. Then it was lunchtime and Matt joined us, and then Ceileigh, and Curtis left and so did Jamie... meaning it was Ceileigh, Me, Matt and Jacob. We went to lunch at Albert's (It's tradition for me, hah) and had a good time, besides the fact that I was on the phone the whole time with various people. Why does everyone call at lunch?
After lunch, we were going to go to HMV, but instead we went to Galaxyland... for some reason. I dunno, it was fun either way. Jacob didn't come, but then we met up with Sara, Caitlin, Bree and whoever else was at the roller coaster. I don't really remember. Anyway, it was kickass. We went a couple times and on some other rides too. Then, lots of people felt like throwing up since we had just eaten (I wasn't one of them. I would have stayed there all day if I could, sheesh) so we left and everyone parted ways, and somehow I ended up hanging out with Matt for the whole rest of the day. He's one of the coolest people you'll ever meet though, and I got to know him a hell of a lot better than I did before the trip (considering that the first time I'd ever met him was on the bus on Friday, hah). So we had a good day together, first at HMV, searching through mislabeled posters, then playing DDR and other stuff at the arcade, then telling the people at Gymboree and Please Mum that we were looking for a birthday present for our illegitimate baby (and getting a free balloon in the process). Overall, really fun.
Then the time came to leave, so we went to the bus (reluctantly, but then again we were getting really tired of walking). The trip home was a lot easier and shorter, since the bus didn't break down again. I got to sit in the back again, but it was pretty crowded this time, so it was uncomfortable. I was sitting with Claire and Ceileigh, and occasionally Ryan, and sometimes other people too. Plus, all of our shopping bags and stuff. Not so fun. I didn't sleep on the way back, though I wanted to really badly. I can't sleep with people touching me or being awake around me. So the overall sum of sleep is the four hours or so that I got on the floor of the church. Woohoo.
The trip home went off without a hitch, and we made it to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal at around 6:00AM today (Monday, 28th). We caught the 7:00AM ferry, and made it home by 8:30AM. My mom picked me up at 9:00AM, and drove me to school. You might find it surprising, but I was kinda tired. She was really insistent that I go to school, so I had to resort to crying in the parking lot, and then she finally took me home. The first thing I did was brush my teeth, but I didn't make it out of the bathroom. I fell asleep on the floor right beside the baseboard heater, toothbrush in hand. Best sleep of my life. I woke up at around 5:00PM, to find out that I've been called by maybe 18 people while I was sleeping. So I call everyone and reassure them, and here I am, writing this blog.
It turned out a little longer than I expected, but I guess there's a lot to tell. Still, I had a great time on the trip. Maybe I wouldn't do it again right away, but I sure as hell would do it in the future. Thanks for listening.
Hey, I just got back from Edmonton. I'll give you a rundown. This post hopefully won't be as long as my last post about an Edmonton trip.
We left for the ferry terminal after I got home from school on Friday. My poor mom was really sick and had a really hard time trying to drive me around from school to home to the back to home and then to the terminal finally. So we get to the terminal at 4:15PM on Friday and the ferry leaves on time, basically everything is going great. We're all looking forward to another awesome trip to West Edmonton Mall, like the last one. It was also bound to be fun for me, because Ryan and I got the back seat (which has three seats instead of two, so it's a lot less crowded if there's only two people sitting there). Pretty comfy so far.
We make it to the Rockies with no problems, except that some of us are getting hungry and our last rest stop was Merritt. We're planning to stop soon, when a tire blows out. This happens at about 2:00 - 3:00AM. We're close to the Mt. Robson rest stop, so we decide to stop there and call for help. The repair people say that we're third in line on a waiting list and that it won't be long. Well, we were stranded at the rest stop (which was closed for the season) for eleven hours. Yes, eleven.
It was really fun for the first half, because at the rest stop, there was a huge field of freshly fallen snow, and we had snowball fights and ran around and climbed the surrounding mountains. Then it got boring and we were all just sitting in the bus waiting for something to happen, and bored with the scenery. Not to mention really hungry. Finally a repair guy came at around 3:00PM on Saturday. We were expected in the original plan to be at West Ed by 10:00AM on Saturday, so our plans were long since ruined. At this point, we thought that we might get to the mall at 6:00 or 7:00PM that night, and get at least a couple hours of shopping in, so that the trip wouldn't be a complete waste.
By the way, this whole time I haven't slept once. Ryan and I kept each other awake, hah.
When we finally made it to Edmonton, it was 11:00PM on Saturday and the mall was long since closed. We see Al for the first time, and he tells us that he's called our parents and they've agreed that we can stay an extra day. Well, we're happy about that but pretty much all we want to do at this moment is go home and sleep, or at least get away from the crowded bus full of people. We drive to a nearby church and are told that we're sleeping on the floor. I'm thinking "Well, that's fine. My sleeping bag should be enough". Then I'm told that they've lost my sleeping bag. I'm thinking "Well, that's fine. As long as it's quiet, I can sleep". Then when I'm trying to get to sleep, I hear the unmistakable sound of the Backstreet Boys playing from some floor underneath me. I'm thinking "Okay, this is not cool". The music kept me up for a really long time, and I had a horrible sleep. In the morning we were woken up at 5:30AM or something like that because it was a church and we had to be out of there before any of the masses were to start. I was really, really sore, but I finally started having a good time again. Al bought everyone breakfast at McDonalds because he's such a great guy. That must have been so expensive, ugh.
Then we got to the mall. It hadn't opened yet, because it wasn't 10:00 yet, but the doors were still unlocked. We went inside and got a short rundown on what was happening, and then we all went our own ways. As soon as I could, I called Manda and Sheldon, and tried to get them to come to the mall, since I let them down on Saturday. They both couldn't because of homework. So that really depressed me. After I hung up with Sheldon, I fell against the wall outside and started to cry. It was inevitable though because I felt the trip was just going so badly for me. My mom says that we're just victims of circumstance. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that this whole time, about half of us were sick with a really contagious cold (Thanks a lot Jacob). I had this cold and I was getting better in the days before we left, but obviously, with all of this stuff combined, I got worse again. Yeah.
So, when I finally pulled myself together, I got up and went inside, changed and re-did my makeup and everything. I was feeling better after that. I did most of my shopping alone and between 10:00 and 11:30AM on Sunday. I got a lot of Christmas presents for people, mostly. After that, I met up with Jacob, Jamie and Curtis. We went to Bluenotes, or as it's called there “Thrifty's”. Then we walked around and bumped into a lot of people from YoungLife. Then it was lunchtime and Matt joined us, and then Ceileigh, and Curtis left and so did Jamie... meaning it was Ceileigh, Me, Matt and Jacob. We went to lunch at Albert's (It's tradition for me, hah) and had a good time, besides the fact that I was on the phone the whole time with various people. Why does everyone call at lunch?
After lunch, we were going to go to HMV, but instead we went to Galaxyland... for some reason. I dunno, it was fun either way. Jacob didn't come, but then we met up with Sara, Caitlin, Bree and whoever else was at the roller coaster. I don't really remember. Anyway, it was kickass. We went a couple times and on some other rides too. Then, lots of people felt like throwing up since we had just eaten (I wasn't one of them. I would have stayed there all day if I could, sheesh) so we left and everyone parted ways, and somehow I ended up hanging out with Matt for the whole rest of the day. He's one of the coolest people you'll ever meet though, and I got to know him a hell of a lot better than I did before the trip (considering that the first time I'd ever met him was on the bus on Friday, hah). So we had a good day together, first at HMV, searching through mislabeled posters, then playing DDR and other stuff at the arcade, then telling the people at Gymboree and Please Mum that we were looking for a birthday present for our illegitimate baby (and getting a free balloon in the process). Overall, really fun.
Then the time came to leave, so we went to the bus (reluctantly, but then again we were getting really tired of walking). The trip home was a lot easier and shorter, since the bus didn't break down again. I got to sit in the back again, but it was pretty crowded this time, so it was uncomfortable. I was sitting with Claire and Ceileigh, and occasionally Ryan, and sometimes other people too. Plus, all of our shopping bags and stuff. Not so fun. I didn't sleep on the way back, though I wanted to really badly. I can't sleep with people touching me or being awake around me. So the overall sum of sleep is the four hours or so that I got on the floor of the church. Woohoo.
The trip home went off without a hitch, and we made it to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal at around 6:00AM today (Monday, 28th). We caught the 7:00AM ferry, and made it home by 8:30AM. My mom picked me up at 9:00AM, and drove me to school. You might find it surprising, but I was kinda tired. She was really insistent that I go to school, so I had to resort to crying in the parking lot, and then she finally took me home. The first thing I did was brush my teeth, but I didn't make it out of the bathroom. I fell asleep on the floor right beside the baseboard heater, toothbrush in hand. Best sleep of my life. I woke up at around 5:00PM, to find out that I've been called by maybe 18 people while I was sleeping. So I call everyone and reassure them, and here I am, writing this blog.
It turned out a little longer than I expected, but I guess there's a lot to tell. Still, I had a great time on the trip. Maybe I wouldn't do it again right away, but I sure as hell would do it in the future. Thanks for listening.
