What would you guess is the one thing I have never traveled without …
Lately, I’ve been thinking about this expression: “When One Door Closes, Another One Opens.” The full saying actually goes like this:
“When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”~ Alexander Graham Bell
I’ve also heard other variations, like “When one door closes, use the window,” reinforcing the notion that there is more than one way to find a path. I’ve always considered this to be true. There are always other doors.
There’s been a few doors closing around here lately, and like Graham Bell notes, it can be hard to turn away from the closed door and move forward sometimes. I think this is why people hit their 40s and talk about a “mid-life crisis.”
Only now can I empathize with that stereotypical image of the mid-life man in crisis, running off with a young mistress in a cherry red sports car. It’s hard to close the door on our youth. I need to say goodbye to a wrinkle-free face, to days of cute bikinis, and even to any semblance of a metabolism (every woman over 40 reading this knows what I’m talking about here!).
And then I came across this meme, being shared on Facebook:
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I told you how I won a trip, but I also promised to tell you all about our upcoming trip to spectacular Northwest Territories. And you know me, I like to keep my promises! (You know, mostly.)
All up, our Northwest Territory adventure will end up being 9 days in total. One day for travel there and one day for travel back via First Air, which is one of the only air carriers with regular connections to 30 northern communities. We’ll be flying from Ottawa to Yellowknife.
Once we’re in Yellowknife our prize package includes a one-day adventure to Great Slave Lake where we will fish for Northern pike with Yellowknife Outdoor Adventures. This guiding outfit is run by a man named Carlos Gonzalez, who is an award-winning guide, teacher and restaurant owner. Check out this video below! Hubby is salivating over the potential of a big catch, while I’m salivating over the camp meal ….
Next, we go from Yellowknife to Norman Wells, where we’ll spend the majority of our time with Canoe North Adventures on a multi-day canoe trip. This will be the longest canoe trip I’ve ever been on — 6 days straight. (Yikes! I will have to get in shape and train for this me thinks. Are you listening Mr. Don Draper??)
We’ve been in touch with the husband and wife team who own and operate Canoe North Adventures and it has only served to magnify our excitement! Al Pace and Lin Ward have been guiding visitors up north for more than 18 years now and it is clear that they love it — intensely. I almost cried watching this video; what an experience we have awaiting for us …
Have you ever been up to Canada’s Northwest Territories? Is it on your bucket list or just not on the radar at all?
Yesterday, I told you I won a trip. So, it’s true, people actually win these things!
Today, I was going to tell you all about my trip to Northwest Territories. But since we (in Ottawa) just got a massive dump of snow, I thought you all might want to know about this contest as soon as possible! Remember how much I loved going to Beaches Boscobel in Jamaica? Well, Sandals is the cousin to Beaches. Where Beaches if ultra-family, Sandals is ultra-couples. Both are luxury. But most importantly, both involve the sun-kissed beaches of Jamaica!
CTS Television is sending the lucky winners to Sandals Jamaica as part of its launch of #FeelGoodMovies. (If you live in the Ottawa area, CTS is Rogers cable channel 25/235 and with Bell Satellite you’ll be looking for 651.) Every Friday and Sunday at 7pm, CTS plays “Feel Good Movies” — movies that don’t require a “viewer discretion is advised” notice in advance.
Now, I know you will feel good if you win this trip! So, click on the link below to enter! It’s a complete luxury vacation, including airfare, for two lucky Canadian residents. The more you share, the more chances you get at winning.
******* Win this Sandals Jamaica Vacation: CLICK HERE *******
Brought to you by CTS, Sandals Resorts, and Air Canada Vacations.
Seeing the Aurora Borealis up in Canada’s Great North has always been a dream of mine. (And Hubby’s … but his also includes winter camping, whitewater canoeing, and a whole bunch of other adventurous deeds.) So when I received an invitation from MJW Communications to a kick-off event for the Spectacular Northwest Territories Days at Ottawa’s Winterlude in February, I immediately accepted. Normally, I go to these travel-writing/blogging events on my own, but since it involved the Northwest Territories, Hubby was definitely going to be my date.
It was a week-day evening thing, so it was all a touch hectic and Hubby and I ended up having to meet there, taking separate cars. As I pulled into the parking lot of the Chateau Laurier — the fanciest of fancy-pants hotels in Ottawa, where the event was being held — I heard a loud sound on the top of my vehicle. And then I was stuck. Yep, I’d forgotten that I had the storage box on top of my car with our cross-country skis and now my vehicle was too tall to enter into the underground parking lot. But I was already half-way in.
Welcome to my coffee break!
Here’s where I chat about whatever is percolating in my brain on a given day … silly family anecdotes, travel tips, a new movie or book, or just life in general.
