ocho

a place you've travelled to.

I haven't travelled to grand far away places. I haven't seen the eiffel tower, or stonehenge, or big ben. I haven't been even off this continent. But my favorite place I have ever travelled to (excluding Waterton) would be....

I think I was in grade 6 or so when my parents took us on summer vacation here. My grandfather was teaching at the local juvie (so B.A.) and my grandma had taken a job as a caregiver. (talk about livin' the dream!) We went up (and up, and up, and up) for a couple of weeks that summer in a borrowed Chevy AstroVan because my big bro had just rolled our van in his first few hours of being a driver.

we stopped in Hay River, The Hub of the North, and stayed there for a few days, quading on the beaches of the Great Slave Lake, hiking to waterfalls, playing with sled-dogs, and eating at all the best places Hay River has to offer. (Ptarmigan Inn please and thanks!) We then took off for Yellowknife, the city that is literally built on rocks! The Canadian Shield makes it pretty tough to get around these rocks. If you can't beat em, join em!



I KNOW, awesome.

So after our trip, we came home, lived our lives, la dee da. My grandparents were planning on moving home from the great white north the summer after i finished grade 7. When you are in grade 7, education doesn't mean much anyways, so my parents shipped me off to live with my grandparents for 6 weeks. I missed exams, school, soccer (that's why I'm not an athlete.) all to go explore what canada's 60th parallel was all about!

pit stop on the road to Hay River in my pj's and coveted roxy shirt.

I attended DJSS (Diamond Jeness Secondary School), which is practically famous for being the biggest, purple-est school EVER,



agreed!? I participated in the regional track meet (got a participation ribbon, which was also purple, thank you!),

reppin the panthers at opening ceremonies

learned to train the dog-sled dogs with grandpa,

the kennel of my gpa's friend Danny Beck.

went to lunch basically every day with G&G, watched movies with the juvie kids on friday nights (if they were good that week), had a SURVIVOR themed birthday party (that grandpa had to plan because granny got sick the day before! She was trying to teach me how to make the cake and would yell something at me from the bedroom and then throw up mid sentence. haaaa)

Survivor b-day party on the beach!

all my peeps gathered around the birthday girl

swam in the great slave lake with my native friend Meg (I think that was her name...) and took french, which was a first! (and a last.)

the 2 jessica's

my main hay river squeezes. jenna, corrine, chantel,
and the very native looking one is Megan, my bestie.

people in Hay River were SO nice. 6 weeks there and I made more friends than I have in the 6 months I've been in our student married ward. Hay River helped me appreciate the little SoAb town I'm from. Not to mention brought me the closeness I have to my grandparents. Someday I will revisit my other northern home, and chuck up on my peeps, see how they're doing. i love the great white north!