Explorations of Maude, Volume I

This video was taken last week when Maude was 6 weeks old, exploring her soon-to-be new turf with gusto!  (It's 4 minutes and 15 seconds...I'll try to control myself in the future and offer shorter clips of her cuteness.)

Highlights include: victorious outdoor peeing, cute puppy romping, parental doting, playing with new toys, and demonstrating superior problem-solving skills.  Not that we're biased or anything. :)

This week begins her 7th week, the time when it's best for her to bond with her new owners.  Therefore, we're trying to visit her and have her over to the house as often as we can in preparation for her permanent arrival on October 9th.

We Can't Get Enough of Maude!

I used to make fun of new parents who shared 50,000 pictures of their newborn baby sleeping....but not anymore!  I'm puppy obsessed, and here are some pictures to prove it :)

This is Maude at 6 weeks old, visiting our officially-owned home (as of 11:30am on 9/20/13):

Who is that?

Brian is absolutely giddy over this puppy!

"Geez, this lady takes a lot of pictures..."

"Thank you for getting me a Maude-size tennis ball."

"My new parents are exhausting."

X-tra Tuff Puppy!

Our first family photo all together!

Banff!

People keep asking me what I thought of Banff, and the best description I can think of is that I felt like I was walking through the middle of a movie set while we were there.  Everything was just so darn pretty!  The buildings, the signs, the scenery, the store clerks....pretty, pretty, pretty.  

Just picture a whole bunch of tourists shopping at high-end outdoor stores and being served by seasonal, care-free, British and Australian 20-somethings in coffee shops and restaurants.  You get the vibe? It was definitely a fun place to visit.

While Brian was doing conference stuff, I occupied myself by putzing around downtown, sitting in a coffee shop reading my book, hiking, and working out at the gym where we stayed, the Banff Center (oops, I mean"Centre").

Brian actually let me sit in on his presentation, which was eye-opening for me.  He did a great job presenting and all the more established peeps in the room gave him good feedback in a nice way.  (Before the talk, Brian had warned me, "Anne, just be ready to watch me get destroyed."  I told him I was prepared to give dirty looks and punch noses if they got hard on him.)  Evidently the older, well-known economists can get sticks up their butts and get mean, but they didn't this time thankfully.  We ended up going out later with a couple guys who did grad school at Ohio State.  They were super nice and cool!  Anyway, after all the presentations were done and we were walking out of the room, I looked at Brian and said with enhanced sincerity and a smirk:  "We.  Are.  So.  Different."  HA!  I also didn't realize that by agreeing to watch him, I also was agreeing to watch three other presenters.  I was in awe and completely confused for a solid two hours :)

the streets of Banff

a view of Banff from the Tunnel Mountain hike I did while Brian was working

Every night in Banff, we ate at the same burger place, The Eddie.  Click on this link to their menu to see why we thought it was that good. 

Brian didn't let peanut butter and jelly on a burger scare him away.  He loved it!

The PB&J Burger:  beef, bacon, cheese, peanut butter & jelly, lettuce, tomato on a pretzel bun.  Say what?!?

After dinner, we'd walk along this river path through town.

Instead of birthday cake, we shared a post-burger turtle from the local candy shop.

Post-Presentation & Birthday Dinner.  We are two happy people right here :)

Some Scenes from the Road

We drove from Prince Rupert, B.C. to Banff in about three days, stopping and/or camping in Smithers, Fraser Lake, and Jasper, then ending in Banff for Brian's conference.

We then drove from Banff to Skagway, stopping and/or camping in Lake Louise, Liard Hot Springs, Carcross (short for "Caribou Crossing), and Teslin Lake.

Prince Rupert, B.C. to Banff, AB

Banff, AB to Skagway, AK

Here are some snapshots from our route:

Athabasca Glacier

Weeping Wall, Banff National Park

a blurry shot, but cool nonetheless!

At some stretches, there was a lot of farm country.  Some of it was even flat, which reminded us Ohio!

Our last night of camping, Teslin Lake.

We did a whole lot of this.  Thankfully, most of the trip was funded by the university!

Sometimes you're the window shield....sometimes you're the bug :)

Ferry Photos

Our roadtrip began and ended with a float on a ferry.  

First, we floated from Juneau to Prince Rupert, B.C. which took about 30 hours or so, and then on the way home we floated from Skagway, AK to Juneau, which is only 6 hours.

Relaxing solo in the solarium while Brian was inside on his computer preparing for his presentation.

Someone has the right idea here.  We opted for a state room this time, so we could sleep two nights in a comfy bed.  Well worth it!

Pulling onto the boat in Skagway to head home.

Sunny Skagway!

Happy post-vacation/pre-arrival beers :)