I don't have a picture tonight, folks. You'll have to settle for a thousand words instead!
Amanda is coming out to Tumbler Ridge this weekend. I've been in Grande Prairie three of the last four weekends due to timing (Amanda's birthday, the Elton John concert, etc.) and illness. I've been trying to think of something fun to do together, but have come up a little dry so far.
I've thought about taking Amanda to the Tumbler Ridge pool on one of her trips out to see me, but it's closed for re-grouting and maintenance right now. I've also thought about seeing if Amanda wants to walk the five mile loop with me, but it'll really depend on how the weather is. That's the problem with a walk that's an hour and a half long -- unless there's *no* chance of the weather changing, it's not a great idea to attempt it. The other side of it is that the hour and a half figure applies to my long legs. Amanda's not short by any stretch, but I do shorten my stride a little when we're walking together. So it may end up being a slightly longer walk time-wise which means that it'll require even stabler weather.
We could do another 80s movie weekend, but as it's spring, it'd be nice to do something outdoors instead. Kite flying on the high school field is a definite possibility. I've got a kite my parents gave me a few years ago, the last time I flew it was on Halloween afternoon in 2010, and we've been talking about flying kites together for a little while. ...Actually, last weekend in Grande Prairie would've been perfect for it.
On Friday I went for a long walk around Grande Prairie while Amanda was at work (her place --> downtown --> big box area --> Amanda's apartment), and I was either pushed along by or battling the wind the entire time. I had put sunscreen on because the sun seemed strong, and my arms and neck ended up covered in dust and sand due to everything being blown by the wind.
Actually, it reminded me of my three years working at a mill. The last year I worked there, I had a job outside at the stripstacker. There was a dust-collection cyclone (or something similar) outside near there that wasn't working incredibly well at times. So I'd cover up in sunscreen to protect myself from being burnt while working in the sun all day, then the cyclone would have a problem and start spraying sawdust everywhere, absolutely coating my arms and neck.
I will say this though -- I never needed air freshners to make my bedroom smell like pine trees or sandalwood. The residue in my clothes and hair managed that quite well.
Anyway, my other option would be to take Amanda for a hike somewhere. here may be two problems with that. First, the trails might still be excessively wet and muddy depending on how well sheltered they are from the sun. Second, on Amanda's first trip out to Tumbler Ridge we went for a hike to Flatbed Falls. We were trying to enjoy the view and were kissing (sadly, this was long before we started this blog) when we were interrupted by another hiker who wanted to talk and visit. So we disengaged ourselves from him politely, and decided to turn around and head back.
We stopped partway back along the trail to continue kissing when the same person came by. It was kind of discouraging. We'd left the Falls themselves so we could just enjoy each other's company just to end up having the same person catch up to us again.
The same problem didn't happen with the Bald Spot. Though I thought I heard people climbing up the trail while Amanda and I climbed down, we didn't run into anyone, and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We even had a mini picnic up top! We didn't have wine, but I did bring fruit, some sandwiches, and orange juice in a thermos. It was really neat sitting up there overlooking the town and talking for a while before we began the trek back down the hill. I'm *very* glad we decided to drive my car to the beginning of the trail though. Normally I walk straight up from my apartment and it adds about twenty minutes to the front *and* end of the climb.
I'm not sure either of us would've survived that. As it was, our legs were kind of rubbery by the end. I was thoroughly impressed with Amanda though. It took me three attempts to make it all the way up to the Bald Spot after I moved back to Tumbler Ridge, and she managed on her first attempt. Have I mentioned lately how awesome she is??
Anyway, I'm sure Amanda and I will figure out something fun to do together this weekend, whether it's playing Plants vs. Zombies against each other for hours, eating breakfast at the TR Inn, knitting on my balcony like we did at her place last weekend, or working on secret plans of world domination. I promise that if we achieve the latter, our first decisions as world overlords will very much follow the ideals expressed in my blog post of a few weeks back about how the world *should* work.
Naps at work for tired employees and paid, encouraged, sick days for those who don't abuse the privlege will be first on our docket. Next will be making some elaborate crowns for us to wear. If we're going to rule the planet, I'm sure we'll want some bling.
And with that folks, I think I'll be signing off for the evening. I hope you enjoyed reading a lengthier post than normal, even though it lacked any wonderful photos of Amanda and me kissing each other. With any luck, we'll take more this weekend and I'll be posting them sometime next week.
...There we go. That's a thousand words.
Thanks for reading!
