Adventure to Manning

Our move up to Manning didn't go according to plan… at all!  I think saying that it went completely the opposite of what we planned is a more accurate way of describing the gong show that we've been living the last few days.

Tyler wrote his MRI final exam Tuesday morning and came home feeling really great about being done… again.  He won't be studying any more and that makes both of us so happy.  He finds out his results in about 4 weeks.

After he got home, we packed up the remaining items into our vehicle and headed out; our new adventure was underway.  Ryan pretty much cried the whole way out of Edmonton, as did the cat.  He isn't a fan of red lights and stopping because he wasn't being lulled to sleep so he was awake and miserable until we left the city.  Then he slept and we had a peaceful drive to Slave Lake.  We stopped somewhere for lunch but I can't remember where it was.  I don't think it was Westlock but I don't know where else we would have stopped… either way, we stopped and ate some A&W burgers, which are always good going in but then it just kind of sits in your gut and makes you regret ever eating it.

We made it to Slave Lake and needed to kill a bit of time before our friends, where we were staying that night, came home from work.  We went to the walmart and walked around.  We decided to get Ryan some food to eat because we always forget to do that for some reason.  He likes yogurt and fruit and crackers so we loaded up and then headed to our friends place.

They live in a beautiful new condo type house and it was amazing.  They have big comfy couches with beautiful pictures on the wall.  The whole house is just new and awesome and I wish I could live there. We had a great dinner of stir fry and fruit and enjoyed the evening talking about everything.

We went to bed and got up early.  The plan was to wake up early enough so that Ryan would fall back asleep in the car and it actually worked.  He didn't wake up until we were about half an hour outside of Peace River.  We had to be in Manning by 10am, which by the end of this story, you will see how stupid that plan was.  We stopped for some breakfast in Peace River and so Ryan could have some time to stretch his little legs out.  It was a nice break from the car.

The drive to Manning was only about an hour and for the first time since Ryan was born, we made it on time to our destination.  Driving into Manning, our first impressions were that they don't plow their roads.  It's a slush-fest here and really icy underneath all the slush.  We found our rental house and met up with the woman who is in charge of it all.

Strike #1- We found out that the rental place was still being renovated.  We knew they were repairing the bathroom but we were told it would be done by the time we got there.  We were then told it would probably be done by Friday or Saturday.  Great!  We were now homeless and our stuff was being driven up in a U-haul by Tyler's mom and uncle.  We had no place to put everything we own and no place to stay until it was all ready.  The woman we met told us that she was told we were staying in the Garden Court hotel, which happens to be the nicest hotel in town.  We have no idea who told her that or why but it wasn't true.  We were planning on being in that house when we moved or else we wouldn't have come until it was done.

Strike #2- We found the Garden Court Hotel and got very excited about staying there.  It was right across the street from the hospital and looked very nice from the outside.  We approached a woman smoking on the front deck and she said she only had one smoking room left.  I was so irritated by the whole thing that I didn't show her much patience and just turned right around and went back to the car.

Strike #3- We found a hotel called the Aurora Hotel and since it was right beside a really sketchy looking motel, we went there first.  We entered and asked where we can get a room and they said that we have to go across the parking lot to the Hillcrest Motel.  I was confused and frustrated because there was a sign on that building that says "Aurora Hotel" so I assumed it was a hotel.  But I was wrong so we went to the sketchy looking building and asked about a room.  They said that they have rooms, but that they aren't clean yet so we would have to wait.  I told them we would just check out the hotel across the street and walked out.  I didn't want to wait.  At this point, we were super super frustrated and were wondering why we left Bella Bella in the first place.  At least there, we had a place to stay.

Strike #4- We headed to the Motor Inn and Tyler went inside to once again ask about a room.  He came out shaking his head and I just couldn't believe it.  This little town didn't have any place for us to stay.  We were at a loss and had no idea what to do.  We for sure didn't want to go back to the Hillcrest Motel because it looks like a place where bad things happen, or people disappear.

Strike #5- We went back to the seedy motel and actually got a room.  We phoned up Carolyn and Brian and told them where to meet us.  We then learned that Carolyn, who was driving Tyler's orange car, was blown into the ditch when a semi truck went past her and now our car was stuck.  That was just one more thing to add to the pile that made this day suck.

Strike #6 - Our motel room is really gross.  I didn't want to put Ryan down on the floor or bed because the whole place just screams, "I'm crawling with micro-grossness!"  The walls are half covered in wood panelling and it's not even real wood panelling.  The walls are cracked and the doors are peeling.  It's just not the place we wanted to be on our first night in our new town.  I wanted to cry but I was so upset about the whole day that no tears would come.  Ryan was a great boy the whole time though so that made things less frustrating then it could have been.  He played nicely and smiled and talked and it was all fine for him.  One of the worst things about the whole day was the feeling I got when we laid down to go to sleep.  I felt like since we were in that dump, that I wasn't providing the very best for Ryan.  It really made me so sad to think that he had to spend a few nights there.  It wouldn't have been a problem if it were just Tyler and I.  But I'm supposed to provide for him and I felt like I had failed… and that was a huge downer.

Our first night there actually turned out ok.  Besides having to call the front desk to complain about our neighbours loud country music, we slept really well.  Probably the most sleep I've had in a long time because Ryan just slept the whole night.

Tyler got up to go to work and Ryan and I were left in the motel room, trying to find stuff to do.  All his toys are packed away in the basement of our rental (The fact that they let us unload the U-haul into the basement eliminates on of the strikes I guess, because if they wouldn't have let us do that, we would have had to rent it for longer which would have cost us a lot more money).  We managed to find things to do, like look out the window at the neon bar signs that were flashing, chase Kitty around, and Ryan took a 2 hour nap.  I got to do some reading which was a nice way to spend that time.

Tyler told me that I should come to the hospital for coffee to meet everyone and I thought that was a great idea.  It would get me out of this room and some fresh air never hurt anyone.

Strike #7- As I was getting Ryan and I ready for the walk, he decided that standing on the floor wasn't as good as being held by me.  He was screaming and crying like I was hurting him.  And he did this for about 20 minutes.  I was so fed up with him.  I managed to get him into his stroller and we were on our way but a huge problem presented itself almost immediately.  Manning doesn't believe in shovelling or plowing their sidewalks or roads.  It was nearly impossible to push that stroller through the 6 inches of snow that lay on the ground.  Later I would be told that it just snowed that night and they didn't have time yet to get rid of it, but I didn't know that.  And to top it all off, a trucker laughed at me while he was driving by because of what I was trying to do.  That just added to anger.

I told Tyler as soon as I saw him that I was taking the vehicle home.  The day got better from there though and I got to meet some of the people Tyler will be working with.  And it turns out that that trucker who laughed at me is the hospital delivery guy and I met him then too.  He bought Ryan a cookie so I took back all the silent bad thoughts I had for him.

I drove home and Ryan took a nap until Tyler came home.  I headed out to find some dinner and some more food for Ryan.  We had Subway and the evening was pretty great.  I love spending time with my family because they always make me feel better.

We had a good night again last night and Tyler left for work this morning.  He let me know that we will be able to get into our rental house tonight and start unpacking.  This is what I've been waiting for.  All our things that we have ever owned in our lives will be under one roof and with us.  We haven't even looked at our wedding gifts since the day we packed them all away so I'm excited to see what kind of goodies we have.  I am afraid of what will be broken because that U-haul and all the moving probably broke some things… but I'm just excited to get on with living our lives and to get out of this motel.

Ryan is currently napping and I have found someone who doesn't have a password on their wireless internet so I will be busy until Ryan decides he wants to wake up.

It has been an adventure and although I believe adventures should be fun and exciting, I'm sure the rest of our time here will be just awesome!

Sonja