Girls Getaway - The Sequel

After our first girls getaway in September 2011 we knew we wanted to do it again (and again and again!). 

After a planning meeting over dinner out in October 2011 we picked Feb 3 for a two night getaway to my parents cabin just beyond Hope.  And we have looked forward to it for months. Chatting on the event page about plans and logistics, making song requests for the trip soundtrack, picking a movie to watch.......for 5 women it was all remarkably smooth and fun to plan.

As the time drew closer I realised that I would have to drive the truck (aka The Rolling Blue Thunder") and that I might be met with adverse road conditions which required 4x4.  I also realised that all the tasks around the opening of the winterized cabin that usually fall to Allan would fall to me (including disposing of dead mice if any were found EWWWW, turning the water on, lighting the hot water tank - which is a feat and possibly digging in through a snow bank).

To say that this made me uneasy was an understatement. 

And also made me irritated with myself.

If Allan could do this then so could I - I just needed to face the tasks and get them done!  As it turned out when we were at the Cabin in January Allan showed me how to light the hot water and the week before last when Allan injured his neck I drove the truck to school for him and he showed me how to switch it to 4x4 etc.... I was feeling a bit more prepared.

Thankfully all the girls were able to get away at 1pm on Friday and so we headed out on a spectacular sunny and cold afternoon but on dry roads.  We had a great drive out with coffee and great tunes and lots of chatter.

From years of going to the cabin there is a certain point on the highway that if there is banked snow you know there will be snow at the cabin.  We passed this spot and there was feet of snow.  I was worried.

In fading light we arrived to a very snowy, foggy valley and had to switch to 4x4 to get up the road to the cabin which was badly ploughed and was essentially an ice rink of about 3 inches of ice.  After a couple of slips and starts I pulled the truck alongside the entrance of the path to the cabin which was blocked by a 5 foot bank of old, dirty, icy snow.

Digging in

I told the girls to stay put in the running truck as I donned snow boots and extracted a shovel I had brought from home and started to dig, and dig and dig.......fortunately under the crusty, icy layer was soft powdery snow and so I got through the bank in about 15-20 minutes.  Then 2 of the girls joined me to stomp out a path to the cabin so we could assist the other 2 pregnant ladies (one with a fractured foot) into the cabin without any slips of falls.

PHEW!

And then I managed to get all the water running and the hot water lit without much fuss (one phone call to Allan) and we were soon all cozy around a roaring fire.

Lighting the gas hot water tank

We had a really great weekend (despite two of us feeling under the weather) of good food, good chats, good laughs.  We did puzzles, listened to music, read quietly and played a board game.  We also ventured into Hope for a swim and hot tub and a coffee and made it back to the cabin in the dark!

These times away as women are invaluable not just for the break from the roles we play but for the deep connections we make with one another as we share our lives, our hopes, our fears, our thoughts.

5 girls and a Moose!

For me, I proved I can do things that scare me like driving a big truck, lighting gas hot water tanks and digging through snow banks.

And I proved I am not to old to be dared to do something and do it - I swung on a rope swing into the swimming pool to the shock of the 10 year olds waiting in line behind me and to the ridiculous whoops of the girls that echoed across the pool........

and then

I got back in line and did it again!