Four hours sleep is no where near enough, especially not after as long and as an exciting day as we had yesterday. To be honest, there was only one thing that would ever get me out of bed after only 4 hours sleep in this situation: A close encounter with my all time favourite animal: An Orca.

My family will know that I’ve always had a fascination with dolphins and whales, and at one point wanted to study marine biology at university – before I discovered psychology and my aversion to cutting up animals, which kind of put a stop to my career in science. As Orcas (killer whales, for those who aren’t in the know) are the largest of the dolphin family, and technically incorrectly called whales in their most common name, they especially hold a special fascination for me. They are large, graceful, elegant, intelligent and amazing mammals. They can weigh up to 8000 pounds (2 tons) and are around 6m in length, sometimes larger. They are unique in that they have a matriarchal society, with the females of the family staying together most of their lives and the males going off on their own and coming back only for breeding season… I could rattle on and on here about them, but you didn’t sign up for a science lesson on the Orca in all it’s glory.

What you did sign up for, is a recap of our encounter. So, we’ll start with getting up at the asscrack of dawn – well, okay it was only 8am, but still, early enough for us – and by the time we were ready to go it was 8:45am. A stop at Starbucks was made first and once we were caffeinated we were on our way to SeaWorld San Antonio for our date with some Orcas! We managed not to get lost, and as we had already purchased a parking ticket online, were able to get in straight away and find a park close to the entrance of the amusement park.

When I purchased the tickets to SeaWorld online, I also purchased two tickets to the Shamu Up Close Tour, which gives you a behind the scenes look at the orcas in their pools, the trainers as they do their daily health checks and sessions with the orcas, and a tour guide who will answer any questions you have. It also comes with morning tea, and first choice of any seats for the Shamu “Believe” Show – though now that it’s December, it’s the Shamu “Miracle” Show. We also got gift bags, a necklace of a whale’s tail on leather and a photo of us on the encounter – since there were two of us we got 1 each.

Our tour started at 10:30am, when the park opened and we had to be there at 10am. They let us in, and we went to the reservations counter, who gave us a pass to the section of the park where we had to meet our tour guide, which wasn’t open yet. We walked past the rides that were being tested before the park opened, the closed concession and merchandise stands, and the Ski Theatre, where they do jet ski shows in the summer. We managed to find our tour location and waited for our tour guide and any other guests to arrive.

When our guide, Theresa, showed up she announced we were the only ones on the tour that day, so we could get started early! Sam and I followed her down to the Shamu Theatre where their five orcas live in a rotating set of 4 pools – the main arena pool, the two 25 foot pools and one 12 foot pool (the medical pool). We were lucky to meet all 5 of the orcas, Takara, Kyuquot, Keet, Unna and Tuar (I think that’s correct). One of the females is due to have a calf any day now, so she wasn’t participating in any shows (I just can’t remember which Orca is pregnant!). When the trainers came out to feed the orcas and check their teeth, one of them noticed us with Theresa, and he came over when she said we were there from Australia and had come to SeaWorld just for the orcas!

Jason, the trainer, was more than graciously accommodating and ended up bring over two of the orcas to our side of their pool and showed us some tricks and explained how they check their teeth, and other health checks. They were playful and friendly, and he explained that they always reward good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour, try not to bring attention to it. They showed off their vocal abilities, how to check their teeth, their tongues, their flukes (tails), waving their flippers, etc. We asked a few questions, like what fish were they fed in the park – since I already knew that in the while orcas like to feed on large fish such as salmon, and other mammals like seals and sea lions – hence, their “nickname” of sorts, of “Killer Whales”, which is really grossly inaccurate. Jason said they feed them 4 types of fish – the two that I can remember are mackerel and salmon – and the salmon they are fed is restaurant quality salmon. They don’t know if orcas have a sense of smell, and therefore a sense of taste, so we’re unsure if they have a preference. Theresa said they also feed them ice and jello of all things. Sometimes they’ll even put fish in the jello, as a frozen treat.

They explained how they don’t really teach them tricks, per say, they just teach them to do what comes naturally to them, but to do that behaviour on cue with a hand signal. They never try to train them to do things they wouldn’t normally do, that isn’t in their nature. Theresa also said that these particular orcas don’t like to jump over things, they like to go around them. So the end of Free Willy is not true to form, but definitely made great cinematography. The orcas love to be touched, and will rub their bodies on the walls and pool bottoms. They also love to have their trainers hug them and rub them and even rub them over with brushes and other objects that can essentially massage their skin. They don’t have a set routine as they like to change things up for them and keep everything fresh for the orcas. They rotate their pools, and once a day when the orcas have been moved out of the pools, a diver will go into the water and make sure everything is okay and nothing is in the pool or stuck to the bottom. The water temperature is about 60F, so it was warmer in the water than out of it!

There was so much more information and some of it I have on video, and we took a heap of photos but it was just… phenomenal to be there. To stand less than 2 metres away from orcas. They are so large and so beautiful, I had tears in my eyes just watching them. We got our photo taken with the whales posing in the background on a platform – which was not usual for the whales at all as usually the photos are taken in front of the glass tanks in the Shamu Theatre, so that was something special. There was morning tea included (good thing because we hadn’t had a chance to get breakfast!) which was a turkey club sandwich, a cookie, a pack of chips, some potato salad and water or iced tea. HOMG. It was so good, but so big I couldn’t finish it all. Sam and I saved our chips and cookies for later.

Once we were finished eating, we went to the Shamu Theatre where we got to sit in the second row of the Splash Zone, prime location for taking photos. Because it was so cold, the trainers didn’t get the orcas to splash the crowd but the show was just amazing. Again, i got some of it on video but both Sam and I got some amazing photos of it all too. It helped that Theresa sat next to Sam through the show and told him where the whales were going to come out of the water!

All the staff there were so friendly and helpful and very interested in Australia and our SeaWorld, which we were happy to tell them all about. We enjoyed the experience so much, that we even took the time before we left the park to leave some positive feedback on a comments form at Guest Services for the General Manager.

Anyway after the Shamu tour and show were finished at 1pm, Sam and I went into the Shamu Emporium and picked up a couple of shot glasses and a large stuffed orca for me (I’m a sucker for a good stuffed animal!), before we headed into the Voyager Cafe for a coffee (Sam) and water (me). We sat down and planned our next adventure! We wandered past the water rides (yes people were actually going on the rollercoasters and flume rides when it was a] raining and b] 40F outside!) to the Sea Lion area but we couldn’t get in to see them because the show wasn’t going to start until 4pm. We walked back to the 4D theatre and lined up to see The Polar Express 4D Movie, which was pretty awesome. We had 3D glasses on, and when the train arrived on screen, our chairs vibrated! When it snowed, it was simulated over us by bubbles. It was pretty awesome.

After the movie, we headed down to the dolphins and sharks section which was near the front of the park (and the exit). With the dolphins, you can purchase trays of 4 fish, and feed the dolphins! So we did that! We both got to touch a dolphin each too, which was just amazing and luckily, I got to capture Sam’s touch of the dolphin on film too! They feel rubbery and wet (of course) but not unpleasant. And they were just beautiful. There was even a dolphin in the tank that was charcoal coloured, never seen any bottlenosed look like that before! One of the dolphins was clearly lazy because he was so fat and chunky, he was obviously the one who never played with the buckets of fish that they would put into the pools for the dolphins to find, but rather preferred to just hang by the edge and get fish straight into his open mouth. It was definitely an awesome experience!

From there we went into their coral reef and shark tank display – but it was nothing on Shark Bay in our own SeaWorld on the Gold Coast. And no great white’s either! Their sharks were tiny!! No hammerheads or makos or anything! So it was interesting to see the different sharks from the other side of the world, like the black tip shark and the nurse shark but yeah, nothing like ours.

From there, after leaving our comment at Guest Services, and then Sam having a bathroom break, we headed back to the car to find our way clear across town to go to the AT&T Centre for the San Antonio Rampage Vs Texas Stars AHL game there in San An. The Rampage are the “farm team” for the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Texas Stars, in their inaugural year, are the “farm team” for our very own Dallas Stars. We were super excited to go to this game, and since we had 2 spare tickets (Rhonda had to work and Jen couldn’t make it down to San An for it), our friend Jena and her friend Anthony came along to take the seats. Anthony liked hockey, apparently, and Jena had always wanted to go to a game, so it worked out well! Our seats were in section 22, row 8, seats 3, 4, 5 and 6. What I didn’t know when I booked them was that seats 3 and 4 were the glass seats behind the penalty box. Thankfully it was the Texas Stars’ penalty box and not the Rampage’s.

The experience was a pretty awesome one, I have to admit. The energy in the building was good, there had to be at least 5000 people there in the arena and boy did they get into it and make some noise. Sam, Jena and I were all cheering out loudly (well, okay, maybe more Sam and I than Jena!) for the Stars, as was this guy in the next section over. There were a couple of Stars jerseys in the crowd which was nice to see, but obviously we were definitely outnumbered.

About part way through the second period, the Rampage’s mascot, a raging bull called T-Bone, came over to our section and spotted us in the crowd. Oh God. I didn’t even know he had come around until I felt a tap on my shoulder and there in front of me was T-Bone. A skinny guy in a grey leotard wearing the Rampage hockey uniform and a bull’s head. Actually he’s kind of awesome. We had this sign language (on his side) conversation. It went a little something like this:

T-Bone: *indicates to my jersey and then points to the raging bull logo on his jersey* Why you in a Stars jersey? Why aren’t you wearing a Rampage jersey?
Wendy: Because we’re Dallas Stars fans mate!
T-Bone: *shakes his head, makes a X in the air and a heart symbol on his chest* No Love, no love.
Wendy: What?! We came a long way for this game!
T-Bone: *Puts an L on his forehead* LOSER!!
Wendy: Me!? You’re the one with a Coyotes connection! That makes you the loser!
T-Bone: *Indignant jumping back with fake shock, hand on his heart, then he nods and offers me a high five* OMG WHAT?! That Hurt! HAHA. You’re alright!

T-Bone then hugged me as I was sitting there, and Sam – who had been watching the whole thing – asked for a picture. I stood up and T-Bone just enveloped me into his arms so I was barely visible! So awesome. And the guy in the suit was just laughing the entire time. I thanked him and he took off to “annoy” other fans. He was just the best mascot of any of the games we’d been to. He was involved in the intro, he danced on ice, he danced in the stands, he had a cowbell and a drum stick to get a beat going to rev up the crowd – which worked by the way – he was energetic and fun loving and very, very funny.

We also think a few of the Stars players heard us cheering for them, because when Gagnon ended up in the penalty box for like the third or fourth time, he looked at us, smiled and then shook his head and hung it in shame! And at the end of the game, he actually acknowledged us with a nod and a wave, which was awesome! But back to the game. It was 1-0 to the Rampage at the end of the first, but then the Stars came out to play in the second. We ended up winning 4-1. It was pretty awesome. And Jena and Anthony had a great time, so that was brilliant.

We had Whataburger (awww makes me think of Jessebean! Jesse is the first person that ever took us to Whataburger in 2006 after we came to the Duncanville rink to watch him play in a pickup game of ice hockey) at the rink, and much to Jena’s shock and amusement Sam managed to get ketchup all down his right pant leg (he’d had the dipping ketchup for his fries), and mustard and lettuce on the glass of the penalty box from his burger – how that got there, I don’t want to know. She was incredulously amused – which was a highlight for me!

After the hockey, we went back to the Short’s house to tell them all about what happened, and Jena’s husband Ryan came over. Then Sam, me, Jena, Ryan, Amber and Grady when back to Amber and Grady’s apartment (attached to the main house) and sat up talking for a couple of hours before Sam and I – completely exhausted and on the brink of passing out – went up to where we were staying to get some sleep.

It was a long day, a long weekend, but HOMG SO WORTH IT!!

Tomorrow: A drive back to Dallas and good friends!

Today started with the alarm going off at 4:30am, two showers and melting of ice from our car for the first of 2 five hour drives for the day. We were on the road to “Big D” by 5:10am, and it was I who took the first leg. My extent of driving in the US and Canada, ever, had been driving from the Short’s residence to the Starbucks about 5 miles down the access road. So practically non-existent! But, since Sam only had 2 hours sleep and I had 4 and a half, I took one for the team, stepped up to the plate and took an almighty swing at driving on the wrong side of the road, in an unfamiliar car, at 5am when the road is covered in black ice.

I didn’t do too badly if I do say so myself.

I drove for an hour and a half and we switched drivers at McDonalds for breakfast, where we stopped to eat and then Sam took over for about 45 minutes, while I slept. When he faded again, I took over and drove the rest of the way into Dallas, all the way to Jen’s motel, where we are going to be staying the final leg of our trip.

Jen greeted us with hugs and a gorgeous schnauzer named Stellina. We got a tour of our room, and hung out with Jen while we waited for Rhonda to arrive so we could all go to the Dallas Stars game together. While waiting, Jen, Sam and I went to lunch at the Corner Cafe & Bakery. It was nice to eat food that wasn’t fast food! I had a ravioli and Sam had a turkey toasted sandwich. It was delicious. Back at Jen’s, it was great to catch up until Rhonda arrived and we could head to the game.

Rhonda is sick with the flu at the moment, so it was wonderful that she felt well enough to get out of bed and come along to the game with us. She had arranged the tickets for the four of us with her Ticket Rep (she’s a season ticket holder for The Stars), who was able to compliment her 4 tickets in the lower bowl for us, because she had 2 guests from Australia with her. How awesome is that?

The AAC hasn’t changed – at least not inside – but the courtyard at the front has now been finished being built and HOMG is the big screens outside impressive! But inside, we got there with just enough time to buy new replica jerseys for Sam and I (Richards and Modano respectively) and a game puck before we had to get to our seats for the game to start! I was really excited about this game because not only were we going to watch the new “young guns” Jamie Benn and James Neal play (they weren’t on the team in 2006 as they were still too young), but we were going to see one of my favourite defensemen play. Unfortunately, he’s an Edmonton Oiler, but I do love Lubomir Vishnovsky!

The game started with, as usual, the singing of the National Anthems. It was kind of like a homecoming, hearing the anthem sung by Celina Rae, and the crowd yelling out “STARS” twice through the anthem when the words are mentioned. It’s … it’s hard to explain it. It’s a Stars Fans tradition. Some people are offended by it. I guess I can understand that point of view, but since it’s not my anthem I don’t get offended by it. I do think it’s unique, and something only the Stars can do in the NHL. That makes it special.

When the game started, though, it was all business. I was sitting next to Rhonda, who was next to Sam who was next to Jen. It was great because Jen and Rhonda were picking on Sam, but Rhonda and I were also talking hockey and cheering for the boys! I was so thrilled to be able to see Mike Modano play one more time. I don’t know if he will play another season, as this is the last one he’s contracted to and he is 39 years old, but he may do. I doubt Sam and I will be able to make it back to Dallas next year if he does though, so it was really special for me to see my favourite player, the player that got me hooked and obsessed with hockey in the first place, play one more time.

About four minutes left in the first period I said to Rhonda that I wanted a goal. Not ten seconds later, Jamie Benn scored with a lovely shot in the top left hand shelf over Deslauriers’ shoulder, assisted by Mike “Skeezy” Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow. And then three minutes later I said I wanted another one. With 31 seconds left in the first period, James Neal scored, assisted by Brad Richards and Nicklas Grossman. Both were very pretty goals. Neal’s was just impressive. Brad Richards took the puck up from the defensive zone, all the way to the net and was denied by Deslauriers, only for Neal to “pick up the trash” and score on a juicy rebound.

In the second period, Lubomir Vishnovsky of the Oilers netted their first goal from a slapshot that Marty Turco just couldn’t stop. The Stars still looked good, and for once Trevor Daley was having a good game and not making his usual 50 billion mistakes. Anyone who has sat with me through a Stars game knows that I would trade Daley for a bag of chips and a Starbucks coffee – and I’m not a Starbucks fan. But he made some great moves, was good on defense and his passing and puck handling was great. I don’t know what Crawford is going to get Daley to step up his game, but whatever it is, he needs to keep doing it!

In the intermission between the second and third periods, we went in search of Rhonda’s ticket rep and our friends Mickie, Frederick and their son Alex. They were in section 311, three levels above us! We had to walk all the way around the concourse before we found it, and while we were searching for them, Alex and Mickie had gone off in search of us! We found Frederick though, and managed to catch Alex and Mickie before we headed back to our seats for the start of the third period. Rhonda and Jen arrived at our seats after we did, having found out where the Stars commentators, Ralph Strangis and Darryl “Razor” Reaugh (pronounced “Ray”) were calling the game from – sections 210/211.

It was still 2-1 with 4 minutes left in the third period, and it was then that Sam, Rhonda, Jen and I got up from our seats and headed to the Platnium Level for sections 210/211 to see Ralph and Razor. We caught the game on the television screen in the elevator up, and then watched the jumbotron from the doorway of sections as we passed. As we walked to the elevator, Sam said that he bet the Oilers would score in the last minute of the game. “They always do,” he complained. We were waiting for the elevator when Ladislav Smid scored to tie the game up 2-2, and now we were off to the races! In the 8 games (including the Stars game) we have seen on our trip, only 2 have finished in regulation. 6 of them went to OT (overtime) or a Shootout. And with the score at 2-2, Sam and I felt that impending sense of doom that the game was going to go to OT… or worse, a shootout!

We found 210/211, and Rhonda told the guard there that we were from Australia and wanting to catch up with Ralph and Razor, who were up on the balcony, calling the game. He let us in the area and even said we could sit down in the empty seats of the section while the game finished! That was lovely of him. Regulation ended at 2-2, and into OT it went. The Stars were trying everything they could to finish it in OT, and we were all biting our nails. In the 5 games that the Stars had gone to a shootout, we had won 1 and lost 4. Not a great track record for Marty Turco (our starting goaltender) in the breakaway contest.

Inevitably it did go to a shootout, and while exciting, it was also nerve-wracking and scary. Rhonda and I were standing up for the whole thing, screaming out and cheering – it was so much fun! Unfortunately we lost, and the Oilers took the game 3-2. But at least we got a point.

We had to wait outside the section for Ralph and Razor to do their post game wrap up with the television Stars Live post game wrap up. The guard asked us if they knew we were there, and Rhonda said no, but he could give them a heads up if he wanted. I said to the guard, “Just tell ‘em “The Aussies are back”, they’ll know who you’re talking about!”

That’s exactly what he said to Ralph. And Ralph looked over at the doorway, saw me, grinned and exclaimed, “The Aussies are back!” It was lovely that he still remembered us after 3 and a half years!

When he came out, we had a short chat with him, and he asked us how we were and how long we were there for (great and until Dec 16, so this was our only Stars game and we couldn’t come to the game and not say hello!). We told him about our trip (the exceedingly short version) but we did mention that we’d seen Scott Glennie and Brayden Schenn for Brandon play in Moose Jaw and Scott was awesome! Then I said to Ralph that we had something for him. I handed over the Australian tie we had bought for him (we had one for Razor as well). It was green and gold and yellow and had kangaroos embroidered on it.

“It’s an Australian tie in Dallas Stars colours,” I said as I handed it over. He was blown away and said that it was amazing, and was so gracious and thankful. I explained, “Well, you hooked us up with Mike last time we were here, and we are so appreciative of that, so this is just a token of our appreciation.”

He grinned and said, “Oh wow! I wish you’d come up before the game, I would have worn it!” Then he said his goodbyes, wished us a great rest of our trip, shook Sam’s hand and then gave me a hug. It was so sweet. I love Ralph. Both Ralph and Razor are awesome, but Ralph remembers that when we met him the first time, it was Ralph and Razor that brought us the Stars. We didn’t have cable, and we didn’t have an internet connection we could stream the games – they weren’t available over the internet. The only way we could actually get Stars games was to listen to Ralph and Razor calling the game through WBAP radio in Dallas, which thankfully put their radio streaming online. We explained to him how Sam would record the radio stream on his computer during the day while I was at work and I would come home after work and listen to the game. Or if the game coincided with my lunch break, I would phone Sam and he would put the phone by the computer’s speaker and I would listen to the game over the phone on my lunch break. He was just so blown away by that when we told him last time (Mike Modano was too when we told him as well), that Ralph knows just how dedicated we are to the Stars, and how thankful we are to Ralph and Razor for being the voices of our team. There aren’t enough words in the English language to express what these two men mean to me for that.

Anyway we waited a little longer to talk to Razor because he was saying goodbye to the commentators there for Rogers Sports Net, the main sports network in Canada. One of the Rogers guys though looks like Razor’s doppleganger, it’s so funny. Razor came through the door and he stopped, and looked at us. He cocked his head to the side and it was so funny to see the realisation cross over his face. It was as if he was thinking… “Wait… wait, you look familiar… I know you!” And then he pointed at us and said, “The Aussies are back. The Aussies are back! Well hello! How are you!?”

It was thrilling that they were so happy to see us again. We chatted to Razor for a good 5-10 minutes, which was just wonderful. He too asked how long we were there for and said we should go on the California road trip. That’s how we told him that we’d been travelling for 4.5 weeks already and only just made it to Dallas, which led into where we were, what hockey we’d seen in Canada (mentioned Scott and Brayden again) etc.

He asked us how we liked today’s game, because we got to see some really good hockey – and it flowed from the discussion about hockey in Canada compared to the US. I told him “The Stars game was great and the crowd was a lot louder than it was last time and I see there’s a strip show at one end of the rink now!”

He grinned and said, “Oh yeah, the porn.”

We break this blog post to take a moment – and smack Sam on the arm as he groans again while I explain to you what I’m talking about. Some hockey teams in the NHL have what are called “Ice Girls”. They’re female ambassadors of the team, and every year the teams have Ice Girl auditions for the IG Teams. The girls that can skate go out on the ice during tv timeouts to “clean up the snow”, so they skate out with big scrapers and shovel up all the snow the teams have created during the game and dump them into bins and take it off the ice. They serve a purpose and it’s something for the guys to look at. No problem there. Our Dallas Stars Ice Girls wear black crushed velvet legging trackpants and a short sleeved midriff top with the Stars logo on it. They’re classy and sexy and all things nice.

But now, we also have Stars Cheerleaders. HOHMYGOD. I can’t believe it. Seriously. It’s a team of 7 girls, who stand on a balcony by JeffK, the Stars’ DJ/Music Director, and have pompoms and everything. Now that’s fine. Except they aren’t dressed like the Ice Girls. They wear the midriff tops, what I call bum-covers (spanky pants) and knee high black socks. Which, I don’t think is quite appropriate for an ice rink, but it’s no different to the Cowboys cheerleaders I guess. My issue with the Cheerleaders is not only the “dance moves” which honestly are only missing the stripper pole, I mean honestly, these moves are what you see on stage in a strip joint! I couldn’t believe it! And what made it worse was that it was plastered all over the jumbotron! Now, this is a massive HD cube of television screens. You can’t miss it, and you can’t help but look at it! There are children in this arena. This is marketed as a family event. What the hell are they doing putting the strippers front and centre on the jumbotron?! And the fact that they can’t “dance” in time with each other is just phenomenally bad.

I got the feeling that Razor agreed with my sentiments about the jumbotron thing because from what he said, a number of people had made comments about it, and none of them were complimentary.

Anyway with that aside, we talked about Marty, and I told Razor that he should impart his wisdom to Marty on the shootout after he told us how he was always good at them when he was playing hockey (he was a goaltender before he retired, played mostly in the AHL but did play a few games for the Hartford Whalers before they moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes).

I gave Razor his tie, which was black, silver and green with kangaroos on it and he too was rather impressed and surprised and thankful. He said he’d wear it for their next game, and I said to him, “Actually, if you could wear it for the Sharks game on December 11, that would be awesome because it’s Sam’s birthday!”

That took us into a discussion about how he could remember December 11 to wear the tie. I was a little incredulous. I said to him, “C’mon, it’s not that hard! Kangaroos and sharks are what Australia is famous for! Kangaroos on the land, and being eaten by sharks in the water!”

He was a little confused at first, but then he said, “Oh wait, I see where you’re going with this. How about kangaroos, they’re Australian, just like Greg Norman, he’s Australian, he’s the Great White Shark, Shark Tank, San Jose Sharks. I get it!”

He said he’d try to remember it, but he thanked us again and put it in his bag then and there. Then we said goodbye, shook hands and went our separate ways.

**SIGH** I love those guys!

Afterwards, we met up with Michele, Karin, Julie, Jeff and a few others outside who were waiting to see us! Hugs hello were all around and then we worked out who was coming where and headed back to the car to go to dinner.

We had dinner with Michele (we call her “Val” which is short for her surname) Jeff, Julie (who ended up taking Rhonda’s ticket for the Mavs game because she had to go back to work), and Jen at this tex-mex place they love to go to. It was a fun time! We had enchiladas but I don’t think they agreed with me too well because I wasn’t well later. Thankfully, I didn’t throw up but there were moments on the drive back to San An that we thought I was going to! But we’ll get to that.

After dinner, we went to the Dallas Mavericks Vs Atlanta Hawks NBA game. I was the only person of the four of us that went that actually wanted to be there, so I got outvoted and we left at the end of the first period, but since the game started at 8pm instead of 7pm like we thought, we would have had to leave early anyway. The Mavs game was a completely different experience to a hockey game.

While the Stars play rock music at their games, the Mavs play hip hop. While the Stars will fill the AAC, the crowd isn’t usually very noisy. The Mavs did fill out the AAC (I think the cheaper tickets have something to do with that), and their crowd was very noisy. The Mavs also have cheerleaders, but they weren’t as slutty, and at least danced in time with each other. While they did have some risque moves, it was nothing that you wouldn’t see on So You Think You Can Dance as a choreographed routine. And while they had bikini tops on, their pants were full length, so they didn’t look like sluts either. Man, I wished the Stars had taken a leaf out of their book. The NBA experience was a good one for me, and while basketball isn’t my favourite sport, I’d rather watch it than NFL or cricket any day. I did get a little bored with the play of the game, but that’s just because it’s so slow compared to hockey. And the squeaking of their sneakers would give me a headache if we’d stayed for the whole game – even in the rafters of 322. But still, I enjoyed the game – what we saw of it.

We headed out at the end of the first, and by then it was 8:50pm. We wanted to catch up with our friend Jesse (who I call “Jessebean” … not that he knows it, though if he’s reading this, he will now) who was playing hockey that night but his game finished before we could get there, and he was going to a party of a friend of his that he’d promised he’d go so we didn’t get to see him. I did get to speak to him on the phone though, which was awesome, and he said that they won, 3-1, which is brilliant, because Jesse is the goaltender! We’ll definitely catch up with Jesse later this week.

Instead, we headed back to Jen’s, and waited for Val and her wonderful husband Nathan to arrive (they went to Jesse’s game) and hang out for an hour before we had to start the long, treacherously straight road journey back to San Antonio for our day at SeaWorld!

It was awesome to catch up with friends and just laugh, which is what we always do when we’re with our friends from Dallas. They’re just as nutty and insane and gutter-minded as we are. It’s fabulous, and always a good time.

At ten, we finally stood up and made our way to the car. The drive back was just horrendous. Both of us were exhausted, and Sam ended up having to drive most of the way. I drove for about 50 minutes to an hour and Sam slept for about 45 minutes while I drove, but he didn’t feel like he’d slept at all. I wasn’t well, and had my second asthma attack for the day while in the car. I’d managed to get some sleep but it was stagnated and restless. We were so happy to reach San Antonio and fall into bed to pass out.

Four hours sleep before we get up. Fun times!!!

It’s been our final day in San Antonio, and we had left it semi open for things to do as we figured you never quite know what to expect. After a very late night last night, we finally got out of bed at 9am and went downstairs to socialise with the Shorts. It turns out, we think they may have been waiting for us to get up, so we could have breakfast with them… coffee, bacon and french toast. Yum! We didn’t mean to sleep in so long and keep them waiting that’s for sure.

After breakfast Wendy and I decided we’d shoot down to the AT&T Center to pick up our game tickets for Sundays game where we get to see the Texas Stars take on the San Antonio Rampage in an AHL match. It will be our first ever AHL game, so we’re quite keen to see how the “baby Stars” look. The drive there was uneventful, and while we only had directions given to us by Vicki, we got there fine. Getting home however was not so easy. More on that shortly. After collecting our tickets we took a wander through the Rampage team store where we picked up an official game puck and also a San Antonio Spurs (NBA) shot glass. Then, the drive home. As you all know, we’ve done incredibly well not getting lost during our stay in San Antonio, which is amazing for us. We didn’t think it would last, and today, we met our match! On the way home we were supposed to go down the I-35S, and take the I-10 turnoff. I missed the turnoff, and we ended up going about 10 miles too far up the I-35. After a turnaround, a laugh and a few choice words we headed back up the I-35N, this time taking the correct turnoff and finding ourselves back on target again. I should point out that Wendy had told me to take the I-10 originally, so it turns out she was right.

On the way home we stopped at the North Star Mall for lunch and to get cash from an ATM, but after finding no decent food options decided to just head to The Rim instead.

Before leaving though, I needed a bathroom break, where I had an encounter with 2 of the San Antonio Spurs, the local basketball team. While washing our hands, one of them looks at my hat and says “Dallas Stars eh?, you should come see a Spurs game”. i replied with “Why?”. He kinda looked shocked and said “because we’re good”. Me, in my hockey-centric way simply replied with “nah, you don’t play hockey”. The guy behind him (also a Spurs guy) looked arrogantly at me as if to say “do you know who we are?”. Funny stuff, right there! Anyway, off we went.

The Rim is a LARGE outdoor mall, meaning it’s loads of buildings over a very large area, so you have to know where things are to really benefit from them. Needless to say, we didn’t, so just drove past all the places trying to find a small place to grab a bite to eat for lunch… no such luck. In the end we got back on the access road and found Sonic, a burger joint we’ve wanted to try for a while. Ever had Sonic? It’s actually REALLY nice! They do this killer toasty type burger thing… hmmmm delicious!

For the rest of the afternoon we just chilled out talking to Vicki, Amber, Grady and the family until Jena and Ryan turned up for dinner. Jena and Ryan are neighbors of the Shorts, and pretty much family… great people to know and hang with. For dinner, Vicki had cooked home-made spaghetti sauce which had been cooking all day long and was truly delectable! We had that and washed it down with Diet Coke… a really great dinner. I should get that recipe!

Vicki had also cooked Pumpkin Pie! We’d heard about that for years but had never tried it, so the chance to have some was awesome! OMG this pie was like Christmas on the plate! The taste was spectacular and I think that might have to bee another recipe i track down if i can!

After dinner, Amber and Jena took us down to the River Walk, which is a section of downtown San Antonio where the river flows between all the buildings. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing that place is, so hopefully these pictures come out ok. We were going to go on a boat ride which tells the history of the buildings but the boats were all missing, so we’re thinking that the weather may be too cold for them. Sucked, but Amber and Jena did a great job educating us on the city.

In the middle of the walk we headed back up the streets to possibly the most famous landmark in the city; The Alamo! Yep, we finally got there! This city is steeped in history, and the catchphrase “Remember The Alamo” is well known the world over. The buildings themselves are still there, and even though we couldn’t go inside as it was night time, we got some great photos of the exteriors of the complex. Such a beautiful historical place and marks a turning point in Texas history.

On the way home we all felt a little peckish so figured we’d find a bite to eat. As we’d never been there before, and had always wanted to, we went to Jena’s fave eating place, her home away from home, IHOP. That stands for the “International House of Pancakes” for those interested. Wendy and I both got pancakes (hey, ya gotta, right?) with Wendy getting the Blueberry and me, the Banana and Strawberry stacks. REALLY nice!

By the time we got home it was 11pm, so grabbed the clothes from the dryer and got prepared for our early, 4:30am start tomorrow! Wendy then got to bed, while i jumped online to update the blog (ie. this) and check todays hockey scores.

Tomorrow is a HUGE day with 10hrs of driving, a hockey game AND an NBA game!

Zoo day! We’d heard a lot about San Antonio zoo before even heading over here, so we were quite keen to ensure it was near the top of our “must see” attractions while down this way.

The day started at 8:30am after just 6hrs sleep. After planning our day, trying to call our friend Tammy (again, no luck) and having showers we headed down to Starbucks for coffee and then Subway for breakfast. The Starbucks leg of the trip went smoothly, but it turns out the Subway did not do breakfasts. I think I was going to fall over in shock.. a Subway without a breaky menu.. are you serious? Anyway, so we left there and decided to head down to “The Rim” instead and see if chick-Filla (spelling?) did breakfasts, as we’d had a nice lunch there the day before. Turned out they did but we missed the cut-off time, so settled for a burger and fries. Not an ideal breakfast, but it ended up being breaky and lunch in one, so no dramas.

The next stop was the Zoo itself. To get there we had to go on the I-10 S and then merge onto the I-410 E follow that and turn onto the 281 S (i believe). It’s not really that confusing when you do it because they’re all incredibly well marked. Canadian transit peeps… take notice, road markings are GREAT things. So we finally get to the zoo after thinking we’re lost, but not really “being” lost… doesn’t count as getting lost, so we’re still doing great on that count!

The Zoo is open 365 days a year, but as today was incredibly cold, many of the animals were hiding in their cave things. Sucked for us, but as entry was only $10, it wasn’t really that much of an issue. The Zoo covers a huge area and took us about 3hrs or so to go round.. and that’s with the empty exhibits and/or animals hiding. With a full family, i’d give it at least 5 – 6hrs to go round if you wanted to read everything and learn all about all the animals they have.

FYI, we have put photos from the zoo in their own category, which can be found here: http://epictrip09.succeed2k.com/galleries/?album=4&gallery=25

I wont go into massive details about “all” the animals we saw as it would end up making this blog post incredibly long! So, if it seems i’m skimming over areas, please forgive me.

Our first stop was the bear enclosures, where they had 3 types of bears; the American Black Bear, the Spectacled Bear and of course the Grizzly Bear. It’s amazing just how big these creatures are, and the ones they have in the zoo here are actually MUCH smaller than the ones they have in the wild.

I personally loved the Grizzly bear and managed to get a great close up shot of his face, which can be found in the full photo gallery. I’m not sure, but i believe the Grizzly is the same as the Brown bear.

After the bears we went past one side of the “Amazonia” section, where they had things like snakes, lizards and this amazing little cat known as the “Fishing Cat”. I’d never heard of this thing before… they’re a small species of cat that primarily survives on fish, and catches them with it’s claws. Quite a quite little fellow, too.

our next stop was my favorite area; Africa! They have this new exhibit that is being build called “Africa Live”, which gives you a much more deeper look into the African animals, including (eventually) live shows, but that section is still being built. They did have one incredible feature here though; an underwater view of the Hippopotumus! I knew these things were large, but holy heck, i never knew they were quite THAT large! Check out this photo wendy got.

We didn’t get a chance to catch the elephants, as they were currently closed off from the public due to the works they’ve been doing on the new enclosures. We weren’t too happy about that, but what can you do, huh? Anyway, we quickly made up for it as we soon found ourselves right up close to a White Rhino and a Black Rhino. Did you know these creatures were bigger than the average Australian car? Yep, and weigh as much as a tank. Photos simply do not do them justice. The Black Rhino and White Rhino have one huge difference, other than the colors. The White Rhino has a square jaw, whereas the Black Rhino has a pointy bottom lip which is used for destroying rotten logs, digging up earth, etc. The White Rhino is also much larger than it’s Black cousin, I believe.

We went through a huge section dedicated to birds of the African safaris and then past the Cheetah enclosure. Unfortunately, the Cheetah was right at the back so we never got a chance to get a “good” photo.

Other cat enclosures we past, but had no luck seeing the animals were the Black Leopard, Clouded Leopard, and the Jaguar. We did however see the big 2; Lion & Tiger.

They had 2 lions in the exhibit, a female and a male. They’re truly incredible animals. Many people think the Lioness do all the work like the Males just sit around being lazy, which is completely wrong. While the Lionesses are out hunting, the Males are actually the primary teachers, and will teach the Lion Cubs about 90% of everything they learn. The Pride is one of the most successful family models among all animals, including humans!

Every so often one of the Lions would roar. If you’ve not heard a lions roar before you don’t know what you’re missing out on. These things can make a sound that just seems to ripple through the ground and travel for miles. I can understand why that sound would be so terrifying to hear at night time… it’s truly daunting during the day! After the first started the other one would sometimes follow, then they would go silent for a while and repeat it again. Quite incredible animals.

The Lion is actually far smaller than another big cat, and truth be told, nowhere near as dangerous. In fact, as the board at the zoo said today, the Lion should really pass on it’s title as “The King Of The Jungle” to the real king.. the biggest of the cats and the most viscious; the Tiger!

We never got a chance to see her stand up, so the photos we have are only from a distance, but this Sumatran Tiger was just incredible. Bright colors, and just from the size of the head, we figured she had to be about 1.5 times larger than the Lions in the previous exhibit.

We had 2 great Wendyism moments today at the zoo.

The Zoo has an Australian section. Naturally. I mean, what good zoo would NOT have an Aussie section, right? Well, we’re looking at the Kangaroo’s and Wendy starts having this little conversation with them, just filling them in on the events, saying hi type thing. By the way the Kangaroo reacted, we’re guessing she didn’t like hearing that Steve Irwin passed away.

So off we go into the “Australian Aviary” section, where they have birds natural to Australia, including these ducks. As we’re walking in there, the duck walks down as if recognising our accents and quacks at us. Wendy, being the adorable one she is, starts talking. Here’s kinda how it pans out.

Wendy: Geelong won the AFL Grand final
Duck: Quack
Wendy: Storm won the NRL grand final
Duck: Quack
Wendy: Tony Abbot was named opposition leader
Duck: Hangs it’s head in shame and lets out this half-assed quack.

Go figure.

Anyway, we moved on and fed the fish for a while with the fish food you could buy for a quarter. That was great fun and reminded me of my childhood feeding the fish at Fairy Springs in Rotorua. After the fish we headed to the birds enclosures where we saw some of the most beautiful, and most ugly birds imaginable! I love the Raven.. it’s a scary bird, but truly mystical in a way. The Flamingo’s, which are born brown and turn pink at about 2yrs of age were pretty funny to watch, and the Owl was simply beautiful. Wendy made fun of the Kookaburras there and they flared there feathers at her, which i found amusing. The weirdest bird though was this Oscillated Turkey, which has this funny orange thing on its head which make it look like it could do with some serious medication! Kinda wiggy like.

We were almost done, but there was one exhibit we were hanging out for; the Otters. Otters are just adorable creatures, and absolutely fascinated with people. The way they act around people just wows me, as they almost try and show off their swimming and diving skills. Not only that, but they actually look adorable. Check these guys out.

Our last stop at the zoo was a quick visit to the the gift shop to pick up a shot glass (we’re getting quite a lot of them now).

Last night we’d been given instructions to the local “Skechers” store, as Wendy wanted to buy a new pair of shoes to replace the ones she bought in Dallas in 2006. Skechers are a brand, and are really expensive in Australia. To replace her shoes in Aussie, it would have cost around $130, which is much more than we could afford.

So we headed to the store. It turns out, when our friends said store, they meant Skechers Outlet Store! Holy crap… not only was it huge, but had hundreds of different types of Skechers shoes. Did you even know they made hundreds of styles of Skechers? We didn’t.

It also turns out they had a special on. Buy 1 pair of shoes and get a second pair at half price. But here’s the best part. Over the last 2 days we had under-spent on our budget, so we actually had a bit of cash spare, so Wendy says I could get a pair of shoes also. So off we go in separate directions looking to pick up a great deal.

And did we ever!

45 minutes later we walked out of the store with 4 pairs of shoes, and a pair of boots for Wendy. Wendy found the exact same shoes she already has for $40 and also a pair of work style shoes for the same price. I found a replacement pair of walking shoes with great ankle support for $40 and a really nice pair of slip-on leather shoes for $35. Lastly, Wendy found boots that not only fit her and have a low heel, but they looked GOOD. price? $30! All up, our 5 pairs of shoes came to only $140. That’s LESS than what the one pair of boots would have cost if they’d got them back home. Deal? Bargain? Can i hear a HELL YEAH!

We finally got home and checked our email at 4:30pm and then headed downstairs to the Shorts living room as Vicki was cooking “Southern Fried Chicken” and “Scalloped Potatoes” for dinner. Southern fried chicken is really yummy, and the potatoes are like a sliced potato bake with ham through it… very VERY nice. We were joined for dinner by Jena, whom is a friend of the Shorts. We first met Jena 3 and a half years ago when we came down to San Antonio in 2006, so it was great to see her again.

After dinner we laxed on the couch watching the Dallas Stars game on TV. Stars hockey… on tv! Oh yeah, it was a great night. Normally we wouldn’t have watched it and let the others have the TV, but Bob, Vicki and Amber were outside putting all the Christmas lights up on the trees. They have these amazing reigndeer that actually move, and lots of lights on the trees, and a santa… it’s just amazing.

Oh, and the Stars beat the ducks 3-1! A GREAT night.

Now… the most amazing thing… they have forecast SNOW here tomorrow. It has not snowed in San Antonio for going on 20+ years! It snowed in Dallas the other day, so they had a feeling it might, but seriously… snow, hear? That just rocks big-time! We’re hoping it does, as that would just be so special!

Tomorrow we’re going to go pick up our tickets to the Rampage Vs Texas Stars game from the Willcall and hopefully catch up with Tammy. If not, we’ll track her down from Dallas.

Today dawned dry – thankfully – and chilly but not too bad. We got up at 8-8:30am and headed downstairs. Papa Short had gone out – presumably for work – but as Mama Short works the night shift (she’s a nurse), she was due home any moment. So we waited in the lounge room downstairs for her to get home before we had our second reunion in 12 hours. Mama Short was so happy to see us again – which is always lovely – and of course did what any “southern mother” would do – fed us breakfast!

We caught up while we ate and after breakfast, Sam and I headed upstairs for showers and directions to a mall in San Antonio, while Mama Short went to bed. We found where we were going, got clean and then went back downstairs to borrow the phone, only to meet up with Papa Short. So we sat down for a good half an hour and had a chat!

It was nearly 12 I think by the time we got on the road, but that’s okay. We weren’t in any rush at all. We found the nearest Starbucks and Sam got a no fat venti latte with an extra shot, while I got a grande peppermint mocha. As usual, while we were waiting, Sam and I were bantering back and forth. The barista behind the counter, after she gave us our coffees asked, “Are y’all from Australia? Cuz I thought y’all are from Australia or New Zealand?” And that just launched a 10 minute discussion about Australia and NZ and The Flight Of The Conchords who this girl just loved, and how Australians and Kiwis really do rib each other like brothers and sisters do.

From there, it was fun finding an entrance onto the I10, which we found a few miles down the access road we were on, and then we were flying! We went past this massive outdoor mall called “The Rim” which I managed to get photos of on our way back home to the Shorts, and then past the strip of shops on our way into San Antonio township. OMG It’s huge. Everything is bigger in Texas. The roads are bigger, the turnpikes are bigger, the buildings are bigger… it’s just amazing.

We found North Star Mall and easily got a park and headed inside. Our first stop was somewhere to eat but we ducked into Champs which was a sports store. No NHL. It’s Texas, so we weren’t expecting it but it’s still disappointing to see. Lids, which is a store that sells nothing but hats, like baseball caps?, no NHL hats. Every other sport but. And right by the food court was The Official Dallas Cowboys Store. The merchandise in there is phenomenal. Didn’t buy any because it’s football and let’s face it, they don’t need to give Jerry any more money. But still, I wish the Stars had the range of merchandise that the Cowboys had.

Chik-Fil-A was for lunch. It was a grilled piece of chicken, no coating, and salad on a wholemeal bun. And lattice fries. HOMG SO GOOD. Beside Chik-Fil-A was a guy dressed as a cow, wearing a santa suit. A little creepy. Especially when he waved at us. *SHUDDERS*

After lunch, we wandered through the mall, which honestly took like 2 hours. We stopped into Build-A-Bear to make sure there really were Stars uniforms – Sam said that I could get one in Dallas!! – and I went through and selected which bear I was going to buy eventually. I’m so excited about it I can hardly stand it!

Then we went on the hunt for shoes for me. I’ve wanted to replace my sketchers for ages. I bought them in Dallas when we were here 3 and a half years ago, and have worn them nearly every day since. They’re still wearable but I really want to get another pair (or two if we can afford it!) while we’re hear because they are so much cheaper here than back home. The pair I had cost me $60 in 2006. When we got home, we found them at Lorna Jane at Chermside for $120! HOMG! We had no success. Dillards didn’t sell them, JCPenny were out of stock for the sizes I wanted, and Macy’s didn’t sell the model I wanted. Shoeless, we headed back to the Shorts, to wait for Amber to finish work.

When we got home, there were wild deer in the front yard. SWEAR TO TPTB! Sam didn’t drive slow enough and spooked them away but there was another herd already in the neighbours yard and we got some photos of them. They’re just unbelievable. Apparently there’s a herd of about 30 deer in the area. No one hunts them, but sometimes they do get hit by a car. They’re just beautiful!

After Amber got home from work, since Mama Short got called in for work tonight, we weren’t doing a family dinner at home. So Amber, Grady, Sam and I headed out to Mimi’s Cafe for a lovely dinner, and an even longer chat. The four of us get along so, so well, and are so silmilar it’s kind of funny. There’s a reason Amber and I call ourselves sisters. We’re almost exactly the same in personality. It’s awesome. Anyway after dinner, we headed back to their apartment (which is attached to Mama and Papa Short’s house), and talked about computer games, and life and everything in between. We tried to lure Jena over, another friend, but she never showed. We’ll catch up with her soon.

By midnight though, it was time for Sam and I to head back upstairs and for Amber to get to bed since she has to work tomorrow. Tomorrow we’re heading to the Zoo, the Sketchers store and hopefully, the Riverwalk at night. Friday, we’ll do the Alamo and hopefully catch up with our friend Tammy. So much to do, so little time!!!

Hi guys, thought you might like to know that we have updated a load of photos from the following categories:

• Saskatoon
• San Antonio

We have also added photo galleries for these games:

• Saskatoon Blades Vs Lethbridge Hurricanes
• Prince Albert Raiders Vs Lethbridge Hurricanes

More photos will be added tomorrow.

We knew today was going to be a long one, so sleep was of utmost importance.  Sadly, between late night packing and over-worked minds, we only got between 4 and 5hrs before our alarm rudely woke us up at 4am.  Because Bel and Terry were both sick, we caught a cab to the airport after a quick but sad goodbye with Bel.  It was rather cold outside at that time of the morning, so the heat of the cab was most welcomed.

We got the shock upon arriving at the airport… it started snowing!  Yes folks, after 12 days in Saskatoon, it actually snowed.  Not enough to do anything with, but we saw the flakes, so there ya go.  Apparently the next day it was snowing and cold… go figure.

We had a quick Breakfast of Timmy Ho’s (a final hurrah) and then went through customs and to our gate.   The flight itself was smooth and uneventful, and pretty short.  It took only 1hr and 18 minutes (approx) to get to our stop at Minneapolis Minnesota. We had to go through border patrol here of course, and Wendy stepped up her game, yet again proving that no custom official in the world can stay serious when she’s around.  We got asked the regular question “Did you bring any food, drinks or animal products in with you”, to which she replied in a heartbeat, “We did bring a Koala with us.  It’s stuffed though, not a real one”.  The guy tried not to smile but couldn’t help but laugh.  Yes, Wendy 6, Customs 0.  After going through, we re-checked our luggage back in for our next flight to Dallas.

The stayover in Minnesota was only 2hrs, so we found this great little place that did eggs, toast, bacon etc and had a coffee before yet again getting back on another plane and heading to one of our most fave places in the world… Dallas.  This flight wasn’t as smooth as the first, mainly due to rain all over the DFW area.  The majority of the flight was bumpy, with the final 30 minutes as we descended through the rain providing a few gasps from the passengers.  We did land safely though, so all’s good.

Our next stop was Enterprise Rental Cars, which was at the Rental car area of the DFW airport.  To get there you jump on the rental car shutting and go for about a 10min bus ride.  All part of the service at DFW   We had booked an economy car, such as a Hyundai Accent or similar, but it seems that they were all out when we picked up our car, so guess what… free upgrade people!  Oh hell yes!  We had a choice of a Focus… and others.  The others were irrelevant, because the Red 2008 Ford Focus was also the sports model, so the choice was pretty much made for us.  We do love the Ford Focus car.

Now, we got up at 4am, traveled from Saskatoon to Dallas, Tx and now had to drive to San Antonio… that’s about a 5hr drive!  As it was not only night time, but raining, the driving was all down to me, and i should point out… holy crap, drivers over here are mad as batshit!  Cars were doing 75MPH in torrential rain… and unfortunately, it meant a very fast, and very scary drive, especially for someone who was already tired.  We did make it though, with only 1 small problem.  About half way there we came across a car on fire that was being put out by the authorities.  The toxic smoke from the fire got into the car, putting Wendy into a semi-scary asthma attack.  About 6 puffs on the Ventolin, some calm breathing and a blast of fresh air from the fans and she slowly came better.  The coughing though lasted all the way to San Antonio, and through the night.  She’s good now though.

We finally arrived in Boerne, Texas where our friend Amber and her family live about 9pm.  Boerne is just north of San Antonio.  It is so great seeing Amber and meeting her husband, Grady (spelling could be wrong, I apologise if it is). We talked until late at night before finally heading to bed.

It’s our last day.  Our last day in Canada, our last day in Saskatoon, and our last day with our friends Bella, Terry and the 2 munchkins, Tom and Bob.

We’ve had a fantastic time here in Saskatoon, and it’s been awesome catching up with friends and seeing some fantastic hockey.  If not for Bella and Terry we would never have seen Dane Cook live, or seen the Blades take on Lethbridge, or see snow in Regina while seeing the Moose Jaw Warriors play Scott Glennie (Stars draft pick), Brayden Schenn and the Brandon Wheat Kings, or take a pilgrimage to Prince Albert to see where Mike Modano played his junior hockey.  We want to send a shout-out to Kirk, Kelly and the kids.  While we never got a chance to catch up with Kelly, we had a great time with Kirk and promise to do it again at some point in time!

Canada has been pretty fantastic, and while we may be leaving early tomorrow morning, we will never forget the great times we had up here.

Tomorrow we head down to Dallas, and then drive to San Antonio where our extended family, “The Shorts” live.

To Bella and Terry, thank you for putting up with us for the last 12 days.  Thank you for accepting us into your house and the amazing time we had.  You guys are the best.

Did you watch the Grey Cup game tonight?  We did… and will get onto that a bit later in the post.

The day was a quiet one.  After a late night reading after we got home from the PA Raiders game, we finally got out of bed at 9:45am.  Well, I did.  Wendy stayed in bed and slept in til 11am as she wasn’t feeling all that good.

We decided to shoot up to the Starbucks and get a coffee and maybe a goodie or 2.  The local Starbucks here do a killer Oatmeal and Candy cookie.  It’s actually an Oatmeal and M&M cookie, but i’ll let them call it candy.  So I got one of those and Wendy got a double chocolate chunk cookie… what in Australia we’d call a double-choc cookie.  Being bold I tried the Gingernut Latte… a double-shot coffee with ginger syrup.  Not bad, but really not all it’s cracked up to be.  Wendy went for the Peppermint Mocha, which is one off the nicest drinks i’ve ever had.  Upon getting home though, it seems the peppermint latte and Terry’s Caramel Latte got mixed up.  Wendy had a couple of sips of hers before going to catch some sleep.  Terry was wondering what happened to his latte as it tasted weird.  It turns out Wendy had the latte and Terry had the mocha.  Bit of a mix up there.

After lunch (coffee & cookies) we decided to head back out to the Market Mall as we wanted to pick up a few more hockey cards.  We shot through to the shop and found it full off people playing “Magic The Gathering”.  Think of a small shop, full of geeky people playing roll playing dice games (similar to the old Dungeons and Dragons).  An interesting sight, i assure you.  We didn’t go there for the MTG though, we went for the bin of hockey cards they have at the front of the store.  The cards are all random packs of about 20 – 30 cards per pack, which sell at 4 packs for $5.  The cards themselves range from 2009 edition cards, to special edition rookie cards, to vintage cards, to WHL prospect cards… quite literally a bit of everything.  We ended up picking up 24 packs off them, for a total of $30 (+ tax).  After a short stop at Safeway we headed home again to prepare for the Grey Cup.

The Grey Cup is the Canadian Football League (CFL) equivalent of the NHL’s Superbowl.  It’s the penultimate prize for CFL players, and the chalice for which they sleep, eat and play the game.  If you think i’m hyping this up, you’re right; but for a very good reason.

Here in Saskatchewan, the Roughriders are like a religion.  You’re born with “Rider Pride”, and when it comes to the team, normal everyday people transform into bloodcurdling, slightly psychotic green machines.  Seriously, i don’t think i’ve ever met more passionate sports fans than those of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.  Last weekend the Riders won the Western Conference final, earning their place in the Grey Cup, where they battled it out today against the “Als”, or as they’re formerly known the Montreal Alouettes.  The Als had beaten the Riders in both their meetings this season, so the Riders had a thing to prove going into this game.

And so they did… at least, for 59 minutes and 55 seconds.

The Riders were solid and actually outplayed the Als across the vast majority of the game.  Going into the 4th quarter of the game the Riders had 20-10 lead and looked to continue their strong play in the final 15 minutes of the game.  The Als however had a thing or 2 to say about that, and erased a 16pt deficit in the final 10 minutes of the game.  With less than 10 seconds left in the game, and 2pts down the Als had a shot at a field goal to win the game but Damon Duval (Als punter) missed!  That’s it, game over… right?  No!  All of a sudden there are flags on the field and a penalty called against the Riders for too many men on the field.  The Als now had a second chance at the field goal, and this time Duval didn’t miss, putting the Als ahead and guaranteeing an Alouette’s a victory by a 28-27 scoreline.

If Obi Wan Kenobi were here we would have sat down in shock and felt like he heards thousands of voices call out and were suddenly cut off.  That’s how it felt for Riders fans, so see their team throw an amateurish stupid penalty in that point of the game, to cost them not just a game, but THE most important game of the year.   We’re not even fans of the game, but we felt the massive letdown, like a punch to the gut.

After the game we were all kinda quiet, which I think was partly due to the game and partly due to most people in the house not feeling too good.  The rest of the night was spent relaxing, catching up on reading and watching the hockey on TV.

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Saskatoon, and we’re planning on heading to the second hand bookstore again to pick up some good hockey books.

Saturday dawned to be cold and lazy. The whole family was up by the time Sam and I dragged ourselves out of bed. Bella’s still sick, and Terry was making pancakes for everyone else! They were good too! Since Bella wasn’t well, Terry decided to stay home with her and the twins instead of coming to Prince Albert with us – which was definitely understandable. Sam agreed that if he’d been in Terry’s shoes, he would have stayed with me too. I think Bobby still isn’t feeling too great either.

Since we were gearing up for a trip to PA (Prince Albert) this afternoon, we took the morning pretty easy and just hung out at home, catching up online and charging the batteries on my camera. By 3:30pm though, we were on the road on our own. Terry had printed out the directions from googlemaps, and did up ones with pretty pictures too just in case – though it still didn’t stop us from missing the turn but I’ll get to that later.

We stopped at Starbucks for Sam to get his caffeine fix and to get some dosh out of the ATM so we can, you know, eat dinner, and by 4pm we were on the road again, like Shrek and Donkey off on another adventure. We didn’t hum On The Road Again but we did do some pretty hardcore singing to Sam’s 80s playlist on his Ipod. WHAT?! It’s good music!

Anyway, we passed a lot of farmland, a number of frozen lakes, the Mennonite Museum of Canada – not sure what that is but I suspect it’s another religious related place – and a number of small farming towns before we got to our destination.

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Since many of you reading this blog won’t know, I’ll tell you a little bit about this city. PA is the 3rd largest city in Saskatchewan, with approximately 34000 people in 2006 (according to the city’s website – I’m not just pulling these facts out of thin air!), and daily temperatures can range from 17C to -29C on average depending on the time of year. It was -10C tonight at the game, and apparently that was quite “balmy” for this time of year according to the locals!

Most importantly though, Prince Albert is the home of the Prince Albert Raiders. Why is this important? I’m glad you asked (even if you didn’t!). It’s important, because Mike Modano played in the WHL with the Prince Albert Raiders from 1986-1989. He was drafted 1st round, 1st overall by the Minnesota North Stars while he was a PA Raider. This was the final step in the Mike Modano Pilgimage (NO I’m not going to be stalking his home town in Michigan, that’s just … *shudders* CREEPY. I like to keep my stalking tendancies to a … professional level – or at least to wherever Mike played hockey).

Terry graciously organised with someone in the Saskatoon Blades office for there to be free tickets for us (and Terry and Bella too but since they didn’t come, the Raiders just gave us the 2 tickets) which was awfully kind of them, and completely above and beyond everything. We had dinner at Boston Pizza first before heading over to the Art Hauser Center, which is the home of the PA Raiders. When we got inside, there was a little hitch with getting our tickets – they hadn’t printed them! We tried Will Call first, and then Sam called Terry who said to ask at the Ticket Office which we did. The lovely ladies behind the counter went on a hunt, and after a phone call and another search they came back with two tickets. Meanwhile, we chatted to the lovely lady behind the counter who said we sounded like we came from Australia! Of course, we said we did, and that just went into another launch of how we know hockey and why we came all that way. Two words: Mike Modano.

After our tickets had been sorted, printed and received in our hands, we went through the doors, had them scanned by a lovely gentleman with a handheld scanner (it’s all so high-tech these days!) and then into the Merchandise Store we went! Every hockey game we’ve been to, we’ve purchased an official game puck, so we needed one of those. Sam, though, had been squirreling away some spare cash that we’ve had left over from previous days, in the name of the PA Fund so that I could get some merchandise if I wanted. In the end, I got a PA Raiders hat, a shot glass to add to our ever growing collection, a lanyon, the game puck and the WHL Official Statistics Book.

While we were deciding on what we wanted, we were talking to the lady behind the counter, and she also picked our accents, and asked why we were in PA. I told her that I was a huge Mike Modano fan and had wanted to come to PA to see the Raiders play for 17 years, and finally we were there to do just that! She was so nice, and since we had come all that way she gave us the Season Ticket Holder’s 10% discount on the merchandise. We thanked her profusely and then headed into the arena to try and find our seats. We ended up down a corridor that we weren’t sure we should walk down because the PA Raiders Locker Room door was on it, but it was shut so we kept walking. Then we came across the PA Raiders team photographs and their team records plaques. We took great delight in finding not only Mike Modano, but also Dave Tippett (former Dallas Stars coach) on the walls as well. Mike looked so young and innocent – it gave me such a chuckle to see him!

We continued down the hall and found ourselves at the entrance to the ice. Oops! Luckily there was also a stairway to the top of section 12, so we took that and then went in search of section 16. We found it, and then found our seats Row G, seats 10 & 11. Centre Ice. Perfect viewing. We were amazed and humbled. It was so lovely of the Blades front office to get us the best seats in the house. The PA Rink was different to any other arena we’d been in. Like Moose Jaw, it only had 1 tier of seats and then the “suites” (though there were more suites in MJ than in PA), and the rink seats around 3200 people. There were just over 1800 there tonight, so the turnout wasn’t that bad! The ceiling of the rink, however, was timber. Because the temperatures get to -40C in the winter, if they had metal instead of timber, they would shatter in the cold. Timber provides a flexibility to keep the structure standing when it’s buried under snow and well below freezing outside! Fascinating!

The PA Raiders wear black uniforms at home for the first half of the season and white at home for the second half. Their logo is the face of a pirate – who is called RILEY according to the back of the PA Mascot’s uniform. I’m assuming he’s Riley The Raider. Their black uniforms are highlighted with lime green bands on the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt, and white edging. It’s rather attractive actually, and like the Blades uniform, looks good in both the coloured and the white versions. I didn’t buy one though, as they were $129 each.

About halfway through the second period, a lady who had been doing the fan competitions during the time out breaks came and sat down next to Sam and asked, “Are you the Mike Modano fans from Australia?” which was when our stomachs sank and our cheeks reddened.

Sam busted me and said that I was the Mike Modano fan – but he was wearing his Stars jersey too so she knew we were both Stars fans, and she laughed with delight. “Who dobbed us in?” I asked her and she said the lady from the merchandise store did. OH WELL! Busted. She asked what we were doing there, etc, and then asked if we would mind playing a game for a prize – a $10 voucher to Subway. Since we eat there anyway, we thought what the heck and agreed. The Raiders were up at this point 4-1 over the Hurricanes, who must have been worn out from the shootout the Blades took them to the night before.

When it was time for our stint on the Jumbotron/Scoreboard, she mentioned that we were Mike Modano fans from Australia, was that correct, which Sam refused to answer but I just jumped in with a “YES!” and the crowd started clapping. Then we played this game where to win, we had to pick which of the three eggs had the cup of coffee inside at the end of the spinning. Sam looked at me when it stopped, I looked at him, and he said to me, “I think it’s 3.” I thought it was 2, and the crowd was calling out 2 as well, so he said to me to answer it. So I said, “2!” and it was right! We won the gift certificate! Then the host mentioned about the Grey Cup final tomorrow that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are playing in against the Montreal Aoulettes and asked us if we could do the Aussie football chant of AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE and the crowd would do the OI OI OI part. Which we said, “SURE!”

So we did! AND THEY DID! It was pretty awesome.

For the rest of the game, I ended up talking to the ladies sitting next to me, who were quite interested in us being there from Australia and our trip and everything. They were quite lovely, and both were season ticket holders who I think had been season ticket holders for like 20 years because they mentioned that they didn’t appreciate Mikey when he’d been on the Raiders team, but wow-ee had he done well.

The Raiders were a very exciting team to watch. They played a diamond system on the penalty kill, which is unusual as most teams will use the box system on the PK. They did the diamond system very, very well. They were also extremely good at passing tape to tape. Only in the third period when the boys were tired from the Hurricanes consistently hard-hitting checks and fights did they start to miss their passes. By that stage, though, they were so far ahead that it didn’t really matter anyway. I was impressed with #20 and #22 – both had been targeted by the Hurricanes all game and it took until at least towards the end of the second for either of them to crack and start a fight. #22 was also a brilliant skater too. Their goaltender was solid in net, which was also good to see. Unlike a lot of the teams we’ve watched play on this trip, the Raiders had set plays which they used consistently. And they worked tonight, with them winning the game in regulation 6-1.

It was an awesome night at the hockey and to add to the wonder of the night, the PA Raiders at the end of every game do what our Bluetongues do, and salute their crowd by tapping on the ice with their sticks and then raising them in ovation. It was quite heartwarming to see, and something I’ve missed about our own hockey league. On our way out we got photos of the team photos that had Mike in them, and the honour boards in the hallways before going out to the car.

Holy crap was it cold outside! It was about -12C in PA, because it was -8C when we got back to Saskatoon about an hour and a half later, and it’s usually about 4-5 degrees colder in PA than in Saskatoon. The ride home seemed to fly though, so it was okay. No snow, but plenty of black ice on the roads. We made it back in one piece.

Tomorrow is the Grey Cup final – a big day in Canada – the CFL Finals. And then? Who knows, but I suspect a lot of time tomorrow will be spent in front of the TV!