Our car’s lease had expired last August, and in an attempt to save money we shared one vehicle for the winter. This arrangement made sense since I prefer not to have much of a life in the cold, dark winter months, and I loved the ready made excuse as to why there’s no food in the house: ‘But honey, you’ve been working all weekend, and I can’t fly to the grocery store…’ Other than the odd weekend when James had to work and I got cabin fever it worked out very well.
But spring was in the air and the time for road trips was looming. We spend a large portion of summer weekends driving around – from exploring Alberta’s roads to longer drives to faraway places and the need for a car was becoming evident. Much searching and a bit of arguing ensued, and in the end I simply did what girlfriends have done since time immemorial, when presented with a car shopping spree – I gave James the ultimate authority and washed my hands on the whole affair. I think I said ‘surprise me’ – hey it works on bartenders.
Which is how I ended up with a slightly impractical but gorgeous ’98 BMW in our driveway. The car was much loved and well taken care of. The owner presented us with a three inch binder of maintenance records and detailed care instructions. It came with upgrades that you need to speak car to understand. There was talk of rims and suspensions and air intakes, and all I could care about is whether the heated seats work.
Shortly after we took her for an inaugural drive. We took the closest road out of town and headed west into Kananaskis country which deposits one in the mountains within thirty minutes of our house. While James was exploring the potential of his first V-8 engine and acquainted himself with the handling of the car, I distracted myself by taking pictures. Because Alberta does have some spectacular scenery and the weather in the mountains is so changeable that each photo looked like it came from a different era. It amused me to no end and was much more calming than glancing at the speedometer. The weather kept changing from dark and stormy to sunny so much it was psychedelic.
The road points west:
Wheat fields and a mountain backdrop:
Approaching the rockies:
Sunshine peeking out:
Ski hill – it’s totally snowing at the top:
As we kept going the sun decided it’s going for round two and peeked out again:
And by the time we pulled over at a lake it was chased out by light clouds:
Right before it started to rain, and we ran back to the car:
And drove home watching the cloud/sun interplay the entire way:
But now that the car has had its first drive and we are both comfortable with it, it’s going to go on a slightly longer drive – we’re visiting my in-laws in BC this weekend, just over six hours away, and their house happens to be one of my most favorite places on the planet. Hope you have an awesome May long weekend everyone!
