29th October – Raven, SK- Edmonton, Alberta

It’s official – our coldest night Tan and I have ever experienced a chilly minus 13.5 degrees.
The lake ice is now 5cm and this morning when I checked the thermometer it was nearly -12 degrees. We knew it was going to be cool and the heater was on full bore and it was just comfortable. All I wanted to do was stand on the lake surface or walk on water. I stomped the ice hard and it cracked after some strong kicks, so it was now or never. I sheepishly put one foot on, put weight on it. It was okay so I stepped across and yay, it held all 79 kilos of me. It was enough time for a quick photo as I wasn’t too trusting, especially after filling my boot water days previously. I am still amazed that it happened so quickly!!
Walking around in a t-shirt and pants in minus 5 was actually quite pleasant for a while. I had to put on my hoodie, about 30 minutes later.

We cleaned up our tent and bid see ya later to the team and we were off to Points ready for the start of our next chapter in our adventures. Cookie, the adventurous dog was keen to come along for the ride with Matt, Tan and I. At one stage there she licked my cheek while I driving. She is a nice little pug.

At Points we unloaded our bags and was about to see Matt off when we heard that familiar door locking sound. Cookie, in anticipation of the drive back to camp, had locked the car while she was standing on the seat looking out the windows. No problems but….. the keys were sitting on the centre console!! Umm…… After about 20 minutes of waving around and making Cookie go crazy in the car trying to unlock, we had no other resort than to break in. Oh, Cookie re-locked the car another 6 times during this little foray!!
We broke in with the help of a Points mechanic and Matt aka “Flash Gordon” was uber quick in grabbing the keys once we unlocked the door!! Another page in the Cookie chapter of fun.

Waiting in the kitchen, we joked with some of the Points guys who were also flying out about how no one waits in the "terminal" for the plane.

It was about -6 when we left and both of out feet were cold when we jumped on the plane. A quick stop at Prince Albert and then we hit Saskatoon. The pilot commented that we weren't all "very excite" about arriving, more so we were relieved.

Finally, I got to have a tin at the Priarie Elevator, a bar at the Saskatoon airport, and Tan had an average white wine. We saw Corey, a bloke who I work with on arrival and departure. The poor fella had been waiting 4 hours to catch the plane north.

We caught our 45 minute flight to Edmonton, met another Canadian who was ultra-polite and nice at the Thrifty desk, and jumped in our Yaris. Driving in a city, on unfamiliar roads, at night, tired, wasn't too much fun but we made it to our luxury hotel, "The Meterra" on Whyte. We found the second time we drove past this low profile trendy joint! It was nice to empty off our gear and head out for a tin. On Heather's recommendation we hit "The Black Dog" for a quick tin. The Canadians also get into Halloween and the pub had some great jack-o-lanterns flickering away. We are a little way from the downtown part of the city, but old Strathcona, is a pretty spot.