About Me
Favourite destinations for:
Paddling
British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Mexico
Biking
France, Malawi, Quebec, California
Backpacking
Top on my Bucketlist:
- GR20 in Corsica
- Alta Via 2 in Italian Dolomites
- Kungsleden Trail in Sweden
- Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland
- Kayaking the Reindeer Lake Archipelago in Saskatchewan
- Anything in the far north
5 Things I Pack on Every Trip:
Sleep mask, camera, good book, Lole bag, lightweight sandals
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Number of Toenails Lost
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Number of Nights I've Slept in a Tent
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Number of Countries Visited
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Average Number of Trips Per Year
Best Hotels I've Stayed In:
- Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi
- Fairmont Amman
- Onguma Bush Camp in Namibia
Best Travel Moments:
- Hitchhiking in France with a fellow who wined and dined us in a hilltop mansion and then drove us to the Belgian border.
- Newfoundland Inn owner who gave us her car so we could drive to dinner, many kilometres away.
- Police escort out of dodgy area in Panama City.
Highest I’ve Been:
Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro
5,895 metres (19,340 feet) above sea level
Places I’ve Lived:
(and no I’m not in the witness protection program)
- Calgary, Alberta
- London, Ontario
- Mississauga, Ontario
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
- Boulder, Colorado
- Toronto, Ontario
- Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
- Waterloo, Ontario
- Acton, Ontario
- Vancouver, British Columbia
Number of Careers: 7
- Geologist
- Registered professional dietitian
- Owner of a flower store in Niagara-on-the-Lake
- Vice-President of an Environmental Equipment Company
- Mom
- Author
- Adventure travel blogger
Most Remote Places I’ve Been:
- Zanskar, India
- Thelon River, Northwest Territories
- Ivvavik National Park, Yukon Territory
- Auyuittuq National Park, Nunavut
- Rangiroa, Tahiti
Favourite Mode of Travel
Self-propelled
Longest Bike Ride
Three weeks cycling from Tanzania to the border of Zambia and Botswana
Longest Hike
Around Manaslu, Nepal over 28 days
My Happy place
On a deserted beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island with my husband and a kayak
Favourite Countries
Turkey, Namibia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Colombia
Favourite Wine
Mersault
Scariest Things I’ve Done:
- Descent on skis on the last day of the Wapta Traverse in Alberta
- Kayaking in the Broughtons under wind versus tidal outflow and standing wave conditions
- Jumped over a rattlesnake
Most Fun Things I’ve Done:
- Descent to the Dead Sea on a bike
- Canyoneering in Utah’s Escalante Wilderness and Jasper National Park
- Sliding down thousands of feet on the snow with an ice axe in minutes from Quandary Peak, a 14,000+ foot peak in Colorado
- Descent by bike from Malawi to the Zambia border
Coolest Nature Encounters:
- Seals that jumped into our whale-watching boat in Namibia
- Elephant outside my cabin in Botswana
- Swimming with penguins in the Galapagos
- Wolf encounter in Quebec’s Saguenay region
- Grizzly bear viewing at Great Bear Lodge
Attempts on Husband’s Life: 3
- Left him with angered rattlesnake poised to strike
- Pushed him into seething, shark-infested waters during a feeding frenzy in Rangiroa
- Left him to deal with oncoming grizzly bear in northern BC while I hightailed it out with dog