phoebe sure smells good

We have both been really busy with work the past couple months so this Remembrance Day long weekend is a welcome break. The weather has been perfect for the past week (we can't say that about most of the Fall) so we decided to go visit Phoebe.

We started listening to Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix on Audible when we drove home from Canmore in October. It's a long book - we still have more than 20 hours of listening so we need to plan a long road trip!

My (Mellissa) Harry Potter Funko Pop Collection...in front of my vintage Bambi lamp.

Shadybrook is secured in the off season (and there are no trespassing signs everywhere) so we walked in to our site. We could see Phoebe glistening from a distance and as we got closer to 42 Wilderness Way, James said "Holy crap, I forgot how small Phoebe is". Cute though!

Opening the door we were greeted with the fresh smell of Bounce dryer sheets and Irish Spring soap. These are two things we heard helps to keep mice away. So far - no mice. Whew, it's working!

Everything inside and outside looked really good. Our flamingos, Ned & Fred, are doing a great job of protecting the wood pile.

We decided to walk around Shadybrook to check out the sites that have been vacated just in case there is one better than 42 Wilderness Way. There are a couple sites that we think are better but there were also other people looking at them. We left a note for the manager to indicate we are interested in moving sites. Considering we aren't even sure if we want to stay at Shadybrook, moving sites might not be a priority.

We've mentioned before how we love to hike around Pembina River which is just a little further west down the Yellowhead. We pretty much had the place to ourselves today and the dogs enjoyed ripping it up in the sand.

We were pretty hungry when we got back to the city so we tried a restaurant that was recommended by a colleague - Wheat Garden Noodle & Dumpling Bazaar. It's downtown and specializes in Northern Chinese cuisine. When we were in China, noodles and dumplings were our favorite - we had a great meal of dumplings (and beer) in Xi'an. Although the food was not the highlight of our trip to China - learn more about our culinary journey on my travel blog. The food was tasty, the service was friendly and efficient and the prices reasonable.

When we left the restaurant (about 25 minutes later) the car was surrounded by five firefighters. The restaurant isn't in the most desirable neighbourhood in downtown Edmonton so when we saw so many people around the car, it was alarming.

Turns out a woman decided to get the firefighters because she decided the dogs were in distress. What?!? We take dog ownership seriously and would never do anything to harm our little dudes! The firefighters decided they looked fine and were in no distress - one firefighter remarked that "they are so cute" and another said they are even wearing their coats to stay warm. We know the woman meant well and probably didn't quite have the capacity to fully assess the situation.

James chatted with the guys and found out that they work with a good friend, Brady. If Brady would have been on that night, he too would have come to the distressed dog call at the Wheat Garden. Probably not the best use of city resources.

Just another adventure for the Tails!