Natasha's Birthday Spectacular

As longtime blog readers will already know (and newcomers are about to discover), every year I take over the blog for a day to wish Natasha a happy birthday, and share some of her qualities, interests, and quirks!

Each year, I pick a theme to organize the birthday wishes, and for this year I've decided to go with a travelling motif. Natasha has done a fair bit of travelling in her fifty-ish years, and so this post combines the best parts of those experiences into one spectacular, globe-trotting, sight-seeing journey. Pack your bags, grab your passport, and hail a cab... off we go!

Buckle up, and ensure your luggage is safely stowed.

Friends Near and Far

Although we are sad to see friends move to far-flung locations, we are not shy about taking them up on the "you should come visit!" suggestions and actually making the trek.

Visiting good friends in the Yukon

Following our friends, and a giraffe, down the trail in Kenya

Riding with our friends into a park in Kenya

Having a Blooming Good Time

Wherever we might go, if there's an opportunity to check out the local flora, wander through a garden, or enjoy something green and growing, you can be pretty sure that Natasha will be up for it.

Beautiful scenery in Iceland

Walking among some rather tall trees on Vancouver Island

Chihuly glass sculpture at the Bronx Botanical Garden, NYC

At a lavender farm in Kaikoura, New Zealand

Enjoying ice cream at Jardin des Plantes in Paris

Life's a Beach

Warm sand, cool waves, who doesn't like a day at the beach? Definitely not Natasha!

Enjoying the waves in Puerto Rico

Relaxing on Castaway Key, in the Bahamas

Hanging out in South Carolina

Enjoying a drink at Port Dover, ON, on Lake Erie

Runnin' Back to Saskatoon

Although Natasha has lived in many far-flung places, she will always call the prairies home, and with scenery like this, who can blame her?

Waving wheat welcoming weary westward wanderers

Sam gazing across a canola field

Big sky, even more canola... how can you go wrong?

Who Says You Can't Go Home

You don't need to travel a long distance to have a great time, and as this journey wraps up, I wanted to highlight a few fun experiences within a stone's throw of home (depending on who's doing the throwing, that is!).

A gravity-defying room in Toronto

Snowshoeing in the Kawarthas

One of the Can-struction structures (a food bank fundraiser) at a nearby mall

Going for a wintry walk at a local conservation area

Thanks for enduring the annual blog take-over, and happy birthday, Natasha!