Why is it that two three-day work weeks in a row do nothing but make me want another long weekend?  I am unsatisfied, not by the overall quality of the holiday had, but rather by the length of it.  The difference between going to school and having a career is that with a career you don't get summers off.  (Well, that and I don't have to shell out thousands and thousands of dollars for tuition, so there's the silver lining, eh?)

It was a high-impact holiday, for sure, which involved a lot of driving, but I've learned that trips to Abbotsford usually do so it wasn't unexpected. 

To summarize in easy-to-digest bullet points:

• Sister and I drove from Edmonton to Abbotsford on Thursday, which equates to approximately eleven hours of driving.  Then we did it all over again in reverse on the following Tuesday.  For the sake of both our sanities, I drove the entire way.  My back was not at all happy about this, but fortunately it never gets a vote.  We also almost had a navigational disaster after filling up with gas in Hope, but crisis was averted with a negligible loss of time.

•  We petted/cuddled with/played with/were amused by Brother and Sister-In-Law's three cats on an almost constant basis.  They can be known as The One That Likes To Be Petted With The Lint Roller, The One That Gets Out Of Sorts When There's Something In Your Lap That Isn't Her, and The Shy One Who Is Also A Bit Of A Spaz.

• We ate some really good nachos, bought socks at the Richmond Night Market, and sampled a plethora of Asian food, including a great vegetable pancake/waffle thing shaped like a fish.  Brother had an Unsatisfactory Corn Experience because he is not very observant.

• Predictably, the lululemon outlet store lured us in with promise of comfy brand-name clothes at discount prices, and ultimately delivered comfy brand-names clothes at very little actual discount.  I can't really justify the $160 I spent there as anything other than frivolous luxury and excessive brand worshipping.

• We hung out in the sunshine with books and Starbucks, watched some pretty cool fireworks, were almost defeated by an unfairly steep hill, and experienced the Nascar-Precision driving skillz (and it deserves the z) of Sister-In-Law as she navigated the post-fireworks traffic insanity of Vancouver with both speed and agility. 

• We drove to Seattle, watched men throw big fish and chant at Pike's Market, went into the Starbucks 1 location, watched a hillbilly band busk (one of them played both the washboard and the upside-down washtub/broom bass, though not at the same time), shopped at some outlet stores, and visited two Targets on a mission to make Sister-In-Law the proud owner of the entire Twilight series at discount prices.

• Brother and I pwned Guitar Hero Co-op Career on Medium, failing only one song in the process. 

• Brother repeatedly and loudly cheered at receiving B grades on his moves during after-dinner DDR.  Of all the things Brother does well, gratuitous celebration is right up there at the top of the list.

• I was given the opportunity to test out the iPhone GPS, and it performed swimmingly, though trying to make it give you directions from where you are while you're driving at 110km/hr doesn't work out so well; I don't think it thinks that fast.  But it was fun watching the little blue pulsing dot fly across Google Maps at breakneck speed.

Now, I am not only facing the expanse from now 'til Christmas with naught but a long weekend or two to break up the tedium, but am also jealous of all the people on my flist who are attending Terminus.  Two weeks is not enough vacation time to satisfy me, damnit.