Blah, BLah, BLOG
I feel tugged here in New Brunswick, don’t ask me why? Maybe because I feel there are no family left. Since my Dad died in December, it felt as if the fabric of my family deteriorated to mere threads. Some friends and relatives don’t visit, instead they lurk on facebook just to check up, yes, I am still here and still happy. So why not move somewhere different? We have trains, planes and automobiles to reconnect. A good excuse to have friends come out and see other parts of Canada - the beautiful east coast. I want you to see what I see. After nearly a week of searching for our ‘new’ home, we left without one. So my mind drifted to other locations as the miles pass. Oh it is beautiful here, beautiful there, oh where oh where shall our new home be? Time was getting on and we needed to head back to BC (we are not prepared for winter; tires or clothes). We decided to drive to Edmundston stay one night and spend a little more time in Quebec City as we didn’t get there before. Well, we found an Airbnb just outside which turned out to be something of an awkward experience. We parked our car, in condo world where all the buildings looked the same in style and colour, even the curbs had no appeal. No creative flair here. We were greeted by our host, he seemed friendly enough, but as we stepped inside, he quickly picked up his little dog in fear of any canine conflicts. Dudley ignored the shoebox sized dog (couldn’t describe what breed it was other than its size) while we were chatting with our host, going over rules, house key, etc. There sat his girlfriend at the kitchen table studying and was cool as ice, she spoke french and made no efforts to smile when introduced. Awkward for sure. We headed into our tiny little space of a bedroom and quickly unpacked our daily sundries and prepared for bed...it was only 8pm! Our hosts went out for dinner and we then quickly heated our prepared meals in the microwave, ate and showered. We were in bed before 9pm. Come morning, we quickly cleaned up, got dressed, and in a blink of an eye, we were gone. It was only 6:45am. We took advantage of the early escape to spend the day exploring old Quebec City. For 5 hours we strolled through the old cobblestone streets, marveled at the architecture, took in breathtaking views of the St. Lawrence River, Governors Promenade walk, Plains of Abraham, and of course stopped for lunch at a wonderful little cafe. While we dined outside the cafe, Dudley charmed the tourists as they strolled by, giving him a stroke or two along with compliments of his alluring beauty. By late afternoon, we headed back to our car and continued our journey towards Ontario. Weather started to turn, rain was pelting, thunder started to roll and lightning stuck a bolt or two. By this time we were scrambling to find a place to stay. We stopped in a little town called Lachute (not too far from the Ontario border). Chris found Le Lorraine Motel, parked and dashed into the office to see if he could get us a room. The thunder clapped again, followed by another clash of lightning, I anxiously waited for Chris’s return, this place gives me the heebie jeebies. At last I see Chris dashing back to the car. We drove around to the back of the hotel, and I thought to myself, at least we are not facing the traffic noise. Chris parked the car, dashed into the room to turn on all the lights. I soon followed him in. I don’t think we slept very well, it was raining and thundering all through the night. Well, this place is not getting a good review, that is for sure. Nothing has changed since 1953, I swear the linens were original as well. Nevermind, we got ready and got the hell out. The fog blanketed the roads and visibility was poor, I think I was leaning towards the dashboard hoping to see more of the road, I can’t imagine how tense Chris was driving under these conditions. As we approached closer to the Ontario border, we saw a sign that said “ferry”, so we made a spontaneous decision to take it, not knowing what to expect. Well, within 5 minutes the ferry came. Time was on our side, yes it was. This petite cable ferry glided towards us, I must say, I was surprised by this, it was nothing like the BC ferries. I think only 6 cars could fit on this thing, and was not even a 10 minute crossing. The fog wore off and it was sunny for our mini cruise which meant it will be a good day for driving. Judith (Chris’s sister) sent me a message yesterday asking about the casserole dish we made for them a couple weeks ago - the cheesy cornflake topping, so I responded “I will show you tomorrow”, her response was, “I’ll put the kettle on.” I think she thinks I was kidding, we were now only a couple hours away from Peterborough. We pulled into their driveway, and Judith was sending off the last daycare child. She looked, and looked again, her expression was priceless. Surprise! We ended staying with them for nearly a week and had a pleasant Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time Chris and I were able to celebrate Thanksgiving as family since we have been together. We were more used to running a marathon in Victoria. Even Larry (brother-in-law and is allergic to dogs) was taken by Dudley’s charm. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. So fuzzy, that we contacted a real estate agent. Unfortunately, we didn’t see a house we wanted to call ‘home’. After nearly a week in Peterborough, we had to get back on the road and with daily weather checks, going north west was still ‘safe’ from any threats of snow for driving. We did not want to spend too much time in Ontario, being a pretty big province our days of driving across was about 4 days. From Peterborough to Sudbury to Kapuskasing to Kenora, with many roadside stops and detours to capture the beauty of lakes, rivers and waterfalls. We passed Manitoba in a day's drive stayed overnight in Brandon at a hotel, the next day we booked into an AirBnb just outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After a well rested night we head off to “Cowboy Country”. You guessed it, Alberta! We decided to stay for 2 nights in Edmonton. It was a good decision as Chris was tired from the long days driving through flat lands of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We have never been to the well-known Edmonton mall and ventured out for a few hours. It was a monstrosity of a mall, I felt like we were lab rats in a maze. We saw the swimming pool, skating rink, hotel and some kind of miniature ocean park containing a couple of sad, bored harbour seals. We bought some coffee and a pathetic overpriced cinnamon bun that surely to put us in diabetic coma. All I can say is, we came, we saw and we left. Now I can say we have seen it. Would I want to make a special trip to see it again? No, a mall is a mall. I prefer eccentric, unique, ma and pa type shops and restaurants. After our 2 day break, we headed for Hinton, a bordertown near BC. We stayed at a AirBnB with a delightful young family, mom with 2 young kids that followed us into our room, up to the kitchen, down to the bathroom, and even upon waking up, as soon as we opened the door, they were on our bed chatting away like we were their long lost relatives. It was endearing and amusing. When we left, the young boy hugged our legs saying, I love you as we were leaving. Aww, those kids really grew on us during our 16 hour stay. They were such a nice little family. Dudley especially enjoyed the backyard running and playing with their two dogs, and it didn’t take long for him to bark at the door to get inside and away from the hyper dogs when he had enough. Next stop was Kamloops, BC. We were happy to visit our good friends once again. We spent all our waking hours chatting, laughing and enjoying each others company. As much as we enjoyed our visit for the last two days, we needed to continue our last leg of the journey. Our friends suggested the Sea to Sky highway as a scenic route back to the island. So glad we did this. All in a day we drove through the old ghost town near Cache Creek, Marble Canyon, to overlooking the mighty Fraser River running through the sleepy town of Lillooet down to the vibrant ski town of Squamish. In that days drive we also had every possible weather: sun, rain, snow, winds and from warm to freezing cold. Last stop for the day we booked into a little cabin near Squamish in a campground. We enjoyed this little gem of a cabin for four days. While enjoying this break from driving, we did much exploring the area. Highlight was hiking the Shannon Falls, riding the Sea to Sky gondola and the Skywalk. The views just take your breath away, I felt truly grateful being able to see the beauty, and having Chris beside me. I wanted that image to remain forever, stored in my brain so I can recollect it when my vision finally dims completely. My memories will be like the best picture postcards, those you will never find in any book. They are uniquely mine, forever to keep - the best part? I got to share all of this trip with Chris. I would not trade this experience for anything! I suddenly felt sad that our trip was nearing to an end. We decided to prolong it by taking a detour to the Sunshine Coast staying in an AirBnB at Porpoise Bay. We explored a couple of trails hiking to the top of a mountain and a waterfalls, the name of which escapes me. As a reward for our calorie burning exercise we treated ourselves to a calorie inducing lunch at the best cafe in town (or anywhere for that matter) - if you are ever in Powell River go to the ‘Base Camp’ cafe, you will not be disappointed! Before embarking the ferry to Vancouver Island, we paid it another visit for coffee and breakfast to go. If the car breaks down, that would be okay. I wouldn’t complain if we got stuck here in paradise. It is now October 28th and our cross Canada trip is officially over. We are already talking about doing this all over again in the spring. Our trip is all heart and all vision. ...in the meantime, we are currently staying in an AirBnB up on the mountains north of Qualicum awaiting for spring to arrive.
1 Comment
|
Archives
January 2018
|