Tag Archives: Canada

2015: Travel Retrospective

January 18, 2016 ~j

Another year has come and gone, and what a year 2015 has been. Unfortunately, the entries are slightly behind schedule. A few other things have been more important than keeping you all informed about our adventures. Here’s my half-hearted attempt at a 2015: Travel Retrospective.

At the very start of January we gained a nephew. The arrival of little Wyatt was without a doubt the best thing to happen in 2015. He was born on January 2nd, and the year started and quite possibly should have just ended right there with a high point.

In February, we were hoping to be able to travel but unable to make plans due to Fazh’s uncertain health. Work was slower, so I was finally able to write some more, and just have to put on some finishing touches. Really they’re all there in a row just waiting for final editing!

Mid-March, we took a short trip to the tiny town of Lytton, BC. The Thompson and Fraser River Canyons are always beautiful no matter what time of year. The smell of sage brush and white pine will always remind me of summer time and white water adventures.

St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver — St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver

At the end of March, Fazh finally had life changing surgery. I spent a bit of time in Vancouver while he was at St. Paul’s Hospital. Thankfully his care staff were mostly smart and kind. He was surround by visitors, friends and family from near and far which definitely made the lengthy stay in hospital more bearable.

For those of you in the know–which is worse, Hospital Food or Airplane Food?

EW GROSS!

By April we were able to commit to travel. We finally booked our trip to Turkey. Fazh’s Danish friend Heinrich came to Canada. He was a very nice man, and I’m grateful to have met him.

In May I made a couple of trips to Kelowna to take a colleague to her radiation appointments. Traveling back and forth for days on end while undergoing treatment is not optimal, so giving her a little respite with transportation was the least I could do.

So noisy it's hypnotic! — So noisy it’s hypnotic!

Edmonton was my escape in June. Jessie and I had a gastronomic tour of the city and really should have practiced better restraint. Later in the month, our friend Andrew visited us here for a couple of days, and Jon was able to do a bit of climbing.

At the start July we made a little jaunt to Kelowna to visit my Grandma. I think she needs some extra TLC in July, so visiting her was a definite must.

After obscene amounts of gluttony in Edmonton, Jessie came for a visit here. We did a tour of the Okanagan, through to Penticton, Summerland and Peachland. The Summerland Ornamental Gardens are done fairly well, and worth checking out if you’re in the area. FYI: Nothing is quite so tasty as Okanagan grown peaches! Luckily fruit stands are plentiful in the valley, so we returned with some delicious bounty.

July was capped off with a few trips to the Lake, where the kids and dogs are as crazy a bunch as ever. They’re little, and fully of energy, so they’re into catching bugs and minnows, jumping off the dock, and running around like a bunch of crazy toddler/preschool hooligans.

“Ben ağustosta Türkçe öğrendim.” In August I learned Turkish! If you have never used Duolingo before and you’re keen on learning a new language for FREE, it is awesome. Be respectful of the citizens of your next destination; at least learn some basic phrases and greetings. The tiny bit of goodwill goes a long way.

We spent a couple of weeks traveling through Turkey, and a few days in Greece. What absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous people and fabulous trip! This was also the first of our travels where we’ve been too ill to eat. However, we persevered and saw so many beautiful things. My favorite new spot is definitely the town of Göreme. More on that to come, I promise.

October is when things usually start getting really busy at work; this year was exceptionally difficult. My director lost her father, and a week later she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

We did have a small bit of normalcy with our traditional trip to the Salmon Run at the end of the month with my niece and nephew. And then…

In November time stopped.

My 3 year old nephew was diagnosed with Leukemia. He was instantly airlifted to Vancouver, and has been there since.

December, typically the most “challenging” month for work continued right on being horrible for so many reasons. There were two good days. Two.

One where we visited Vancouver to see Ben. We walked to Granville Island and fed pigeons and gigantic sea gulls. (Note: Feeding the birds is against the rules, but who wouldn’t break one like that to make a child with a life threatening illness smile?!) Ben was himself for a small bit of the afternoon. The other good day was when we celebrated Christmas on the 20th to accommodate his chemo schedule.

On the 27th, I had to take Fazh to the hospital for what he thought was a stomach flu. He had not eaten anything in 5 days. Turns out his cancer is back, and horrid for the 3rd time now. And now we wait to see if there is anything chemo can do to make him more comfortable.

As a side note, why must tumours always be compared to produce? Why not sports equipment, or office supplies? A tumour the size of a computer mouse would be much more appealing than a couple of grapefruits.

As fazh says, “At least it isn’t a pineapple.”

Here’s to 2016,
~j

British Columbia, North America, Update

2014: Travel Retrospective

January 31, 2015 ~j

Wow, 2014 was a year of travel near and far. A year that was busy and fulfilling, was also a year of change for the site, though the migration to self-hosting is still not complete! Maintaining a writing focus, while working full-time (sometimes more than full-time), and managing a household is a struggle of a balancing act. Sometimes, it’s more about living the experience, than writing it all down for y’all. Sorry, but it’s true.

Looking back on all of the mini-trips, visitors and experiences we had over the year, I thought I’d put together a recap of sorts. So here it is folks, your 2014 Travel Retrospective.

WINTER

January was a month of lingering cough and cold that felt like it was never, ever going away! Finally, we were well enough to travel, and made it to Mexico to visit Andrew. The Mayan Riviera, though not normally my go to vacation scene, was a great little getaway. (You can read about it HERE.)

February was a quiet month for travel because we had visitors here for a sporting event. There was plenty of time for card games, snacking and catching up between their beloved curling games. (FYI: You couldn’t pay me to watch curling. It’s BORING!)

Bombardier Dash 8-300 prop — The Bombardier Dash 8-300 purrs like a kitten

March gave me the opportunity to go to Edmonton to visit Jessie. We spent a few days chatting, shopping, and touring some of the most hideous Dream Lottery homes ever built. Driving to Edmonton is always a laborious task, but well worth the scenery. However, for this trip, I hopped the 1 hour flight. SO. MUCH. BETTER. On the flight home, I connected with my sister-in-law and nephew in Calgary, and we were all able to fly home together. Little Ben flew like a champ. (His mom did too; anyone who can fly with a toddler deserves a prize!)

SPRING

April and May kept us closer to home. We had a couple of day trips to Vancouver & Kelowna. Vancouver is always a nice getaway even during spring showers. For a change we chose not to drive through the city, and take the Sky Train instead.

Vancouver SkyTrain Map — Thanks for the SkyTrain map Wikimedia commons!

I’ve LOVED the SkyTrain since Expo ’86. And, traveling like a tourist in your own backyard is kind of fun once in a while. We spent the day shopping with my Aunt; I purchased a fab little backpack that has been one of my favorite gear purchases this year.

Then, the most shocking event in the history of our friendship with Andrew occurred in June. HE. GOT. MARRIED! This from the guy who has been an opponent to marriage and monogamy for as long as I can remember, not that he’s for being single, unfaithful or promiscuous either, he’s just never been pepped up about marriage. Well, Andrew met his match in his wife, and we couldn’t be happier for them. We travelled to Golden for the festivities. Catching up with old friends and laughing until our sides hurt made for a super fun weekend.

SUMMER

Oddly, I visited the Columbia River Valley twice in less than 30 days. Once for the aforementioned impromptu wedding, and once for a “camping” trip with Jessie and her family for the first week of July. (Q: Is it still technically classified as camping if you’re sleeping in a double bed, have air conditioning and a DVD player?)

We “camped” near Radium Hot Springs, at Redstreak Provincial Campground. One of the days we drove through to Cranbrook and Kimberly. Along the way we stopped at Fort Steele, a heritage town with a sweet little steam engine train.

Seven Parks in the Canadian Rockies share a UNESCO designation. Driving through the beauty of Rogers Pass to the Burgess Shale, it’s easy to understand why.

My friend Stacey came home from Alberta in August, and it was nice to catch up with her for a quick visit. Jon and I stayed pretty close to home for the most part. We made a few trips to the Lake.

Seymour. She’s a beauty when she doesn’t smell like wet dog.

Lake days are always filled with long hours at the beach, way too many snacks, and pseudo-competitive card games–mix that up with some sun screen, and a couple of wet dogs, and you’ve got the full package. We brought our niece with us for one of the trips. She’s quite the car dancer. The kid has moves even while buckled into a car seat.

FALL

Our new little nephew was born the first week of September…while we were waiting for a flight in Toronto. Yep, we missed his arrival because we were traveling to Spain. Jon and I spent two weeks touring through Spain visiting some gorgeous historic sites. More on that adventure to come. Trust me, I’ll be very busy writing over the next couple months.

October was ridiculously busy month for me work wise. A co-worker was diagnosed with cancer, so we lost an integral member of the team while she left to focus on getting herself well. I missed our annual tradition of visiting the pumpkin patch. Jon was able to go, and had a great time with the kids. Later in the month, we were able to sneak away for an afternoon to visit the Adam’s River Salmon Run. Our niece and nephew were so excited to see all of the fish. We’ll have to make it an annual tradition too.

In November, Fazh decided to go to Denmark. He asked me to plan the trip about a week before he decided he was leaving. For so many reasons the task was nearly impossible! Through some divine intervention, I was able to find his Danish friend on the internet, and he ended up having a once in a lifetime trip. And now, Fazh too must focus on getting himself well.

December, while frazzling, has updated/reinforced my outlook that the “small stuff” shouldn’t even be a blip on the radar. There are so many more important ways to spend time than focusing on trivial matters.

That brings us back to January. Our newest nephew was born on the 2nd. Fortunately, we were in the same city for his arrival. At present we just wait to hear from surgeons, so that they get Fazh fixed up.

We’ve had so many wonderful adventures this year; Thanks to everyone who was a part of them.

Here’s to 2015,

North America, USA, Yellowstone

Observations on Americana

January 26, 2011 ~j Leave a comment

I’m not inspired to write this entry. I’ve moved on to thinking about the next trip, and these last little bits are just so random that it makes any remotely coherent writing nearly impossible. But, this could be the last Yellowstone entry, which is great because I already have so many other things to include. Here are the last observations from our half-way across the country road trip.

I was so happy to find the Buffalo Crossing sign to add to the photo collection! In all of Yellowstone, there is only ONE that we saw. The irony is that there wasn’t a buffalo for miles around the sign; they most certainly were everywhere else. We found the sign as we were leaving the park on the last day. Road signs included, there are quite a few differences between Canada and the US that are easily noticed when driving through the United States. None of these differences is a bad thing (well except for one which we’ll get to!)

Overt Patriotism abounds in the US. Not to say that Canadians aren’t patriotic, we just don’t generally plaster the Canadian flag anywhere and everywhere (well, except in Falkland. Maybe they’re a little nutty?). In addition to flags everywhere, each little town along the way had a huge letter on a hillside somewhere on the edge of town, like a teeny tiny Hollywood sign to celebrate the town, but with only the first letter. I can’t remember where the photo of the M is from, but you get the point.

Another difference–elected law enforcement. In BC, Sheriffs serve primarily with the court system. They’re involved with jury selection and with transporting prisoners to court cases etc. Whereas, in the US, the Sheriff is seen as the highest member of law enforcement, and is elected by the county he/she serves. As you can see, Wade Magers and Jesse Allen were running for Lincoln County Sheriff** (Kudos to you Wade Magers for winning by over 1000 votes.) Which also brings about the use of the word “County”. Seriously, I bet less than 1 in 10 Canadians could tell you which county they live in. We never use that term. Ever.

The one sick difference–white gravy at breakfast. Biscuits and gravy=wrong! You would be hard pressed to find that in any breakfast/brunch buffet in BC. Vile! And non-sweetened Iced Tea–why would anyone want plain, tasting-like-newspaper-ink actual cold brewed tea?

We did see another food item that was particularly interesting. Anyone up for attending the Testicle Festival event next year? Their slogan “You’ll have a ball! If you miss it, you’re nuts.” Klassy with a capital K.

And there were plenty of “interesting” attractions in the small towns we drove through. How about the Jackalope Exhibit?

There were literally thousands of Adopt a Highway signs. Every 2 miles for thousands and thousands of miles. I felt like I was being brain washed. Somehow they aren’t as noticeable here. The other uber-depressing marker that there were thousands of–little white crosses along the interstate that mark where someone has died.

And my all time favourite=Smokey Bear. I’ve never seen Smokey used on any fire prevention signs here. That would be awesome, and much more entertaining.

Happy Travels,
~j

**The campaign signs were everywhere. Jesse Allen Lincoln County Sheriff became quite the conversation topic. Imagine a made for TV movie staring Tom Selleck as Jesse Allen and some washed up wrestler (like the dude who was a Governor) as Wade Magers. They would have rival moustaches. Ooh, that would be good TV for the ancient demographic.

British Columbia, Canada, North America

Salmon Run

January 12, 2011 ~j 1 Comment

Mid-September, I roped a friend into going to the Adam’s River Salmon Run. He really wasn’t keen on it. As someone who works on the Thompson and Fraser Rivers, he sees thousands of fish in the river each summer, and understandably didn’t want to go see more. Luckily, my persistence paid off, and we went for the mini road trip. Every 4 years there is a mass return to the spawning grounds; 2010 was supposed to be one of the biggest returns in the past 100 years, so why not check it out?

The Salmon Run was elementary school field trip extravaganza when we were little! We would have to learn all the stages of the life cycle. Here’s your science lesson just in case you don’t remember grade 2. The salmon swim from the Pacific Ocean, travel up the Fraser River through Hell’s Gate, up the Thompson River and into the Adam’s River where they spawn and die. (And, smell horribly bad!) The eggs hatch, grow, swim to the ocean, live there for a few years, and if they’re lucky to have survived that far, they swim back to the Adam’s River to start the cycle all over again.

We were there at the start of the Sockeye run and the very end of the Chinook run. The size difference between the two fish is crazy, but I wasn’t able to get any good photos of Chinook to compare. They don’t turn the bright pink colour that the Sockeye do. We wandered the trails, took a few photos and all in all had a fun little road trip.

North America, USA

Half Mast

September 20, 2010 ~j Leave a comment

Our first actual day in the US was September 11th.

Not that I wouldn’t have remembered the sombre significant day had I been in Canada, it just had more impact actually seeing the actions of the people. There were flags everywhere–which isn’t unusual for Americans to display, but I mean they were EVERYWHERE! 99% of them were at half mast. Businesses had messages on their communication boards. Homes had flags and messages in windows or on fences. Service men and women were hanging banners and flags on over passes. All of these things really acknowledged a shared sense of grief.

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing during the 9-11 attacks, as I’m sure all of you do too. I was working at the resort, and we found out during morning check-in for rafting. There was no radio, no news paper, no TV, no nothing, just panicked phone calls asking if we were o.k. We were in the middle of nowhere in BC along a major river/transportation route, and there was a 3rd plane missing. Looking back, I think it is odd that people, random people at that, thought we would be in any danger at all. A super tiny Canadian village or the Pentagon, there is no contest really, but that is how panicked everyone was.

I didn’t see the actual footage until later that evening. Thinking of it now is still upsetting.

US Flags line the street

We Remember

British Columbia, Canada, North America

Zippy Zip

August 31, 2010 ~j 1 Comment

For something to do at the end of August, we went to Whistler for Ziptrek. We’d been talking about going for a while, and then finally had the opportunity. Ziptrek was AWESOME! I took some video, but can’t find the memory card; when I do, I’ll post it.

I hadn’t been to Whistler for a couple years, so seeing the changes that were made for the Olympic village was kind of sweet. There was some construction going on in the main village, and the fence/screen was all photos from the Olympics, which reminded me of how fun Vancouver was for those couple weeks.

The campground we stayed at was great. The outhouses looked like normal outhouses, but had flush toilets, sinks with running water and hand soap in them which was rather posh compared to most campgrounds–not that I’m complaining! We stopped at some Provincial Parks and did some short trails along the way. We ended up visiting Nairn Falls and Brandywine Falls. Both were super pretty. On the way home we drove through Squamish on the Sea to Sky (which I also hadn’t seen since the Olympic improvements). All in all a fun weekend. Gotta love spontaneous weekend road trips.

Happy Travels,
~j

Peru, South America

Beersplosion!

June 7, 2010 ~j Leave a comment

We met some interesting people on the train to Aguas Calientes. Our tickets were consecutive but we weren’t seated together. Jon ended up sitting next to a guy named Craig. Apparently, he has been to every state in the USA and is now working on every Province in Canada. I was seated in a group of 4 with Andy and Angela and a nice Peruvian man. And Craig’s friends Michael and Michael were seated across the aisle with Andy and Angela’s friend Chad. (That seems as confusing as the role call scene from Ferris Beuler’s Day Off!)

Turns out Andy, Angela and Chad were staying at the same hostel as us in Cusco. And, Craig, Michael and Michael were staying at the same hostel in Aguas Calientes. Small world that Peru! They were all from the US East Coast and 3 had been skiing at Sun Peaks before.

Ok so that is a lot of backstory…the 3 dudes were in Peru for 4 days. Just a quick little weekend trip to Machu Picchu! We are pretty sure the two keep Michael around just for his humour and/or his Spanish skills.

Mid-train ride Michael dropped a bottle of beer out of his jacket. The beer started fizzing out the top; instead of wait for the fizz to die down, he opened the beer into a lovely Cusqueña explosion. Talk about an ice breaker. “And the sad part is that I’m a scientist!”

On the way to the hostel we made formal introductions so we could stop calling Michael “Beersplosion.” Turns out he’s a huge Matthew Good fan which led to talk about Canadian music. “Thanks a lot for Nickelback!” He and Jon also share the same hatred for Bieber. Kindred spirits immediately.

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this bird flies