We flew through America to get to Vancouver, and Callum was required to get a transit Visa. This Visa process took some time and was seven pages long with a lot of extra questions than the last time he had to do it. It also cost us something like $70 AUD. Only a few years ago, it was a few simple questions and a much smaller fee. It seems crazy how much effort it took just to be allowed to transit through the USA as an Australian, but that’s the world we’re living in at the moment.
We arrived quite late at night because our flight was delayed from Houston. We picked up a rental car and drove ourselves to where my parents currently live: Chilliwack. Chilliwack is 30 minutes east of where I grew up in Abbotsford, and about 70kms east of Vancouver. It was known as ‘Cow Town’ and ‘The Wack’ when I was growing up. Nowadays, as a tourist, I see it as a charming small city with all the amenities one could desire, nestled in amongst mountains and lush farmland. Yes, there’s a problem with homelessness. Yes, there’s an overwhelming stench of manure at times, and yes, there’s a stigma to being in such a rural place. However, when we were driving around the Canadian spring weather was winning me over. The blossoms were blooming, the birds were chirping, the sun was cheerful, and it just seemed like The Wack was glad to see us.
We spent about nine days enjoying our time with friends and family in the Fraser Valley including celebrating Easter with a turkey dinner, before going on a road trip up to The Cariboo region. This is where a cousin of mine has lived for a period of three years, farming with her husband and daughters. We got to see their property before they move on to new adventures. It was a lovely three-day trip, getting a feel for a rural area, visiting the local brewery, café, and a couple of kms trail alongside a lake they liked to frequent in the warmer months. We got to meet the farm animals, and I got to capture the family in an impromptu photoshoot.
We drove back to Chilliwack and rested for a couple of days before hopping on a Westjet flight from the Abbotsford International Airport (tiny) to Edmonton. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta and just outside of it lives another cousin of mine whom I had not seen in eight years. We bought a cheap “personal item only” seat and made our way over the Rockies for under $40 a ticket. Our flight was delayed (a real theme this year), and Jared had to pick us up at 1am. We drove out to his place and the whole time Callum was silently wondering to himself “Where are we going?” because I had forgotten to tell him that Jared and his family live about 45 minutes outside of Edmonton in a TRUE rural area. The town my first cousin we visited in BC lives? A sparkling metropolis compared to where we now found ourselves in. The remoteness of this part of Alberta had its own kind of charm, and though I’m a BC girl at heart, I saw the trees and lakes and skies as beautiful. In our short visit, all the winter trees started to sprout little green leaves which gave the forests a green haze in certain lights.
Ultimately, though, it wasn’t about the sights. It was more about reconnecting with loved ones. It was really lovely to meet the kiddos and get to know them since they were all toddlers when we last saw them. We made our own fun while on their land, and I got to do another photoshoot of another gorgeous family.
We flew back to Abbotsford and drove ourselves back to Chilliwack and resettled into my parent’s place. We had another ten days or so just staying put. We saw many people, sometimes multiple times a day in an effort to fill my cup. I only get to see all these family and friends every two years or so, so I have to maximise my time effectively. Highlights included catching up with various aunts and uncles, going to a hockey game with my Dad (Go Abbotsford Canucks!), getting to visit with old friends, and celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom in person for the first time in 14 years.
We flew to our third and final province of our Canadian tour. Here yet was another cousin to visit, also not seen for eight years. We stayed with dear friends of ours who since we saw them last had a couple of kids. It was neat to bear witness to their lives as parents, and to meet their adorable children. We did several activities with this lovely family and were treated like royalty at their home, barely required to lift a finger and being fed the most amazing home-cooked meals. Callum also got his fill of playing with small children, who, hilariously, loved him to bits. This is funny to me since he is not really a kid person.
One of our days my friends kindly loaned their car to us so we could take ourselves on our own adventure to Niagara Falls. I have been many times, but Callum had only been once before in 2017. I knew it would be a long day, since it is a lot further from the K-W area than he realised. We were lucky to go on a day when the weather was warm and sunny. We walked a lot that day and I even went further around the falls than ever before.
As for my cousin, all her kids are nearly grown so it was equally weird and wonderful to re-meet them as adults. We got to spend three days with Carolyn and Chris on a road trip up to Algonquin Provincial Park to have quality time together, and to try and spy a moose or two. We saw the couple of moose we had hoped to see as well as a bold beaver, a few squirrels (Callum’s spirit animal) and several blue jays. We played cards, talked, and showed them videos of Australian Rules Football (footy) to share our Aussie culture.
Six weeks seemed like a very long time when we were allocating days to the places we wanted to go to in Canada this year. However, it flies by when you’ve got over 50 people to try and visit. Canada is an enormous country and to see it properly you need a lot longer and a lot fewer people to socialise with. If you are interested in reading about our Great Canadian Road Trip of 2017 when we drove from the easternmost point of Canada to the westernmost point, you can follow this link to that post.
Travel Bugs 