Archive for the ‘trip’ Category

swimming around in the baltimore waters

When times seem tough and you don’t seem to have anywhere to go. Just remember, just keep swimming.

“You’all,” I say in a pronounced, half-mocking southern drawl as I walked out of the Palmer’s Bar and Courtyard in San Marcos, Texas on the warmest Thursday evening I’ve ever experienced in late October.

“It’s ya’ll – say it!” I get reprimanded from one of the lovely ladies I’ve met through this wonderful travelling experience that hasn’t picked up on my sarcastic tone.

“Ya ya, okay – here I go, ‘ya’ll” I manage to spew out between Bloody Mary induced giggles (I have resorted to drinking extra spicy Bloody Mary’s here, nobody in the US can make a Caesar – half don’t even know what Clamato juice is).

“And do you wanna know what the plural for ‘ya’ll’ is?” She asks while I begin to answer her with ya’lls in mind. “All ya’ll,” she bursts out, as if she’s making fun of her own accent, her peoples own accent.

“It’s not the land of the grammatically correct now is it?” I question.

“Well, honey, Bush came from here – what do you think?” She replies.

I probably would have laughed at her liberal-esque comment but I then became so entranced with the random bamboo growing on the side of the restaurant that I completely forgot, and just walked away from her.

“Do they not have bamboo in Canada or something?” The other woman laughed after the group had now begun to wait for me while I attempted to grab a good bamboo shot on my BlackBerry’s camera.

“No, that’s the point!” I shouted back.

Finally, they managed to get me in the SUV that was carpooling us back to our hotel – the lovely Embassy Suites in San Marco, Texas. Finally a good night out on a whirlwind of a tour that started God knows how long ago because I’m just so frazzled when it comes time for “what day is it?”

But I guess that is the life of a travelling businesswoman!

I thought I would be more drained once I arrived in Minot, but strangely, I’m unable to really fathom that I’ve spent the last fourteen hours in a car. I say that, though, while passing on taking a dip in the wonderful water slides and pool this hotel has to offer because I just couldn’t be bothered to leave the hotel room. I even got a pizza delivered instead of going to the restaurant in the Sleep Inn, which was delicious.

I always seem to want to stay another day when I’m in a hotel room, especially one with a King Size bed. The rooms just seem so beautiful and like such a waste for only one night. But I guess that’s why people actually visit the places they go to, instead of merely driving through. I seem to be one that does that often – just drives through. Leaves before things become complacent.

At one point of my drive, I thought I’d be staying in Canada for a little while longer, after I couldn’t believe how scary it was at the border even though I had absolutely nothing to hide. They train those border guys well. Personally, I think he would have loved to go through all my belongings but there was a line forming behind me and my sweet angelic eyes proved my innocence. Alas, I made it through, ahead of schedule, even (I sped, a little – but speed limits are like 120KM here!)

Anyway, I made it. One third of the way to my new home, my old home, my old life turned into my new life. One third to the biggest change I’ve ever made. Way bigger than the one I made when I moved to Calgary two years ago.

Way bigger.

lake louise, alberta

On such a brisk, yet sunny Autumn day, the lake was very calm and serene. It’s funny that things always seem different, relaxed and just when you’re away. It also seems that the second you return back to regular life, things are hectic, crazy and upsetting – all the time. The things that never seem to bother you when visiting Mother Nature now cause you to bite the side of your cheek when stressed, according to dentists.

What if I always lived next to a big, beautiful, turquoise lake? Would life always seem serene, or would the calm laps of water find some way to stress life out for me?

disobeying the signs - moncton, new brunswick - february 14th, 2009

There we were, as usual, not listening to what those with less ignorance had told us. Looking at this picture now, six months later, I realize that it’s who I am: a person who disobeys. Why shouldn’t we? Who gets rewarded for colouring inside the lines passed the age of five?

There are times in our lives when we can feel defeated, exhausted and hopeless. It’s these times, that I turn to my past to invigorate the future I know is before me. I have two provinces left on my mission to see every one of this beautiful country (the territories will be added one day when I can properly afford it) and a part of me can’t believe it. I know the Maritimes must be visited once again in the summer months, and I’ll do that and tick off Newfoundland to the last of my east coast journeys as well.

For now, however, I can remember what an amazing time, what an amazing country we live in, and smirk at the memories of people warning me to get out of my trip plans before it was too late: “winter in the Maritimes?! Are you crazy?”

I guess we were.