Canada travels

In June of 2007, I surprised my baby sister in BC by flying out for her birthday, she was turning 33. I took my baby with me, Jake was almost 2 at that time… meaning he was free. Oh how I long for the return of cheap travel! Now I have to pay for 6 full airfares and flying within Canada is not cheap!! Rabbit-trail…. Anyway, it was hard keeping the secret from her but I managed to do it.  This is a review from that trip home.

After a wonderful 5 hour – across 5,000 klm – flight from Ontario to BC, my mom picked us (Jake and myself) up from the Vancouver airport and off to their place we went. To all my friends and family from there… sorry I couldn’t see you — we were only there for about an hour before we packed my stuff into my parents RV and we were off.

Jake was a good traveler – the second helping of Gravol kicked in nicely. Now don’t sit there and think, “What a terrible mum – she drugs her kids!” Yes, yes I do! I’ve flown with kids for over 11 years – at least 1 or 2 times a year… and most of the times, I’ve flown with them as the only adult! I’ve learned a few good (doctor approved) tricks over the years. If you’re interested – I’ll share them with you another time.

Back to my travel log.

We drove for 3 hours that night before I made my Dad stop and sleep for the night, it was just after midnight!  I was worried about him falling asleep at the wheel and as much as I was keeping him awake – I couldn’t keep myself awake (remember it’s a 3 hour time difference for me, midnight in BC is 3am for me back home). We slept – wedged between two giant semi trucks – at the side of the road in Clinton. It seemed like moments after I closed my eyes my Dad was at the wheel again. I stared hard at the clock trying to focus… it was 5:40am. I crawled into bed with my mom at the back of the RV at 5:45am but couldn’t get back to sleep.

It was a slow go all day long. We were carrying a heavy load behind the camper, my sister’s new-to-her 1967 Chevelle on an already 2,000 lb you-haul-it trailer. The RV didn’t want to move very fast. Downhill we were going 45 miles / hour! Up hill… if we rocked back and forth (just kidding) we could make it to the top doing around 30 and that’s no joke! Something that should have taken us 8 hours

in a regular car or 9 or 10 hours in an RV with no heavy load… took us 15 hours in total – discount an hour or so for dropping the tailer off and grabbing lunch in Quesnel. We pulled into Prince George just before dinner time yesterday.

La didn’t know we were coming. I only told her hubby a couple of weeks before. I wanted it to be a true surprise. My Mom drove Lise’s new car into her driveway and Dad drove the RV right behind. He started honking the horn to get the family outside. Mom got out of the car and Lise ran up to her crying. I stayed hidden in the back of the motor home. I couldn’t wait any longer – I gingerly walked around to the front of the vehicle and said nonchalantly, “Hi!”

It took her a minute to comprehend what was going on. She screamed and cried even harder and screamed some more. She grabbed me and held on tight, I thought she was going to faint at one point, she didn’t want to let go. Her hubby was just smiling along… she was surprised! My dad tried to get pictures of her face but I don’t think the angle was right, I should have picked up a video camera. It was priceless!

Her hubby had the BBQ ready to go and so we had a wonderful steak dinner with all the trimmings just as if we were eating at The Keg. It was a great first night of my time with my sister in the “Prince” as locals call it – a place where the national bird is the Mosquito!!! I should have brought my bug suit!!

This has to be the most memorable trip home, surprising my sister like that was priceless! You have to understand what she was going through at that time in her life. They had recently moved to the north, leaving both of their families behind and her husband had been diagnosed with CIDP – it was a hard winter for them. She needed her big sister and I needed her. It’s a battle they haven’t won yet but I continue to pray and support them as much as I can living over 5,000 klm away.

I have a photo album on Facebook if you want to check it out.