Home again

Random notes from travelling the wilds of Canada:

1. We arrived in Camrose the morning after the great stage disaster that almost offed Kevin Costner, to see more than 250 large motorhomes fleeing the town. I have never in my life seen so many of those things. Vancouver clearly does not have the parking for such vehicles, which is why I suppose you never see them here. But the prairies are just miles of SPACE and the cars are much larger.

2. Calgary is a very well planned city, clearly built for cars. I admire that, especially coming from Victoria, which is a higglety-pigglety mess of streets, and Vancouver, which is far too crowded for its size and street volume. Calgary was a pleasant change of scene.

3. Calgary in the summer is very pretty. So much so that I look at it and consider that moving there wouldn't be so bad, as it's hard to remember that it snows there for six months a year, just like the rest of the country.

4. The weather wasn't nice enough during our trip to see any mountains, so the entire province seemed terribly flat to me. I am told it's nothing compared to Saskatchewan, but the hill I drive up every day to work was as larger or larger than any hill we saw while away.

5. Small town life makes me sad. So many small Canadian cities are just home to large big box stores. I think it's easier to patronize local stores in this city than it is in smaller towns ... which is hard enough. Small town life is terribly idealized in this country, and it's kind of heartbreaking in a way to see it's nothing like the romanticized version of it any more.

6. Plus I am dying for a hot caffeinated beverage in a cardboard cup. (Edited to add: accomplished, this morning. Whew!)

7. For the city girl that I am, I spent a fair amount of time crashing through bushes and ... wading in a creek. BAREFOOT. Near a field that usually holds cows. I also ate dinner in an enormous camper van, and voluntarily launched a water rocket and got splashed with cold water on a less than scorching hot day. AND I survived THREE WHOLE DAYS without wi-fi, which was truly the most amazing part of roughing it in the wilderness. It was a vacation filled with new experiences. I'm quite the adventuress, I know.

8. When you have a kid like mine who needs constant stimulation the newness of a new place and hosts of other adults who want to spend time with him is a godsend. I read FOUR BOOKS, people. Ok, two of them were old Judy Blumes that I found on the bookshelf, but still. The very fact that I got to sit still for more than an hour uninterrupted is just plain amazing.

9. Also I knit a 1/4 of a sock, ripped it out, and knit 1/3 of a sock. And watched TLC on cable. And chatted with my sister in law while we both knitted socks when the kids were in bed.

10. And last but foremost, I got to see my old and dear friend S, who I hadn't seen in six years, for a wonderful few hours when we first arrived. (It was great to see you all, and I enjoyed every second with your family. Plus the comic books is coverless, it has been read so much, and the spiderman saved our sanity on the plane ride home. Thank you again.)

Today we took the kiddo to the dinosaur exhibit in Burnaby and tomorrow he is going to daycare, and I am off to a civilized girls' lunch and then Friday The Man and I are having date time. Whee!