We are headed off on our second cross-continent trip tomorrow. This time to PA via OR. We’ll be stopping for Samuel and Isaiah to see their doctors in Portland and then drive directly east to Philadelphia so that Isaiah can begin treatment (hopefully!) there.
We have done little pre-planning in preparation for this trip across the US and honestly it will hinge on the answers we get at the first appointment in PA. If a treatment plan is created then we stay. If not, we take a long vacation, come right back home, hang around the East Coast where our vacation rental is paid for already, or some other plan that we have no notion of right now. It’s all rather overwhelming to answer the kids’ questions about particulars when we really have no idea.
We do know that it is pretty amazing how things have pointed in this direction. It *is* pretty amazing to be crossing the USA only one year after crossing Canada. Learning Together at Home is becoming Learning Together at Home & Away. Life is nothing but unexpected. Stephen always tells us that we live in a house but our home is wherever we are together. I think we are setting out to prove him right!
We had taken the noon ferry from Sydney, NS to Port aux Basques, NL the night before. Other than a variety of bed and breakfasts that advertise as being 2.5 Stars, there are two hotels right in PAB. We basically flipped a coin and picked one. The room was fine. The dinner service was not. We knew to expect down home hospitality but 2.5 hours with a tired, cranky two year old stretched it a bit. Ah well, off to bed and the next morning we ate a quick peanut butter sandwich and hit the road.
I was absolutely stunned at the beauty of it all. Honestly. I have been so blessed to travel to a few of what I consider the world’s most picturesque places and yet I was awestruck at the wild beauty in the middle of what at first glance appears so barren. I am writing this from Ottawa on our return trip home and still after visiting other areas, this was my second favourite day of the trip. My most favourite day being the day after this one.
I am posting a huge amount of photos today. I need to remember what I saw and how I felt.
This is soooo what I was hoping for on this trip. Sleeping in a b&b next to an old cemetery (it’s freaking out the big kids). This little town (Port aux Choix( on the shores of NW side of the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland is teeny and picturesque and wonderfully friendly. So friendly the kitchen the kitchen staff at supper come out to visit and before you leave you ask to take a photo of them. The lighthouse down the gravel road behind the restaurant we ate at? Stunning. The sunset, more so. Big kids teaching little kids. Little kids urging big kids into yard games. The quote hanging in the bathroom here, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”, so familiar from our adoptions. And the photos we took. Oh my. I am so incredibly happy tonight.
We drove like crazy people yesterday, stopping in New Brunswick for an amazing and carbohydrate filled lunch at Potato World. Honestly, we needed those spuds more than they needed us.
We’ve come to the conclusion at this point in the trip that Canada is truly astonishing. It is more rural than we could’ve imagined. More spread out and in need of good communication than we could have dreamed. I mean, we know these things. In many ways, it’s what makes us Canadian. Perhaps that friendly spirit we are famous for is because of the desolation and loneliness? I don’t know. Okay, maybe not ALL of Canada is quite like that, but it seems like we drive and drive and then all of a sudden, oh look! there is another pocket of civilization. Quite a contrast form our recent trip to China!
We’ve found friendly people everywhere. So many are openly encouraging of our little jaunt east and the fact that we’d bring our kids large and small on a trip like this. Just when it feels like we might really have bitten off more than we should have, we get a little bright ray of sunshine from a fellow Canadian and it brings it all back into focus.
Today was a day like that. It started with a trip to the walk in to have Faith checked out (it appears that her lymph nodes are swollen and not to worry), followed my some monkey business from a couple of the herd. We recouped and headed to Timmy’s for a bite before our visit to the Harbour. We all felt a bit wiped out. We headed to the Maritime Museum first. Took in the exhibits about the Halifax Explosion, shipwrecks and sailors lost at sea, a dying way of life, followed by an exhibit on the Titanic. Honestly, it wasn’t the cheeriest time we’ve had. We were doubly tired and I had wanted to head over to one more place, Pier 21. Doggedly we drove down the harbour front and walked into the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. What we didn’t know, was that our day was about to change.
We paid a small admission and headed upstairs to the exhibit. We were greeted by a young woman with a heavy eastern european accent. She brought out legos for the kids to build with and got us ready for a tour starting in a few minutes. We gathered as a group with others and were unprepared for the amazing tales ahead.
Over 1,000,000 immigrants were processed through Pier 21. Ships from all over the world with people hoping to be admitted as Landed Immigrants. Initially Canada had a policy of allowing only those that could be easily assimilated into Canadian society (read, white, western europeans, folks from Newfoundland during pre-confederation (!) and Americans). Over time, others were welcomed and the policies changed. Tragedies occurred in the meantime. While we had heard of the Chinese Head Tax and the ship filled with hopeful refugees from India that were held at bay in Vancouver’s harbour, we hadn’t heard of Mackenzie King’s denial of some 900+ Jewish refugees just prior to World War 2. They were sent back to Europe. There are records that 254 were killed in concentration camps and the other roughly 700 suffered horrible atrocities. This formed a bit of a wake up call to the immigration policies in Canada. There was a protectionist feeling during the depression, but post WW2, the feeling of a global connectedness formed.
Another aspect that changed the face of immigration in Canada were the War Brides and Grooms (yes – grooms, who knew?). Of the 500,000 Canadians who were involved in active service in WW2, 1 in 10 married a foreign spouse. 48,000 wife of servicemen entered Canada in the years following the war and brought with them 22,000 children. These new immigrants brought with them a new surge of immigration in their wake. My maternal grandparents and my Mom entered Canada around that time.
We found out that 1951 was a huge spike of immigration from the Netherlands and while it was a popular thing at that time, it was not a guarantee of entry nor was it stress free upon arrival. I found it fascinating as we have heard stories the hardships that they faced once here, but what their first days in Canada would have been like really filled in a puzzle piece for me. While they would have been well cared for, the confusion and simply the chaotic mess of it all would have been overwhelming and utterly exhausting after an already stressful goodbye to loved ones at home and a long steam ship ride to Canada. No matter the provisions offered, it would have been a lot to take in. No Google or Skype. No guarantee of a friendly face once being given that highly prized ‘Landed Immigrant’ stamp on their passports. A long, gruelling, expensive train trip west to major cities (in my Mom’s case, Winnipeg).
We left that tour and headed to a meeting hall filled with flags from many countries around the world and a large Canadian flag, made of puzzle pieces ,hanging as the centrepiece. The young woman from earlier joined us. Her name was Natalya and she, too, was newly immigrated (2.5 years ago). She is a teacher by profession, but was given the job at Pier 21 for 6 months as a training period to gain work experience in Canada. She loves her job there and the kids really enjoyed meeting her. Grace in particular commented how she was also a new immigrant and drew the connection to herself.
A number of people in our tour group had immigrated through Pier 21 and the guides told other stories of people who had found relatives, or even belongings, on display that belonged to themselves or a family member, while visiting the museum. This led us to heading to the research room. A number of guides were there to lead individuals through the process of finding information (landing records) for themselves or a relative. I was unable to look for my family’s records. Somehow another guide allowed Stephen to find his Oma’s. I am not sure how! Perhaps he made a personal plea, but my guide had told me that due to privacy laws, we would need certain proofs of family connection. Interesting. I had a wonderful time looking through their bookcases of material and huge collection of fiction and non-fiction works on immigration in Canada. So many fascinating stories. I may or may not have added to our van’s weight today. Books are hard to pass up.
The kids spent at least an hour on building Boxopolis. A city of their own creation out of boxes. A dream exhibit for a kid!
We wrapped up our day on a bright note. After stuffing ourselves silly (no really, Isaiah has a hollow leg), we were driving along out of the Harbour district and I grabbed Stephen’s arm, “You’ve got to stop!” What was it I saw? A game/comic book store (Monster Lounge Comics – highly recommend it!). There just may or may not be a couple new additions to our family’s game hoarding collection when we get home.
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Bookend vignettes from today:
Samuel loudly and with gusto told the tour guide at the beginning of our tour, “My family drove a LONG way to get here and we all hate it!”
A young docent at the end of our Boxopolis time let me know that all the staff in the museum were whispering about our family. Apparently we were the highlight of their whole summer because working in a museum can be boring at times and the kids were so enthusiastic.
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A few more tidbits:
One of the couple’s in our group had an interesting mix. The wife had come into Canada in the 1960’s through Pier 21, and the husband? His family was one of the original French settlers in the 1600’s! They live in Nanaimo, BC now.
A couple of our guides were exceptionally fascinating. An ex-olympic figure skater (not sure which one, sorry!) was there and brought in a pairs outfit to show another guide. One of our tour guides was a young man in wheelchair who is affected by Cerebral Palsy – he asked the best questions and was extremely knowledgable about the material. Our guide Natalya? She’s been in Canada 2.5 years, said goodbye to her 65 year old Mom to come here. Her Mom is sick back in the Ukraine and Natalya does not think she will be able to get back to see her before she passes. Her Mom told her to stay. Canada is the land of her dreams.
It still is folks. Let’s not forget it.
We drove from Ottawa to Riviere du Loup yesterday. On the way we drove through the little village that I lived in during the summer after high school graduation. The government had given bursaries for anglophone and francophone students to learn the others’ language. Oh Canada!
Anyway, being back there with James at the same age as I was then reminded me of everything I thought and felt and believed. Talk about a good reality check for me. 17. Interesting age.
We drove around and saw all the places I remembered. Ate at a diner that was built in 2002. I think the Poutine trailer used to sit there. 🙂 My spoken French was not a good investment but I understood a fair bit (even things I don’t think I was meant to hear :).
We stayed at a super contemporary hotel last night that reminded James of a scary movie he’d seen. Grace and I closed out the Walmart and IGA for supplies.
Kids are still doing well. Tempers only flare when Samuel touches Isaiah or when we finally pull into a rest stop and the person desperately in need just needs oooone more second to save their game. Ha!
I plan on taking Faith to the doctor tomorrow morning. James’ computer will need a visit from a geek, as well. We’ll be in Halifax for the next few nights so hopefully we can rest for a bit from all these crazy driving days.
While Steve covers the quips, the daily homeschool journals cover the facts (and more – too cute sometimes!), it seems this blog is covering my emotional state. 🙂
Doing much, much better. Had some sleep, did some laundry, made some reservations and have unabashedly been sneaking bites of chocolate every hundred kilometres of so (was going to say hundred miles, but lets be realistic here).
We’ve had some shocks (nearly crossing into the US without passports), realizing we need those passports for our ferry to Newfounland (thank you, Mom, for having them couriered to us!), and then there are those roadside bathrooms (I don’t think I need to elaborate).
There have also been those moments when all we could do was laugh like when we had to try out five different restaurants in Sault Ste. Marie before heading to Timmy’s because none of said restaurants had room for us nor kid friendly tablecloths (wuuuuuuhite!).
Over all we are ready to get to the vacation part if this trip. Most days there is quiet in the van, chaos over our picnic lunch and then a mad scramble to settle into our rooms for sleep. I am loving the changes in scenery. The kids are absolutely amazing me with how the are following along on the map of the landscape of Canada. Total pay-off,right there.
Please pray for Faith. The last couple days she has developed first one painful bump on the back if her head followed by a different feeling one behind her ear. No obvious sign of entry from a tick or other insect, but the fact that spot number two has shown up is concerning. No other symptoms though. Thank you!
Having a tough time. Wah, I know. The kids are still ticking along. The kilometres are falling behind us. I even spent crazy long hours laughing my self silly with my husband. I think I’m just tired. Anyway, back to reality.
Isaiah seems to have fallen into a routine. He even gets to watch his Praise Baby DVD during the afternoon. He is still stuffing his cheeks full at mealtime but not every meal. And he wields his Chinglish well. He seems outwardly secure.
Samuel is having a tough time and a great time. It depends on the moment. He can be so pesky, nothing new, but the little things make him so happy.
Garnet is our little tour enthusiast. Whether looking for animals, begging Dad to be the first out to help at the motel or just having an overall cheerful attitude, he’s our man.
Grace is absolutely delighted by screens. This trip affords her plenty of ample device time. Therefore, Grace = happy! She was pretty tearfully overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the trip in the beginning. That seems to have waned. I thought she’d be begrudgingly accepting but we seem to have skipped straight to acceptance. I won’t argue with that!
Faith is an avid reader and this trip has been ideal for her. Plus, with James back with us, she’s so happy to have her buddy, she’s pretty silly, fun and cheerful. She’s also quick to want to play with Isaiah, something he has appreciated greatly!
James is happy, helpful, funny, cheerful and downright gleeful over a strong wifi connection. Honestly, we couldn’t have a better young guy to join us. We weren’t sure if he’d resent this trip. Did we delay it too long? But he’s been so fun to have along. Great enthusiasm.
Stephen drives and finds us great picnic spots, not to mention accommodation for eight on a nightly basis. He’s quick to share in all the tasks that need doing every single stop and very supportive of whatever I ask of him. He’s such a fun travel companion for me!
I have taken pictures of beautiful scenery, oddities and our motley crew, all of which have remained on my camera. Let me leave you with my view from Thunder Bay. Not bad, eh?
I am so tired.
Like wiped out.
I just wrote the most wonderful post. And the deleted it. By mistake. Honest.
We headed from Regina to Dryden and stopped short in Winnipeg. The two voted “Most Likely to Squabble” did right on the Manitoba border. No, really. We were trying to take a picture at the border and all chaos ensued. We may be featured on social media everywhere as our van tends to draw the eye of passing motorists as it is. The squabbling gang at the rest stop probably held attention after the initial glance.
We pulled if together and all 8 piled back in the van. Stephen announced about 4.5 hours to go and I cried uncle. We got a couple hotel rooms and ordered pizza in. James and Garnet went swimming and we enjoyed Melatonin all around. Don’t judge me. Remember, I’m tired?
As I told one of the kids today, this trip is about two things. Number one is sightseeing. Number two, making their lives miserable. Number two is actually as truthful as number one. A state of misery (come to Jesus speech anyone?) leads to strife. Strife can only lead to resentment or resolution. We are hoping to walk them through resolution.
Then again. I’m tired.
