On the Road Again - Adventures from an Empty Nest

 Alberta and Saskatchewan (More pictures at the end) When we have asked people from outside the Canadian hinterlands what there is to see between Calgary and Toronto, most have said “nothing much”. Heading east, it’s a land of dry hills and then endless prairie. But we have managed to spend a week in this hinterland, and it’s a fascinating place. Again setting our GPS to “avoid motorways” we have sometimes ended up on dirt and gravel roads, traveling for hours without seeing another car or person.    Calgary itself was fascinating, though we didn’t spend a lot of time there. It is made up of tightly dense neighborhoods of attached homes that each have supermarkets, dentists, theaters, etc., so lots of folks were walking, biking, and riding scooters. Not sure what that looks like when the temperatures plummets in the winter, but it makes lots of sense now. We were in town for the beginning of the Calgary Stampede – a state-fair-like event that features nightly rodeos, live music perform

Vancouver First Nations long-boat racers on Burrard Inlet (More pictures below) Vancouver was wonderful. We spent four days visiting and seeing the sights of the city. A highlight was a several-hour walk/sit along the bank of Burrard Inlet on the Saturday of Canada Day Weekend. Several First Nations were holding a day of long-boat (extra long, slim canoe) races, and we got to see several heats, as well as youth races. Paddling these boats for speed in teams of four or more is a grueling, dangerous, impressive task. The crews rowed out maybe half a mile before circling a buoy and coming back. At least four boats capsized on the turn, and getting them righted was no easy feat! Further down the shore, after passing the dog beach full of wet, sandy, gleeful canines and their people, we greeted cousin Melissa’s youngest, Mitchell, who was lifeguarding at the people’s beach. A little further on, we chanced on a citizenship ceremony where about 50 new citizens were taking the oath in English

  On the Cleveland Dam in West Vancouver, B.C. We are sleeping in a house for the first time since May. We have reached our ultimate destination: my cousin’s house in West Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. We’ve celebrated by playing guitars together, hiking in the beautiful rainforest trails around her house, and talking, talking, talking.  It will come as no surprise to some of you that I was an only child. My cousin Melissa, who is eight years younger, was an only child too, and we bonded during summers spent at our grandmother’s house in Iowa. She is the closest thing to a sister I had growing up, and despite living at extreme opposite ends of the continent, we have remained close over the years. When my mom died, she was the one who jumped on a plane and was at our house within a day, and helped us with all the logistics and planning that happen after a death. This summer, all three of her college-age kids have moved back in with her and her husband, Andy, and it’s great to