My ancestors were an adventuresome bunch. They left their home countries for new lives. Often without the language or finances to make their new home an easy transition. When I began looking for whose adventures to share this week I wasn't able to choose just one.
As a child we took many road trips. My brother is 2 1/2 years younger than I am. He was an early reader, and I was a late reader. I remember us being in the upper part of the camper (before seat-belts were required), and watching the signs go zinging by. My brother and I were watching for small graveyards. He had read "Little Burials Ahead" on a sign. Seems my interest in graveyards and genealogy began at a young age.
There were no graveyards that we could see. The signs actually said "Litter Barrels Ahead". Not bad reading for a 5 year old to read off the signs as they were speeding by.
I then began thinking about the trips my husband and I took with our boys. The family adventures we hope they remember as fun when they are older.
When they were small we watched the movie Lilo & Stitch. We loved that movie (watching it over and over and over again). I promised our boys that we would take them to Hawaii on vacation some day. It only took 15 years, but in 2018 we followed through with that promise. We had an amazing family vacation with our adult kids in Maui. Sitting on the beach we heard how this was our first family vacation.
How could they think that? We traveled all over Western Canada as a family. We had taken many trips with them.
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| Our boys exploring, Hawaii, 2018 |
I then realized they were right. We had traveled as a family many times, but this was our first family vacation.
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| Our boys, Maui Ocean Center, 2018 |
When the boys were small we had a 17' travel trailer we towed behind our Ford Bronco. We traveled across 4 Canadian provinces to visit family every 2 or 3 years. Along the way we took alternating routes to explore. In between those trips we explored closer to home on weekends or week long journeys.
My husband and I pored over maps choosing the route we would take to show different parts of western Canada to our boys. We carefully chose where we would stay to visit local attractions. One year, as we were finalizing our plans, I went out shopping to buy a portable dvd player for the upcoming trip. Instead I came home with 2 portable cd players. I had realized that if they were watching a movie while we were driving across Canada they wouldn't see what our country looked like. We traveled with a large lidded tote of audiobooks from the library. As they listened to their books they were seeing the landscape pass by. We wanted our boys to know what our country looked like.
In 2002 we took a 3 week trip. We left home, and spent our first night at a campground in Three Valley Gap. What an amazing place to visit. The guided tour grants access to the inside of the restored buildings. There is a Model T collection. You can see the rail car that our current Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau, age 10) was traveling on with his father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau when the famous “Trudeau salute” occurred.
Enlightening our kids to Canada's history - CHECK!
Next we traveled to the Calgary zoo for the afternoon. Then on to Drumheller, Alberta where we spent the night in a campsite near the river for two nights. We spent the whole day at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, and explored Drumheller.
We visited the Reptile Refuge Center
We viewed the local terrain
Dinosaurs, reptiles, local geography - CHECK!
We then traveled on to Winnipeg to visit with my dad and grandmother for a week. We visited the Manitoba Children's Museum, The Forks National Historic Site of Canada, and Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site of Canada.
Family Time - CHECK! Local history - CHECK!
As we left Winnipeg heading to Eastend, Saskatchewan a flock of Canadian Geese posed for us along the highway.
Wildlife - CHECK!
In Eastend we set off to find the tiny dinosaur research facility called the T-Rex Discovery Center. When we visited we were the only visitors. It didn't take us long to go through the very informative and interesting facility.
Science knowledge - CHECK!
As we left Eastend, Saskatchewan heading to Canmore, Alberta I was looking at the map. Map reading skills are not my greatest skill. As I was trying to figure out where we were & where we were going I happened to notice Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. I asked my husband if he had ever visited in his many trips back and forth across Canada as a child. He said he might have, but since he was always sleeping from the gravol his mom gave him he didn't remember if they had.
I said "I always wanted to stop when I was a kid, but my parents were always in too much of a rush to get us to Ontario when we traveled so they always said no when I asked". With that, the car came to a screeching halt at the side of the road. My husband took the map from me, and said we are going.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was the best interpretive center I have ever visited. The information shared was enlightening, and the motion activated audio and lighting enhanced the experience. We stayed at the campsite nearby, and heard a coyote pack making a kill in the middle of the night. The boys were enthralled with the idea of the buffalo jumping off the cliffs.
Cultural history - CHECK!
Thinking back on why we would have traveled the odd route backtracking to Canmore I remember it had something to do with the dates of arrival either before or after. We always carefully made the plan to maximize how many places and people we could visit. We stayed with my husband's aunt & uncle for a few days while we were in Canmore. My husband was partially raised there so wanted to show the boys where he had hiked and fished when he was young. He enjoyed sharing his childhood memories with us. We hauled a few rocks home from the Bow River so we could paint them (one still lives in our garden). Nostalgia & making memories - CHECK!
After leaving Canmore we headed to the Frank Slide (Alberta, Canada), and then on to Fort Steele (British Columbia, Canada).
Geology - CHECK! Heritage town - CHECK!
After a few hours exploring Fort Steele we headed off to try to make the last ferry from the East side of Kootenay Lake to Balfour where my parents lived. As we traveled the dark windy road we made an alternate plan of where we would park the travel trailer to sleep in if we missed the last ferry of the evening. We made the ferry with two sleeping little boys. The next morning they woke up at Grandma's house. We spent the rest of the week visiting family and friends.
We then headed home after spending 3 weeks on the road: traveling 4885 kms, spending 52 hours in the vehicle, visiting 12 attractions, & enjoying the company of family members in 3 provinces.
Not to be forgotten is the souvenirs they each chose at every location. By the time we arrived home our vehicle was heavier, and our pockets lighter.
The new experiences and information we collected - PRICELESS!
We traveled a lot while they were growing up. Sometimes we spent a little bit of money by staying close to home or camping. Sometimes we spent a lot of money by traveling further away and doing lots of activities.
When my husband and I look back on those trips we have fond memories. We loved introducing our kids to new experiences and new places. Only rarely did we hear "are we there yet?". We took several trips that looked very similar to the one outlined here.
Our boys don't remember the trips the same way we do. Would they honestly have preferred a 'real' vacation? Then again maybe my husband's gravol-sleep trips were remembered differently by his parents.
Making memories - One trip at a time!
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***
Sources:
A B.C. museum says it’s preserved the railcar from which Pierre Trudeau gave the finger to protesters, National Post, published August 22, 2016, Retrieved October 15th 2019 from
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/a-b-c-museum-says-its-preserved-the-railcar-from-which-pierre-trudeau-gave-the-finger-to-protesters
Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, Alberta Wow, Retrieved October 15th 2019 from
http://www.albertawow.com/hikes/Head_Smashed_In_Buffalo_Jump/Buffalo_Jump.htm
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Retrieved October 15th 2019 from
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/158/
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Retrieved October 15th 2019 from
http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/index.htm
Travels with Pierre, August 12th, 1982, Railroaders' Nostalgia, Train Orders, retrieved October 15th 2019 from
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?18%2C2791016%2C2791016#msg-2791016
Three Valley Gap, Retrieved October 15th 2019 from
https://www.3valley.com/heritage_resort/roundhouse.htm
Trudeau Gets Asked: 'Why Did Your Dad Give Everyone In Western Canada The Middle Finger?' It became known as the "Salmon Arm Salute.", published 01/27/2017, Huffington Post, Retrieved October 15th 2019 from
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/a-b-c-museum-says-its-preserved-the-railcar-from-which-pierre-trudeau-gave-the-finger-to-protesters
Links:
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/
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