Vacation Reflections

In a testament to modern technology (or human engineering), we managed to pack in all sorts of stuff into our car and drive up to Canada, including swim gear, clothes, sheets and towels, games and books, bikes, and food.

Traveling is not a simple thing when you've got kids along for the ride. Now that we are back from the Great White North, we are re-acclimating to our lives back in Vermont and getting back into the swing of things. It seems like so long ago that we were away, even though it's only been two days.

We had a wonderful trip up to Canada, and I think it's the first time that we've spent any amount of time up there as a family. It was a mellow week, and I was a bit concerned that the kids would go stir crazy, but they did an amazing job of playing together and entertaining themselves while mom and dad basically ate, slept, read, and took long walks.

The cottage was really nice, though a bit awkward since I think it's the owner's Winter chalet and basically their home. Because of this, I felt a little uncomfortable making myself at home because their stuff was still there, including clothes in drawers and food in the kitchen. However, because of this, the place also had the basic necessities for living, sparing us the need to buy all these things at the store. Food was expensive up there.

The trip was nice also because it only took about 2.5 hours to get there, and what a beautiful drive it was. You can take Route 5 all the way up there, beginning from our house. I personally prefer this more scenic route, but it takes longer, and at some point the kids start to voice their discontent, so we ended up finishing the last half on the highway. Somewhere around St. Johnsbury the foliage simply becomes amazing, I'd never seen anything like it, and continues all the way to Canada. Gorgeous.

Getting through the border was a breeze. We had brought a bunch of food with us, a tactic we employed going to Cape Cod, and it saves a lot of time and expense having food the moment you land. Also, it's a bummer when you have to buy things like salt and pepper. We were going to bring eggs and fresh fruits and veggies, and even frozen meat, but we worried about getting the stuff across the border, which turned out to be unfounded because, as true to their character, the Canadian border guards were really friendly and didn't give us any hassles. It seemed more involved coming back into the US, but that could be just my impression.

Either way, we got to the cabin in no time. The trip really was a breeze, and the cottage was a lot of fun to explore and stake out a claim for sleeping space. The place was impressive in terms of the engineering prowess required to build it. It was literally perched on stilts on top of big rocks, and was it ever extensive. They really made use of their limited space. I think there were 5 bedrooms, including a loft space that easily slept 4 people. The rooms were a little cramped, but it was a cottage, after all, and being the real-man in training that I am, could see that a fair amount of money was put into building it.

The cottage was literally right next to the a big ski resort, and I couldn't help but marvel at how nice it must be to have a house on a lake that is also next to a ski hill. The best of all worlds. The weather was not so great, but not poor enough to spoil our time there. While the sun shined for maybe a sum total of 5 hours, they were a great 5 hours. Plus, the weather was on the warm side for several days, and we took walks and explored the area on bike.

I've really learned that it's not where you are, but who you're with and what you do when you're together. This fact has taken me years to discover, being the grouchy cynic that I am, but somehow when I'm with my family, it really doesn't matter where we are or how bad the weather is, we always manage to have a good time. At the very least, it affords us a great deal of family time together, which I've concluded is not what many families want when they go on vacation.

The owner of the cottage was super nice and indicated that it was warm and sunny the week before (You should have been here last week!), but no such luck for us. That meant that we weren't as enthused to jump into the lake, or for that matter, get wet in any shape or form. The lake, however, is beautiful. We had a great time just watching nature transpire before us, watching loons and gulls fly by. In fact, there was a bird feeder on the porch that we really got into, and when the seeds ran out, we went on a mission to the town just to refill it.

That is emblematic of how we travel. We don't always do these amazingly thrilling and exciting things, but enjoy time together doing, of all things, watching birds. The kids really get into it. In fact, they are really good at entertaining themselves, and I have to applaud how well-behaved they are, for the most part. Sure, they get crazy and worked up like all kids, but they do so well, especially in public.

At one point N even said this was the best vacation he'd ever been on, and we spent a great majority of it nestled in our cottage, watching the lake. What was really fun was the kids took a real interest in karate, which I was practicing during the day. We had a great time practicing katas and I really enjoyed teaching them the basics, hoping that one day they will join in the fun. The next morning A was out on the deck, practicing on her own. It was too cute for words.

Another thing we enjoyed was riding our bikes. We brought the kids bikes along and used the two adult bikes owned by the cottage. Combined with the amazing staircase that connects the cottage to the road, I really began to realize how out of shape I've become. It was a brutal wake up call to get out and sweat a little more. The store is about a mile away, though a bit hilly and challenging for an out of shape slob as myself. The kids had fun riding out in front of us and reminding us of this fact.

The local store brought back a lot of memories for R, and I think it meant a lot to her to re-connect and see a part of her childhood. The owners have been running the place for over 60 years, and they remember R's family, who used to own a cottage right next to the one we were staying at. What are the chances of that?

We took a couple of drives into the small town of Mansonville, which is just slightly bigger than where we live, and one day we went to Magog, which is the big city up there and kind of happening. A little bigger than Hanover, but not as upscale, and so very French.

Speaking of French, R and I were talking about how we'd love to spend more time up there in Quebec, maybe even on a regular basis, just to get more practice speaking French. They are so good at being bilingual, though not quite as adept at English as they were in Montreal. In fact, I ran into several people who didn't speak any English and I had to break out my French, which is passable. I recall in Montreal that they can flip-flop between the two effortlessly.

Now that we've done it and found it to be doable, we may very well make a trip up to Canada a regular thing. We really had a lot of fun because it was foreign enough to make it interesting, but not so much to overwhelm us. The language is the biggest thing. Personally, I'd like to go up there in the Winter and do some skiing with the family. I think the lake would be beautiful in the Winter time.

Plus, I like the idea of the kids to have Summer memories of being by the lake, something R had growing up, or even time by the ocean, perhaps in Cape Cod. Speaking of oceans, one night we watched Endless Summer 2, one of the greatest surf movies ever made, and the kids got all excited and pumped about learning how to surf. How cool is that? Something we are going to have to look into, I would love for them to be surfers.

As I mentioned, the place, and for that matter, the entire area, was somewhat rustic, which made it ideal to slow things down and just enjoy each other's company, at least until we drove one another crazy. With no internet, I couldn't blog, and instead slept an amazing amount and cooked and ate and read. How awesome is that? I literally slept about 8 hours and then took at least 2 naps every day. I was in heaven, and surprisingly had no problems falling asleep at night. I think I've run up huge deficits in my normal (?) every day life.

Okay, I don't want to bore you too much, so I'll sign off here. There is so much more to tell, but I may have to save it for another time. One final note is that one of the reasons I for one really enjoyed this trip was because we got to do what I find most rewarding about about travel, and that is experiencing a place as the locals might. Granted, it was a cottage by the lake, but there were no fancy resorts or loud places to keep the kids occupied. It reminded me of Europe in a way, less technology and hype and instead, a simpler approach to life. It takes getting used to at first when you're plugged into modern life, but that's the whole point of taking vacation, right? It reminds you to appreciate the little things, like time together, and killer loaf of fresh bread with every meal.

Until the next time, thanks for reading