I’d been living in Ontario for about 7 years; came for a Master’s degree and was too lazy to move back… until I got offered money lol. I have a job at the Victoria Conservatory now, and because I wanted to keep my stick-shift Honda Civic, I decided to drive there. Tharash came along to see more of Canada and take pictures and carry things, and it would have been a lot more difficult without him so it was really fantastic that he was able to come!

Tharash arrived on Saturday night after work, so Sunday after work we went to Niagara Falls because what better time to see them than when I’m still in the general vicinity? It was a bit of a grey day but they were still pretty amazing! I was excited because it’s been 19 years since I was there. We bought a couple postcards of the Falls in sunlight, too. We were a bit too late for the boat tour, so we went to the Museum of Really Stupid People who tried to jump the falls in wacky contraptions instead. It was exasperating.

(click for larger on all photos)

He brought me a Dutch chocolate letter for Sinterklaas, and he said he would have made me sing for it as was traditional, but I did a lot of singing in the car and I didn’t know the traditional songs anyway. Heheh.

On Monday everything got picked up by the movers, we packed the car and cleaned the house, had sushi at my favourite sushi place.

By the way I need to plug Tony’s Chocolonely, Tharash brought some for people we stayed with. ‘S good chocolate.

Tuesday morning we set out in good weather; before we hit Toronto something dinged my windshield hard enough to make my ears ring, but when I stopped at the Cambridge On Route to take a look (and for lunch), there was only a tiny scratch. It must have been a piece of metal off the dump truck in front of me, or something?

After we passed Toronto, we put the iPod on and by chance the most appropriate song came up:

This day involved a bit of time traveling; we began in mid fall, with yellow and red trees, but as we got further north, we saw more trees in late fall, and about a half-hour out from Sudbury we saw a bit of snow on the ground. We had a couple of the Girl Guide cookies, that one of my students (a Girl Guide) gave me, as snacks; during this trip, Tharash was very good at thinking about having a cookie at about the same time that I’d ask for one.

We ate dinner in Sudbury, at a Fionn MacCool’s pub; he had shepherd’s pie and I had some sort of pastry with chicken and bacon and leek and kale (the pastry was the best part). Sadly, we did not see the Sudbury Nickel; I must have missed it while going into town for gas and food.

After that it was still several hours to Sault Ste. Marie, where we were staying the night, and it was pretty dark by the time we arrived, not to mention it was raining steadily. It was probably the most tiring day, all told. Not just from the hours of driving, since Friday was the longest day and the driving was more difficult on Saturday night, but still dealing with the emotional strain of moving on top of a day of travel. The view from our window was at a bit of an angle, so while Tharash took a picture, we didn’t throw rocks at the US, Florian. (but we’re still grateful for the rooms, thank you!) One thing that happened every night was that Tharash had to carry my PC tower in from the car to safety. I didn’t trust my PC with anyone but me!

Wednesday was a much shorter day, as we were only going as far as Thunder Bay. Passing along the north shore of Lake Superior, we saw some really spectacular views and for the first time I felt like driving to BC was 100% justified. It’s wonderful to come over a curving hill in the highway and see a ~*Vista*~ open before you!

We got gas in Wawa, which marks the first time I’ve ever used a full-service gas station (very confusing to me, tbh) and I got a picture in front of the goose, which almost matches the one I got 19 years ago! It was a bit colder and rainier than then, I think. ; )

We were actually in Thunder Bay before the sun set, and there was a kitchen in our room, and a grocery store across the parking lot, so we made fajitas (from an Old El Paso kit, and we used tofu, but hey they were still tasty and more fun than eating out)!

Thursday we got up pretty early because we wanted to try and be in Winnipeg in time to do things, and we didn’t do all the things, but we did some of the things, which is an acceptable outcome. I forgot to get gas in Thunder Bay proper, so we got it in Kakabeka Falls which was where we saw snow falling – though there were barely clouds over us! The area after that was quite snowy and very pretty, but the highway was still very good.

Kenora had barely any snow, but we stopped for a lunch break in a parking lot that almost had a view of the lake with the hospital at one side. Coming back from a quick walk to actually look at the lake, we saw a small animal that went into hiding too quickly to take a picture; it looked too small to be an otter and too big to be a ferret, but it was long and lithe and dark brown, almost black.

Crossing the border from Ontario to Manitoba, it became very apparent that the landscape was changing. It had varied over the last few days, from the slightly rolling hills of Southern Ontario to the lumpier craggier passage across the Shield, but now the highways were nearly flat and long and straight, and there were fewer pines and more birches. As we left the trees behind, we also left the clouds behind.

Coming into Winnipeg, we had wanted to go to the Human Rights Museum. I’d been for a short time and wanted to go back; however, we couldn’t find ANY signs for it and I’d neglected to look up directions beforehand. Thanks, Winnipeg. But we went around Confusion Corner… and it was confusing, so we accidentally went through downtown and saw the legislature before we ended up at my friend Michael’s place. It being too late to visit the Museum before they closed anyway, we went to his church so I could play a bit of organ, reprising what I’d learned for my mini-recital on Sunday. His organ was built for French Romantic, so the Duruflé was absolutely glorious on it.

Then we went to a café called Stella’s for dinner, where Tharash got to try some tourtière! (I did not feed him poutine at any point because I’m not sure you can get proper poutine outside of Montréal >.> ) We stayed at Michael’s that night, and we giggled a bit when we heard him and his wife calming down their baby daughter to sleep… with the Complete History of the Soviet Union. Thanks for letting us stay over!

Friday dawned cold and snowy, and driving out of Winnipeg was a bit sketchy, but eventually we got into the open prairies where there was less snow. It’s not quite as flat as the Netherlands, but the land variations are very long and sweeping. By this time we were out of Girl Guide cookies and into the home-baked chocolate chip cookies. We stopped for dinner in Swift Current, where it was snowy and slushy and rather icky. We went in a Walmart to replenish our lunch supplies and I made the mistake of buying a carton of eggnog without fully reading it – it turned out to be coconut eggnog, which might be great for lactose intolerant people, but for non-lactose-intolerant people it’s disgusting. 0/10, not recommended. I was pretty tired in Swift Current, but after dinner I felt better and the weather was good in Medicine Hat.

Saturday we began by heading to Drumheller because why would you not if you’re in Alberta, and marveled at how the flat heights of the prairie abruptly give way to the Badlands. While we did not have time to hike around and see the hoodoos, it was a lovely day and we would have if we hadn’t had to move on. As it was, we spent three hours in the museum because it was so interesting! And he bought a dinosaur shirt, and I bought dinosaur cookie cutters.

Calgary is surprisingly well hidden in the folds of the prairie for all that it’s freakin’ huge. We really only caught a glimpse of downtown from the highway before we were whisked away towards the mountains. They got awfully loomy very quickly.

Castle Mountain was wreathed in cloud and looked properly like a castle! There were also a number of wildlife bridges.

Then we went to Lake Louise, which is just as beautiful in winter as in summer. A wedding was having a photoshoot there, and I felt a little sorry for the bride with her sleeveless dress (but not too much, she picked the dress I’m sure). It was freezing, and slippery.

The rest of the drive to Revelstoke was very foggy, and being unfamiliar with the twists and turns of the road, I went quite slowly and was passed many times by shipping trucks. This was also the time when I discovered that while the road is basically downhill from Calgary, going uphill in a loaded car is nigh-impossible for me to accelerate. Maybe it’s just Mandy, my car, she’s from 2003. Revelstoke had the highest gas prices I’d seen on the whole trip – $1.49.9 – so it’s a good thing I accidentally missed the turn-off to get gas the next day and had to get it somewhere else.

After that, the next place we stopped was Kamloops where we had lunch and saw a really gorgeous double rainbow!

Then I decided to take the scenic route down to Vancouver, which may have been a mistake for getting on the ferry, but it was certainly not a mistake for majestic views. Kamloops Lake was wonderful!

Getting closer to the coast, getting closer to my home turf, getting more excited. We did miss the 5:00 ferry, which meant we’d be on the 7:00 ferry, which meant we wouldn’t get to my parents’ place until 9:00… and it was dark on the ferry… but anyway I made it!

Passing by Beaver Lake I couldn’t remember if it was called Beaver Lake or not, because I’m pretty sure we don’t have beavers on Vancouver Island???? But apparently it is. Anyway, dinner was amazing, with grilled salmon, and my mom bought real eggnog and we ate pepernoten with it.

On Monday morning, Tharash went back to the mainland to take the plane from YVR, so he got to see Active Pass and all the other ferry stuff that he didn’t get to the night previous; I dropped him off at the ferry and went back to practice because I had my first masterclass that afternoon!

Thanks for reading! And big thank you to everyone who supported me and gave me gifts for this move! I really appreciate all of the chocolates and cookies and bath stuff and financial help.