Scope for the Imagination

Post from Liz:

As a lifelong Anne of Green Gables fan (both the L.M. Montgomery books as well as the Megan Fallows series), I couldn't wait to see the beautiful Prince Edward Island.  Our drive in did not disappoint - we sailed in over Canada's longest bridge and headed to the North side of the Island and the region of Cavendish. We puttered through potato fields and over red dirt roads and up and down hills. We passed shimmering lakes, all of which we dubbed the "Lake of Shining Waters", with picturesque farm houses in the distance.  The beach was crowded even at 4 pm (okay, crowded is a relative term), but we all splashed in the waves and read our books and soaked up the end of day sunshine.

We learned a few key PEI phrases - there was "talk of dirt coming" (bad weather on the way) and "Lord Tunder and Jaysus" it did rain and blow.

The weather did not cooperate with my plans to run through fields of flowers - torrential rains and strong winds made us glad we were not camping. We explored a fun used bookshop and tried an all you can eat sushi place.  We briefly braved the weather to walk along the waterfront in Summerside. There was an epic game of Monopoly where Trev cornered the Boardwalk-Park Place strip. Sometimes nature just hands you a down day.

We did make it to the Anne of Green Gables heritage site, sampled raspberry cordial, and enjoyed more drives through colorful countryside. The kids tolerated my randomly quoting entire passages from the move when so inspired.  

Thanks to insider tips we found a lovely uncrowded beach down a red dirt road and braved the clouds and COLD water. 

While I could have happily spent another few days there, my enduring memory of PEI will be the contrasting colors of the green pastures, the yellow wheat fields, the red dirt, and the blues of the sky and waters. Plenty of scope for the imagination (especially when the sun is shining!)

First Stop: Wolfville, NS and the South Shore

On Friday July 30th, our last full day in Vermont, we hosted a lovely family-friendly, fun, free-pile, forage, frolic, and farewell to Vermont friends and neighbors. On Saturday, we cleaned and packed, and cleaned and packed and then...cleaned and repacked.  

We made it to Nova Scotia on Sunday and the kids finally got to see their Nonna and our family from all over. Nonna is recovering from surgery and was so happy to see her grandkids. 

Some of our family at the hospital courtyard. Not everyone was thrilled to be in the picture.

Next, we headed to the South Shore, to stay with some of our family and hit the beach three days in a row. The sun was hot and the water was COLD. We rode the waves and played in the sand with our small cousins. 

After that we traveled back to the Annapolis Valley where dad took the family on an extended roots tour, complete with long stories, "historic sites," and a great swim spot.

 
These first few weeks have felt like our old vacation routines (pre-COVID) - a mix of the busy-ness of hanging with extended family, eating ice cream every day, and catching up with old haunts.  We are slowly unwinding from the craziness of trying to pack out of our lives in Vermont.

The Big Year? What the what?

It all started in the spring of 2021 with a big idea. We were (seemingly) coming out of the worst of the pandemic. Things were opening up again. We had often talked about traveling and living abroad with our kids to show them the larger world. Travel and experiencing other cultures and languages had been so formative to both of us that it only seemed right to share it with our other two favorite people in the world. 

Pandemic restrictions meant we hadn’t been able to cross the border to see half of our family; for a time pre vaccine, we couldn’t even leave Vermont without quarantine on return. Like much of the world we were restless. Over the next few months our plans shifted from a year living in Canada to a few months living in Canada and then a series of adventures and trips. All those things we said we would do one day – the pandemic and illness in our family had given urgency to those plans: the time to do the big thing is now.

As is her wont, Liz started to prepare by reading every book she could on the subject. Clearly we are not the first family to put our life on hold for a year (okay, 10 months) and travel. Most of those travel books start with the WHY of it all. For some this idea is crazy, for others, inspiring.

Here is our why:

• Craving adventure after a few years of lockdown
• Missing family, many of whom we had been separated from for years
• Escaping the political nonsense of the US
• Showing our kids the wider world, exposing them to different cultures and languages
• Enjoying time as a family while our kids still think we are cool
• Taking a mid-life pause from work and reflecting on our paths and goals
• Reassuring ourselves and our kids that you are not stuck on one path and that radical change is okay (if a little scary at times!)

LIZ:

As we planned and reflected, it was important that we all contributed to ideas of where to go. Our initial list was long and detailed but we have (roughly) winnowed it down. Some adventures – like Alaska and Cuba – we may save for another time.

Here is our rough itinerary:

• Nova Scotia for 3 1/2 months with a side quest to Prince Edward Island
• Head down the east coast with stops in NYC and DC to have Thanksgiving with Liz’s mom
• A meander through the South and the Southwest with stops to see friends in Texas and a few other key tourist attractions
• Christmas in Phoenix, AZ with Liz’s Dad
• Head to Costa Rica for a month of surfing, zip lining, Spanish lessons, and volunteering
• Return to the US and continue our journeys through the Southwest and head up the West Coast ending with family in British Columbia and passing through where both children were born (Othello, WA and Victoria, BC)
• Head back east along a northern route, stopping at Wall Drug among other highlights from Liz and Jo’s cross country honeymoon trip back in 2009
• Launch over to Europe for April in Paris, scotch in Scotland, and May in Latvia
• Return home in late May so the kids can graduate with their classes

TREVOR:

When I heard about the big year I thought "oh thats just talk, but when I saw mom reading "journeys of a lifetime"I thought "is this real?"And when we got on the road... "oh no, what are we doing..."

MARGARET:

I remember how this trip began: with a crazy idea to live in Canada for a year. Much like Trev, I didn't believe it at the time. However, as the thought evolved, I really began to wonder. Soon it was official: we'd be going on a trip -- and we'd be going everywhere! (Well, not really, but that's how it seemed at the time.) For a while, my first thoughts weren't the trip itself, but this: How am I going to tell my friends? 

When I finally did tell one of them, she persuaded me to tell others, and soon my whole class knew. But it didn't really seem real until school was out, and even then, it took several weeks for me to fully come to terms with this whole thing. My final weeks of camp came and went; it was almost time. A week of frantic packing later, our black minivan pulled away from the house one last time, and we were off...going, going, going, gone. 

JOHANNES:

I'm excited to travel with this wild and wonderful group of human beings. I love that we can take some time to reflect and decide what matters to us and where we can "put our good, to do the most." I am especially excited to see family we have missed and go on adventures we have always talked about. Carpe Diem!