What have we been up to?

 

It has been a while since I last posted. Almost eight months, to be more accurate. And not due to a lack of activity since we returned to Canada; quite the contrary, in fact.

Before we returned home, we knew that going back to our old life in Vancouver was something that neither one of us wanted so we made the decision to move east, to Ontario. Upon our return, we saw friends and family, tied up loose ends, sifted through all our belongings that were stored in my old bedroom at my parents’ house, packed everything in my little Hyundai Elantra, and hit the road again within three months.

 

We stayed on the Trans-Canada Highway since that took us along the main cities and sites, and was the quickest way to our destination. We still got to enjoy stunning views along the way and since I carried all our load in my car, our resident rider certainly enjoyed riding a much lighter bike than what he rode throughout Latin America.

 

Our first major stop was at Banff National Park, Canada’s oldest national park, located in the Rocky Mountains. It is known for glaciers and ice fields, alpine landscapes, and coniferous forests. Lake Louise is quite possibly the park’s most popular spot as it was packed with tourists and it wasn’t even high season yet. But who can blame them? The glacial lake is simply stunning with its vibrant turquoise colour, courtesy of the rock flour carried into the water from the melting glaciers overlooking the lake. It was still partly frozen when we visited, but it was still nothing short of magical.

 

After Banff, we took highway 93 to Jasper National Park, which is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies and is also known for glaciers, ice fields, and pretty blue lakes. The highway between the two parks is, quite possibly, the most picturesque one we have travelled on so far. Gorgeous landscapes of snow-capped mountains in the backdrop while coniferous trees in shades of green, red, and amber lined the highway.

About an hour from Banff was Bow Lake, a relatively small lake that was still a beautiful place to stop and have an overpriced little lunch (30 CAD for two basic sandwiches and two cans of pop) because we didn’t think to pack snacks (ALWAYS pack snacks).

 

A little over an hour more of continuing along the way was the Columbia Icefield, the largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains. It is a majestic site, but we didn’t do more than take a picture from across the street as we didn’t have the time to take a tour.

 

Jasper was, to our delight, less touristy than Banff, but still quite lovely. The town is small and quaint, and the park has no shortage of beautiful and serene spots to spend an afternoon. After basking in all the beauty of the Canadian Rockies, we were much less sad about skipping Patagonia during our stint in South America.

 

After Jasper, we went to Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta and home to North America’s largest mall,  the West Edmonton Mall. There’s nothing else really noteworthy in Edmonton. I guess this is why other Canadians have nicknamed the city Deadmonton? Someone please enlighten me.

Calgary was our next stop and a much nicer and livelier (and pricier, at least for parking). We had a low-key day visiting the the Calgary Tower and the downtown area.

 

Many people had told us that the scenery after Calgary gets bland, and unfortunately, they were right. From then, our trip was about the destination instead of the journey.

We did stop along the way in Moose Jaw to get picture of Mac the Moose, the world’s largest moose statue. It was surpassed in 2015 by The Big Elk statue in Norway. Some height was then added to Mac the Moose to reclaim its title and the Norwegians responded by stating that they will not give up the fight. When we saw Mac the Moose, his antlers were missing. Perhaps to be replaced by a bigger one to help him keep his throne? Nonetheless, this whole ordeal is quite amoosing (sorry, couldn’t help myself).

 

Our next stop was in Regina, the capital of the province of Saskatchewan and a much nicer city than we were expecting. We did a bit of tourism, visiting the Government House and the Legislative Building, both of which were great places to take in some Canadian history and impressive architecture.

 

We got quite a bit of bad weather over the next few days so, unfortunately, we were not able to do much exploring, including in Winnipeg where we had rain the whole time.

After two weeks of travelling, we made it to our new home province. Yup, we had travelled all this time to only get about halfway across the country. Pro tip: don’t try to travel across Canada during a short vacation and expect to have time to see things.

 

Another week of travelling across the province brought us to our last touristic spot before we got to our new home – Niagara Falls.

The Niagara Falls consists of three waterfalls straddling the border of Canada and the United States, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America (up to 168,000 m³ a minute) and a vertical drop that exceeds 50 meters.

How would we compare Niagara Falls after visiting the Iguazú Falls in South America, you ask? Well, about the same way as we would compare the Chihuahua of a socialite and the English Mastiff of a lumberjack, I say. While the Niagara Falls are minuscule (and, frankly, a bit underwhelming) in comparison to the Iguazú Falls, the area is much more developed with numerous stores, restaurants, and attractions for tourists.

 

Three weeks of travelling later, we finally arrived at our new home! Albeit, at a temporary apartment while we found a more permanent place of our own. After unloading our worldly belongings and spending a couple of weeks getting acquainted with our new surroundings, we made another quick trip, this time to the town that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down (Chicago, for those who didn’t get the Sinatra reference).

 

The main purpose of the trip to Chicago was to visit our friends Tim and Marisa, whom we met in Mexico and travelled a good portion of Central America with. They are continuing the adventure so we wanted to see them before they took it to Africa.

 

We had a great few days with our friends that included a lot of laughter, reminiscence, and ice cream. Plus, we really liked Chicago and wouldn’t hesitate to visit again.

 

After returning from Chicago, the next few months got quite busy with me starting work full-time and the two of us apartment-hunting and getting all the administrative mambo jumbo of moving to a new province taken care of, and then moving into our new apartment and getting everything set up from scratch since we’ve been living the nomadic life for the last two years and didn’t own any furniture or household supplies. We are now back to the daily grind, working during the days, having quiet dinners in the evenings, living in a place that feels like home, with routines and bills and grocery lists, and you know what? We don’t hate it. Perhaps it is the comfort of familiarity?

 

Don’t get me wrong, the 19 months that we spent on the road, travelling through the Americas, was the most incredible thing either one of us has done. It was a dream come true. We had become accustomed to the unexpected; we were regularly faced with not knowing what the terrain will be like, what the weather beholds, what we’ll see along the way, what we’ll eat, or who we’ll meet. With all the helmet hair, aching limbs, weather extremes, and bad roads, it was worth it and a memory that we will cherish forever.

But the thing with long-term travel is that at some point, that becomes routine and you start to get disenchanted with everything that once fascinated you. By the time we reached Buenos Aires, we were ready to get back. We did experience a bit of reverse culture-shock during our first couple of months back by accidentally saying things in Spanish in stores and restaurants, and getting way too excited with the variety of food at grocery stores. And Thai chili peppers; how I missed those spicy little magic pods!

Chili peppers aside, since our relationship worked so well over the last few years, even during the most stressful times, we decided to get the government involved and got married! I know, way to take the romance out. But it really was special and intimate, and we celebrated with an amazing dinner and great wine. Romance reinstated 🙂

As far as travelling goes, we are happy with where we are and what we’re doing at the moment and we don’t have any plans to travel on the same scale as our trip through the Americas in the near future, but we still have a long list of places on our bucket list 😉