a very short trip
I just drove my “middle” daughter back to Vancouver for university; she had been in Jasper working for the summer. We chose the route which takes us through the “Fraser Canyon” which follows that river after the North Thompson joins it, and it courses down to Vancouver area (what we call the Lower Mainland). I don’t wish to be cliché, but the views are breathtaking and majestic.
There was another reason to travel that way, rather than “going down the Coquihalla” (which is a freeway through a different canyon, basically): my daughter rode her BICYCLE that route, last year. So I was able to see where she camped, and see what she saw, and hear of her struggles up certain long climbs in her mountainous journey. I was able to “worry” in retrospect, knowing more of what she experienced, and that is a mother’s prerogative; however, I also wish that I had had such an adventure in my youth! It makes me recall some of the smaller adventures and misadventures that I DID have, but today is not the day for writing about those.
I’m going to paste part of a letter that I’ve just written to my daughter, in order to SHARE more quickly; I need to get going with some tasks around this home and garden.
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(excerpt) … It was my honour to drive you to school. I was talking with Shelly on the phone last night and expressed regret that I hadn’t done more for her or for Kim during their days of moving-back-and-forth-from-college. Seems like they always DID find, and HAD TO find, their own solutions because of my lack of funds mainly. It all swims into a blur in my memory, but bothers me, though Shelly said not to give it another thought.
Because I took the Coquihalla back, it takes a concerted effort to drive INTO Merritt, and I found myself bypassing the town. I thought to myself “… oh, well, I’m still in great shape/ wide awake…”. So I drove to Kamloops, intending to stop at one of the “nice” Rest Areas, not really remembering where each one was. Shame on me… I was nodding off while driving at that point (2 AM), and stopped at a Husky service station just on the north side of Kamloops, and slept in the truck under the bright yard lights, with the semis idling nearby all night. I was comfortable, you know, but extremely cold after awhile; I started the truck in order to warm up about 5 AM, then shut the engine off and slept for almost 2 more hours.
By that time I felt very refreshed and fueled the truck, bought coffee, and headed out. Guess where I had a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast? At the Flower Meadows Bakery in Clearwater! It was every bit as charming as people described to me (gives me a FLASH of something I could see myself building/ DOING with my life and what the Beanery in McBride SHOULD HAVE been). However, it was NOT hard to find, except that I tried a number of obscure back roads FIRST, since people had implied it was down “little-used” roads, etc.. Turns out it was about a city block …. from the INFO centre !! Geesh. Not hidden or difficult to find.
I had intended to go into Kamloops to shop in clothing consignment stores or even Aberdeen Mall, but I decided that I didn’t want to wait over 2 hours more for stores to open. I’m getting so “bushed” in a way, Susan… everything I need is right here in the Robson Valley. I probably wouldn’t have even said that before we had INTERNET, but now that makes the world seem a smaller place, and there’s eBay, email, Sears online, etc.. One day perhaps, I’ll make a big adventure day to Prince George for some things I need for the kennels, and I MUST make a pilgrimmage to Calgary this fall, also.
I wanted to let you know something that Shelly mentioned: this is something I must have ONCE known but had forgotten. Your grandparents Cousineau MET AT THE COLDWATER HOTEL in Merritt. That would’ve been 50 years ago. Had you even been told that? I kind of knew the basic scenario of their meeting, but not the name of the hotel. I was probably TOLD this, but when I first heard the story, the whole of central B.C. was mostly unfamiliar to me. ANYwayyyy, that might be a conversation starter for a future visit with Granny, eh ?
I should run. It was just nice to share that time with you. I love you like crazy.
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Time to get on with my day. Thank you, my readers, for popping in. I wish I could serve coffee and cheesecake to you all, or my best effort of a MEAL. Perhaps ONE day !
~Ann
