 |
| Worth the geological peril. |
By Maryanna Gabriel
Driving to Alberta was different this time. I chose an alternate route. Snow had fallen on my more favoured scenic route, #3, and besides which my chosen hotel in Nelson has not survived the Covid shutdown. Then there was the Merit highway - closed due to floods. So I drove the #1, the Trans Canada.
The first thing I noticed was that the Fraser River was dangerously swollen, at one point right to the highway barrier, and trees in leaf were swamped in the fast-moving water. Then there were the issues of the rock cliffs with wire cages holding them together - not exactly reassuring. Geology no longer feels stable as this was the highway that was swept away by floods last November.
As I approached the interior plateau town of Lytton, I remembered the fire from last summer that was so painfu for the town. I could see the burning was extensive throughout the pine-scorched landscape. Every town between Vancouver and Calgary has received funds for roadwork and it was hard to be patient. But I was smart. School was not yet out and I zipped the 600 miles fairly gracefully with one night in a hotel. (The days of driving in one go are long gone. Too hard on the body.) Strangely, there was not a cherry in sight so I had to come to my family empty handed. Where have all the cherries
gone? Every fruit stand was closed.
It was worth the geological peril to touch base with my family. Traveling right now is so chaotic; everybody seems to be moving around at once. Coming home was much easier as it was a Sunday - no roadwork and not much traffic. I was fascinated by a train snaking its way through the canyon with a striking design on the side. It was then I realized it was the famous Rocky Mountaineer, a luxury ride from Vancouver through to the Rockies.
 |
| Rocky Mountaineer |
I started talking to my phone, another first as I needed help with distances and weather forecasts. And feeling a little bored I asked questions like did Siri like me?
"I am your assistant and your friend," Siri replied.
Okay. A new friend. We got along great, especially when I could not remember how to get through Vancouver, Siri all of a sudden decided to give me directions which I badly needed.
Siri had also been helpful in my capacity as a grandmother in Calgary, I had the phone with me as I put my grandsons to bed, their parents being out for an anniversary dinner. All of a sudden Siri announced, "I don't have any apps for that." What? We were all a little startled by this random pronouncement. I asked Siri to read my grandsons a bedtime story. So Siri did. It wasn't too bad. All firsts.
Then returning on a spanking new ferry, I rode the Salish Eagle. Our old, Queen of Nanaimo has been shipped off to Fiji. Another first. I feel so much more cosmopolitan, now. Gotta get off Salt Spring Island more often. But it was good to come home to all the green.