Now that I got all mushy and apparently scared the jaded cousins, I'll keep things a little lighter (maybe) with some Canada pics and stories :) We left Friday morning, August 15th, and returned to Phoenix Saturday night, August 23rd. My boss almost had a coronary because we were in the middle of preparing for trial, but I managed to get out of work for a week, and even finagled some vacation pay! Dan had told me several times that there were no cell phones or communication with the "outside world" but being the skeptic I only half believed him. Turns out there was no cell reception, no clocks, no calendars, nothing. This was probably the first time in my life I have been in this kind of situation and it was AMAZING. I didn't think about work, my apartment, school, if the neighborhood cats were sleeping in my car, or anything else besides having a great time. We traveled all day Friday and got into Syracuse that night. Rich, Dan's oldest brother, picked us up from the airport and we went out with a friend of his to a real upstate New York bar, which was quite the thrill. There's nothing like being stared down by real grizzly looking old men who have been regulars at that bar forever, and then being kicked out early because the bartender was "tired."
I was abruptly woken up the next morning by a wild animal making all sorts of unintelligible noises. Given the fact that we were in a hotel, I looked around in confusion to see if a raccoon or stray dog had wandered into our room. Nope, turns out it was just my ole' Bear Griz making the first sounds of excitement for Canada. After living the Canadian experience I now understand the basis behind those noises and yelps of excitement, but at the time I was seriously wondering what kind of animal had eaten my boyfriend and taken over his body.
We spent the morning driving and had our first family sighting at the Gander Mountain, where Dan & Rich picked out a lovely "Lady Shakespeare" fishing pole for me. I stumbled across cousin Chris Brogdale (Buckwheat) and Tony the Tiger (fake cousin, pretty much real cousin by now). I had seen pictures of all of them so I recognized the guys immediately. We all picked out our fishing gear and headed on to the Duty Free where the rest of the family was congregating. The Duty Free is the little shop before the border where you can buy products without sales tax. So everyone picked out their favorite case of beer, along with a couple bottles of whiskey for the boys, and headed out to the border. Next stop was the Lakeview where they always stop for lunch and to check when the ice melted that year. It was great finally meeting all these people I had heard so much about. They were exactly as Dan had described them. And so begins the great week of Canada.
I can't really go day by day and give a synopsis from this point forward because the days pretty much all blended together. No time, no agenda, no deadlines, no tasks, no expectations. The only plan is that there is NO plan. That is pretty much how the week went from then on out. Uncle Mark, the crazy fisherman and otherwise eccentric member of the family, was missing this year because of work, and so there were a lot of somber moments from everyone missing his presence. He used to go into everyone's cabins at unreasonable hours of the morning and yell unintelligible things at everyone until they joined him in the fishing boat. So this year, without the Uncle Mark interventions, we all slept in and enjoyed a slow transition into daylight :) Every day we had the island swim... which some people participated in more than others. I finally found something I can easily beat Dan in, which felt pretty good. I was rocking the backstroke, but apparently my navigation skills were a little off and I ended up swimming in the wrong direction most of the time. But, I still managed to beat everyone but Jeremiah so I'm not that concerned about it! After the island swim Rich cleared everyone out of the kitchen and worked up some gourmet breakfasts. I assumed that as the only girl in the cabin I'd be doing a lot of cooking, but as it turned out I was chased out of the cooking area every time I even tried to help. Not a bad deal if you ask me. Then from there we spent our days fishing, taking joy rides on the boat, listening to Radiohead, going on adventures to Blue Lake and Crotch Lake, and anything else you can do in the crisp Canadian air with a beautiful lake in front of you.
Monday night started off the Poker shenanigans, in which the nephews (Chris & Dan) ended up cleaning their Uncle Paul & Bernie's pockets out. We'll just say Dan paid for this year's Canada trip, and possibly next year's, hehe ;) Tuesday night was the real poker tourney at the local bar Northbrook, and he didn't do as well that night, but I think Monday's victory is enough to keep him going all year long! The girls enjoyed playing pool and ordered up some delicious shots like "Oatmeal Cookie" while we watched the guys play poker. Wednesday night was the annual Karaoke night up at the Lancaster's Lodge. Dan & Tony got the night started off right with their usual performance of Bohemian Rhapsody... I will have to post the video of this because it was hilarious. Dan really enjoys exercising his vocal chords and he was definitely in his prime that night. Everyone showed up decked out in crazy wigs and hats and it was a great night... the ending of which will not be discussed in this blog, as I am the content manager... thanks Rich :)
The rest of the week had us getting serious about the fishing contest and we spent almost every possible hour out on the lake in search for MONGO, which Dan happened to catch Thursday afternoon. The fishing contest, in which victory is awarded with the CANADA CUP, is one of the main attractions of the annual Canada trip. Everyone puts their money in the Canada cup at the beginning of the week to compete in two categories: "Bass" and "Udder" (a.k.a. other, if you prefer to call it that). The Canada cup has a lot of history... apparently Uncle Bernie found this broken coffee mug at a junk store and brought it along to Canada, where it became the most sought after broken coffee mug in Canada's history! So Dan reeled in an 18 and 3/4 inch Bass on Thursday and knocked out the competition. He started to get a little too comfortable with his winning streak and was slaughtered the following day by his second cousin Tom, who reeled in a 19 and a half inch bass. We were pretty heartbroken, as the Canada Cup has never seen the west coast... we had even picked out a shelf to display it on. Sigh... there's always next year...
The last night was the awards ceremony and fish fry. The fish was excellent! All week long we ate so well. I think we averaged about 8 meals a day and just went from cabin to cabin scavenging food from random family members. One of my favorite things from the whole trip ended up being the Butter Tarts. They were oh so delicious. Raspberry, blueberry, brown sugar, bumbleberry, strawberry rhubarb... I was a kid in a candy shop for sure. Still every morning I wake up and think, a raspberry butter tart would really be great right now. And then I remember that I'm not in Canada and all I have is raspberry yogurt :( Which will just have to do, until I find myself in Ontario again. They have these little stands lining the streets where they slave away all day making fresh pies and butter tarts. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.
So I ended up cleaning up on all the awards the last night, which was pretty awesome. I got the award for "Woman Overboard" in relation to my little spill off the boat during the day on Friday. I was trying to cast a fish out as bait while standing on the edge of the boat (and obviously not putting 2 + 2 together) quickly went overboard, sacrificing my Lady Shakespeare pole and sunglasses to the lake :( As it turned out, half of the family was out on the lake at the exact time I took a little dive off the edge and witnessed the whole event. It was a pretty special moment for ValDez.
Now to the nicknames, which I have failed to mention previously in this monster of a post. To be a participating member of the Canada week you have to have a nickname. There's Silverback for Uncle Gary, Peach for cousin Stacey, Lala for cousin Laura, Buckwheat or Buckshot for cousin Chris, Tony the Tiger for fake-nearly real cousin Tony, Itchyban for Rich, Bull Frog for Dan's younger brother Jeremiah, Moo Moo for Uncle Paul's girlfriend Tracy, Bern Dog or the mysterious "worm" for Uncle Bernie, my favorite - the "Canasian" for Bernie's girlfriend Susun, and Danimal the Animal for Dan. Dan's nickname was quite controversial this year. After the first day they had a family ruling and changed "Danimal the Animal" to "Danibell" because of Dan's love of taking romantic strolls hand in hand with a certain someone. As Rich stated, "You're only a shell of a man I used to know." LOL... I enjoyed every second of it! They thought it over Monday and came up with "Valdez" for me, which Lori and Stevie D. used to call me in high school, so the name made me very happy :) Then I learned why they were calling me Valdez... as it turns out it was the name of the ship that was involved in the biggest oil spill in U.S. history and one of the biggest environmental disasters of all time. I think Dan enjoyed that a little too much, haha. But I was also called by my runner up nickname, Valkatraz, by many, which Dan also enjoyed... relating that to me being the warden of his prison. So I was known in Canada as an environmental disaster, as well as the cruel prison warden ruining all of Dan's fun :)
Well there is so much more I could write... but it's hard to even tell people what I did in Canada. It was just one of those weeks where you "have to be there" to understand the full experience. A lot of families have reunions and vacations, but this week in Canada - which has been going for 50 years in Dan's family - was a really amazing thing to be a part of. It was more than just a family vacation, it is, as Dan calls it, a RESET for the year, giving everyone there an opportunity to reflect on the way they are living, what goals they want to accomplish for the next year, and also reconnect to family while surrounded by so many amazing views and things to do. I am just honored I was invited into the circle and treated like a member of the family the entire time I was there. Dan & I decided to take the Canadian spirit back to Phoenix and just let life unfold as it does with its surprises and delights from day to day. No more excessive planning and stress... just let the good times flow naturally and enjoy the special moments that come along so unexpectedly. We had a great weekend just listening to music, reminiscing on the trip, talking about life, grilling salmon, and enjoying each other's company. Another added perspective is exactly what I needed at the end of this year's summer. Life is hard... the long days are sometimes rough and wearing. I often wonder, "Am I doing the right thing? Am I living the right way?" But I came away from this realizing that every day that I learn something new and make connections in my own mind and with others, is a good day. All those little discoveries bring me one step closer to a life that is my own, a life that is rich and full of love and laughter. Thanks again to Dan and his family for giving me such an unforgettable and enjoyable experience!
