We know what we did last summer

So, we got married last summer. It was a small thing in front of two witnesses and the notary, followed by a dinner with close friends and Chris' family in Montreal. It was nothing big or that special but after being away for nearly 2 years, we were happy to see our friends.

A few days later, we made a decision to drive to Los Angeles where Chris would be starting a new job. We were sick of waiting around. Rather than staying put and then beginning our travels, we decided to make our own momentum to feel like we were stuck in limbo. As we were both working remotely at that point and we couldn't really take time off, we knew we would have to drive on the weekends and hole up somewhere to work during the week. The Labour Day weekend was coming up and we wanted to take advantage of the long weekend and get as much distance behind us, so we spent the night packing and jumped in the car the morning after the decision was made. Our visa was expected to come through shortly so we optimistically figured spend 1.5 to 2 weeks crossing to BC then driving down the coast to LA.

Who knew two weeks would turn into 2 months...

Oh, and it might bear mentioning that I don’t drive. At all. I have navigator duties and Chris would be the solo driver on the entire trip. 

It was the most spontaneous trip I've ever taken and we hardly had time to plan anything. All we knew was that we were driving to LA and we had to stay in Canada until the visa arrived. Then, we could cross the border and rush to our destination so Chris could start his job as soon as possible. We also decided that we would stay in hotels on the weekend as it would give us flexibility with check-in time with the possibility of breakfast on site, and we would stay in AirBNBs during the week to have more space to work and to cook, and to feel a little bit like home. Our knives (which traveled with us to Thailand for 2 years) were packed for easy retrieval. Of course, we also had a handy travel-sized rice cooker, just in case. We packed our travel clothes in one bag separate from the rest, which amounted to 3 more humongous suitcases. Funny how we can pack up our lives in just a mere few hours and stuff it all in a car when we decide to do so, don't you think?

The first 3 days of driving were long and intense. We decided we wanted to stay and work in Winnipeg the following week, so we knew where we needed to get. That meant more than 2300 kilometers of driving in 3 days. The first day started early and we drove uneventfully for 650 km to Sudbury, Ontario. What caught our attention was a tiny town of Mattawa, home of Big Joe Muffraw (we're still not quite sure who he was but his statue was awesome). I also ate Avgolemono which is a lemony chicken rice Greek soup, for the very first time at  Apollo Restaurant and Tavern.

From Sudbury, we went 1000 km to Thunder Bay which is still in Ontario, so we finally realized how huge Ontario really was. With dense fog in the morning and the rain hitting us all afternoon, the drive was not exactly leisurely. Still, it was impossible to miss the green and lush forests and the plentiful water along the road. We saw 2 of the 5 great lakes, Lake Huron and Lake Superior and maybe a thousand other small ones. They were breathtakingly beautiful. That night, we stayed at a gorgeous hotel on the northwestern shores of Lake Superior. The view of the water in front of the hotel was stunning and even though we had to rush out in the morning, we took the time to walk around the marina.

The third day of the drive was to Winnipeg, which was 700 km away. The Manitoba landscape couldn't be more different from Ontario. Where one was hilly and lush, this was flat, so much so that it reminded me of a joke a Manitoban friend told me: "If your dog runs away, you would be able to see it running for weeks." We also drove by several North American aboriginal communities and a couple of trading posts. We stopped to visit a few. 

In Winnipeg, we learned that there was a delay with our visa and it would take longer than we thought, so we unpacked a little more from the car and extended our stay for another week. Sadly, we were both very busy with work so we did not have a chance to visit the city much. The area where we were staying was residential and peaceful and we settled into a routine of work, home-cooked meals and Netflix. 

Rujira