Canada Trip...

THE HULTGREN'S GO TO
'CANADA'

Day 1….

We woke up in a timely manner; Conner ran off to school to grab his work for while we are away, his teacher forgot to get to him. Bruce was in and out and I couldn’t pack the bags until he got them down, so I tried to get the rest of the house ready while I was waiting. I was packed and ready to go by 10.30, which was pretty good, I thought. Paula arrived at around 11.20 and we packed the car and were off to the airport. We checked in and us with all our bags piled through security, shoes off, laptops out and the two kids, it’s never a fast process. We chilled out and Bruce bought the kids some chips, I found a sports store that was having a Spring weekend sale, yes, it’s officially spring this weekend, so everyone over here uses it to have a sale. Good for us, anyway, I found a Kobe Bryant singlet that was on sale, and wasn’t too expensive without the sale, so needless to say Conner is getting a Kobe singlet for his birthday, amongst other Kobe/Lakers things. We got onto the plane, which was like one of those adds that you see about comfortable flying, we were the cattle in the back. It was a full flight and it was like a zoo. Two hours, peanuts and sodas (which both the boys threw up while landing) later we exited the plane went to the bathroom and washed sicky faces. Don’t know what happened with Conner, Mr Jamieson refused to take his travel sickness tablet, cause he doesn’t like the taste; you can imagine that I wasn’t in the most compassionate of places with him. He doesn’t care; he knows how to use the sick bags and was very proud of it even.

We got out of the airport and caught the bus off site to pick up the car, drove to Rich’s house, arrived around 5pm, right on Bruce’s schedule. Rich made us some dinner, we caught up on all the happenings in Seattle, Deb came home and Brie as well. We sat down and had some dinner and chatted. We were in bed around 11.00, and up again at around 6.00am.

Day 2…..

We had some breakfast, the kids were still kind of half asleep, but they would sleep in the car. We were packed and out of the house by 8.00am and traveling on I-5 North towards the Canadian border.

We were about 30 minutes out of the border town Blane, when yes; Mr. jamieson and his tummy gave us a little surprise all over himself and the back seat. You guessed it; we stopped in Bellingham and went into the gas station to change clothes, tried to clean out the back seat us much as I could. We stopped at a supermarket and grabbed some water and snacks for the morning, decided to go to the banks in Blane. We needed to get some American money out before we went over the border. We jumped back into the car and down the freeway again, we found Blane and turned off just before the border, but Blane I think had all the banks that we didn’t need and none that we did. We went into the US bank and the nice ladies there helped us out.

We hit the borderline and waited with all the other cars etc around 11.00am. We went through the first checkpoint in the car and then parked and went inside to get our passports stamped etc, there was a picture of the Queen on the wall, very weird. We saw car being searched as we walked in, then as we were coming out, the same car had the dogs going through it. It was a nice lesson for the kids to see, as weird as that sounds.

We got in the car and started driving, it felt very homely for some reason, maybe it was the fact that they are in metric; makes it feel a little more like Australia. So we drove down the highway doing 100km and the petrol stations were $1.20 per liter as well as there were a lot of commonwealth names (If you like) there was just a combination of European/English and American. Only a few chain fast food places and not as many chain stores in general as I thought there would be, considering it’s proximity to the US. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we decided to drive into the city and have a look around seeing as how we couldn’t check in for a while. The city itself is amazing; the amount of buildings is incredible it’s almost like a mini New York. The streets are grids like Melbourne; the suburbs that we drove through from the freeway were very much like Brighton area, big homes in little side streets.

We found the bank we needed to and did our visa banking for our appointment, while we were there, I was talking to the ladies and we were chatting about the Easter weekend, I realized that unlike in the US everything in Canada is public holiday like in Australia, so we thought we would get our visas on Friday, now we had to get them on Thursday or it’s in Canada until Tuesday, yes slight panic!!! Then we stopped for lunch at a shopping center, not really in the mood for anything, at this stage I just wanted to check in and get a shower, as gorgeous as the day was, felt blah and stinky. I think Bruce and I had a lot of anxiety going on, even though both of us were very calm about the process and the outcome, invoke the Secret and everything will turn out.

We are staying in Collingwood of all places, sorry everyone, it couldn’t be helped although the address does say Vancouver, the signs on the poles say; ‘Historic Collingwood’ and you know I have pictures. Bruce’s interpretation of Collingwood here is it’s very much last West Sydney, with a huge Asian influence. We checked in and unpacked, the boys checked out the place and chilled out and Bruce and I check emails. I emailed the mothers, sorry mum and Maureen we forgot to call before we left.

We jumped back into the car and up the street there was a Safeway, so we got some food for the next couple of days and checked out some stuff we can’t get at home, like Sausage Rolls and chocolate Royals!!!!! YUM!!!!! So Bruce, Jamieson and I had sausage rolls for dinner, YUM YUM YUM!!!! After dinner the boys went down to the whirlpool for a dip, aahhh, I had some quiet. We were in bed and asleep at around 10.00pm.

The phone rang at midnight (which is never good), it was mum, we had some bad family news….my cousin Karen (who has had a brain tumor) died on Friday. She hadn’t been doing well over the last few months so it wasn’t a surprise to me, but still a shock to the system anyway. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, being over here and all, but Pete, you know I love you guys, if you want to escape the country for a while, I have a bed anytime. Bruce asked if I wanted to come home, I must admit it’s something I had thought about since we’ve been here, but Pete and Family knows that if I was in the country I would be there in a heart beat. RIP – Karen, I will miss that whit that you developed over the last couple of years. Hales, Cheals, Rhys & Sarah love you all. XXXX

(Love you Kaz - R.I.P)

Day 3…..

I woke to today in a bit of a fog really, a big day a head and a big stuff happening at home, we just have to make it to lunchtime and we’ll take it form there. We were up and around early, woke up the boys and all looking spiffy left the hotel at around 9.00am. We had a coffee across the street and walked over to our appointment at 10.00am. We were inside the Embassy for about an hour and a half. Bruce stood in line on the 1^st floor to give them the papers and passports while the boys and I waited on the chairs, then we all went up to the 20^th floor where we were fingerprinted and had a 5 mins interview (literally) with the guys, some of it talking about his holiday to Australia earlier in the year, which always helps your case, we walked out of there very happy and he said that they should be ready by Thursday afternoon. As you can imagine we did the happy dance in the elevator jumped into the car still laughing and dancing. We drove back to the hotel and changed; well Bruce and I did, called Paula and emailed everyone at home. We went out and had McDonalds for lunch (that’s M’s with a little red maple leaf on it, very cool) and decided to drive around town and have a look, we were going to go to the Aquarium but decided to do that Thursday morning. We ended up driving around Stanley Park which is far from a park, it’s more like hectares of almost rainforest, the trees are old and gorgeous, it’s obviously what Vancouver would look like before inhabitance and ALL those buildings. We got lots of pics and video, some gorgeous scenery. While we were there we found out about a fish n chip place so off we went- Fish n Chips for dinner…what a place.

It’s on Denman street which is kind of like Lygon street, only a variety of different stuff not just Italian, there was also souvlaki places, at that point we all really felt a home. Our dinner was yummy, it wasn’t the same as a home, it was a kind of restaurant, but they served battered fish and chips (and they called them chips) and it was soooo yummy and we all left very full. We drove home and I was asleep I think before the kids, it was a tiring day, Bruce and the boys were not long behind me. What a day!!

Day 4

Bruce and I woke up with the expected anxiety of the day, it was a gloomy rainy day (as expected for Vancouver this time of year) we woke the boys up and we all got dressed and had some breakfast. We were out the door and in the car off to the Aquarium. The day was cold, but it was the morning and we were going to be inside for most of it. We went in and got our map, HUGE place we started with the big fish tank, then went onto the frogs, went through all the coral and fishes, lots of tropical, cold water, experiments and then ended the morning with the dolphin show and seeing the beluga whale. We walked around for about 3 hours, the kids running from here to there, ‘Mum, look at this’, ‘Dad, come here’. Which was fine accept it meant Bruce and I really didn’t get to see the Aquarium at our own pace. The dolphin show was good with the accept ion of the rain that decided to come down half way through the show. By this time the boys were getting hungry and we had seen everything so we decided it was time to go and get some lunch.

We left the aquarium and made our way to the Embassy, it was raining, we got there about 45 mins early, we parked on the street and Bruce ran to the Embassy and stood in line with at that stage about 20 people. The boys and I hung out in the car watching the clock; it was after 2.30 when Bruce came walking up the street in the rain, flashing the passport with a HUGE smile on his face. The boys and I did the happy dance in the car; the car must have been jumping, very funny. As you can imagine our spirits were high, now we just had to see if we could get home any sooner. We got back to the hotel and the boys did some homework and Bruce got on the phone and tried to change our flights, we could get on the flight but it was going to be $400, so we decided to just go with the original plan.

We chilled out and came down from our good day, after dinner the boys all went down to relax in the whirl pool, but it was too hot, so they weren’t down there for too long, Jamieson’s face was red for the next hour….. We had some dinner, Bruce and Jamieson had another sausage roll fix before we left. The rest of the night was chilling out and we were all in bed fairly early.

Day 5

We were up, packed, had some breakfast and checked out around 9.30. We drove through the city for the last time, took some last minute footage and made our way to the border. The radio said that it was going to be a 2 hour wait to get through so we decided to stop just before and grab some snacks for the boys, weren’t sure when we were going to able have lunch over the border.

We got a little cheeky and went down the emergency lane and jumped a lot of cars, got into line when we got around the corner and sat with everyone else. 40 minutes later we crossed the US/Canadian border but another 20 mins we were asked to park the car and take our passports inside. I think it was just cause it wasn’t Canadian or US, but the line was out the door. Start of the Easter weekend, so it wasn’t the best time to go through. We waited in line for about 45 mins; there was an Australian couple that was living in Vancouver in line so we had a chat with them until they were called up. I did get to see an American guy argue with a customs guy, then we he walked off on him cause he wasn’t listening to what he was telling him what to do and to go to the back of the line, he got pissed off. What kind of an idiot argues with a customs official. Then they processed our passports and we were on our way.

We stopped for some lunch in Bellingham about 1 hour from the border in a shopping center, had a walk around and stretched the legs. We jumped back into the car and made our way to Seattle. We arrived and got into a little Friday traffic, we found a nice hotel with comfy bed beds and checked in. The boys had the usual take away and Bruce went to the restaurant next door and we got some yummy tomato bisque soup.

We all had an early night, absolutely exhausted…

Day 6

We were awake at around 7.30 (far too early for our liking) we woke the boys up, and as usual, Conner was in a mood (never wake Conner up) so he pretty much sat through breakfast saying he wasn’t hungry. Then, as we were about to leave decided that the bagels looking at him were just too yummy and started to eat.

We came back from breakfast and chilled out, the boys went to check out the spa and I packed and watched a bit of TV. We packed the car and checked out around 11.00am. We drove into Seattle and parked the car. We walked over to the Space Needle entertainment park and walked around, we were going to go up but the line was Huge so we decided not to worry, it did faze the kids so that made it an easier decision. They just wanted to run around after being cooped up for the last 5 days…. so they ran and ran…..

We jumped on the monorail and rode into the City for some lunch, Bruce had a chat with a family form Glen Iris, over for a holiday and meeting friends from Canada who were driving down. We walked back to the park and the boys wanted to run around the fountain, but brain surgeon, Jamieson ran through it and got saturated, which was pretty funny, but he still got into trouble as he had to wear those clothes for the rest of the day and on the plane home. We drove down the freeway and found the car place, dropped the car off took the shuttle to the airport. We checked in and took the security line; we got through and sound our seats. Jamieson did some homework, Bruce took a walk, Conner played his game boy and I lay on the seat like a zombie. The plane wasn’t full so Conner and I got a row, as did Jamieson and Bruce. We landed feeling very up beat; it was soooo good to be home. We were dancing around waiting for Paula and Steve, they arrived and we all piled in the car, the closer we got to home and more exhausted I got.

My girl Paula made our beds up for us and they left, we all went to bed, very quietly and it felt sooo nice. As Bruce said, “it may be a crappy bed, but it’s ours’. What a fantastic sleep!!!!! So we returned legal and exhausted, can’t say it was a holiday, more of a trip to somewhere different with anxiety.