Twelve months, a touch more than 50,000km in the air and lots of trains, cars, buses, and subways stitched together a motley crew of places in this year’s travels – Portland, Paris, Lyon, Beaune, Reims, Montreal, Winnipeg, Atlanta, Halifax, Kelowna, Baltimore, Regina and Boston. The places were all lovely (I might be stretching that a bit for Baltimore), but what will stick in my mind is a series of moments and memories. Sometimes they are about the place, but most often, they’re about something else – people, food, a feeling – the really timeless stuff.

In no particular order, here are my favourite memories from my travels throughout 2017.

1. Crushing pints with Dad in Montreal – Less than two hours after touching down in Montreal, Dad coming in from Halifax, me from Saskatoon, we were in craft beer bar Benelux with a couple of pints on the table in front of us. The sun coming in the window on a late March afternoon was glorious, the beer cold and delicious, but the best thing was simply catching up with Dad as one pint turned into two.

2. Memories of our Expos – On that same Montreal trip with Dad, nostalgia crept up on me at this precise moment – walking into Olympic Stadium for the first time since 2002 and laying my eyes on the baseball field. If I squinted, I felt I could almost see Tim Raines, Gary Carter and Andre Dawson. Standing here, I couldn’t stop smiling thinking of all the good times I’ve had here and what it would be like to spend summer nights watching baseball in Montreal someday in the future.

3. A picnic in Lyon – Unseasonably warm weather graced most of our trip to France in March, including this night in Lyon. A bottle of pinot noir from a small producer in Burgundy and some market finds gave us a great meal as we watched the town congregate in a square outside our hotel as the sun set on the day. The smell of the blooming flowers, the amazing strawberries from Provence, the warm evening air and the wine made us a bit giddy. If there was a moment this year that felt deeply like it could only occur in that one place at that one time, this was it. A perfectly French evening.

4. The best thing I ate all year was a stick of butter in Paris… and I ate a lot of great things this year. That butter was otherworldly – creamy, slightly salty and when lathered on a crusty fresh loaf from the oven in a bistro a few blocks removed from the hustle and bustle of Montparnasse, I swear I could hear angels singing.

5. Random dogs of France – In non-travel related news, 2017 was the year my wife and I adopted Chloe to add a needed furry family member to our household. Prior to that, I was giving all my doggy love to passerby dogs, especially a couple in France. The guy on the left simply rolled over to accept belly rubs on a sidewalk in Paris, the guy in the middle might have been the luckiest dog in the world – he lived inside a crepe place and clearly got his share of floor scraps. Dogs always make me happy.

6. Human rights in Winnipeg – Not all my travel memories from 2017 were easy. On my one free morning in Winnipeg, I visited the Museum of Human Rights and was profoundly touched by the stories, the history and the reflection back, in particular, on my country. I take great pride in being Canadian and being reminded of the atrocities that have and continue to occur in this country I love was an important part of my education this past year.

7. Contemplating the meaning of home in my old home bar – I wrote about it later in the year, but over a quiet hour nursing a beer in what was once my go-to bar in Halifax, I thought about what home means to me. Often travel allows me moments of clarity that I cherish… this was one of them.

8. The first annual tradition on the prairies – I’m an admitted sports fan who until moving to Saskatchewan had just one remaining team left to cheer for (the Philadelphia Eagles) after losing my Expos (see #2) and Nordiques. Moving here last year gave me my own local professional team and a great excuse to spend a summer afternoon every summer in a stadium. This is now an annual tradition I love and the only question is how can I squeeze in more trips down to Regina each season. That the Riders won for our visit in July was icing on the cake.

9. A Baltimore case of “my lunch was better than your lunch” – It gave the butter from France a run for its money for the best thing I ate all year. A bag of steamed crabs, a mini hammer, a stack of napkins and no shame in reeking of crab juice for the afternoon… good times.

10. Lunch with a view in Kelowna – The wine and mussels were outstanding and the view from Summerhill Winery just outside Kelowna was stunning. On a hill above Okanagan Lake on a quiet summer afternoon, we sat on a patio where a calm breeze lent an air of tranquility to the beautiful setting. A moment in 2017 where everything felt at peace.

11. The best pinots – The entire day traveling in Burgundy was wonderful, but the first stop to meet Michel Prunier, tour his family’s facilities in Auxey-Duresses and to sample his wine was the highlight. He was delightful and charming and we learned the story of his family’s history as winemakers and of how he thinks about wine. Of the wines we tried on this day, his were far and away the best. The bottle we picked up here was the one we enjoyed in the picnic in Lyon in #3 above.

12. My mascot encounter of 2017 – I have a not so secret love of mascots, and although I failed to meet Gainer (Riders), the Oriole Bird (Baltimore Orioles), Homer (Atlanta Braves), Blades (Boston Bruins) or Blaze (Portland TrailBlazers) this year, I managed to meet the CocaCola polar bear (remember those commercials?) in Atlanta. He was a nice dude – very different from most other polar bears.

13. Tranquility in Decatur, GA – It was near the end of my trip to Atlanta, and some unforeseen items back at the office in Saskatoon made the personal part of this trip vanish on me. So, after my conference activities wrapped up, I took a train outside the city, and on a stunningly hot and beautiful late afternoon, I grabbed a seat on a patio in the shade, enjoyed a couple of pints, and let my mind wander. It was peaceful, quiet and let me reset and recharge. This is my kind of meditation.

14. Hanging with the family in Halifax – What can I say, if these two (and a few others) were in Saskatoon, it would be perfect. Alas, short of perfection, but hanging out back in my old stomping grounds with the best parents in the world is always good.

15. Arriving back home – Aside from a short work trip down to Regina in December, the Boston/Halifax trip was my last of 2017, but the first in which I returned to our new house. I arrived back in Saskatoon to a winter wonderland, minus temperatures and blue, blue skies. I got bundled up, walked my dog, and loved the fresh air and the sudden onset of winter. Home has been a theme this year, and in those first minutes back in Saskatoon, it felt great to be home.