Tofino sunset
Author: Greg
A perfect unplanned day
Anyone who tried to travel by air in the summer of 2022 in Canada will have some sort of horror story to tell. The day before our planned trip to Vancouver Island I received the dreaded text message from Air Canada with a flight cancelation for our flight the next day. In the end, we lost the first day we were scheduled to spend in Victoria, but on the positive side, we at least arrived just in advance of the airport’s rental car location closing so we could snag our car for an extra late night drive to our downtown hotel.
We woke up fresh the next morning, but quite hungry as the previous day’s delays and flight changes left us woefully little time to actually eat en route to Victoria. My wife had picked out John’s Place, a diner a block from our hotel that had an extensive list of gluten-free goodies (waffles!) and while she had done significant research on this place, I knew nothing about it…. until we walked in and I was greeted by this sign. Instantly, I knew this was a good omen for a great day ahead.
Looking back on 2022
This past year was a much more active travel year than 2021. While I didn’t add a stamp to my passport, I was on and off enough planes that even though I didn’t leave Canada, it felt a bit more normal than it has recently. Like everyone who tried to re-establish a travel heartbeat this year, I had my share of delayed and cancelled flights, lost baggage and airport hotels, but it didn’t dampen the fun I had on the road in 2022. Here, in no particular order, are my favourite travel related moments and memories from the past year.
1. Beers with dad – I got out east twice this year to visit my folks, and a good portion of that time was spent in a couple of craft brewery taprooms in Bathurst with dad catching up. These are always some of my favourite times and I’m already looking forward to sitting in this exact same spot at Four Rivers in a couple of months.
Library
When a plan comes together
Through the pandemic a group of our friends started a zoom-hosted wine club where one of us would pick two wines, a few recipes that would pair well, and then we’d get together to eat and drink and stare at the little electronic rectangles of our respective likenesses on our screens as we caught up and laughed. Laughed a lot. During a few of those get togethers, we chatted (as one is apt to do) about doing a real-life wine tasting trip when it was safe to do so again. Fast forward to this May when those wine-soaked plans turned real and landed us in Vancouver to attend the Vancouver International Wine Festival.
My wife and I built a fun and relaxed Vancouver itinerary around the large wine tasting we we all going to. For me, any trip to Vancouver needs to start with a hike around Stanley Park.
The best Calgary has to offer
Calgary has a vibrant craft beer scene, and while I can get some selected beers at home in Saskatoon, it’s always better to visit the source for a taste of their craft at its freshest. I did my research and lined up my visits to a number of craft breweries so I could taste the “best of the best” that Calgary has to offer. This is obviously a subjective list of breweries and taprooms but I highly recommend each of these.
Stop number one, just as an unexpected snow storm whipped through the city for a few hours, was Annex Ale Project. When I arrived, I noticed they had a number of beers on tap from 2 Crows from my old hometown of Halifax on account of a tap takeover event the previous day. I had previously tried all of the 2 Crows so I stuck to sampling a couple from Annex. My favourite was their “Heavy Meadow” (a saison) and I also quite enjoyed the delicious burger from the attached burger joint. Burgers and beer are always a great pairing!
A perfect script
Visits back to see my parents in northern New Brunswick follow a familiar and comfortable script now. A long three hop flight journey across the country. Lots of laughter and catching up. Visiting some favourite craft beer bars with dad. Eating some delicious food. Then some tearful goodbyes followed by the reverse of that long three hop flight journey. Even for a short vacation the travel hassles are worth it to see my folks and to get a greeting like this from their dog, Tia.
A book lover’s dream
I have very fond memories of the opening of the new central library in Halifax, and many, many hours spent within it until I moved to Saskatoon in 2016. Six years here, and I’m eagerly anticipating the construction and opening of a new signature library, viscerally aware of the importance of libraries to the communities they serve. While I have a fondness for my small neighbourhood library just a couple of blocks away from my house, I’m looking forward to the day that Saskatoon has its own shiny new central library.
On my recent trip to Calgary, I took advantage of some very limited down time on a work-related trip and spent a couple of hours touring and experiencing that city’s new central library. Opened in 2018, it is an architectural gem and I was excited for the chance to explore.
Summer patio hopping
My three week summer vacation last year in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia meant there would be ample opportunity to sample liberally from some of the finest craft beers those two provinces have. As the pandemic was still swirling and my comfort with eating or drinking indoors was still at a low point, this craft beer exploration became something of a patio hopping experience. That’s usually difficult to pull off in rainy Atlantic Canada, but we got almost a completely perfect three weeks of weather. I wasted no time visiting an old favourite in Nackawic, my wife’s hometown. This is a taproom that just feels comfortable to me. Big Axe Brewery is located in a beautiful log constructed building just down the street from the world’s largest axe (hence, the brewery’s name).
A long overdue visit, part 3
After a wonderful week in northern New Brunswick with my mom and dad, and a week rediscovering our hometown of Halifax with my wife’s brother, wife and kids, our summer reunion tour of 2021 returned back to New Brunswick for some time with my wife’s parents. A brief pause here for a couple of quirks about our respective experiences living most of our lives in Atlantic Canada. I have never been around the Cabot Trail (that will have to be rectified on a trip back to Nova Scotia at some point) and my wife had never visited the Hopewell Rocks. We decided to tick that one off her list by visiting on a short detour on the way from Halifax to her old hometown of Nackawic.
We checked the tide tables to ensure we planned our visit to coincide with when we could walk out on the floor of the Bay of Funday. We arrived right on schedule for low tide and got a good dose of weather luck with a stunning late summer afternoon to do some exploring.
Bluenose Traveler 