Ehlana and Ethan:
This is another drive-time update; and we’re moving from Grand Falls, New Brunswick to Quebec City, Quebec – the Capital of that Province. Maybe we should have mentioned that kind of detail before getting to our fourth province; since Halifax, Charlottetown, and Fredericton are also Provincial Capitals. Quebec is one of the largest provinces, so to be fair to ourselves; there is more government and political power in Quebec – and Ontario. We aren’t there yet; and those stories will wait for after we live the adventures. As for our time in Grand Falls; let’s start by conceding that their natural wonder is bigger and better than our hometown falls! They do not have a witch statue, but they do have a hydroelectric dam to go with the falls that are definitely bigger and better than ours; and they have an amazing gorge with spectacular views. While we fit in a total of three work events, we also tried out the zip line over the gorge; we toured around the dam, falls, and gorge; the local art gallery was interesting; and we tried out the local go-carts. Add in more amazing local cuisine and we’ve really enjoyed our time in Grand Falls. I’ll also add that it is a larger town than Witch Falls – about four times the size, but it still felt like a small town with summer tourism like we have; so it felt a bit like home for us as well as being culturally-different and interesting. Finally, as we leave this chapter of our travel adventures behind, we went to a church service; and have decided not to offer details beyond stating that not all churches or Christian organizations are the same as our church at home; and we really don’t want to add anything else about that experience.
While we’ve been busy and having fun, we have also missed a good day at home. The Ayres are going to be hosting a second, smaller camping night in their back yard tonight; and we should add to that story that there are still Johnson clan cousins staying for a second week; so bonus adventures are ongoing too. Today, along with the morning church service, their top adventure was a group canoe trip to the whirlpool; they took a picnic lunch along; and are at the late buffet at the Inn as we write this update. We’ve been told by cousins that they are going to have a campfire tonight to go along with the camping; and that works for another comment to offer about our trip.
Cassie and Michael have had a wide range of accommodations for their work trips, but with six teens along for this adventure; we are staying in nice, but comparatively-modest hotels or other options when available – like bed-and-breakfasts or cabins or house rentals. We considered adding in some camping, but that requires a fair bit of time for set-up and tear-down each day; and Cassie and Michael didn’t have that kind of extra time for their work plans schedule. Most of our stops are already set up; so we’re just going along with the plan; and enjoying all of the bonus co-ed sleepovers! ;^)
The drive time to Quebec City is around four hours, but we are going to stop soon for a late dinner; so we’ll be closer to five hours of travel time and we won’t have the opportunity for much sightseeing tonight once there. We can save those stories for tomorrow too; so let’s get to the world news update while we have time before that food stop.
The United States continues to bomb Iran; the retaliations include closing the Strait of Hormuz again; and peace talks in the Middle East are definitely off again. That won’t change because of our next story; and we’ll play nice because we should do that while family and friends are mourning the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham last night. We might have more to write about for this in the future, but not this weekend or soon because that would just be wrong.
Moving on to the Ukraine war, the pressures on the front lines for the Ukrainian forces is horrific and getting worse; the last significantly-fortified towns and cities are falling; and the troops are often being ordered to stay and fight to the death instead of retreating and regrouping. Russia is continuing expanded missile and drone attacks around the rest of Ukraine; there is a definite push to deprive the Ukraine military of energy and the capacity to build new weapons; and the suffering for the people stuck in the middle of the war will continue and worsen while the leaders continue to choose war over peace. That is sounding repetitive to us, and it is, but we also don’t want to skip the reports; since both wars are going to have long-term consequences for the world.
Finally, since we are in Canada, there was another shooting in the country – this time in Toronto, Ontario at a salsa street festival where a gunman killed two people and injured at least six others. We’ll be visiting Toronto for one of our stops in Ontario, but we aren’t looking at that with worry; and the bigger story is about the growing number of similar attacks across the country that proves our own journal commentaries about the increase in unrest and violence that is happening worldwide as people get desperate and furious and lash out. We’ll be doing what we can to share a bit of light and love while we’re in Canada; and maybe that’ll be enough to make a difference!
That’s all we have for now and we are going to stop for that food break soon; so we’re going to wrap this up and get back to the travel adventures we’ll write about again tomorrow.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
