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After such a great feeling about Mount Allison we headed to St. Francis Xavier, and as soon as he saw the campus we knew he was excited to see more. One first glance it put a smile on his face, and it immediate had that feel of a New England private school, or Ivy League establishment. The architecture, the campus setting, the small town, It was checking all the boxes and we hadn't even gotten out of the car yet. Set in a gorgeous town in Northern Nova Scotia, not too far from Cape Breton. The town of Antigonish is small, even smaller than Amherstburg. But it feels bigger, and it felt friendly and safe, and the town had all the amenities he would need for shopping and his daily walks, and being close to the ocean, and rolling hills isn't a downfall either. It's a trip in either direction to and airport, but that doesn't concern him or us. On our tour we found out that the Maritime bus stops on campus several times a day and does Airport runs for the students. We took two tours during our stay in Antigonish and had a meeting with the Dean of Arts, Dr. Baldner, who couldn't have been more welcoming and kind. He answered all our questions and gave us so much info about the program the town, and the social feel of the school. He advised us on residence selection, and it turns out that he lived in Ann Arbor, Mi, so he knew exactly where we had traveled from. We arrived at StFX with an inkling that Ethan had put StFX in his top 2, (along with Huron at Western) His meeting with Kelsey ( Ontario recruiter) in Ottawa, and put it high on the list. After only and hour on campus, Jason and I could tell that his feeling for the school hadn't changed at all, but just magnified. And he had even said that it outranked Huron, and that everything the school offered made the distance part easier. No other school seemed to be as community driven, and as picturesque or felt like a home to him as this one had. Before we started our trek back to Maine he had made his decision.... This is where you will find him living come September ... X-men class of 2024!!!
A weekend with my boys. Not often I get to do this, but I am so excited! Tomorrow we fly out of Detroit, bright and early to Portland, Maine. ( a new state for both the boys). In Portland we will drive north to the Canadian Border, and cross into New Brunswick ( also a new province for the boys.) The reason for this trip is for Jason and I to accompany our baby boy ( okay yes he is 17), to visit two east coast schools that he has been accepted to. Ethan has a vision, maybe even a dream, of attending a small, ivy league style east coast school. He really wants a small town community, and a place that feels like a family whee he can feel that he can really belong. He has found 3 schools that fit the brief. One in Quebec, one in New Brunswick and one in Nova Scotia. One this trip we will visit the two east coast schools. Our first school we will visit will be Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB. Approximately 40 minutes east of Moncton. The second school we will see is St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, 2. 5 hours east of Moncton and 2 hours North west of Halifax. Both schools are under 5000 students, both offer programs of Canadian Studies, and Government and Law, a few areas of interest for Ethan. And both have that ivy league, east cost architecture and community that he is hoping for. At this time he is slightly leaning towards one over he other, but is going into this trip with a completely open mind. ... stay tuned, we will fill you in on how this goes.
Whistle goodbye to Dixie.. there is a new ride for the road. After the 260,000 km we added to our Ford Escape, it was time to let someone else enjoy it and we traded it in for a 7 seat Explorer. More room for packing, more room for extra passengers, more adventures ahead. Dixie had taken us to the Smokies, to Quebec, to St. Louis, to Louisiana, to Florida, to Washington Dc and everything in between. As well as the local thousands of local km she gained with trips across the county for theatre rehearsals the last three years. I would say Dixie was my favourite vehicle I have owned so far, so this Explorer has a lot to live up to. But a reliable, sturdy vehicle with many more kilometers to still go, and two teenagers to drive it is what was required and in store. Dixie was named because our first big trip in her was south of the Mason Dixon Line, and she took many many more across that line again over the years, to Florida, to Huntsville for Space Camp, and to places beyond. But now that we have this new ride, we need a new name for it? Sapphire, or Sky , have been considered. But feel free to leave your suggestions below.
I have been asked a lot lately about whether we will complete our 50 by 50 dream, of visiting all 50 states by our 50th year. If you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have given you a resounding yes. But since the 2016 US election, I am afraid... afraid it may not happen, and suddenly more afraid of travel in the united states. The freedoms and protections I feel as a Canadian do not live south of the border, gun violence is our number one fear. So many occurrences, so many crimes, so little done to remedy it. I do hope that we complete our 50 by 50 challenge.. and I have 9 left to complete myself. But if I could tomorrow hop on a flight to any of those that I am still missing, my top 5 would be .... 1. - Massachusetts - I have longed to visit Massachusetts since I was a child. Perhaps wanting to live with Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth in Concord had to do with that, or perhaps the idyllic beach homes and quiet Cape Cod or Martha's Vineyard life has attracted me. The history of Boston, and walking the cobblestones of the Patriots is always a draw. Seeing the Harvard campus, and the Ivy league type schools that Ethan now is draw to is another great reason. 2. Delaware - Somehow this state has gotten away from us, we have been to every state surrounding it, yet haven't been able to cross its border to say that we have been there yet. A beach vacation on it's shores could be nice sometime. 3. Texas - Cowboys, Longhorns, BBQ and actually friends who were raised like family to me all reside in this state. One day soon I hope to either fly in with Jason on a trip to Houston, or perhaps one day go down for a vacation. The city I am most interested in visiting is Austin. That could be the Friday Night Lights Fan in me, but the Food and the Music Scenes sound pretty great too. 4. Hawaii - Of course I have to say Hawaii right? - Sun, Sand Volcanoes. And seeing the Pearl Harbor Memorial would be really cool. Now that Southwest Airlines flies here, maybe for our 50th we will plan that trip to it! .. or Alaska. ( But Alaska would likely be by Cruise, and Jason isn't overly excited about another cruise after catching that terrible flu on the last one.
5. Kansas. Yes Kansas. The reason I want to get to Kansas is that once we get there, we can kind of fill in the middle of our map. Kansas City, is actually in Missouri, for those who didn't know that. But it sits on the Kansas border, and you can cross over an head to Topeka and explore the prairies, and open wheat field and see if we can see where the Bison roam. I like a wide open road, and I believe Kansas would provide that for me, besides Dorothy lived there, and said that there is no place like home. update: - well unfortunately this trip wont be happening. We will still be travelling - except it will be north to attend the funeral of my grandmother! :( Southwest and Hilton as usual were amazing and have refunded us our entire trip! Well we can't possibly let this summer come to a close without a little adventure for the 4 of us together. Jason and I had our getaway, I took the kids to my sisters cottage for some fun, but the kids haven't had any "down-time" with dad. He diligently went right back to his daily work travels and schedules as soon as we returned from Scandinavia. So before school starts, and schedules and commitments, and homework and all our extra curricular activities take over our lives again, we want to spend a little relaxation and quiet time all together. We're hopping a plane from Detroit on August 31st and heading south to the low country to fill up on some sand, some sun, some fresh air and some fresh fish too. Our location, is just outside one of our favourite cities, which we even named our daughter after, Savannah, GA. Join us at the new tab at the top of the blog, on August 31st, as we travel to the low country and spend 4 days on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The last Scandinavian Summer posts are up!
Click on the My Scandinavian Summer tab, and scroll to the bottom to find the final two entries! Thank you for traveling with maphappymom. Stay tuned, another adventure may be coming to you sooner than we thought! We have a dream of wandering this world, we plan to make that happen! We have been asked a lot of questions about our trip during the last month, and now that we are home I think I can answer them. So over the next few days I will start doing that as well. If you have a question for us, feel free to comment or message me here. I'll answer it best I can. :)
Today we will start our drive home.
So happy to be back with the kids. Today we will also be used to be back in our time zone, get some needed rest and then we will be ready to reflect properly on our adventure with you. Our top 5 lists, comments, and fun facts to come. Stay tuned, we have loved having you along for the journey. xo Dar We are ready to see so much more on this great island... stay tuned we'll get you all caught up soon.
We are starting our journey back towards home.
We have a few days of adventuring left, but we will fly 3 hours west today to a spectacular island in the ocean to finish up our trip. To read of our adventures so far, and what happens on that Atlantic Island check out the tab at the top that says My Scandinavian Summer. Thanks for joining us... xo maphappymom is on the move again!
We are currently sitting at the Oslo airport awaiting our flight back to Denmark. Our flight is delayed a little bit, so we have the time to sit and relax for a little while, get caught up on some emails and Facebook messages and catch up with all of you while we wait. No better way to spend this time before we are on the move again. Thank you so much for all the wonderful blog messages here on maphappymom and the likes, messages, and shout outs you have been giving us on Facebook. It truly means the world to us, and we are so very pleased you are joining us for this journey. We love doing the blog while we travel. It started out as a little way to keep grandma and grandpas updated on where we were, and became a bit bigger as we realized we were creating a fun memory journal for us to keep after our travels. Now it has grown into a joyful piece of love, that we really enjoy sharing with our beloved family and friends. (If you are reading it, it means you are one of those beloved people. xo ) Thank you for loving maphappymom too. It's a treat for us to see what you think of our travels and pictures, and the sometimes crazy ideas we have along the way. . If you want to follow along as we travel through Scandinavia- Check out the tab at the top that says My Scandinavian Summer. Each day will be posted there.
Just finished day 3, stay tuned more coming tomorrow! So happy to have you join us. Hugs from me- the maphappymom. No matter where I roam- CANADA - will always be my home.
Even though we are far from home today, we are wearing our national pride! Happy 150th Canada. I hope everyone enjoys the celebrations today! xo ![]() 6 months ago I was surprised with the most amazing gift! A binder filled with the adventure my husband had planned for us for our 20th anniversary! Today we are leaving on that adventure. We left home, headed northeast up the 401 through heavy traffic and arrived in Toronto around 2:00 p.m. What a surprise to see my parents awaiting us when we arrived at my sisters. A lovely send off today from my family. Em, Eth and Libby will be staying with my sister, spending Canada Day at the cottage as we always do and having so much fun with their cousins and aunt and uncles and grandparents while we are away. Knowing that will make missing them a little less hard. Even though the bags are checked and I am now currently sitting at Toronto's Pearson International Airport waiting to board the plane it still seems unreal. Ready or not, maphappymom is back in motion and this is going to be one amazing adventure. Jason has done an amazing job with the planning, so all that's left for me to do is the blogging of this trip. Many of you have already requested I do daily updates on the blog like I have in the past. I promise to try and keep you all updated best I can with the time change and all the travelling we'll be doing. This trip is far from our usual adventures, and we will be learning and discovering every day too, but we are really excited if you want to come along for the ride by reading out travel journal blog. So welcome to maphappymom's latest escape. Let the adventure begin... Wait...some of you are probably asking.... WHERE are you going? See that header at the top of the page that says My Scandinavian Summer? Well check back there each day, and that's where you'll find what we did each day on this trip. But for now I'll leave you with tonight's mode of transportation. :) Good night! All the planning we have done, all the waiting, and I get a terrible head cold the week of our travels. This was not on the itinerary.
I am doing my best to shake it, beat it, and rid myself of it. There are still 2 days to go. Hopefully I am feeling much better by then. 5 days! Only 5 days away! Summer 2017 is almost here.
The kids have just a few days of school left. As soon as exams are finished, we'll be on the road the next morning headed north up the 401 to catch our flight. We have pulled out the suitcases and the packing will begin. I have a lot of packing to do over the next few days. I have to pack for 4 people and 1 dog going 3 different directions. 1 bag for a girl who gets to go to the kawarthas for an outdoor wilderness camp with her cousin, one for the boy who will spend a week with his puppy and another cousin at the cottage, and then 2 bags for Jason and I that needs to have enough, but not too much, for us to enjoy our week and a half exploring Scandinavia. Wish me luck. It's the hardest pack job I think we've ever had. What a lucky girl I am to have this packing problem though. Truth!
Nothing makes me more excited or happy than planning a trip with Jason. It is amazing to think that after these months of dreaming, planning and waiting that it is almost here. This trip was such a beautiful gift and a delightful surprise It has also been an incredible adventure to plan because there are so many different variables that we are not used to, such as different transportation, languages, and currencies. There are so many things that we have never experienced or discovered before, but that is all part of the adventure too. It's all very exciting, we are full of anticipation and some of that excitement is also nervous energy because of the distance we are traveling away from the kids, and of the thought of wandering into a world of so many unknowns. We know where we we will check into each night, but that and our transportation is the only thing which has been planned, booked or scheduled. We don't want this trip to be about rushing around from place to place, we want it to be about being part of where we are. Experiencing it all one day at a time. This special trip is for us to be travelers not a tourists. We want it to be about just being there with one another. Because that's the best and happiest adventure we could ever dream of. ![]() Well it finally happened! With less than a month until our trip, the train tickets have finally opened up online and we jumped right on them. After that long of a wait we thought we would treat ourselves to 1st class! Although a first class ticket on Sweden's SJ trains are very cheap compared to our economy on via rail. They also give you WiFi and a complimentary meal. With the tickets finally in our hand and packed in our trip binder, and among our luggage ( which I have already pulled out to get ready) we can now fully realize that we are finally ready. Not only are we ready, but we are getting excited. Having our transportation from city to city arranged, lets us now focus on the fun, the exploration, and the experience! Stay tuned.. the count down is on... just 24 more days! |
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