Winter road trip?

Well, it is mid January and anyone who lives in a snowy part of Canada (as we do) dreams of a trip to somewhere warm. This is certainly true for me right now. Currently it is snowing, and I am sitting here dreaming of sitting on a beach, warm sun on my face and my toes digging into the sand. Instead, a little later I with my family, will be out shovelling snow off the driveway with snow bombarding my face and head.

Growing up in my family, we went south for a few winter trips. I remember mom and dad went to Nassau with friends, and my brother, sister and I were left behind. When they got back we made them promise that the next trip that they went on, that they would take us. Sure enough, several years later they were planning a trip to Freeport, and we reminded them of their promise. So off we went to the Bahamas for ten glorious days. This is one of my most memorable trips of us as a family growing up. I remember on the way down on the plane, that people were praying and singing at one point of our journey. In fact it work my up from a sleep. I remember asking mom why, and she said it was because we were flying over the Bermuda triangle. I remember thinking, wow are they ever weird. Then as we landed in the Bahamas, everyone applauded, and again I thought, ok everyone must be happy we got here alive. Really weird. I also remember putting on my jacket because I was cold, then walking down the length of the plane, going through the door to the stairs to go down and my senses being assaulted all at once with warm air - instantly being hot, and the smell of flowers enveloping every ounce of me. I could not pull off my jacket fast enough, and I wondered where the perfumed smell of flowers was coming from. It was late at night when we landed and I could not see the flowers, so I was wondering what made such a strong smell. It was only the next day in the daylight that I truly appreciated where the smell of flowers was coming from.

The next ten days were a riot, sitting by the pool, going to the market, eating the best buffet breakfast (in my teenage opinion), and having a relaxing time. It was hard to leave to come home. I remember getting ready for the journey back, having bare legs (I wore a skirt home) and sneakers and putting on my light jacket. My brother wore sandalls and off we went on the plane northward. Of course landing in Halifax got to be a challenge because we got to land in a full on snowstorm. In fact we almost did not land there at all, the pilot made two attempts, and said that if he did not land on the third, we were heading to Newfoundland. Oh yeah, somewhere colder. Yipee. Anyway, we did land in Halifax. and off the plane we went. Of course we had to trudge through the snow to get into the airport and mom was lamenting the fact that my brother should have put on his sneakers. I am sure we were quite a sight.

Oh, how I would love to be somewhere warm now ........