Staycation or Nocation...What Will it Be This Year?

I always told myself  I would take at least one international trip once a year for as long as I live.  Than the Coronavirus happened.  I live in Canada and while our situation did get fairly bad for a while, we seem to be flattening the curve.  My province wasn't doing so well for a while but in June, with the help of strict social distancing practices, we managed to get our cases down to almost zero.  My specific region only had a few cases but the regulations are the same across Nova Scotia.

For a while, it looked like I wouldn't even be able to go camping in the Cape Breton Highlands (only two hours from my house) due to the strict regulations were  in place.  However, in recent weeks, those regulations have loosened and now the four Atlantic Canadian provinces have allied together to create the Atlantic Bubble.  This means that residents of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia can travel between the four provinces without the need to self-isolate for 14 days after crossing borders.  This is good news for regional travel, not so much for those wishing to travel nationally or internationally.  I've come to terms with the reality that I won't be leaving this region anytime soon.  Most likely not even this year.  And that's fine with me. After all, I live on an island that has been voted one of the most beautiful in the world and the Maritime provinces of Canada have so much to offer in terms of scenery, culture and the great outdoors.  So instead of a no-cation this year, I'll be doing a staycation.  And honestly, it's seriously overdue.  I owe it to my own backyard to explore it more and take this opportunity to really immerse myself in the surroundings I tend to take for granted.

Many things have already opened up here and many more are due to open up in the coming weeks.  I don't have any grand plans for the summer but I plan to make the most out of it as much as possible.  Although the Atlantic Bubble would give me the opportunity to travel to the other three provinces, I plan to stay right here in Cape Breton and enjoy the summer close to home.  I'll save money, spend more time with friends and family and support locally-owned businesses.  At least one camping trip in the highlands, a day trip to Inverness and Margaree on the west coast of the island and some other day trips to closer beaches and attractions are definitely in store.  However, much of the summer will be spent right here in New Waterford where I'll spend my days catching up on some writing projects, biking to Low Point Lighthouse every morning and swimming in the refreshing waters of Dominion Beach.  If you really put your mind to it and get creative, the restrictions are really not all that bad.  Imagine the money you'll save!  When this is all over, you'll have double the amount in your travel fund if you plan accordingly.  And this will end.  And when it does, destinations around the world will be there anxiously waiting our return.  

So no matter where you are in the world, this is your opportunity to see your own backyard the way tourists do.  If strict lock downs aren't in place and things are open, get out and do what you can.  Visit local parks, admire the local scenery, visit the museums and most importantly, support local businesses because they are going to need all the help they can get to stay afloat and bounce back when this is all done.!

One Need Not Travel Far to Enjoy The Beauty that is All Around Us

People who travel mostly focus on their travels away from home when they are blogging or sharing on social media. Surely, these travelers (at least most of them) are not traveling 365 days a year so they must be doing something at least somewhat noteworthy when they are home. Travelers usually tend to be engaged in their communities and immersed in their surroundings no matter where they are so where are all the stories about the travels in their own backyards and hometowns? I am a traveler and I have been on many trips away from my home country but I also like to embark on adventures close to home when I am not traveling. I don’t have the money or the time to be traveling away from home all the time so I make use of what is available to me in my own backyard.

When I lived in St. John’s, there was something new to explore each and every day and I took advantage of as many of those new adventures as possible. Even if I had to work that day or it was a bit cold, I always got out of the house and did something, somewhere. At times, I didn’t even have a car available to me and I still managed to find new places to explore. I went to museums, I attended workshops, I explored new walking trails, I visited parks. In the city, there was always something new to be discovered!

Since I moved back to Cape Breton, I’ve been living in a rural area. For the first year, I only had access to a car a few times a week to run errands in town but I still got to do a lot of exploring. I grew up in this neighborhood but even years later, after returning as an adult, I discovered many little places that I did not find when I was a child. The caves behind the fish plant, the little slab of beach down the street that used to be someone’s backyard (the house was torn down sometime while I was away), the giant fields beyond the power lines. I re-explored places that were my favorite haunts as a child. The gravel pits behind the baseball field, the beach that ran along the shoreline from the fishing wharfs, the (now grown-in) foot paths that created a maze in the wooded area behind my house. And on days when I had access to a car, I explored beyond my backyard.

As a child, my parents often took my sisters and I on road trips and family vacations. We were always on the road exploring or going somewhere new. On my 17th birthday, Mom woke me and led me outside to receive my birthday present. I opened the front door to see a car I had never seen before. It took a few seconds for it to register; when she handed me the keys, I realized it was my car. Within minutes of being handed the keys, I was gone. I remember the last words out of Mom’s mouth were “don’t go into Sydney until you are more used to driving around by yourself. She didn’t say not to go to St. Peter’s, which was almost 200 kilometers past Sydney. Technically, I didn’t disobey her.

I now have access to a car full time. I had bit of extra money saved away from the job I worked on last winter and I live in a rural area so I felt it best to have my own car in the driveway so I could come and go as I please. And all summer, I came and went…a lot. Within days of taking my new car home, I left on my first road trip of 2013. I drove to Moncton (stopping in various towns I had never been to before along the way) stayed with my great-aunt in Dieppe for a few days, and drove home., except I didn’t drive straight home. Straight home would have taken me along the Trans-Canada Highway – the way I had taken to get to Moncton. Instead, I took the long way home over the Confederation Bridge, across Prince Edward Island and across the Norththumberland Straight on a ferry that arrived in Pictou, Nova Scotia. That is how most of my road trips go. I always try to avoid backtracking and try to see as many new places as possible.

Since moving back home, I have found new beaches, new roads I have never driven on, new coffee shops, new walking trails, new parks I didn’t know existed...all within a few hundred kilometers of my home. I have also found some great places to just park the car and listen to the waves crashing onshore, watch a meteor shower or listen to my favorite radio show, CBC Radio 2 Drive. My adventures sometimes yield some surprises too. Like the time I saw five deer grazing in the field very early one morning on my way to Ingonish to visit my sister. Or the Bald Eagle’s nest I happened upon in a lonely graveyard not far from where I live. Or the incredible swimming hole I found about an hour away. I also took up a new hobby recently; Geocaching. This new hobby has taken me to a number of new places around my hometown and beyond and it’s fun!

Winter is settling in now and road trips are just not as fun when it’s cold and snowing. I now have to resort to other activities to keep me busy. For the past few weeks, I’ve been driving to town and parking my car in the coffee shop parking lot and listening to my favorite radio show and tinkering around with my new phone that I am still trying to figure out how to use. I’m sure that will get old after a while. Christmas will come, I will be busy celebrating with family and friends and by mid-January, my surroundings will be covered in a few feet of snow – and that means a whole new landscape in which to discover via another method of transportation; Snowshoes.

So the question is: Will you settle into the mediocrity of everyday life and spent your days dreaming of your next international vacation or will you get out there and take a vacation in your own back yard? You would be surprised by how enlightening it can be to just explore the places you spend the most time in!

The Joys of Exploring my own Backyard

My parents built the house I am living in now about twenty-five years ago. It sits on a fairly large plot of land and although I spent a lot of time in the yard over the last two and half decades, I never really got to know it as thoroughly as I have over the last few months. Instead of just walking around it or sitting on the step reading a book, I recently took to just sitting in various places in the yard watching and photographing the different animal, bird and plant species. When I first started doing this, the first thing I noticed was the smell of the roses and the lilacs. You wouldn't think that such small plants could cause an aroma strong enough to smell all throughout the property but if you stand long enough in one place, it hits you! This aroma drew me to the edge of the forest where I found some more things I had never taking notice of before. There are a few Beachnut trees and raspberry bushes in the back and sometimes I even see animals wandering about. I have spotted deer, fox, racoon, bobcat, squirrel, chipmunk rabbit and coyote. If I sit for a while and just listen, I can hear the faint, eerie howls of those distant coyotes getting ready for the evening hunt. I tend to wander back into the house not soon after hearing that sound! If I feel brave enough, sometimes I wander onto the wood paths behind the clothesline and see if I can see anything back there. When I was a child, my sisters and I had some tree houses in there and twenty-some years later, I still come across some of the toys we lugged into the woods or the ones that were taken away from the yard by playful foxes who didn't think to return them to us when they were done with them. There are also a lot of insects around my yard too. I mean, there are insects everywhere but I never really cared to stop long enough to actually just watch them. It may surprise you, but photographing them can be quite fun and challenging! I'm not really sure what motivated me to start wandering aimlessly around my backyard. Maybe it is the fact that I have been without a vehicle for a while now and have no choice but to stick around here and find things to do. Whatever the reason, I am glad I did. Someday I may be living in a big city again and I will be wishing I had a big beautiful country backyard to wander around in! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingan,_Nova_Scotia http://frankphillips.com/beautifulbugs/howto.htm http://www.lightstalking.com/macro-insect-tips