Travel memories: much more than what meet the eyes

We went on a roadtrip across Alaska when Mara and Aïsha were 14 months old and Mathilde was just a little baby bump. We drove across the Kenai Peninsula debating if we would call her Taïga... Mara said her first word one morning in our old Boler while we were camped on the beach in Homer. "Nez, nez, nez (nose)" she kept repeating, pointing to her little peanut in the middle of her cute round face, giggling the whole time... They obviously do not remember how we were surrounded by the three glaciers that day while we sat on the shore to eat the wonderful clam chowder from the local seafood store, but I believe they felt the incredible energy of that place...

:: Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, winter 2006 (Mathilde) ::

Rudolf Steiner, who founded Waldorf education, states: "For the little child, up to the age of seven, everything, every action, every sight, sound, or other sense impression around the child is taken in and absorbed right into the child's inner being. These impressions become indelibly etched in the child's nervous system and can affect the development of the whole organism." 

The girls do not cognitively remember much from our life in the Yukon, the -40 January cold that bit their baby cheeks when they rode in their lambskin covered sleighs (and more often in slings on our tummies or backs), but we know they remember something much deeper than that. Their senses do. It is part of who they are now.
  

:: Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, winter 2004/2005 (Aïsha) ::

They remember some of the more intense moments, of course, like this one time during a salmon-fishing trip in Haines, Alaska, along the Chilkoot river when a grizzly came and stole our friend's catch! Of course, when our sense of fear is awakened, memories are created even at a very young age!

:: Silver City, Kluane Lake, Yukon, Canada, Summer 2006 ::

 :: On Montana mountain, Carcross, Yukon, Summer 2008, only a few days before we moved away
from the Yukon ::


 :: Camping in Northern BC near Muncho Lake under such a clear starry sky that
we will never forget... (2010) ::

 :: During the winter 2011/2012, we lived in Costa Rica for 5 months and the girls made friends with a lot of critters. They were afraid of bugs when we arrived. It didn't take the girls long to warm up to them thanks to the colorful leaflets that we bought, it quickly became a treasure hunt and they now have fond memories of stick bugs and leaf bugs and many more! ::

  :: In Costa Rica, we lived 10 minutes from a beautiful waterfall where it often was the only place to cool off. The girls have fond memories of this place. ::

 :: Holding and feeding a toucan at the La Paz Waterfall Garden, Costa Rica, is an experience Mathilde will never forget. ::

And the senses remember the very hot sand burning your feet while you are trying to run as fast as you can to reach the warm sea, the smell of the tropical forest after the rain during the wet season, the market hustle and bustle, as well as the mix of ethnicities in the subway stations in New York, the different languages in the ears, the calm quiet camping night away from everything and the northern lights. Ah! The northern lights!... Memories that encompass the cognitive mind.

 :: New York, May 2013 ::

 

 
I had the best example I could wish for just yesterday as we were collecting eggs with friends who are talking care of their neighbors' hens while they are away. While we were filling the feeder, two hens flew out of the coop and were on the loose. Mathilde, who was only 3 when we had hens and does not remember much, quickly acted and grabbed one perfectly on top of its wings slipping the hen on the side of her body to keep it from moving and brought it back to the coop. Somewhere, she clearly remembered. And I believe it's exactly the same for traveling... 

  :: Glacier National Park, Montana, Highline Trail, September 2012 ::

 :: Dry Fork Canyon, Utah, October 2012 (Aïsha) ::

  :: The Wave, Arizona, November 2012 (Mara and Mathilde) ::

 :: Snorkeling in the Florida Keys, February 2013 (Mara) ::

Now that they are older, the memories they are forming from the experiences they are having in our travels are incredibly rich. No book, lesson, movie, or YouTube could come close to leaving the same impression they had when we hiked up to the Wave in Arizona. I am pretty sure they will remember what they learned about aviation from our short visit at the Wright Brothers National Memorial and the Pueblo people while visiting Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, or celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans. And it's the same for learning about shells and sea treasures from a passionate man on the shores of Edisto State Park in South Carolina. 

It's the stuff travel memories are made of...

By the way, this was a group writing project inspired by a wonderful group of traveling families I am part of, so if you'd like to read their take on Travel memories and children, here are the links to their posts:

Mary from Bohemian travelers http://www.bohemiantravelers.com/2013/05/is-traveling-with-young-kids-worth-it.html 


Nancy from Family on Bikes   http://familyonbikes.org/blog/2013/05/why-travel-is-good-for-kids-even-if-they-dont-remember-it 

Alisa from Living Outside of the Box http://livingoutsideofthebox.com/2013/05/28/but-will-our-kids-remember/

Melissa from Break Out of Bushwick 
http://breakoutofbushwick.org/never-too-young-why-travel-isnt-wasted-on-kids/

Bethaney from Flashpacker Family
http://flashpackerfamily.com/is-travelling-with-young-children-worth-it/

Jenn Miller  http://edventureproject.com/why-travel-is-not-wasted-on-the-very-young/

Kris Herwig from Simon Says - Traveling With Tots: The World is My Playground  http://simonsays2010.blogspot.nl/2013/05/traveling-with-tots-world-is-my.html

Heather Costaras from Living Differently - http://liveagainsttheflow.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/the-gift-of-travel/

Kalli from Portable Professionals http://portableprofessionals.com/philosophies-on-travel/why-i-dont-care-if-my-child-remembers-our-travels/

Kirsty from Barts go Adventuring http://bartsgoadventuring.com/will-kids-remember-travel-is-it-worth-it
  
Anne from The Journey is the Reward http://anvl.travellerspoint.com/65/ 

Sharon from Where's Sharon - http://www.wheressharon.com/2013/05/why-travel-when-your-kids-are-too-young.html

Annie from Practical Adventurology - "Why You Should Travel With Kids Even If They Won't Remember" http://www.annieandre.com/2013/05/why-travel-with-kids-wont-remember

Lainie from Raising Miro on the Road of Life (and Aimee from Suitcases and Strollers): http://www.raisingmiro.com/2013/05/28/doubt-that-travel-has-value/

Nichola from We Travel Countries - http://www.wetravelcountries.com/why-travel-when-they-wont-remember-experience-vs-memory/ 

Tracey from The Expat Experiment - http://expatexperiment.com/why-travel-when-mak-wont-remember/

Natalie from Magnificent World - http://earlyeducationessentials.com/travelling-with-young-children-would-they-remember-an-amazing-revelation/

Toronto: ten years later

Toronto is another place where we lived for less than a year (JF and I moved *a lot* in the first five years of our common life together!). Toronto was synonymous with big jobs in big companies for both of us. It was good money and good experience, but I was so miserable... When the Yukon government called to offer JF a position, we packed our Wesfalia and left without hesitation and never came back... until last week.

We showed the girls where we lived and brought them to Royal Falafel to eat great falafel, where we would sometimes go after walking our big St.Bernard along the Lake...

Then we drove around a bit, but mostly got disappointed because things had changed so much in ten years we could not find what we were after and only succeeded at getting ripped off at the Big Carrot, that used to be a decent priced health food store...

Fortunately, we had a great evening with friends who made us an amazing pizza on the BBQ (Ricardo style). You throw the freshly made and rolled dough on the hot BBQ, cook on one side for 3-4 minutes (just enough so it has nice marks) and put it back on the plate, cooked side on top), garnish to taste and put it back on the BBQ until the cheese is melted nicely. It was amazing. It tasted like brick-oven pizza!!

It was the perfect evening to celebrate our return in Canada! We had a delightful evening and were ready to get back on the road to get to Ottawa!

Coming home

As we inched towards the Canadian border, I tried to stay present with the mixed feelings that were arising within me. The magical feeling of the time spent with amazing new friends, the sadness of seeing our trip come to an end, the excitment of meeting with dear friends in Ottawa very soon and seeing more dear friends and family members that we dearly missed this year in the next few weeks, reintegrating our home, unpacking, cleaning, getting back to some kind of a *normal* life, and what this means for me right now…
What I know is that this year has been one of the happiest for me and I am not really looking forward to get back to a house life per se. I would stop by in a campground or two in Quebec for a month or two to catch up with friends and family members that we dearly miss and would be totally happy to keep traveling in my trailer… I’d go to Maine for a few months, then Oregon… then, California, then, then…

The life we lived in that year was quite unique. Can you imagine that I didn’t need to use a calendar for a whole year? No appointments, no obligations, no meetings… nothing written down… just the inspiration of the day. I loved that. I totally loved the spontaneity and simplicity of our days.

:: Beautiful Letchworth State Park: they call it the Grand Canyon of the East ::

By any mean, it’s not always easy on the road. We just had a really big rush for work this week. Working in a trailer with 3 children can be a challenge at the best of times, sometimes the new surroundings help, but most times, having my mom or friends nearby would be really helpful, for sure. But this week, amidst the rush of work and transitioning back to Canada, the girls amazed us once more. Of their own volition, they made meals, washed the dishes, cleaned the bathroom (and a really dirty toilet: Mathilde, you go girl!) and when the contract was handed, they celebrated by telling us to sleep in while they prepared a surprise breakfast! 

 There is also the relationship to stuff. When I think about reintegrating our space, even just for a short period of time, I feel overwhelmed by the idea of dealing with our stuff… We don’t even have that much, but once you learn to live with what you can carry with you, well, any more than that feels overwhelming really. So basically, going back home, right now, except for the joy of connecting with my loved ones, feels like work, unpacking (house storage and trailer), scheduled life and well, just a lot to do compared to the rythm of the last year… It will be a transition for sure.

The girls are excited to go back home and JF needs some down time, so it’s time to go back, I think. One year on the road is long. Summer simply feels to me like a weird time to come back!

I feel a bit like this one time I was coming back from a week-long trip in Gaspésie when I just started University. I felt lost. Going back to the reality of my life was hard, even if at that time, that reality was quite different. There is something with the coming back from an adventure that makes my heart sink. I want to hold on to it. I know you’ll tell me it’s just normal. I love what my friend Laurence wrote on my FB page when I mentioned having mixed feelings about our return : each ending will be followed by a new beginning. Yes. I know, but I believe that my melancholic side sometimes like to linger in the sadness of what I am leaving behind, not of what is ahead. And I am trying to honor that right now. I feel quite vulnerable sharing this here. But I am OK with being vulnerable, because this is part of being human. And I am meeting more and more of my humanity every day.

Tool making and wool dyeing

As I said in my last post, the girls are totally into primitive tool making right now. The Ithaca area is full of slate which was perfect for making arrow points. They also got super inspired by all the beautiful handwork they saw at Lisa's and at the Waldorf school and picked up the needles as soon as we left her house.

 

:: Sprouts and asparagus from Wegmans, an amazing healthfood store in Ithaca (and an chain in the NY state). Yum! ::

:: Quick healthy meals on the road: figs, tahini and Amish bee pollen ::

:: Mashed avocados with Herbamare salt, sprinkled with sunflower seeds and sprouts on cucumber slices, an inspiration from the Rawfood family recipe book ::

:: Monday morning camping fun: collecting firewood from other campsites ::

Lisa had given Mara some beautiful brown sheep wool and 24 hours later, she had finished her first doll. Mathilde wanted to try her hand at dyeing, so we dyed the white wool we got for her doll in tea and she dyed more in dandelions for the hair. She was so pleased with the results!

Arts, crafts and Ithaca

Lisa is the handwork teacher at the Ithaca Waldorf school and she showed us around their newly built school (right beside a biodynamic farm where the children participate in the gardening activities) and showed us the beautiful projects she does with the first to 6th graders. She has all the grades plant dye the wool they will use for their different projects at the beginning of the year, so they really own the project from beginning to end. 

We were quite impressed with the program she offers her students! She has her 1st/2nd graders make gnomes with the wool, the 3rd/2th graders make beautiful embroidered bags and 5th/6th graders make really nice socks.

And Ithaca really, really pleased us! It's a University town (Cornell) and the locals like to call it 10 square miles surrounded by reality! It is a very liberal community and there is a big homeschoolers coop with more than 100 members, a great primitive pursuits program for my wildcrafters, tool crafters and wilderness cooks. There is an awesome local food movement, great people and great parks and trails around it to hike, run and ski. Yup! We could definitely see ourselves spending more time here! Did I mention there is a place called Dennis where the owner went to study how to make artisan ice cream?... Oh! It was sooo good!

We camped for 3 nights at Treman State Park right beside Ithaca and had pretty much the campground to ourselves. Jamie came to visit with Banyan and I was so involved in my conversation with her that I did not even took photos... There were fruit trees in bloom everywhere and the girls built a beautiful fairy garden with all the flowers. While they were there, we spotted a huge Gartner snake right beside our campsite! I was glad Banyan could identify it and tell us it was not dangerous!

We also went out to the Thai food restaurant for lunch with Jamie and Malaya on another day. It was so great to get to know her and her sweet children in person.

 :: JF made Mémé's crêpe Suzette twice for breakfast. Lisa made strawberry rubarb filling and whip cream from amazing local cream. Such a treat! ::

 :: And there was more beautiful violin practice before the recitals. They even kept us in for one night when it was freezing outside (litterally freezing. Lisa lost most of her herb garden... and there was snow in the morning...). We even got to take a bath. A bath! The last bath we took was at the hotel in Albuquerque for the unschooling conference. In December. It was such a bliss. ::

It was hard to say goodbye. It felt like home. It felt like we could have kept on talking and eating and visiting for ever. It's a good feeling to find such friends. We definitely will be back.