Welcome to the family, welcome to the Maritimes

Tell me, does this sound kind of crazy: on the other side of the country, I arrived in Madran (New Brunswick) on the front porch of an Aunt that I've never met before with a guy that I picked up along the side of the highway. From there, we spent the next few day driving around town, drinking Tim Hortons (cus that's what you do here: you drink coffee at Timmy's), and getting to know the family that I never really knew existed. Well, I always knew they were out there, I just didn't know their names or how many of them there were or how awesome and fun they could be :) I believe meeting my Auntie Rita and all my wacky cousins (and second cousins and their friends and pets and animals) was the perfect introduction of Maritime living. We're finally out of Quebec after nearly three weeks of travel, and Dave has departed from the triad to hop on a train to get back to Edmonton for work.

"We do things differently over here" says my Auntie Rita to me on the morning of our second day. "Rules? Ha! They're made to be broken!" And it's true; the folks here seem to have a general, oh how do you say, lack of concern for the law. They just do their own thing, and if it happens to be against a law or two, well so be it. Another thing I noticed right away was that they put family first, always. So after a lifetime of separation and three months on the road, you can bet that it felt pretty good to be at long last welcomed in to the east coast side of the Wray family.

On Saturday night my cousin Mike and his wife Sylvie threw a shindig and we all wound up over there til two or three in the morning. The kids (hopped up on sugar) ran around the yard and played washers (a unique Maritime game, something like horseshoes). Toby and I told stories of our adventures through the country while we roasted hot dogs and marsh mellows round the fire in the backyard. Later the guitars were pulled out, songs were sung, and a few beers consumed. I pulled out the phone round midnight (only 8:00pm Pacific) and dialed up a couple of family members from the West coast and passed the receiver round the fire. This was the first time some of them talked, person to person, ever. It's a long way from one coast to the other, and not too many people in my family have made the journey. I feel a certain sense of fullness now though, a feeling like I'm somehow more aware of who I am now that I'm here.

Staying with Rita, I took my first shower in over a week. I slept in a bed for the first time in over two weeks. I drove in a car for the first time in over a month. Auntie Rita drove us around (Tim Horton's cups in hand) sightseeing around Bathurst. We checked out the lovely Papineau falls, downtown Bathurst, and stopped in at the Poissonnarie to buy some fresh lobster. I can't really say that I actually enjoyed the crustacean, but it was definitely an experience. There's a strong Acadian heritage around here-Rita's husband Hector is Acadian. The power line posts are painted with the blue, red and white of the Acadian flag and folks converse in French as fluently as the chat in English. There's so much signage written in French, there's moments that I forget that we're not in Quebec anymore.

Yesterday we hopped in an old school bus, rode up the Nipisiguit river, and spent the afternoon tubing down. Eleven of us in total, we cruised down lackadaisically, holding hands and laughing as our big black tubes bumped up against each other and flew through the rapids. Toby and Mike, being the daredevils that they are, decided to climb the bridge and leap off of it. We cheered and jeered them on, applauding as they came up gasping and exhilarated.

We had planned on having a big family supper at Rita's place that night, but didn't find ourselves back in Madran until nearly 10:00pm. So we made grilled cheese and fried up leftover pasta, and spend a while enjoying the warm evening on the porch with my cousin Darcy, his wife Wendy, and their awesome kids Brandon and Sabrina. Tired from all the sun but happy to have our bellies full, we chatted about our day on the water, summer camp and clamming until it was time for bed.

So now we're off! Down the coast, and onward to PEI.