Tuesday night was a late one... after a quiet evening with Allison's parents, we spend the late hours finishing packing.... we need this with us... that can be checked... why didn't we put that on the truck?? Maybe we were up too late because we knew that sleep would bring big changes for us. Fall asleep in the US and the next pillow we hit would be in Canada... Google maps tells us it would take 1 day and 23 hours to drive 2892 miles straight through. It was a strange feeling missing both extremes... not scary... not terribly exciting. Allison's last question of the day... "are we really going to do this?"
Alarms went off at an un-natural hour.... I had loaded our rental with suitcases the night before, and we had laid out all the stuff for the kids so we could just roll them out of bed and into the car. Quick showers, and lots of tearful hugs with Grandma and Grandpa... and we were on the road for the renowned international transportation hub of Harrisburg, PA. :)
First order of business was returning our rental. Our 2011 Chevy Traverse was our friend for 2-1/2 weeks. Yes it seats 8 people in relative comfort and with the rear seats folded down has a cavernous interior... but any claims from the General about fuel efficiency of this platform are complete lies. Maybe if you run through a tank driving 55mph at a constant pace in the flats of Georgia you could achieve the claimed 24mpg highway, but normal driving is waaaaay less. Drop off was easy at Harrisburg, right in the attached car park. They didn't have baggage carts in the drop off area so Allison and I each had an ensemble of car seat, tied to wheely bag, attached to roll-on, with a computer balanced on top. Owen was pushing Molly in the stroller and the sight of us walking into the airport I'm sure it made people point and snicker.. but we only had to make it to the check in area.
The gate agent had NO sense of humor, but he was efficient and we got all our stuff checked in. Early AM on a Wednesday and the airport was pretty empty. Security was quick and easy. Here we are collecting all our stuff and getting shoes back on the kids before heading to the gate.
Molly was so excited to check out the airplanes through the windows.
Almost ready to board!
The kids were SO good on the flights out. Unfortunately it wasn't direct, but our only stop was a quick one in Chicago. The first leg was a quick one, but Molly took some time to catch up on her sleep after the early morning.
Chicago to Vancouver is about a 4-1/2 to 5 hour ride depending on the headwind. To be honest I don't even remember how long it ended up being. The kids were SO good. We reserved window and middle seats in two rows... Allison had someone in the aisle seat, and I was fortunate to have an empty seat next to me, so I had some space to put stuff and easily get out with Molly for strolls up and down the aisle several times. The flight was smooth with almost no turbulence, so no drama ensued. Toward the end, Molly lost interest in movies and games so we read books and walked some more.
Owen was a star travel guy... playing DS, watching movies, working on activity books and talking. He brought his stuffed friend Max the penguin, who very much enjoyed seeing the snowy mountains because it reminded him of his icy home in the arctic.
When we arrived, we had to stop in immigration and apply for Allison's work permit and get the kids their visitor records. When I had done this several weeks earlier, I had come through on a Sunday night and it was a quick 20 minute process. This time, we were victims of some unfortunate timing where a plane from China had landed shortly before us. So there was quite a long line in immigration. 2 hours waiting in line was not fun after a long flight, but we were so proud of the kids again as they were patient and avoided full meltdowns. Once we got through immigration, we collected our bags and made our way to the car rental area.
We had a pretty good plan initially where I was supposed to leave Allison's car at extended parking and we could just pack it up and drive to our new home. But... I had to leave it at the house so the moving crew could replace the broken windshield before we returned. So I drove the newly acquired Mini Cooper to the airport. The process of putting bags in that car along with 4 people would be something to show off at a circus event, so we rented a car for a day and split up. Allison took Molly and the bags and I got to give Owen his first ride in the Mini. He was pretty excited!
We were here! We made it! Driving home, Owen commented on the mountains, which were clear in view... wow dad... those are some big mountains... and there's snow on them still! He fell asleep shortly thereafter... what a trooper.
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