Canada = Family, Food, and Nature

Day 1:
I've taken the Amtrak train up to Canada dozens of times. Really, I've gone so many times that it's second nature to wait in line in the dim, spacious hall of Union Station, board the train, and sit back to watch the flickering scenery through the huge windows.

Maybe this familiarity caused the huge problem that I was about to face. After boarding the train with my grandma, I sat back and dozed off for the next several hours. An hour away from reaching our destination (Bellingham, WA - a 10 minute drive from the border), I realized something that sent a wave of dread down my stomach.

I forgot my passport.

As a result, we had to stay a night in a dingy hotel. My mother came to the rescue, however, by driving early the next morning to bring my passport, and thus, joined us on our trip as well.

Day 2:

It was a good thing she arrived at the hotel early. The next morning was my cousin's graduation from college, and we made it there on time. Kwantlen University's campus was lovely, but the reception hall was freezing cold - nonetheless, we had a great time watching her receive her diploma, taking pictures, and spending the morning celebrating with her.. My aunt and uncle came to visit us at her place as well.

For dinner, we had the most incredible pizza ever. Desi-style pizza - topped with onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, pineapple, tomato, olives, ginger, and cilantro. It was like a symphony of flavors in my mouth. It was utterly divine.

Day 3:

After sleeping in, we had good conversation with our relatives who came over to visit. Afterwards, my mom, grandma, cousin, and I headed over to Prabhu Sweets, and we just about ordered the entire shop.

Rasgulas, ras malai, gulab jaman, various mitais. Delicious tikki chole, masala paneer pakoras, hot samosas, papdi chaat. All of which was unbelievably amazing, and was made even better by sharing it with family.


Day 4:

We went to Whistler - a mountain resort, early the next morning. The drive up there was sublime - we drove by the side of whispery-blue waters which wove around distinct island peaks. It was probably one of the most beautiful views I've seen in my entire life, transporting me to some ancient sense of British Columbia when natives would row through the inlets of these silky waters by the pastel light of the morning.

Once we - myself, my mom, my cousin, my grandparents, and my uncle - arrived, we headed straight for the gondola - a covered cabin of sorts - which took us up the mountain. This gondola took us to a snowy height where we got off to be met by a crisp Canadian artic breeze.

We ate lunch at the restaurant up on the peak. They had a variety of hearty, unique vegetarian options. We had carrot-couscous soup, sweet potato fries with pineapple sauce, a tossed cold pasta salad with zucchini, and a delicious veggie burger. Everything was absolutely scrumptious. After taking in the view of mountainscape from the window for a while, we headed over for the next gondola, which would take us even higher up.

This one was the highest gondola of its kind in all of North America. It was like climbing the sky, a heart-stopping vision of a soaring mountain valley surrounding us. The pitch blue outline of mountains loomed all around us. Endless white expanses of snow were dotted with the tops of pine trees like blades of grass. The meandering green valley below was illuminated by the sun. We were 1500 feet above the valley floor, and because the bottom of the gondola had a glass viewing area to see the scene below - a rush of pine trees - it was quite like flying.

The peak at which we now arrived was bitterly cold and blindingly white with snow - I couldn't see without sunglasses on. We were now ready for the final "gondola", which wasn't really a gondola, but a chair lift - literally just a metal bench hanging from a cable, with no cover.

It was most certainly the most thrilling yet tranquilizing part of the trip. The mountain air against our faces as we rode down snowy slopes, our feet dangling in the air - was nothing short of extraordinary. The vision of the blue mountain valley in front of us and the regalness of the trees around us was dreamlike. And the most amazing part - the absolute, crisp quiet. It was the kind of quiet that make your soul tingle.

Finally, we descended further down into the town of Whistler, itself, where it was light and sunny. We sat by a rocky creek for a while, playing and getting our feet wet.

When we headed back to Surrey, we had an amazing dinner at my Titu Tayaji's house - homemade dosas and sambar.


Day 5:


The next day was a day to relax. My little cousin came to visit and I had a lot of fun playing games with her and going to the park as well.


Day 6:

My mom, grandma, cousin, and I had lunch at Bombay Se - an Indian restaurant. Except instead of ordering sabji or whatever, we had a variety of delicious snacks.


We started off with two delicious plates of dahin puri - gol gappes stuffed with aloo, dhania, masala, and dahin. It was light yet addictingly good. Then, we had pau bhaji and papdi chaat, also good but nothing beat the to-die-for dahin puri.


After doing some shopping at SuperStore, we headed to Titu Tayaji's house for dinner once more.
We had amazing gol-gappe, and some more of that ultra-amazing-mouth-watering Desi-style pizza with the crispy crust and burst of flavors, and we watched the Canucks game. They lost.

The next morning, we went home. Now I miss my family there, my eyes miss Whistler, and my mouth misses all the delicious food I had. It was a great trip that I won't soon forget.