Home again, home again, jiggety-jog!

Ottawa, ON – That’s the little chant we used to say to the kids when we were back from any outing – and that my parents said to me when I was little. It has a comforting ring, plus a little jolt of joy that all is well, and home is the best place in the world to be.

That’s the way Val and I feel today, having completed the last leg of our six-thousand kilometer trek to the eastern edge of our country and back. It was no surprise that we were wide awake at 5:30 this morning back in Drum-mondville, eager to do the standard departure routine and get on the road one last time.

Our route home – so much more direct than the convo-luted out-ward-bound journey we took through the northern US – was smooth (mostly), straight and wide, skirting Montreal on Highway 20, then 30, then 40, past farm fields ripe with corn and other crops, and changing from rural to urban as we got closer to the cities.

The talismans of industry and commerce – shopping malls and hydro towers – contrasted greatly with the charming fishing villages and unsullied landscapes of Newfoundland. Even the weeds and wildflowers growing by the roadsides failed to match the stunning arrays of colour and beauty on Newfoundland hills and fields. Am I prejudiced? Maybe – or maybe the charm and natural allure of Newfoundland and Labrador still have me in their thrall. This is the first time, on coming back to my beloved home, I have felt a tug of nostalgia for what we’ve left behind.

We will be telling and re-telling our adventures and expe-riences in the coming days to any-one who will listen. And to anyone who has considered a trip to Newfoundland, we would say go! You will not be disappointed!

That’s it for now. The Zanin blog will go into sleep mode till the next time. Thanks for joining us over the last seven weeks!