Don't Cry for Me, Chapel Hill

The three or four days that preceded my departure from Chapel Hill, the remnants of a tropical storm were blowing through, so it rained constantly and with great gusto. A friend of mine commented that Chapel Hill was crying because it knew I would be leaving soon. Chapel Hill and I reached the end of an era. I have lived in Chapel Hill for 8 years, which is the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere.  The good news is that Chapel Hill wasn’t crying and my last full day there was beautiful and the perfect send off for the next year of my life.

I flew from Chapel Hill to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I met up with two or my long-time friends from Ontario Pioneer Camp. It was difficult to explain to the woman at customs what exactly I was doing in Canada and then when and why I was leaving (Camping for a week with friends, then volunteering for the summer at a camp in Ontario, and then leaving for Kigali, Rwanda. What? Yep, Kigali.), but once through customs, I easily found Rhys and Alison. We picked up our rental car, stocked up with preliminary supplies at Wal-Mart, and drove right to our campsite in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It was drizzling, so we quickly set up tents and dove back into the car for peanut butter sandwiches and dried fruit. After a quick dinner, we all got ready and said our goodnights hoping to stay dry and warm for the night. Turns out it was a whole lot colder than I was expecting, and, after maybe an hour of freezing, Alison and I moved our sleeping gear into the car where we slept for the rest of the night. Not quite camping, but really, really close.

We all slept in for the morning and then drove the Cabot Trail. It seemed to be Nova Scotia’s equivalent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but with a lot more ocean views. We frequently stopped at overlooks on the side of the road for photo opportunities. I even got a couple driving the same way to take our picture by asking, “Would y’all mind taking a picture of us?” which they did while politely chuckling about my use of the word y’all. It feels great to be in Canada.

The highlight of my day, hands down, was when I saw a moose off the road a bit back in the woods. I yelled and made Alison pull the car over so that we could all get out and look at it. I may have been a little too excited and scared the moose away with all of my jumping on the gravel road, but I still saw it, which makes me feel like a true Canadian!

There's a moose in there, I promise.

Camp dinner was jiffy pop and spaghetti. It really does not get any better than jiffy pop.

Alison in a champion fire-starter.

Taking it back to the good ole days with some delicious Jiffy Pop.