Addie and I flew from Honolulu to Vancouver on the red eye and our eyes were red when we got into Edmonton! With about two hours of sleep under our belts we headed out to the family reunion; which I am sure Addie will write about later. It was nice to reunite with my mom's side of the family and see my Auntie Cathy who I lived with for a short period when I was in elementary school. When I would come home from school every day for lunch I would hear the loud opera music playing and she would ask what I wanted for lunch, and without hesitation I would say grilled cheese and tomato soup. Now almost every Sunday our family has grilled cheese and tomato soup! Thank goodness for a loving wife who tolerates the tomato soup every Sunday, even when it's not her favourite.
That evening Addie and I said our goodbye's for a week and my brother, Andrew, and I headed to the airport for our long journey to Goosebay, Newfoundland. We flew from Edmonton to Toronto to St. Johns to Halifax to Goosebay, a total of 10 hours of flying, not including layovers. Andrew and I were pretty tired and I took my first sleeping pill (melatonin), and it worked!! That evening we BBQ'd steak and had a nice dinner with Dad and Melissa. When I called it a night my head hit the pillow and I slept for 13 hours, I haven't slept that long since before my mission........that felt good!!
After brunch we headed out on the side by side (souped up golf cart completely closed in with a heater and wipers that has a winch and acts like a quad)
Dad took Andrew and I around Goosebay on the trails and showed us the following locations.
Dad took me to the place where I was born.......no I was not born in a field, where I am standing is where the hospital was on the military base. The hospital was torn down 12 years ago. Not many people can stand in a field and say that is where they were born!
It was neat to see the place where my Mom and Dad were married on June 15, 1985. The church is located on the military base. My Dad was in the air force and my Mom and Dad met on the base while my Dad was stationed here.
We then drove around the base to the runway for the airport where we landed. My grandfather designed this airport, he was a civil engineer. One of my favorite things to do is to watch planes land and take off (I don't like being in them though). So we waited at the end of the runway for the next plane to land and it came right over our heads. Andrew snapped a quick picture before it went over us!
We then headed over to where my Dad works. He was trained in the military and works as a radar technician. He is responsible for doing the maintenance work on military radar equipment. He spends about 30% of his time in Goosebay at the central location where all the radar information from the satellite stations is sent. In this station they are able to monitor the other stations all along the northern coast. I asked him why there were so many radar stations north of Goosebay and he told me they were all built during the cold war because the shortest route for Russia to attack the states was over the north pole through eastern Canada. It's neat driving around Goosebay and seeing all the bunkers which are covered with earth to hide ammunition from potential bombers. This is a picture of one of the moitors which feeds live images of the satellite radar stations. The station in the top left corner is the furthest north and it was snowing there!
We finished off the day by going to a traditional Newfoundland restaurant, Mary Browns, and grabbed dinner. It was a great day to learn more about the place where my life began. I am grateful to be in the place I was born and learning more about my roots; it helps me understand better who I am and the culture I come from, and so far I am proud of the newfoundland culture!
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